Points of view: theatre, comedy and news
Paddy Young returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with a new hour after smash-hit success of his debut. Here he chats to Pepper&Salt about If I Told You I'd Have to Kiss You, his foray into online sketch comedy and Quakers Theories.
Dan Tiernan returns to the Fringe with his tricky second hour, Stomp, once more terrorising audiences with his dark and forthright humour and the occasional twisted punchline.
The National Health Service has been a significant part of the British national, social and political consciousness when it was first established in 1948. Since then, budget cuts, privatization, staff shortages, long waiting lists, underpayment of staff and the COVID-19 pandemic has knocked it off its footing. Wake The Beast’s In The Sick Of It is a verbatim theatre piece devised from interviews with NHS staff across different departments, about their experiences working for the NHS.
Saddling up to make her debut this year, Lil Wenker gives Pepper&Salt some insight into her new clown comedy, BANGTAIL, Alan himself and her clowning journey to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Friendship break-ups are more common than we think and we don’t talk about them. In Nobody’s Talking About Jamie (Taylor’s Version) Jamie Finn blows the lid on this topic and brings it into the light (onstage), and explores the idea how someone can be the most important part of your life to suddenly not having a role in it.
There is a catharsis in watching comedy, to watching live performance. Grace Campbell Is On Heat is one such show, where her compelling storytelling and performance drives this hour, where she opens up and reflects about her experience having an abortion, the process and the aftermath that she was left to deal with.
It’s hard to know what to expect from character comedy, but there’s something about Rachel Fairburn’s Side-Eye that is just really satisfying to watch. Maybe it’s the gossip, maybe it’s the drama, maybe it’s just watching some terrible people be terrible, who knows, but Fairburn’s writing and development of these characters is exquisite.
Queen of the one-liner, Celya AB wields the craft of comedy incredibly well, really an understatement in its self. With a total of 100 jokes going at a rate of 16p, Of All People is another example of how she has claimed her crown and an example of the versatility of her mastery over the stand-up art form. At 16p a joke, we more than get our money’s worth.
Live from the World Arena Tour, Katie Pritchard’s I Kiss The Music is a delightfully silly show that uses character and musical comedy to take us into a world with nonsensical catch-phrases, countless body rolls and a pink poncho.
They say the early bird gets the worm, and the worm in this case is Alex Prescot’s I've Got a Song About That, an absolutely delightful, light stand-up show full of music, laughter and good times where he proves that he absolutely does have a song about just about anything.
Pepper & Salt 