Hot tickets: 16 Edinburgh Fringe shows to take a punt on

This is my 40th EdFringe, here are the shows that have caught my eye, so far…

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 starts today. It'll be my 40th Fringe - I first stepped onto a stage in Edinburgh in August back in 1983, it was a musical called The Mixter Maxter Factor at Fisher’s Close.

That’s about all I can remember of it other than that it was a lot of fun. My professional acting debut came a year later in the Doctor Who spin-off play, Recall UNIT, along side some of the cast of the long running TV series.

Back then, the Fringe was a very different beast. For a start there were no super-venues, the likes of Assembly, the Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Underbelly and the like yet to materialise at the world's most influential arts festival. Oh, and comedy in those days meant a comic play rather than a funnyman or woman standing in a spotlight holding court, the invasion of the stand-up was still a couple of years off.

In the four decades since, I've worked every Fringe, first as an actor, then as a playwright and director, reviewer, critic and Entertainment Editor (co-ordinating a team of 25 reviewers), often juggling any number of those roles in the same year. Somehow, I've arrived at my 40th Fringe, an event that has facilitated taking one of my shows to New York's Broadway and another to Toronto, Canada. The Fringe really is a place where dreams can come true - just ask the star of Thief who won the Emerging Actor Award on Broadway, or the star of I Ran With The Gang, who found himself on stage in Toronto on the day his exam results came through from drama school. He passed.

To mark the big 40 milestone in my life, I’ll be following their examples, returning to the stage for a couple of performances - catch me as The Usher in Silence in Court, part of The Brunton, Musselburgh's, programme of events. I'll also be hosting There's Been A Murder, two audiences with Taggart creator Glenn Chandler, who will also be launching his new true crime book, Sidney Fox's Crime. Again part of The Brunton Fringe programme. I’ll also be reviewing again. A limited number of reviews this year, long gone are the days of seeing up to five shows in a 24 hour period. Two is my maximum daily intake now.   

One thing I get asked every year is what shows I'd recommend seeing, so I thought I'd share my review hit-list with you. When reviewing, I look for shows I believe have the potential to be very special - life is too short to sit through much of the dross that masquerades as entertainment during August in Edinburgh and idea of sitting through some under-rehearsed bore fest performed by delusional 'performers' is no longer an option, even if they are the best reviews to write.

I have 16 productions (so far) on my 2023 review hit-list (it will probably grow). Have a read, there may just be something that takes your fancy too.

Lena - Assembly George Square

Travel back to 1974 and 10-year-old singing sensation Lena Zavaroni is rocketing to stardom on Opportunity Knocks - I remember it well. 25 years on, we discover a very different Lena in this piece, one for whom the glory days are long gone. Lena features a live band and five-strong cast, starring Erin Armstrong as Lena and Jon Culshaw as TV's original starmaker, Hughie Green.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/lena

The Insider - Zoo Southside

Look into the human face of greed as live acting, visuals and a binaural soundscape merge to give you the chills. The story of the Cum-ex tax scam, £50 billion 'robbed' from the treasuries around Europe, uses headphones and 3D-sound to create an intimate connection with the on stage cynical financier as he is interrogated at a party, in the club, in the shower and in a bank in Zürich.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/insider

Tony: The Tony Blair Rock Opera - EICC

This new musical by Harry Hill and Steve Brown tells the story of how one man went from peace-loving, long-haired hippy and would-be pop star to warmongering multi-millionaire in just a couple of decades. Throw in a stellar cast of larger-than-life characters – Cherie Blair, Princess Diana, John Prescott, Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, Osama bin Laden, George W Bush, Saddam Hussein and Gordon Brown – and it's Yes, Minister meets The Rocky Horror Show, a musical like no other.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/tony-the-tony-blair-rock-opera

Luke Kempner: Gritty Police Drama, A One Man Musical - Pleasance Courtyard

Star of Spitting Image, impressionist Luke Kempner's one-man British Police Drama is described as Line Of Duty meets Happy Valley meets Clarkson's Farm meets The Match of the Day meets King Charles meets the Traitors. With 60 impressions all played by one man, whether you're King Charles, Ian McKellen or even Claudia Winkleman, in Gritty Police Drama... no-one is safe.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/luke-kempner-in-gritty-police-drama-a-one-man-musical

Seance Live - Gilded Balloon Patter House Other Yin

Do you believe in ghosts? You'll find out in this recreated Victorian séance. For more than 100 years, the séance has been an attempt by the living to communicate with those who have passed. Here, the performer who denies all belief in an afterlife, uses age-old techniques to demonstrate how mediums convince audiences of their skills, before attempting a genuine séance experiment. Was hooked from the promise of 'live audience interaction'. Can’t wait.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/seance-live

Paddy Englishman, Paddy Irishman and Paddy - Paradise In The Vault

In Declan Croghan's black comedy, Anto and Kevin find their Irish past crashing in on their new and quiet London lives. Unfolding events force them to fight for their true allegiances, their futures... and their lives. Under the relentless pressure of a fearless and flirtatious neighbour Una and the dark presence of an enigmatic lodger Peter, will the boys find a way out of the situation they find themselves in?

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/paddy-englishman-paddy-irishman-and-paddy

Bakla - Summerhall

If physical theatre is your thing, this may well be for you. Homonhon Island, 1521. The start of 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, sparking a genocide across the islands now known as the Philippines. The loss of an ancestral homeland sends ripples through time, emitting a cultural amnesia. But is sex the best cure for a headache? Apparently it’s a daring one-person physical-theatre show about how intergenerational trauma takes shape in the modern Filipino.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/bakla

CTRL:_ Room - Army at the Fringe

More immersive drama... The face of warfare has changed again. Advances in technology have moulded the battlefield and triggered changes to the Laws of War, placing civilians at the heart of military decision making. As tech giant Polemos seeps its way into the world's militaries, a civil uprising gives birth to a rebel force. Immerse yourself in the battlefield of the future and make real-time decisions in the heat of war.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/ctrl-room-1

The Ladyboys of Bangkok: Party Queens Tour - Festival Square

From Hollywood to Bollywood, West End to Las Vegas, 16 of the world’s most glamorous and beautiful showgirls perform and create your favourite and biggest hits from the world’s most famous pop icons. With over 400 incredible costumes and more theatrical sequin-laden production numbers than you can shake your tail feather at, the Boys are back in town.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/lady-boys-of-bangkok-party-queens-tour-2023

Dom The Play - Assembly Rooms

Following a sell-out run at the The White Bear Theatre before transferring to The Other Palace, this political comedy explores the chief controversies of Dominic Cumming's explosive career, how he won the Brexit referendum by manipulating social media, the truth about Barnard Castle and why he finally fell out with Boris.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/dom-the-play

The Grandmothers Grimm - Paradise in the Vault

Cannibalism, werewolf trials, deceit and murder: Marie Hassenpflug and the Brothers Grimm are editing the darkness out of old stories. Little by little, the voices of the storytellers who created the tales are eroded away. What will be saved and what will be forgotten? Expecting a lot from this one.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/grandmothers-grimm

Photon StarBlaster and the Suicidal Spaceship - Roman Eagle Lodge

Local theatre at the Fringe and sci-fi, a well under-represented genre on stage. Photon StarBlaster is a renegade galactic agent on a mission. But when his spaceship malfunctions and sets course to self-destruct, he is thrown into his most dangerous journey yet. Will he be able to make it home?

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/photon-starblaster-and-the-suicidal-spaceship

Things Hidden Since The Foundation of the World - Traverse Theatre

There's nothing like a good whodunnit to capture the imagination and the final piece of Javaad Alipoor's trilogy is an investigation into investigation itself with the unsolved murder of an Iranian pop icon at its centre. Intriguing.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/horizon-showcase-things-hidden-since-the-foundation-of-the-world

Declan - Underbelly Cowgate

A hallucinatory tale of isolation and sexual discovery in rural Wiltshire. As childlike outsider Jimbo recalls the disappearance of his friend Declan, he is haunted by ghosts of the past and present. With a hazy grasp on reality, Jimbo searches through his fractured town for Declan – and along the way makes troubling discoveries about his own childhood.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/declan

Bullyache: Tom - Zoo Southside

Dance and physical theatre time. In a holding room, participants wait. A pageant is about to begin. No call time, perpetual purgatory. Music-duo and dance company Bullyache make their Edinburgh debut with Tom, blending the myth of Orpheus with the DWP, Tom promising a vertigo-inducing pop-culture collision of working class and queer expression in a world that demands too much.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/horizon-showcase-tom

Revelations of Ram McVie - Pleasance Grand

Join everyman Rab McVie as he travels through richly textured, ever-changing painted landscapes, pursuing light in darkness, hope in a torn world. A dramatic dreamscape of live painting, live music and theatre. Driven by darkly atmospheric alt-rock music from post-punk soothsayers The Filthy Tongues (fronted by Goodbye Mr Mackenzie’s Martin Metcalfe) with strikingly creative paintings by Maria Rud and a spellbinding performance by Tam Dean Burn.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/revelations-of-rab-mcvie

And if you fancy seeing either of my two shows, here's all you need to know:

Silence in Court - The Stables Pavillion Musselburgh - 16 and 17 August, 1pm

Lunchtime theatre is back! Guilty or not guilty? You decide! Charles Brand, a minister’s son, is charged with the rape of Jennifer Lyons. As the events leading up to the alleged assault are explored, who will you believe? Inspired by the classic 70s TV series Crown Court. Silence In Court draws on real-life procedures from a number of legal traditions, to create a mock court in which you the audience can join the jury and discuss what has been heard, until a majority decision is reached.

Tickets https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/liam-rudden-s-silence-in-court

There's Been A Murder: An Audience With Glen Chandler, Creator of Taggart - Loretto Theatre Musselburgh

Join the Godfather of Tartan Noir, writer and director of the world’s longest-running police drama, learn secrets from behind the cameras, share some of his favourite moments and discover the truth behind that infamous catchphrase. Now an acclaimed playwright, director and crime writer, Glenn also talks about his latest book, Sidney Fox’s Crime: The True Story of Sidney Fox and the Margate Hotel Murder. Hosted by Liam Rudden with a Q&A session, an opportunity to take a selfie and purchase a signed copy of Glenn's book.

Tickets https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/there-s-been-a-murder-an-evening-with-glenn-chandler-creator-of-taggart

Whether you’re an audience member or a performer, have a great Edinburgh Fringe, and don’t forget to subscribe free to my Substack and all my reviews will pop into your inbox as they go live. And if you do spot me when I’m out and about this August, do say hello.

Happy Fringing!

Liam