Dracula: Lucy’s Dream –  ★★★★☆  – Eerie Plexus Polaire 6-29 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Dracula: Lucy’s Dream,  from French-Norwegian company Plexus Polaire and artistic director Yngvild Aspeli, presents an eerie, uncanny, spectacular interpretation of Stoker’s classic horror that focuses on the real, unreal, and beyond.   Lucy’s Dream  is less a narrative than it is a visual and aural exploration of what might have been happening inside Lucy Westenra during the events of  Dracula — advance knowledge of the original narrative certainly makes the story more cohesive. The performance opens with Lucy sleepwalking in the forest, where she is multiplied with mirrors of herself, and encounters a black dog which is always just out of reach. From the darkness Dracula appears, and all three Lucys are drawn into his embrace and fall victim to his bite. A scene from Dracula: Lucy's Dream. Pic: Christophe Raynaud de Lage. Lucy and her mirrors are, to this point,...

A Queen's Way -  ★★☆☆☆ - Awkward Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236): Mon 24 – Sat 29 Aug 2026 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 27 August 2026. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Napier University Drama Society presents a limited run of Madilyne Nelsen’s new play  A Queen’s Way , a medieval satire that never quite finds its footing. In a medieval kingdom “built on murder, thievery and chaos,” the teenage Karalyne (Maisie Lumgair), a peasant who lives in the woods with her brother Todlair (a play on toddler, though he declares himself to be eleven years old; played by James Galloway), finds herself catapulted onto the throne after accidentally killing the current king, Rodrick (Euan Raynal). A scene from A Queen's Way. Pic: NUDS. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !

I Love Thee, I Love Thee Not –  ★★★★☆  – Mayhem Red Firefly Theatre 20-26 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Red Firefly Theatre debuts on the Fringe with  I Love Thee, I Love Thee Not , a rapid-fire hour of Shakespeare’s greatest lovers’ hits, featuring able classical performance couched in an absurd frame.   Gabriel Bird and Jenna Donoghue star as Isaac McKellen and Julie Dench, RADA (Regular Academy of Decent Actors) trained thespians who are desperately and soporiphically in love and have determined that the secret to their romantic success is their mutual love of Shakespeare, which has made their relationship “objectively better than anybody elses!”. To that end, they’ve decided to share with the audience the “dos and do nots” of a successful relationship through various scenes of Shakespeare. McKellen prepares to launch into a tragedy, and the image of the perfect relationship breaks down immediately as Dench protests repeatedly that they had agreed to begin wi...

Selkie: Past, Present, Future -  ★★★★★ - Luminous Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30): Wed 19 – Sun 30 Aug 2026 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 24 August 2026. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Selkie stories abound in Scottish folklore, but you’ve never heard any quite like Niall Moorjani’s in their Selkie: Past, Present, Future , returning to the Scottish Storytelling Centre for the second two weeks of the Fringe. Moorjani blends the tradition of the mysterious, seal-skinned shapeshifter with allegories on the experience of trans and BPOC people today— while acknowledging that these people, with both their struggles and joy, have always been, even if the world hasn’t always been, isn’t always, willing to recognise or accept them… Niall Moorjani and Ailsa Dixon. Pic: Supplied. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !

Steve Burns: Alive –  ★★★★★  – Transcendent  Benson Drive Productions 5-30 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Steve looks into the camera and says, “Can you help me?”   Steve Burns looks at us and says, “Can you help me?”   Steve Burns: Alive  looks into the soul of a generation that grew up on a passive aggressive blue dog and a “weird happy jackass boy in a cartoon house,” and reminds us of the humanity on either side of the camera, of the profound connections we made on Our Show, and of the disconnects that can plague even something as monumental as that.  Alive  introduces us not just to Steve, but to Steve Burns, the man behind the green-striped shirt, in all his imperfect humanity, and in how living with two Steves and the persistent rumours of his own death have shaped him. Steve Burns: Alive. Pic: Rebecca J Michelson From 1996 to 2001, Steve Burns was also “Steve,” the adult-shaped but childlike host of  Blues Clues , an American chil...

Knight’s Dream –  ★★★☆☆  – Promising Muchadoaboutmusicals 17-22 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Inspired by Shakespeare’s  A Midsummer Night’s Dream , Muchadoaboutmusicals present the new musical  Knight’s Dream , set in an almost-five-star rated bar where a night out takes an unexpected turn. The cast of Knight's Dream, Liverpool preview show. Pic: Muchadoaboutmusicals. Knight’s Dream , written and directed by Constance Evans with choreography by Erin Bruda,   makes clear immediately what the focus of its story will be: the opening number “Love Drug,” describes a substance that “makes your pulse increase, your eyes dilate, the first person you see is your soulmate.” A riff on King of the Fairies Oberon’s use of the flower love-in-idleness in  MSND  to make both the young lovers and his own Queen Titania fall in love where they otherwise wouldn’t have, Love Drug now becomes something more clearly sinister: the active ingredient in a spiked cocktail ...

Witches Corner -  ★★★★☆ - Defiant theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (Venue 53): Mon 17 – Sat 22 Aug 2026 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 21 August 2026. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Magic or misogyny? asks  Witches Corner , a new sociopolitical play from Encapulus Productions that packs laughter, rage, song, and grief into an hour that questions how much has really changed for women since they were burned and hanged and stoned as witches. The play, written and directed by Eilidh Smith with music composed by Rona Johnston, is set in Pittenweem in Fife, a “bonnie wee toon where awbody kens awbody and awbody kens awbody’s business.” A scene from the preview performances of Witches Corner at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Pic: Alastair Moore. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !

Cavalleria Rusticana -  ★★★☆☆ - Introspective Pagliacci -  ★★★☆☆ - Ambitious Stockbridge Church (Venue 317): Wed 12 – Sat 15 Aug 2026 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 20 August 2026. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Aria Alba – Opera For All brings a double bill of one-act operas to Stockbridge Church this Fringe, with the classic pairing of Mascagni’s  Cavalleria Rusticana  and Leoncavallo’s  Pagliacci  in a programme that emphasises the women in these narratives of male jealousy and coercion. Both operas are performed in Italian with two screens positioned either side of the stage displaying brief summaries of what is happening, with occasional interjections of translated dialogue. This approach unfortunately reduces the detail of what most of the audience will understand compared to traditional translation. The screens also become invisible when the full company is on stage, and the pillars of ...

CQD to SOS: A Titanic Story -  ★★★☆☆ - Haunting Greenside @ Riddles Court (Venue 16): Mon 17 – Sat 22 Aug 2026 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 20 August 2026. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Bringing the Edinburgh Rep Company’s lineup of six centuries in six shows at the Fringe into the 20th century is  CQD to SOS: A Titanic Story , a glimpse into the infamous sea disaster through the eyes of its wireless operators: two on Titanic herself and one on Carpathia, racing through the ice-filled night to render aid. Like the stokers and engineers who fought the water belowdecks and kept Titanic’s power on until the last possible minute, wireless operators Harold Bride and Jack Phillips are figures in the history of the sinking that have attracted more attention and interest in recent years. S tephen McParland as Phillips and Daniel Drever as Bride. Pic: Edinburgh Rep. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !...

Jekyll and Hyde –  ★★★½  – Sharp   Muchmuchmore Theatre 17-22 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Muchmuchmore Theatre, the in-house theatre company of Runshaw College, returns to the Fringe with another adaptation of classic literature in the form of  Jekyll and Hyde , a re-imagining of Robert Louis Stevenson that relocates the dichotomies of human nature into a sociocritical lens connecting past and present.   A scene from Jekyll and Hyde. Pic: Muchmuchmore Theatre. The show jumps between nineteenth century London, where the widowed Harriet Jekyll is beginning to pick up the threads of her husband’s research a year after her death, and the present day where Florence Monroe is being questioned by police about a possible connection between her tumblr blog and a murder investigation. However, it’s not as simple as two parallel stories existing at different point in time: the boundaries between these worlds are cracked, with Florence observing the past, and charact...

The Witches of Macbeth –  ★★★½  – Intriguing Inanna’s Children 14-22 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Interleaving ancient Sumerian myth and pagan ritual with the story of Shakespeare’s  Macbeth,  Innana’s Children’s  The Witches of Macbeth  brings a novel approach to an old story. Inanna refers to a Sumerian goddess (also called Ishtar) and the epic poem  Descent of Inanna into the Underworld , wherein Inanna seeks to overpower its ruler, her sister Erishkigal. Passing through seven gates on her descent, Inanna must remove  a piece of her regalia each time, ultimately resulting in the loss of her life— though that’s not the end of her story.  The Witches of Macbeth  parallels this katabasis-like tale with the story of Macbeth and his descent into hubristic doom, with three witches narrating both Inanna’s journey and embodying every character in Macbeth’s but the Thane himself. Eve Kagan, Maurice Parent, and Spencer Evett as the w...

Macbeth: Blood and Bluegrass –  ★★★★½  – Innovative The Barden Party 7-29 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Returning from Aotearoa New Zealand after a triumphant 2025 EdFringe run, The Barden Party’s  Macbeth: Blood and Bluegrass  blazes through an adaptation of Shakespeare’s  Macbeth  that blends music, modernity, and command of the original text into a gripping new approach to an old story. Laura Irish as Macbeth. Pic: Steffen Taylor. After the speedy recitation of a te reo Māori prayer, the company launches straight into the action. Queen Duncan receives Sergeant Macduff who tells of Macbeth’s victory on the battlefield —“brave Macbeth, well she deserves that name”— followed quickly by the arrival of the lizardlike weird brothers in denim vests, and the genderslipperiness of the show is as firmly established as the story.    The show is not completely gender-swapped, with some roles such as Banquo retaining their traditional presentations, no...

The Tale of the Original Jekyll and Hyde (Told by a Mad Hatter from Stockport) –  ★★☆☆☆  – Confused Tall History Tales 7-29 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   “Welcome to the Bull’s Head Stockport, folks– not a place for the faint hearted, or for bulls, for that matter.”  So opens  The Tale of the Original Jekyll and Hyde (Told by a Mad Hatter from Stockport) , introducing its narrator Stanley, the hapless “everyman” character of writer and performer Andy Dickinson, and the mad hatter in question. A one-time partner in crime to Edinburgh’s notorious Deacon Brodie, Stanley sets out to tell Brodie’s story, and how this real-life man of two lives inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s dichotomous Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Promotional image for The Original Tale: Tall History Tales   The premise is intriguing, promising a new perspective on the life and crimes of Deacon Brodie and his posthumous connection to another of Edinburgh’s famous sons. Unfortunately, this connect...

Rebecca Mahar talks to the great monodramatist. Feature commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 18 August 2026. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Each year Edinburgh welcomes thousands of performers from across the world to the Fringe, from those just starting out to those with storied careers, and everyone in between. For the last third a century Edinburgh has, every Fringe, welcomed one performer who, over that time, has made a name for himself around the world as a celebrated – legendary even – monodrama performer. To say that Pip Utton, has done all the biggies, from Hitler to Thatcher, Francis Bacon to William Shakespeare, from Lear to a Christmas Carol, is to undervalue the nature of his performance. Utton has been those people, in a series of monodramas that allow him inhabit them like a chameleon on a leaf. Pip Utton in Bacon. Pic supplied. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full feature !

Shakespeare's Dead Dames -  ★★★☆☆ - Conflicted theSpace @ Niddry St (Venue 9): Wed 13 – Sat 15 Aug 2026 Review by Rebecca Mahar Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 17 August 2026. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Aberdeen’s Academy of Expressive Arts brings a company of Senior and HNC students to the Fringe in “their first production that’s not a musical”:  Shakespeare’s Dead Dames , directed by AEA founder and Principal, Shanna Logan. An exploration of what might have happened to some of his most famous women after Shakespeare killed them off, Dead Dames takes place in a purgatorial afterlife moderated by the Director, who keeps tabs on the women and lets them know when it’s their turn to live again – that is, when their respective plays are being revived. The cast and crew of Shakespeare's Dead Dames. Pic: Academy of Expressive Arts. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !

Elsa McTaggart: Capturing the Light –  ★★★★☆  – Peaceful sruth-mara in association with An Lanntair 7-28 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Blending music, visual art, and storytelling,  Elsa McTaggart: Capturing the Light  is a reflective time-out from the hustle and bustle of the Fringe, welcoming audiences into a space of history, family, and light. Promotional image. Pic: Ralph Tonge.   McTaggart, a multi-instrumental Scottish singer-songwriter with crofting roots, weaves her music through the story of her great-grandfather, the painter William McTaggert, another crofters’ child drawn to the arts. Though William had a thriving trade in portraiture, it was his obsession with the sea that drove him, and drew such comparisons as “what Constable did for landscape and Millet for peasant peoples, McTaggart is doing for the sea.”   Despite the short running time, McTaggart tells her story with unhurried cadence, from 1847 in Campbelltown where William was born...

The Eight Faces of Ellie Morrison –  ★★★★☆  – Action packed  Dashboard Light 7-29 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Touting itself as “the first mixed martial arts stage play,”  The Eight Faces of Ellie Morrison  from Dashboard Light rolls into the Fringe with raw energy and a whole lot of heart. Promotional image: Dashboard Light. Eight Faces  is the debut of playwright Sam Beeson, who trained in MMA, including stepping into the ring to fight (and win), as part of the play’s development. It focuses on Ellie Morrison, a rockstar with a substance abuse problem, and her brother Luke, a promising fighter who left the sport for safer —but less fulfilling— work. Ellie’s agent strikes a deal to get her a world tour, contingent on her convincing Luke to sign a contract for one more fight against an undefeated champ. During a drunken conversation Ellie tricks Luke into signing, but tragedy strikes before he can sober up to find out what he’s committed to— and it’s...

Burke'n'Hare: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor -  ★★★★★ - Bangin’ PBH’s Free Fringe @ CC Blooms (Venue 171): Sat 8 – Sun 30 Aug 2026 Review by Rebecca Mahar. Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 17 August 2026. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Burke’n’Hare: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor  at CC Blooms is a wildly irreverent, casually gruesome, curiously grounded look at Edinburgh’s most notorious serial killers. From Old’n’Dead Productions, the company behind  Elizabeth I: Regina Vagina  and  Charles II: Living Libido Loca , this is the third instalment in Beth Eltringham’s  Horrible Histories -inspired series of musical histories. Steven Shayegh as Burke and Andrew Lodge as Hare. Pic: Old'n'Dead Productions. Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !

Trans People Are Awful–  ★★★★★  – Intense Ros Watt in association with Camden People's Theatre 5-31 Aug Review by Rebecca Mahar   Part black comedy, part tragedy, all screaming reflection on identity and the constructs that may or may not make us whole,  Trans People Are Awful  is a land mine of a solo debut from rising Scottish actor Ros Watt. A scene from Trans People Are Awful. Pic: Ella Dale. Watt, himself a trans performer and writer of the show, plays Boy, a young trans guy out to collect the final, perfect body art he’s certain will make his transition —and his identity— whole. This of course involves murdering various cis men and stealing their parts until he finds the right one, until at last he positions himself in front of a camera to document the self-performed surgery that will both complete and kill him. Boy addresses the camera directly, explaining via various dramatic, frenetic, hilarious and haunting means, what he’s doing and why. But when he b...

Bloody Mary's -  ★★★★★ - Riveting theSpace @ Venue 45 (Venue 45): Fri 14 – Wed 19 August 2026 Review by Rebecca Mahar. Review commissioned by, and originally published on All Edinburgh Theatre, 17 August 2026. Edited by Thom Dibdin. Fat Pooch Productions makes its theatre debut at theSpace @ Venue 45 with  Bloody Mary’s , a rich, raw, riveting look inside the life and death of Mary McKinnon, a figure of notoriety and injustice in Edinburgh’s history. In 1823 McKinnon was the proprietor of a fashionable South Bridge brothel where, in Fat Pooch’s version of events, the women who worked as prostitutes received both care and protection from her. Regardless of how they had ended up in a life of sex work, Bloody Mary’s was a haven of choice – to engage or not engage with customers, and to perform only the acts which they desired, including that of simply providing companionship. Erin Clark as Mary McKinnon. Pic: Fat Pooch, Visit All Edinburgh Theatre to read the full review !