Here are the best 10 shows I've seen at the Edinburgh festival so far
Monkey Barrel 1, 7.35pm, until August 24
Nice to be proven right for once. A couple of weeks back I namechecked Angelone as one to catch at the Fringe in these very pages. I took my own advice and was rewarded. Easily the best thing I've seen at the Fringe so far. There's a delight in seeing a young comedian at the top of his game totally in command of his material and the audience. Half-Irish, half-Italian (and soon to be seen on Richard Osman's House of Games), Angelone's stand-up is playful, provocative (though not in a creepy edgelord way) and challenging. He's also just really funny. Plus, he throws in a three-piece Irish band pre-gig for added value. NB, his Monkey Barrel run is pretty much sold out but he's also appearing at the Underbelly, Bristo Square on August 22 at 11pm.
Kieran Hodgson: Voice of America
Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard, 9.30pm, until August 24
The star of Two Doors Down is exploring his own obsession with America in this show full of nailed-on impersonations, personal memories and sharply sketched satire. It's about the push and pull of the United States politically and culturally and, yes, the current incumbent of the White House does feature. 'The central quest of the show is to make a show that he isn't in,' Hodgson admitted to me when we talked last weekend, 'and this quest ends in defeat.' It does, though, provide for a chilling climax to a comically inventive and energetic show.
Alison Spittle: BIG
Monkey Barrel 1, 4.45pm, until August 24
Comedian Alison Spittle (Image: unknown)
The Irish comedian's new show BIG takes in septicemia, Shrek and skiing, but at heart it's a show about weight-loss and body-shaming. Spittle is an articulate, at times even angry guide to the subject. All of which brings a real energy to this show to add to Spittle's natural comic timing and way with an anecdote. There's a dark heart to BIG, but Spittle herself is all light.
Joe Tracini: 10 Things I Hate About Me
Underbelly, Bristo Square, 8.25pm, until August 24
Comedian and actor Joe Tracini has Borderline Personality Disorder. In this show he explains what that means in eye-opening detail. This is a busy show. Tracini's word count is probably double everyone else's on the Fringe, given how quickly he talks. Then again, he has a lot to get across. We are talking mental illness, drug addiction and suicidal ideation. But also Hollyoaks, pantos and talking to Lorraine Kelly. This is a show that is full of difficult material and yet it's also truly joyous. Tracini, son of Joe Pasquale, has been trying to do this show for five years. It has been well worth the wait. This is a great Fringe debut.
Do You Accept These Charges?
Pleasance Courtyard, 3.10pm, until August 24
This one-woman play by American writer and performer Laurie Magers is not for all the family. It explores her 'love addiction' for an incarcerated felon and the extreme ends she went to in order to feed that addiction. At times that can be shocking (especially when she's miming phone sex in what is, after all, a pretty small venue). But this autobiographical show is clever, brisk and unblinking.
Mike Nelson: Humpty Dumpty
Fruitmarket Gallery, until October 10
Out of Chaos:Postwar Scottish Art, 1945-2000
City Art Centre, until October 12
Mike Nelson. Humpty Dumpty (Image: Mike Nelson)
Even the best of us can wilt at the Fringe and need a retreat. If that's you there are a couple of art shows that might offer some solace while you gear up for another night of comedy and theatre. In the Fruitmarket Gallery Mike Nelson's Humpty Dumpty is a mixture of photographic works from London and Turkey - which are fine - and a truly astonishing, even jaw-dropping installation in the gallery's Warehouse. He has effectively built a decaying house inside the space. There's an old racing calendar on the wall, broken tiles, torn-up carpet underlay (but no carpets), wires and machinery and discarded chairs and garden spaces full of rubble. The man hours that went into making it must have been huge. It was worth every one of them. It left me giddy.
Just across the road in the City Art Centre there's a huge John Bellany exhibition. But if that's too much of a commitment the supplementary exhibition Out of Chaos, which charts postwar Scottish art through Edinburgh's art collection is a thrilling show featuring all the big names from Joan Eardley to Eduardo Paolozzi (I think the only obvious missing name was maybe Steven Campbell). It's a wide-ranging show full of small treasures and big statements. Jock McFadyen's Great Junction Street - an urban landscape featuring Leith's Mecca Bingo Hall - looks pretty great in this context.
Christopher McArthur-Boyd: Howling at the Moon
Monkey Barrel 1, 9pm, until August 24
I caught Macarthur-Boyd on a bad night. He had to deal with a persistent talker all the way through the show which threw him a little. He messed up the order of the show and admitted he'd missed bits out. None of which mattered. The show was still great. An hour full of strong material really well delivered. Alongside Susie McCabe and Connor Burns, he's proof that Scottish comic voices are loud and proud at this year's Fringe.
Rob Auton: CAN (An Hour-Long Story)
Assembly Roxy, 1.25pm, until August 24
To attend a Rob Auton show to is effectively enter Autonworld; a curious, off-kilter place with a Yorkshire accent. CAN is the story of a motivational speaker who manages to motivate the world. Auton then explores the consequences. It's a thought experiment with really good jokes (I'm desperate to tell you the one about AI, but I don't want to spoil it for you).
The result is strange and silly and, actually, rather moving. In its own way it's also pretty motivating.
The Burns Project
The Georgian House, 6.30pm, until August 16
James Clements (Image: James Clements)
Staged in the swish surroundings of the Georgian House in Charlotte Square, this immersive theatrical performance (staged around a long table with the audience ranged along both sides) sees James Clements play Robert Burns in a brisk, thoughtful telling of his life story, supported by musician/performer Lisa Rigby. Directed by Cora Bissett, it's an attempt to get beyond the shortbread tin image of the Bard and find the human being behind the legend. The result is an immaculately designed, smartly staged piece that offers up a portrait of a complex, at times, flawed man.
Big Brain Tumour Benefit
Underbelly Bristo Square, August 13
I've heard good things about Josie Long's new show Now is the Time of Monsters, Benji Waterhouse's show Maddening is good and comedians Tiff Stevenson and Tom Rosenthal have solid Fringe shows on offer, but this, the Underbelly's seventh annual brain tumour benefit should be worth your time. And not just for the cause. The bill includes Michelle Wolf, Ivo Graham, David O'Doherty, Abandoman and Emmanuel Sonubi.
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