the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as ‘The Fringe”) dominates the city. It is the world’s largest performance arts festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows in 322 venues. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events.
A Jehovah’s Witness comes to terms with his sexuality in the autobiographical new gig theatre show Birthmarked. Written, performed, and composed by Brook Tate, and directed by Olivier award winner Sally Cookson, Birthmarked follows a young Witness on his journey from door-knocking on the street to finding his feet (and high heels) on the stage. It tells the true story of Brook growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness until he was disfellowshipped at the age of 23 through this joyous celebration of gig theatre
Assembly Rooms (Ballroom) from Wednesday 3rd – Sunday 27th August 2023 (not 9th, 14th, 20th) at 19:15.
Combining drag, multimedia, audience interaction, puppetry and queer joy, Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story is a unique celebration of the People’s Princess. Told by Diana from Heaven, the show highlights her ground-breaking stances on social and queer issues and allows her to speak her (un)truth in breaking free from the monarchy. Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story foregrounds her as the powerful, independent woman she wasn’t meant to be
Pleasance (Ace Dome) from 17th–27th August
Pitch is a bold and joyful exploration of the relationship between football and the queer community from November Theatre Winner of the Pleasance’s Charlie Hartill Fund, it will dig under the surface of the world’s most popular sport to celebrate the connectivity it can bring while giving a voice to those who still can’t be proud of their identity when in a stadium. In the wake of the Qatar World Cup, Pitch imagines a future in which queer representation in football is more than just a debate over a rainbow armband.
Pleasance Courtyard (Above) from Wednesday 2nd –
Monday 28th August 2023 (not 9th, 16th, 23rd) at 15:45.
Plunge into the pop-rock world of Public – The Musical, exploring identity, connection and compassion, all set to an electrifying new score. Winner of the Pleasance’s Charlie Hartill Fund and VAULT Origins Award, this witty and sensitive new musical follows four unlikely strangers trapped in a gender-neutral public toilet. With an hour to kill until maintenance arrives, the group must stop themselves from going around the U-bend while navigating unexpected challenges, pungent opinions and some seriously sticky conversations.
Pleasance Courtyard (Pleasance Two) from Wednesday 2nd – Monday
28th August 2023 (not 9th, 21st) at 18:30.
Winner of the Pleasance’s Charlie Hartill Fund, Santi & Naz captures how ordinary life must continue even as world-shaking events shift everything. Award-winning company The Thelmas return to the Pleasance following their critically acclaimed production Ladykiller, with a vibrant production that explores queer love, identity and loyalty, set against the backdrop of pre-partition India. This complex, lyrical show is a touching and honest story of female friendship.
Pleasance Courtyard (Pleasance Two) from Wednesday 2nd – Monday
28th August 2023 (not 9th, 23rd) at 13:30.
Boy Out The City Created out of writing from his own private journals, Declan Bennett (EastEnder’s Charlie Cotton) reflects on surviving the streets of Coventry in a NAF NAF jacket, discovering the Gay scene in 90s Soho, and confronting his Catholic school days. After moving out of London to wait out the final months of the pandemic initially with his boyfriend, Declan unexpectedly finds himself alone in the Oxfordshire countryside. In his isolation, he is forced to face the demons of his past on a messy journey through the turbulent world of toxic masculinity, homophobia, and men’s mental health. From the lonely aisles of Hobbycraft to the bright lights of New York City, this is the story of a man in desperate search of identity when confronted with sudden unexpected solitude.
Underbelly, Big Belly, 3 – 27 Aug 2023 (not 14 & 21), 15.30 (16.30)
One-part sermon, one-part purge, three-part party, House of Life is a traveling musical cult collective hosted by the camp and glitter-clad RaveRend with one mission – to make the audience happy, at any cost. Made up of alumni of the BAFTA-winning Television Workshop, Nottingham-based Sheep Soup uses live music with loop pedals, sampled voices, and audience interaction to create a feel-good, open-hearted and celebratory cabaret theatre show. Inspired by the places where people come together to heal through music, joy, and noise – church, festivals, protests, football matches, raves – the audience is taken through an eight-step program of how to get content. They are encouraged to join in with the RaveRend and move to the music, creating their own community for one night only, which means that no two shows are the same.
Underbelly Cowgate, Belly Dancer, 3 - 25 Aug 2023, 20:55 (21:55)
Shortlisted for the Bruntwood Prize 2019, Eve Leigh’s play Salty Irina is a queer coming-of-age love story inspired by true events. Anna and Eireni are in the throes of young love while studying at university. But following a series of racist murders in their town, they decide to turn to detectives and infiltrate a far-right festival to find the culprits. But when the true nature of their relationship is uncovered, their safety is under threat and when events take a turn for the worse, they are shocked by what they find. Salty Irina examines fascism, fear and the power of collective action.
Roundabout @ Summerhall, 2 – 27 Aug 2023 (not 8,15 & 22), 14.30 - 15.40
Wasteman
Based on writer Joe Leather’s real-life experiences working as a Refuse Loader during the lockdown, this one-person comedic play is a love letter to both hard-working Northerners and gender euphoria through monologue, music, and drag. During the pandemic, Joe applied for every job available; when the jewelers he was supposed to work at closed on the day he was meant to start, he realized that what would not be halted due to lockdown was refuse collection. Around the same time, he turned his experience as a performer into a drag persona to amuse his friends on Zoom. And so, his journey from bin man to drag queen began. Leather’s unique blend of sharp-wit, physical comedy, and hard-hitting social commentary led to a sold-out and Offie-nominated run at VAULT Festival.
Assembly Underground, George Square Studios, 4 - 28 Aug 2023 (not 17), 18.00 - 19.00)
Victor Esses
is a Queer Jewish-Lebanese-Brazilian theatremaker, writer and performer who looks at the difficult aspects of our lives and somehow makes them seem more manageable. He is s presenting his gentle, thoughtful and funny autobiographical show The Death & Life of All of Us at The Edinburgh Fringe following a sold out preview at London’s Soho Theatre.
The Death & Life of All of Us is a new warm and engaging piece using the life of Victor’s aunt Marcelle who moved from Lebanon to Italy to marry an Italian diplomat. In the process, she changed her name and religion. In this poignant exploration of family secrets, shame and resilience, Victor examines how we see and treat displaced and migrant people – and how we can celebrate our imperfections, that we are all unique and complex, wonderful and awful. The show is also about Victor accepting his own multicultural heritage. It takes stories of those elements of himself that are often hidden in society (queer, migrant, Jew, Middle Eastern, Latin American and others), people seen as different, making their unique personal stories completely universal. It will strike a chord with anyone with an interest in how we can all learn to live together.
(Summerhall 2 – 27 August).
Review : Roger Walker-Dack
Editor in Chief : Queerguru
Member of G.A.L.E.C.A. (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) and NLGJA The Association of LGBT
Journalists. and The Online Film Critics Society. Ex Contributing Editor The Gay Uk &Contributor Edge Media
Former CEO and Menswear Designer of Roger Dack Ltd in the UK
one of the hardest-working journalists in the business' Michael Goff of Towleroad
Labels: 2023, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Must See Picks, queer theatre, Top Ten Picks
