As always, the Fringe theatre programme offers all kinds of everything. Darkfield are still inviting unsuspecting audience members into bunkers for immersive recreations of 80s video games (Arcade), mass experiments (Coma) and hairy aeroplane journeys (Flight) but there’s a new novelty in town as Sauna Theatre comes to Summerhall, hosting plays, literary salons, gigs and raves all in a sweltering hot venue – will anyone notice the difference?
For those who want to make a song and dance of their Fringe, try Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical (Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose) which relocates Sophocles’ Theban family tragedy to California during the era of AIDS activism. Or what about Spanish company Yllana, who follow up their hit A Comedy of Operas with Flamenc Oh!!, a similarly irreverent celebration of flamenco co-commissioned by Sadler’s Wells at Assembly Rooms.
Sticking with Assembly Rooms, Fringe stalwart Guy Masterson comes armed as always with a number of productions, including Ludwig: Unfinished Business, a gleeful homage to Beethoven performed by Ludwig lookalike Mike Hatchard, and political and cultural satire The Tao of Lloyd, written and performed by Dennis Trainor Jr,.
With Clueless: The Musical already under her belt, singer/songwriter KT Tunstall now collaborates with director Cora Bissett (herself a former musician) on The Singer, a Dundee Rep/Aberdeen Performing Arts collaboration at the Traverse about the meeting of a deaf artist and a musician on the comeback trail. At the same venue, Elaine C Smith stars as Cathy at the request of the original Cathy – playwright Eilidh Loan’s grandmother.
Meanwhile, the definitely-not Shit Theatre bring their biggest show to date to Zoo Southside. Evita Too goes on the trail of Isabel, the third Mrs Perón, who had a hard act to follow. The equally inspirational duo Xhloe and Natasha build on their triple Fringe First-winning rep with a new show, Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It, in which puppetry and conspiracy theories collide. Acclaimed performance artist Bryony Kimmings also returns to the Fringe with Bog Witch, an autobiographical show about her attempts to become one with nature.
Xhloe and Natasha
New names to watch out for include NY-based actress Maya Shoham, whose solo debut In Other Words (Just the Tonic at the Mash House) investigates the power of language, and US actor/writer Catherine Taaffe who brings her Fringe debut The Only Man Who Won’t Fuck Me, about a sex worker on the hunt for a heart connection, to Zoo Playground.
Catherine Taaffe
