BOOM BOOM! It’s Basil unleashed
The foxy favourite is making his debut, as is a six-month-old tot and, er, Nicola Sturgeon. Welcome to this year’s very eclectic mix at the Edinburgh Fringe...
ASTRANGER changing his baby’s nappy in your living room, Basil Brush telling risqué jokes, Donald Trump in a dress and theatre in a football stadium. It could only be Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe. When it kicks off next month, the world’s largest arts event will stage a record 59,600 performances. Across more than 300 venues – from traditional theatres and comedy clubs to a converted bus and a former swimming pool – Scotland’s capital will host an eclectic mix of cabaret, comedy, drama – and the downright bizarre.
Between August 2 and 26, performers from 63 countries will dazzle, entertain and shock an audience of more than two million festival-goers.
There is a mix of new talent and famous faces – including Ruby Wax and Russell Howard – along with an old favourite... television and radio legend Nicholas Parsons. The 95-year-old returns to the Fringe for a 19th year with his Happy Hour show at the Pleasance Courtyard.
The Just A Minute host is probably the oldest star of the festival – while the youngest is sixmonth-old Arthur, who appears with his father, Daniel Bye. Their show, Arthur, is held in the home of an audience member and is touted as a light-hearted chat about genetics and behaviour.
Mr Bye, 39, from Lancaster, said: ‘It’s an idea I was chewing on almost three years ago before Arthur’s big sister was born.
‘It emerged out of conversations where the nature/nurture debate had been re-ignited.’
He said the show is ever-changing because of his ‘slightly unpredictable’ co-star, adding: ‘I have to roll with whatever Arthur wants to do. If he cries I’ll try to settle him. If he does the toilet I’ll change his nappy. If he’s hungry I’ll feed him.’
On a more grown-up note, Grammy-nominated Scots comic Craig Ferguson is bringing his Hobo Fabulous tour to the Gilded Balloon for one night only – the show’s European premiere and his first stand-up show in 25 years.
Speaking about his return home after years as a TV chat show host in the States, he said: ‘I quite like the fact that the only people w h o remember me in Scotland are cab drivers over the age of 50. As a result of the life expectancy in Scotland, it means there are only five of them.’
Ferguson was last at the Fringe two years ago, when he brought a late-night version of his radio chat show to the Gilded Balloon’s Rose Theatre. But the festival is where he made his name back in 1986, appearing as Bing Hitler.
Along with all the laughs comes plenty of glamour, including from the Lady Boys of Bangkok, who are back at the Sabai Pavilion in Fountainbridge for their 17th Fringe run.
Then there’s cabaret star Ivy Paige, described as a ‘real-life Jessica Rabbit’. She seduced the nation on ITV’s The Voice last year and is likely to be just as enchanting to audiences at the Fringe.
The redhead’s Queen of the Swingers show is at Le Monde.
Unsurprisingly, politics looms large this year, with dozens of satirical comedies mocking the great and the good. See a drag version of the US President at Trump’s Fake TV at the Voodoo Rooms – a show being described as ‘hilarious and wickedly naughty’.
The comedy act lampoons Mr Trump, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and even TV baker Mary Berry.
Satirical band The Iain Duncan Smiths host the Eurosceptic Song Contest, a Eurovision for Brexit, at Lebowskis Bar. Spoof bands on the bill include Borissey, Farage Against the Machine, Snoop Mogg, Madiohead and David Davis Bowie. Making her festival debut in not one but two shows is the First Minister. Nicola Sturgeon will be interviewed on August 5 by the award-winning LBC radio presenter and CNN political commentator Iain Dale during his current affairs show. He will chat to different highprofile guests each day, including London Mayor Sadiq Khan. On August 14, In Conversation With... Nicola Sturgeon will feature her speaking to sports journalist Graham Spiers about Scotland, politics, gender balance, favourite books and eighties pop.
The pair will be at the Stand’s New Town Theatre.
Another festival debutant is the national treasure, showbusiness legend and much-loved children’s character Basil Brush. The feisty fox – famous for his ‘Boom Boom!’ catchphrase – is presenting two shows. His Family Fun Show is a ‘journey of laughs’ for children, while Basil Brush: Unleashed is strictly for adults. Both are at the Underbelly’s Bristo Square.
During Unleashed, Basil will offer his comedic take on everything from Love Island to Westminster, in his trademark anarchic style, with different guests nightly.
Anyone with an interest in truelife crime should consider seeing Bible John, by award-winning Scottish playwright Caitlin McEwan.
The new drama at the Pleasance Courtyard centres on the infamous Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom murders in the late 1960s.
McEwan said: ‘It’s looking at the case of Bible John through the lens of current popularity, podcasts and documentaries mostly targeted at women, and at why women are drawn to stories that victimise women.’
More true crimes comes in the form of The Incident Room, a play about the Yorkshire Ripper.
The thriller – also at the Pleasance Courtyard – draws on the bestselling book Wicked Beyond Belief, by former Sunday Times journalist Michael Bilton.
A very different show indeed offers crimes against good manners – when hotelier Basil Fawlty screeches at and offends unsuspecting guests over supper.
The Fawlty Towers Live Themed Dinner Show – at the Hilton Edinburgh Carlton Hotel – offers fans of the sitcom the chance to dine at the notorious guesthouse.
Participants are greeted by disorganised and confused waiter Manuel
before tucking in to a three-course meal – although there is a risk of corked wine and out-of-date kippers.
The cast dishes up interactive comedy and cabaret – and the TV classic’s most iconic moments – in a show based on the original scripts by John Cleese and Connie Booth.
Along with comedy, the Fringe offers an array of jaw-dropping circus acts.
Wowing crowds with impressive stunts this year is Scots cyclist Danny MacAskill, who will be performing his thrill-seeking show Drop and Roll Live.
He will showcase extreme sports and will be joined by fellow Scot Duncan Shaw, as well as other athletes, at Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows. MacAskill, 33, was working as a mechanic in a bike shop in Inverness-shire when he decided to make his first film with his flatmate, with no idea it would help shoot him to fame. He said: ‘My only hope when I did that first video was to impress the trail and mountain bike community. I never dreamed in a million years it would jump from the bike scene into the mainstream in the way that it did.’
As well as top-class acts at the Fringe, family members of celebrities are among those who have signed up for the festival.
In a magical prank show at Gilded Balloon Teviot, James Phelan – the nephew of the great Paul Daniels – will be reading minds and teasing outrageous confessions from unwitting audience members. Nicola Wren, the younger sister of Coldplay singer Chris Martin, will be sharing her story at Underbelly – from relentlessly looking for her siblings’ approval to seeking out ways to hide that her big brother is famous. JK Rowling’s husband, doctor Neil Murray, will also be gracing the stage – alongside Pub Landlord comedian Al Murray. Their band Fat Cops is performing at Assembly George Square Gardens. Organisers have added a variety of quirky venues to this year’s lineup. While crowds will still flock to the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Corn Exchange and the Gilded Balloon, shows will also be staged at the old Dr Bells Baths, a much-loved and listed Victorian pool in Leith. Tynecastle Park, the home of Hearts FC, is the setting for A War Of Two Halves, a drama about how the club was on the brink of winning the league in 1914 when 13 of its players went off to war. And when it comes to shows performed on buses – two have come along at once. For the Fright Bus Tour, a classic 1960s Routemaster has been transformed into a theatre to carry passengers on a trip around Europe’s most haunted city – guided by a very creepy conductor. For the Back of the Bus show, a New Zealand dance troupe will propel themselves along the aisles and hang from the roof in a thrilling hour-long display of acrobatics. Elsewhere, a tunnel underneath Edinburgh’s streets will showcase an adaptation of Trainspotting and the audience will be part of the action – including for the notorious ‘worst toilet in Scotland’ scene. Author Irvine Welsh described it as the ‘best way to experience Trainspotting... I was shocked – and I wrote the f ****** thing’. For the Fringe organisers, this year’s festival is an opportunity to celebrate diverse cultures, countries and topical issues. Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: ‘The Fringe is a remarkable feat of engineering and human endeavour, and this year we are celebrating all the artists, writers, crew, staff, venue operators, audience members and more who come together to make your Fringe. ‘In 2019, the Fringe will feature 744 shows from Edinburgh, 963 from Scotland and work from a record 63 countries. ‘Performances at this year’s festival offer a diverse range of cultural experiences and tackle some of the most topical issues in the world today. ‘Covering theatre, comedy, cabaret and variety, children’s shows, music, exhibitions and more, there is work that will challenge perceptions, make you laugh, make you cry, entertain and inspire you.’