1 Star Shows

We Are, in Fact, the Problem

That most middle class of events, the dinner party, can be a night of stimulating conversation, wonderful company and dramatic revelation.

Jazz Emu's Pleasure Garden

When I saw the playbill for Jazz Emu: You Shouldn’t Have, I couldn’t get my hands on tickets fast enough.

MacBeth

Some say that when actor-managers were struggling for money, they used to turn in desperation to the one play that could always guarantee an audience.

Nul Points

This show deserves as many points as its title says.

Romeo and Julie

Review
★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Dorfman Theatre
24th Feb, 2023

You may assume a play with the title Romeo and Julie, that is billed as a “modern love story inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet”, would include elements recognisabl…

Chekhov's Dildo

Play with Chekhov at your peril, children.

Pick n Mix

Have you ever got that feeling of frustration when watching a TV show or a play, when the characters make bad decisions or could resolve their problems if they just talked to each …

Kerry Jackson

Review
★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Dorfman Theatre
11th Dec, 2022

Many years ago, I employed Fay Ripley to do a voiceover for a TV ad.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World

Like most dystopian stories, Simon Perrott’s Everybody Wants to Rule the World has a basis in reality which forces us to reflect on the issues of today.

I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass

Review
★
Ben Ludlow
Edinburgh Fringe
theSpaceTriplex
13th Aug, 2022

I never felt unwelcome at the Fringe until this performance.

The Glass Imaginary

An improvised play inspired by the works of Tennessee Williams, The Glass Imaginary exposes the problems inherent in improvising tragedy.

Spoons

Brenda (Jacqueline King), a marriage counsellor, is faced with multiple challenges.

Dom Juan

Review
★
Sue Denham
London Fringe
The Vaults
25th May, 2022

When Molière’s Dom Juan first said that hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, I can’t imagine he was meditating on future iterations of the eponymous play such as the production at…

Manor

Review
★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
26th Nov, 2021

A fierce storm.

Comedy Hypnotist and Mentalist Mark Knight

Mark Knight had the honour of performing to a packed-out room, clearly up for a fun Friday night of Mind Reading and Hypnosis – any Edinburgh performer’s dream scenario.

Drowning

“I am not a bad person”.

Peter Gynt

Review
★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Olivier Theatre
15th Jul, 2019

There was a time not long ago – when Facebook and Google weren’t even words – where we watched TV and learned from it, absorbing any new knowledge we discovered as fact.

I am a Camera

I Am A Camera was an ambitious undertaking, and unfortunately this time it didn’t pay off.

(Can This Be) Home

It’s seldom fun to leave a venue thinking: "Well, that's an hour of my life I'm never getting back.

I'm Not Running

Review
★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Lyttelton Theatre
15th Oct, 2018

You know you’re guaranteed to learn something watching David Hare.

Paradiso

Our Theatre’s Paradiso is ostensibly a puppetry show about three men of different nationalities, reflecting on the last days of their lives before moving onto paradise.

Departure Date

Departure Date is a comedy about death that sadly lacks life.

Best of Burlesque

In the resplendent surroundings of the Assembly Speigeltent, a pumping rendition of Cherry Bomb blasts out the promise of an hour of alternative grandeur.

George Michael Is Greek

I realise I’m breaking the Greek code by saying this, but George Michael is Greek is quite possibly the most underwhelming show I’ve ever seen.

Stand and Deliver

There is something sad about leaving Stand and Deliver, accompanied by the sound of the Adam Ant song referenced in the title of the show.

Terror Tour

Review
★
Jodie McVicar
Edinburgh Fringe
Meet outside Tron Kirk at Auld Reekie Tours Boards
8th Aug, 2018

As an aficionado of all things Olde Edinburgh, there are a few basics I've come to expect from an underground tour.

Exit the King

Review
★
Simon Ximenez
West End
Olivier Theatre
27th Jul, 2018

For those who pertain to be students of the Theatre of the Absurd movement prevalent in the 1950s and 60s, there is nothing of value to you in this review.

Knights of the Rose

Review
★
Richard Beck
West End
Arts Theatre
6th Jul, 2018

"Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon" (II Samuel 1:20) is a line that does not appear in Knights of the Rose.

Creation Song Norse Myths Storytelling

I’m happy to admit that my knowledge of Norse mythology is patchy, but becoming more familiar with what was advertised as a fusion of "ballad song, galdr chant and ancient E…

Nina Conti - Work In Progress

Review
★
Millie Bayswater
London Fringe
Udderbelly
1st May, 2018

Nina Conti, now a household name from multiple television appearances, has done great trade tonight packing out London’s premier temporary fringe venue – The Underbelly at Sout…

Elaine Davidson's Kinky Freakshow

Elaine Davidson is something of an Edinburgh icon.

Mind-Goblin

Review
★
Stephanie Green
Edinburgh Fringe
Dance Base
20th Aug, 2017

Thisis a solo show where the Korean dancer and choreographer Lee Kyung-eun, inspired by the shamanic gut or rite to expel ‘goblins’ or evil spirits, aims to turn this around an…

Teahouse

This adaptation of the modern Chinese drama Teahouse does not work.

Cashmere

Narrative direction is hard to achieve but is essential to a good musical.

Demise

Demise was its own demise.

Tinder Rehab

A friend of mine and I were recently chatting about how – even today – sexism is still very much in existence.

Porn

Porn is a musical that aims to show the emotional side of those working in the adult film industry.

I'm Always the Bridesmaid

Halfway through David Tsonos’ tedious and rambling show, a former boyfriend, one of the many trotted out as a manifested recollection from the trio of bridesmaids, appears before…

Electra

Electra has been exiled and married off to a peasant.

We Are All Going to Die

We are all Going to Die is a devised piece by Dead Person Productions.

Five Encounters on a Site Called Craigslist

Review
★
Yasmin Duggal
Edinburgh Fringe
Zoo
10th Aug, 2017

After an hour of a narcissistic one man show, we were left with the dilemma of whether to applaud the honesty of Sam, or be totally appalled by the stark exposure of his personalit…

It's My Funeral and I'll Throw Glitter If I Want to

Isobel Marmion’s one woman nervous breakdown, entitled This Is My Funeral and I’ll Throw Glitter if I Want To, was a disturbing and joyless foray into a mind no one present wanted …

The Fungasm Gameshow

Review
★
Kay Tee
Edinburgh Fringe
Paradise Palms
11th Aug, 2017

Where to start with The Fungasm Game Show? It’s hard to know, when our hosts clearly don’t have a clue either.

Thom Tuck: An August Institution

Thom Tuck’s stand-up show, An August Institution, opens with an extended maths joke, which sets the tone for an hour of fairly niche humour.

The Principle of Uncertainty

Making a show about science interesting to a general audience is an extremely difficult feat.

A Waste Land

“It’s time to take your pill,” says the director, before handing me a tiny white tablet that she assures me is made of sugar, while clearing chairs to create a dancefloor.

Common

Review
★
Simon Ximenez
West End
National Theatre
8th Jun, 2017

Within the first five or so minutes of Common, a large chorus of people wearing shrubs, trees and animal heads over their faces chant menacingly, a woman in her fineries introduc…

Anatomy of Dating

This is a disappointing show, billed online as storytelling comedy.

God's Anointed

Grace and Laurie are two friends who decide to become prophets, in order to disprove the dying words of their friend, Eve, who recently committed suicide.

Shakespeare Tonight

In Shakespeare Tonight, the famous playwright gives his first ever television performance on a talk show with host Martina, only to be confronted by his so-called ‘enemy’, huma…

The Magic Cave of Salamanca

This was a hugely disappointing hour of theatre.

Grandad Died

A grandad may have passed on, but he wasn’t the only thing that died on stage.

Collateral Damage

The programme for Collateral Damage states that, while the play was written in 1999 in response to contemporary issues, it “has many resonances for us today”.

Communicate

Spot the cliché.

Single Varietal

Review
★
Oliver Simmonds
Edinburgh Fringe
Spotlites
18th Aug, 2016

Bob Stourton has an orchard.

John Knox

If you want to see a show that constructs John Knox as a talking point for oversimplified political views, may I suggest Mary Queen of Scots got her Head Chopped Off? It’s not on…

Steele Edge: Martial Arts Illusion Show

Steele Edge: Martial Arts Illusion Show bills itself as “a dynamic fusion of physical excitement and visual wonder” but it’s more of a bizarre fusion of vague ‘oriental’ …

At War With Love

Ambitious in its intentions, At War With Love uses a selection of thirty-two of William Shakespeare’s sonnets to form a narrative set against the backdrop of the First World War.

Alice and the Dream Child

Transforum Theatre’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland sets the Lewis Carroll classic in a mental hospital.

The Gayest Thing You've Ever Seen

Review
★
Gillian Bain
Edinburgh Fringe
CC Blooms
11th Aug, 2016

Claiming to be the gayest thing in a room full of LGBT people in a gay bar (although straights are welcome too) is quite the boast.

The Country Wife

The Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club’s adaptation of the restoration era comedy The Country Wife moves the action to modern American suburbia, but keeps the period’s …

Imaginary Porno Charades

Imagine taking seven of the most gratingly hyperactive and sexually frustrated boys you were at school with aged fourteen.

Vivaldi for Breakfast!

Vivaldi for Breakfast is an interesting attempt to dramatise the enigmatic life of notorious Baroque composer, Antonio Vivaldi, as he worked in the famous Pietà orphanage for youn…

The Shakespeare Club

In the programme, The Shakespeare Club promises to be a somewhat cheesy, yet harmless play about finding oneself through Shakespeare’s characters.

Lewis Schaffer: You Are Beautiful

Early on, Schaffer decided that the show wasn’t going so well.

Giacinto Palmieri: Nietzsche, Women and I

Italian comic Giacinto Palmieri, in this hour of comedy, tries to draw comparisons between himself and renowned misogynist and philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche in their approach to…

The Improv Musical

The Improv Musical from the University of Warwick return for their third stint at the Fringe, and while providing some light and silly entertainment, fails to land any punches eith…

Intergalactic Nemesis: Twin Infinity – A Live Action Graphic Novel

Intergalactic Nemesis was like being trapped in a lift that wouldn’t stop going up or down, it made me angry on so many levels.

Insomnia

Review
★
Charley Ville
Brighton Fringe
The Brunswick
12th May, 2016

It’s said that two fasting, sleepless nights are all that separates us from savagery.

The Suicide

Review
★
Simon Ximenez
West End
National Theatre
15th Apr, 2016

Russian playwright Nikolai Erdman’s original script for The Suicide was seen as such a strong satirical attack on the Communist Russian Government that it was branded ‘dangero…

Punning Linguist

Review
★
Bethan Troakes
Brighton
The Brunswick
5th Apr, 2016

Heart-wrenching, harrowing, ill-fated, anguished; these words would not at all be out of place in a review of a Shakespearian tragedy but alas, this was no evening of star crosse…

Jeepers Creepers

Marty Feldman’s style of comedy - and indeed his story - is of a very specific time in the annals of British entertainment.

The Great Gatsby

Even if you don’t know the whole story of F.

The Graduettes

The Graduettes starts with a great farce premise: flatmates wake up on Christmas morning to find their home robbed and their landlady dead on the floor.

Captain of the Lost Waves: Unsolved Mysteries

Review
★
Ali Schultz
Edinburgh Fringe
SpaceTriplex
26th Aug, 2015

One of the songs included in Captain of the Lost Waves: Unsolved Mysteries is titled A Song No One Wants to Hear.

Tim Drain: I Know How to Make the Women I Sleep with Laugh

I went into Tim Drain’s show fully prepared for some offensive stuff.

Patrick Kielty: Help

Television personality, Patrick Kielty, attempts to revive his stand up career in what is billed as a fresh hour of comedy.

Death Actually: A Necromantic Comedy

Death Actually sets out to bring ‘lethal puns and dead funny songs’ in a larger than life musical.

The Ted Bundy Project

Review
★
Elaine Liner
Edinburgh Fringe
Zoo Southside
25th Aug, 2015

Killing most of an hour, and murder to sit through, The Ted Bundy Project does bait-and-switch on its audience.

The Wendy House Trilogy: Edmund

This is a show I really wanted to enjoy; each part of the production tries very hard to achieve an ambitious vision, but don’t quite make it.

Showbiz, or, Repeat Until Funny

A comedy that ironically centres around two failing comedians should find humour in the ineptness of these characters.

Death and the Maiden

Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden is one of my all time favourite plays; it is a beautifully written text, teeming with monologues many actors would dream to get their hands o…

Five-a-Side Theatre

“Join our storytelling team as they use innovative improve [sic] techniques to craft a narrative from audience members’ true stories,” boasts the Five-a-Side flyer.

Australia: A Whinging Pom's Guide

If Dan Willis is targeting the annoying Australian Uncle demographic with his show Australia: A Whinging Pom’s Guide, he’s got it completely spot on.

Never Mind the Pollocks

Jim Higo and Miki Higgins present their double act poetry, comedy and sketch show which is intended to be ‘a satirical look at culture and the arts’.

No Strings

No Strings tells the unoriginal tale of two, middle-aged married people hooking up for one night of meaningless, pure sex, with Shona looking to get back at her cheating husband an…

Bear Hug

Billed as a rom-com, Bear Hug looked to be a pretty safe bet for some laughs – described as a story about how coming out is easy but how getting back in is harder.

Two From Texas: New Plays in Performance

Why go to the trouble of raising the funds and making the trip to the International Collegiate Theatre Festival, only to present plays nobody back home would want to see, much less…