Sturgeon act is a bit of a drag
Edinburgh-born drag queen Ripley will make her Fringe Festival debut with her acclaimed show Like A Sturgeon. The programme for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is launched today.
Shows inspired by the “Me Too” movement against sexual harassment and assault, the looming prospect of Brexit, spiralling gun violence and race relations tensions in America during the Trump era, and digital identity theft will be staged during this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Personal stories behind global conflicts, including the two world wars, the biggest ever scandal to engulf the Royal Family, and the death of Marilyn Monroe are all inspiring shows in this year’s line-up.
The official programme, which will be launched today, will also feature a musical tribute to Formula One star Lewis Hamilton and a Nicola Sturgeon drag act.
Also appearing will be the newly-crowned Britain’s Got Talent winner Lost Voice Guy, who has cerebral palsy and is unable to speak, who will appear at the Gilded Balloon.
A costume designer’s experience of being stripped at gun point has inspired the creation of the show Dressed by four school friends, It’s True, It’s True, It’s True will be based on the transcripts of the 17th century trial of Agostino Tassi over the rape of a baroque painter while he was tutoring her at her father’s house.
The debate over Ireland’s abortion laws will be tackled in Vessel, which sees a prochoice activist use her own unwanted pregnancy to raise a landmark legal challenge.
Pussy Riot, the Russian art collective who famously fell foul of Vladimir Putin’s regime six years ago, will be in residency at Summerhall arts centre, which will be exhibiting work by Yoko Ono. Its programme also includes a series of plays inspired by the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service, including Jeremy Weller’s Where It Hurts, which draws from the testimony of real-life residents, carers and health professionals in Edinburgh.
New York hit Trump Lear will see actor and impersonator David Carl give the Shakespearean tragedy a modernday makeover, while cabaret star Lady Rizo will tackle her “love-hate relationship with America” in her one-woman show.
Edinburgh-born drag queen Ripley will be taking on the guise of Scotland’s First Minister, along with Prime Minister Theresa May and Melania Trump, in the comedy show Like A Sturgeon.
The Archers star Timothy Bentinck will portray a new Primeministerinbrexit,anew comedy set in in the “whispering powers of Westminster” in 2020. Co-stars include the comics Mike Mcshane, Jo Caulfield and Hal Cruttenden, as his advisers and warring colleagues.
Among the most unusual venues this year is the Jeelie Piece cafe, on Leven Street, where audiences will experience the show User Not Found using smartphones and headphones. Billed as “an intimate and quietly voyeuristic piece of theatre, it will see them invited to become a fly-on-the-wall as a man wrestles with keeping the identity of his dead partner.
One Woman Sex and the City is billed as a loving send-up of the six seasons of the muchloved series, which will coin- cide with its 20th anniversary, while the life and legacy of Benny Hill will be celebrated in Liam Tobin’s new one-man show.
Hamilton (Lewis) will deploy hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap and R&B to tell the story of Britain’s most successful motor racing driver. Theatre-maker Guy Masterson will direct The Marilyn Conspiracy, which explores the various theories surrounding the death of the Hollywood superstar.