Edinburgh Fringe Roundup: Part 2
Plus: what to watch at home now summer is over.
With September upon us, some brilliant and highly anticipated TV has arrived. My final roundup Edinburgh looks at the theatre I watched too. I also saw more brilliant comedy - Sarah Keyworth was the pick of all the comedy I saw. Their set was about their experience of having top surgery late last year and was profoundly moving while being equally hilarious; tickets are available for The Palladium next year.
Other comedians I loved were Tim Key for his new Work In Progress (if you don’t know Key it is worth following him on Instagram for his hilarious poems) and Olga Koch on being brought up rich.
To Watch
Slow Horses Apple TV+, 4 September
Gary Oldman’s crew of reject espionage operatives return for a fourth season of wise-cracking thriller action. If you haven’t watched the first three seasons then you’re a fool.
Colin From Accounts Series 2 BBC 2, 3rd September
After the brilliant first series where a woman, a man and a dog are brought together by a nipple flash, Gordon and Ashley start stalking Colin’s new owners. This was the best comedy TV of last year.
Kaos Netflix, Out Now
Kaos, the new venture from Charlie Covell, the creator of Channel 4 drama series The End of the F**king World, is chaotic by name and by nature I’d say. Multi-stranded, pacey and a bit nuts, it’s a reimagining of Greek mythology that is subtle and glitzy and sardonic. Am two episodes in and it’s a lovely easy watch now that you’ve finished binging Bridgerton and Emily in Paris.
Sherwood Series 2 BBC One, Out Now
James Graham’s superb detective drama returns with Monica Dolan now part of the stellar cast. This is by far one of the best dramas on UK TV and we return to Nottingham where the focus this series is on drug lines and historic gang rivalry.
Reflections: THEATRE
The Fifth Step by David Ireland
David Ireland’s new two hander for National Theatre of Scotland was one of the most anticipated shows of the festival. Starring Jack Lowden (of Slow Horses fame) and Sean Gilder (also in Slow Horses), the two-hander explores a recovering-alcoholic-yet-still-active-porn-addict and his sponsor’s relationship on various meetings through their sobriety journey. Ireland’s script is as acerbic and as funny as ever. Here’s the opening to give you a flavour:
Luka pulls himself out of his tailspin as the play develops, meeting an older woman at bible group and developing a form of religious mania. He believes he sees James in his dreams dressed as a giant rabbit; he thinks Jesus, in the form of the actor Willem Dafoe, visits him on the treadmill. Fingers crossed this play transfers down to London next year after Lowden is free from his TV commitments.
Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan
Every Brilliant Thing, a mega Fringe hit by Duncan Macmillan, from ten years ago, returned to the Roundhouse; it’s an extraordinary, shattering and beautiful piece of theatre. Jonny Donahoe plays the unnamed boy whose story begins with his mum’s suicide attempt when he was seven “because she was sad”. Determined for her to realise that life is worth living, he starts to make a list of every brilliant thing in the world. The script is rich with theatrical innovation in how suicide is reported and discussed, how too much focus is still placed on the “why” and “how”. There is no quick fix for depression, but among all the darkness, this script bathes in the everyday joys. Built with the collaboration of audience and performer, it is a truly brilliant thing sure to make you cry.
My Mother’s Funeral by Kelly Jones
My Mother’s Funeral: The Show starts so suddenly - a jolt for a sleepy, hungover Edinburgh audience. From there, the tempo keeps up, and the days since Mum’s death whizz by, grind slowly by, and the world turns. Mum and daughter were great friends and so the loss is deeply felt. But there’s a brother in the opposite position, where their relationship was almost hostile. At times, at the very best, he didn’t seem to care that she was dead. Our hero, the playwright, is the devoted daughter who does not want her beloved mother to have a council funeral and has no money at all. She’s also just lost her play. Her fickle and commercially driven director (or producer—the boss figure who decides which shows get made) seems to have unexpectedly decided not to proceed with a commissioned play. No play means no money. The result of all this is that, under the burden of grief, My Mother’s Funeral: The Show is about the pressure of getting a play commissioned and paid for on short notice.
How I Learned To Swim by Somebody Jones
In How I learned To Swim we experience one woman’s swimming lessons and an expansive (and often unknown) world of aquatic Black history and myth. The play switches between the youth and adulthood of reluctant swimmer Jamie, who is haunted by her brother’s disappearance. Jamie’s encounters with her instructor and a spiritual guide are placed against a backdrop of history - including the Middle Passage of the transatlantic slave trade, the watery Afrofuturist world of American musicians Drexciya and the legacy of segregated swimming pools in the US. So, this is much more than a play about learning to swim. But does it work? Mixed results - the matter is interesting but the forum seems off. Not my favourite, Jeff.
Deadheads by Maddie Lynes
Maddie Lynes’ gorgeous play about two sisters reuniting after years of drifting apart is beautiful, touching and heart-warming. Maria Pointer and Grainne Dromgoole provide two excellent performances - I could not recommend this enough. Sure I am biased here but The Guardian agrees!
Playfight by Julia Grogan
Julia Grogan has squeezed every ounce out of the experience of girlhood and laid it bare in all its cruelty, ugliness, uncertainty and delight, in this marvellous jewel of a play. I would be very surprised if this doesn’t transfer - it’s a sumptuous hour of female friendship.
Weather Girl by Brian Watkins
This smart, sharp one-woman show is from the producing team behind Fleabag and Baby Reindeer. The play follows a weather presenter on a small TV station in central California. Yet beneath the perfectly coiffed hair and grinning vitality, all is not well. We learn early on that her Stanley cup contains Prosecco, and when the rural California heat ignites, and Stacey reports on a house fire that kills an entire family, she sets off on a self-destructive bender. A woozy and spiralling hour of nail-biting drama.
Sh!t Theatre: Or What’s Left of us
Since their last show in 2022, the lives of Sh!t Theatre’s two creators have changed enormously. Both have experienced overwhelming losses and have had to live in the throes of inescapable grief. Their new show, Or What’s Left of Us, asks whether it is possible to find joy - through traditional folk song - in the pits of sadness. I was probably too hungover to enjoy this as much as I should have - but it’s a beautiful piece reflecting the universal incomprehensibility of death. And a little bit mad.
