89 Reviews for the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe (In order from most enjoyable to least)

Welcome to the 2026 version of my Fringe reviews. I am a 73-year-old retired Computer Science lecturer from the University of California in Davis who thinks even a bad play is better than no play at all. This year my wife, Debbie, is here. Unlike me, she has an excellent memory, and has acted and directed. While my ratings of enjoyment will not be affected by her, my reasoning may be. You can see my schedule at 2026 Schedule.htm. To learn more about scheduling regime, you can go to my Scheduling section after the reviews on this page. This year I have created a separate page that has my thoughts on reviewing as well as access to all of my reviews from the past, Reviewing and Archives.htm

You can change the sorting column of the table below by first clicking anywhere in its header. Each succeeding click in the header sorts the table by the column clicked. Succeeding clicks of a column will reverse the previous sort order. Sorting by the Date column on the right allows returning viewers to see my most recent reviews.

Fringe Festival Reviews

Rank	Review	Venue	Begins	Ends	Date
1.	The Singer (*****) A singer/songwriter with one hit who has writer’s block meets a deaf man who has a journal full of songs but who cannot break into the music business of the hearing world. The show utilizes speech, British Sign Language (BSL), music, and supertitles with the cast of four to draw us into the world of the deaf with both its challenges and the wonderful expressiveness of BSL. The catchy music and touching unusual lyrics of his songs provide a perfect soundtrack for this tale of prejudice and personal growth.	Traverse 1 at Traverse Theatre	19:00	20:20	4
2.	To My Wife's Next Lover (*****) In his hospital bed, a terminal patient writes a series of notes of how best to deal with his beloved wife in a wide range of interactions. Both the writing and acting are superb. When the second act started, I thought it would be a let down, but, instead it reinforced the power and depth of the play.	Clover Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court	21:50	22:50	7
3.	The Wolf of Poyais (*****) A con man from the 1820s presents to us eight rules to be a successful entrepreneur as he gives examples from his own 19^th century career of fraud. The show is based on the real exploits of Gregor MacGregor who, among other things, convinced London royalty, financial leaders, and 250 colonists of the reality of a completely fake Central American country. The actor is a perfect salesman for this wonderful combination of history lesson and get-rich-quick seminar.	Roxyboxy at Assembly Roxy	20:30	21:30	5
4.	War of the Worlds (On a Budget) (*****) A fellow, with his faithful techy/producer assistant, presents H.G. Wells’ story according to the book (not the movies), using humorously low budget props and endless charm. It has everything you hope for in a Fringe show: comedy, songs sung with a good voice, danger, cheap props and set, confrontation, political satire, triumph, and acting! If you want some good natured silliness created by a masterful duo, then this it! They close on the 15^th.	Upstairs at Pleasance Courtyard	12:00	13:00	13
5.	What Happens in the Dark (*****) This four handed farce beautifully exploits the concept that a storm causes the lights of a bedroom to go out with lovers and burglars interacting in a myriad of comical ways. At the start, the show establishes that light and dark are switched for the audience—when the stage is lit, the bedroom is pitch black for the bumbling characters, and when the stage is dark the characters can see. I rarely like farces, but the plot was perfect to mine the concept to the fullest in classic mistaken identity farce fashion.	Upper Theatre at theSpace @ Niddry St	20:15	21:05	14
6.	Elvis in Chaos (asked to be reviewed) (*****) A fellow has obviously spent a lot of time to create a set of both fun and powerful set of PowerPoint slides to assist him in his arguments for a series of diverse outrageous assertions. It felt like James Burke’s “Connections” TV show taken to the laughable limit. It was great fun to see how he could create a chain of possible cause and effects to “prove” that that the Monkees rock band caused the Cambodian Khmer Rouge.	Lime Studio at Greenside @ George Street	17:15	18:15	7
7.	A Play on Words (*****) Two friends have a verbal tennis match dissecting the grammar and meaning of each other’s sentences. If you like word play as much as we do, then you will love this fast paced show. Initially I feared that this would be a one note argument about communication, but was relieved when they moved on to several other entertaining topics, particularly the wording of an inflammatory demonstration sign.	Front Room at Assembly St. Andrews Square	15:30	16:30	9
8.	Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (****) A doctor of philosophy is arrested in Berlin two months are the Nazi Reichstag fire. Though the interactions with her interrogator are cordial, the specter of the Holocaust looms for us but is beyond the imagination of the characters. The play does a good job of demonstrating how seemingly innocent activity could be misinterpreted, but the actress spoke too quietly at times and was too old for the part.	Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre	10:15	11:35	6
9.	A Little Green Leaf (*****) In May 1945, an American captain in occupied Germany, stops a car containing a German officer and a woman who says that she is a French spy for the British. This two hander tells of her recruitment, espionage in France, and her years in captivity. The story is harrowing and ably assisted by the actor who plays all of his perfectly, including their accents.	Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Ha	9:50	10:45	8
10.	A Desperate Remedy (*****) A young, large cast recreates the Gunpowder Plot conspiracy from the first meeting until their capture along with their innocent priest. The play feels like a thorough re-enactment of all the significant events with fine acting by the entire cast. While I suppose this would be 4-stars, I especially enjoyed it because they were so good at such a young age.	Grand Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall	10:00	10:50	19
11.	The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show (Menu 1) (*****) The five short plays were about: how accents matter in the UK; dealing with a third wheel ex-lover; determining marriage compatibility in 100 minute; what a husband and wife are thinking while the watch TV; and a man whose super power is to change any interaction into a film noir experience. All five are funny and strong. My only criticism is that we both originally thought the two actors portraying what the TV couple were thinking were completely separate characters—maybe having them dress identically to their sources would have helped?	Pleasance One at Pleasance Courtyard	10:30	11:40	10
12.	The Event (****) A very personable, and accomplished actor, Mike McShane, describes his craft in real time in the third person. I originally saw this in 2011, and criticized the second act that complains about the world, but this version has softened that and maintained the third person throughout. The only fault in the amicable performance is that he had to read another brand new section provided by the playwright that he had just received.	Above at Pleasance Courtyard	12:30	13:30	11
13.	Jitters (****) Just before her wedding to a man twice her age, a 32-ear old bride finally meets his upset twentysomething son. The see-saw discussion has an unexpected complexity as each explains their positions and opinions. I appreciated that she defended the age difference without embarrassment.	Old Lab at Summerhall Festival	12:00	13:00	17
14.	Little Animals (****) With the chairs arrayed in a huge circle, a fellow recounts his experiences with his recently deceased best friend, Richard. While his recollections seem scattered, by the end Richard is a whole person. I found the somewhat chaotic approach intriguing.	Traverse @ The Lyceum Studio	16:00	17:10	18
15.	Fragments (****) or (**) The comedian Martin Bearne performs an autobiographical piece about a man who was abused by a pedophile and goes on to become a comedian who became addicted to alcohol and drugs. In our audience of four older people, all of his joke fell flat and his tale was poorly told, hence the two stars. However, if of all the poor jokes and worthless asides were intentional (which they may well be), then this is a great performance of a sober man portraying a loser comedian creating self-serving play, but without a moment where we are let in on the fact that it is just a performance.	Hoot 3 at Hoots @ The Apex	18:20	19:10	10
16.	An Audience with Virginia Woolf: Writing One's Mind (****) Inspired by a speech Wolf made to the National Society for Women’s Service in 1931, an actress plays Wolf giving a speech about women’s place in the world and literature over the years. With perfect diction and a beautiful singing voice, she conveys the power of Wolf’s vision. The passages from past authors and her own books contribute to the power and beauty of this piece.	Drawing Room at Assembly Rooms	11:00	12:00	16
17.	Bog Witch (****) Bryony Kimmings wrote and performed this solo show about her time trying to live in rural Sussex on their farm. She has a good voice for her songs and wrote story with a good mix of drama and comedy. However, she relied on audience participation for the last act which contributed little and slowed the pace to a crawl.	Traverse 1 at Traverse Theatre	10:15	11:35	9
18.	The Night Ali Died (****) This solo show has twentysomething chemist getting mixed up with drugs and murdered. As the story follows a chain of violence the time of death of each character is presented before they tell their tale. Despite knowing the outcome, the actor kept me rivetted.	Space 2 at theSpace on the Mile	19:15	20:05	9
19.	The New Year (Asked to be reviewed) (****) A 14-year old girl meets a purported high school fellow at an online New Years party, and the relationship develops in a most 14-year old way. Their antics seem spot on for a texting generation, but I am 73. There was a fan that obscured a few of her lines, but otherwise it was aa wonderful reminder of early adolescence.	Mint Studio at Greenside @ George Street	13:55	14:55	9
20.	Sinatra: One Last Shot (****) Unlike last year, Richard Shelton spent much more time detailing Sinatra’s last decade of life than singing his songs from the 1970s. He certainly can still imitate Sinatra’s singing, but we found learning of his personal life more interesting. It was fascinating to learn that Frank repeatedly visited his ex-wife, Ava Gardner at her London home to ask her to join him as he made his triumphant last tour of the world.	Dirty Martini at Le Monde	15:30	16:30	13
21.	Mythos: Ragnarok (****) Odin of Norse mythology and his various relations repeatedly wrestle to determine who shall rule the nine worlds. While I would have never attended a WWW professional wrestling match, I am so happy that I was exposed to the skill of these people live. I was amazed at how a huge man (or woman) can be thrown from great heights without harming them, the thrower, nor the person they might land on.	Music Hall at Assembly Rooms	21:25	22:45	6
22.	For Dolores (****) Two women who live together and share raising a baby visit a counselor to talk about their fractured friendship. I had trouble with the Glaswegian’s accent during the early, weaker, section, but she slowed down in the last act. It was the power of the last act that made the relatively mundane groundwork before it worth it.	Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre	15:15	16:35	6
23.	Steve Burns: Alive (****) This solo show has the former TV children’s show host often using the very close-up video camera technique of the show to tell of his career. His affable personality is in contrast to his depression and difficulty with being thought dead by the world even when he appeared live on TV. In the end, it is a delightful hour a mix of touching memories and live humor.	Belly Button at Underbelly; Cowgate	17:20	18:20	12
24.	Keeping Secrets (****) A former child magician tells of his passion for magic, career helping people, and abuse when an adolescent. His approach is unusual as he calmly covers almost his entire life before reviewing how he was groomed by a magician. It warms my heart that he is deeply involved in helping magician organizations to ensure that young magicians are now better protected from such abuse.	Stephenson Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall	9:25	10:25	14
25.	Water Colour (****) A water colour student with painter’s block and a dishwasher with an abusive chef have trouble dealing with their issues. It is a fine production that gives regular “small” lives some attention. In the end, it was quite satisfying.	Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre	20:30	21:45	18
26.	Glenn Moore: Work in Progress (****) The established comedian uses his I-pad to prompt him as he tests out a wide variety of jokes that usually are quite humorous. Beside the amusing content, I enjoyed seeing the beginning of the process of creating a routine from a mix of thematic jokes with standalone one-liners. Because I have neighbor back in the USA who is from Croydon, I laughed the most at Moore’s allusion to that city’s dark reputation by saying that he was on a first name basis with the crime photographer.	Monkey Barrel 1 at Monkey Barrel Comedy	11:05	12:05	4
27.	Cathy (****) After the interment of a woman’s beloved husband, her daughter and granddaughter must try to deal with her bereavement. As usual, I couldn’t understand enough of their thick Scottish accent to find the early one liners funny while the crowd roared with laughter. As the play continued it got more serious and slower so that I could understand more and appreciate the drama. Though most of the audience loved the show, I did find the plot mundane and predictable though still touching.	Traverse 1 at Traverse Theatre	19:00	20:20	7
28.	Iain Dale: All Talk with Nicola Sturgeon (****) Nicola Strugeon, former head of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and wife of a convicted embezzler from the SNP responded to questions from Iain and the audience. Since I have no dog in this fight, I could appreciate her forthrightness without the “she must of known” taint. Her comments on various political questions demonstrated just what a consummate politician she is.	Lomond Theatre at Pleasance at EICC	12:00	13:10	8
29.	Daisy Pulls It Off (****) The large older adult cast creates a spoof of a story of an 11-year old state school girl in the 1920s who receives a scholarship to a prestigious private girls school and then is subjected to dirty tricks by some rich snobs. With the adults playing the kids and a man playing the head this show mines the gentle humor without slapstick nor pantomime. Though the plot proceeded as expected, that isn’t a drawback as the excellent cast just made for a fun time.	Fleming Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall	9:25	10:40	13
30.	Ali Affleck Presents the Louis Armstrong Duets with Ella Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby (****) With a piano, bass, and trumpet trio backing her Ali sang songs from the 1930s to the 1960s. The talented musicians brought every song to life. As an aspiring pianist, I particularly enjoyed the improvisations of the pianist.	Venue (Partially Seated) at The Jazz Bar	17:30	18:30	17
31.	After Party (****) A former leading lady, “glama” to her grandchildren, invites her children and grandchildren to what they expect to be one of her famous grand birthday parties. This large play had an interval, and I was impressed by how the second act successfully tied up all of the many loose ends, particularly that of the docile grandson. The problem was that the dramatic content did not justify the show’s length.	Traverse 1 at Traverse Theatre	14:30	16:35	8
32.	TWITCH (****) This solo show has a psychologically troubled mother with delusions who is trying to find her grown son my querying her townsfolk. We feel sorry for both her and the people subjected to her intense interviews. We marveled at how she successfully differentiated between the many characters with such subtle changes of voice and facial expressions.	Clover at Underbelly; Bristo Square	18:55	19:55	12
33.	Houdini Speaks to the Living (****) Houdini debunks the “magical” spiritualist experiences that his good friend Arthur Conan Doyle says he has experienced for himself. Houdini carries of both the magic and mentalist feats perfectly. While unexpected, Doyle’s final argument fit his strange mix of belief in both spiritualism and the power of science.	Space 1 at theSpace on the Mile	22:10	23:05	8
34.	The Great Train Robbery (***) A huge cast recreates the robbery at the same time it recreates the manhunt. Because of the well defined characters, all but the crowd scenes worked well. A chase scene utilizing shifting cardboard boxes as obstacles and landmarks was novel and effective.	temple at C ARTS | C venues | C aquila	13:40	14:40	14
35.	D H Lawrence: The Prussian Officer (***) An army office and his new aide have moments a violence. The quiet tale of subordination gone amok is a fine example of incremental abuse. The aide’s final words suit the character perfectly.	Space 2 at theSpace on the Mile	15:10	15:55	14
36.	That's Why Mums Go to Switzerland (***) The actress hangs clothes on a wash line as she tells of moving her family into her stiff, accomplished mother’s house. As we hear of the interactions between the mother and each member of the family with the daughter as go-between, we get a sense of a family held together by the daughter. The modern dynamics feel real, and the final act cements a sense of a family caring for itself no matter what.	Clover at Underbelly; Bristo Square	11:25	12:25	12
37.	Safety (***) This solo show has a sympathetic psychotherapist faces some moral dilemmas in his dealings with his patients. Some probles are subtle and others could have major repercussions. The final act is surprising but subtly both correct and wrong.	Daisy at Underbelly; Bristo Square	11:45	12:45	19
38.	Absolute Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons (***) The quartet started out with their three #1 hits, then sang a mix of popular and more obscure songs, and then ended with the obligatory big song. They had a decent guitarist and good voices, but the occasional fake playing by the other guitarist was disappointing and distracting. It made it harder to ignore that much of the music was pre-recorded.	Shanghai at Le Monde	14:30	15:20	15
39.	The Provocateurs: A Disease by Any Other Name / Forget the Alzheimer's Test? (***) One researcher taught us about how developing trust is important to getting a populace to increase their participation in vaccination programs. The other researcher covered how tangles of proteins (plaque) and clusters of tau , a soecific protein, can lead to dementia, and how a new drug cleans them from the brain but doesn’t reduce their production. Both presenters were hindered by the Provocateurs rule that they couldn’t use PowerPoint for some reason.	Stand 2 at The Stand Comedy Club 2	13:45	14:45	16
40.	A Brief History of Musical Theatre (***) A cast of 30 singers gives renditions of songs from 31 musical theater shows dating from 1866, and accompany many with some snappy choreography. The number of singers for each song was usually based on the original performance with most of the earlier songs being the hits and some more obscure songs for the more recent. The singing was great and the choreography, but I was surprised when there no examples from “My Fair Lady”, nor “Hamilton”.	The Nave at Edinburgh New Town Church	19:45	21:15	13
41.	Goodbye Dandelion (***) This solo show has a woman volunteering to begin to visit an elderly woman twice a month and their friendship slowly grows close. As their relationship evolves, they both develop a better appreciation of life and death. I realize that is a pretty mundane plot but she carries it off beautifully.	Belly Dancer at Underbelly; Cowgate	16:10	17:10	12
42.	A FACE (***) This four hander depicts the whole life of Helen of Troy from her viewpoint. The show effectively visits her many locations utilizing just a simple set of drapes to indicate the location. The young company does a good job with a straightforward script and a low budget.	Space 1 at theSpace on the Mile	9:10	10:00	12
43.	Becoming Dr Ruth (***) An actress portrays the famous sex advisor telling of her diverse life from Nazi Germany to Switzerland to France to Israel the USA. The many real family photos from her life give the show an unexpected realism. Though I learned many things about her life, including being shipped to Switzerland as a young child only to be an unwanted ward of a family, the fact that her doctorate was in Education and not psychology best explained her later career path.	Front Room at Assembly St. Andrews Square	16:55	18:05	13
44.	The Unsolvable Case of Keir Starmer (***) At three critical junctures in his career we see Starmer visits to a psychotherapist. He is portrayed as a practical problem solver, like his toll maker father, who thinks that the empathetic part of his later roles is not important. As an American, I think he seems to be a good man who lacks some of the characteristics necessary to be a successful leader to a nation.	Studio at theSpaceTriplex	9:30	10:20	18
45.	A Microscopic Odyssey (***) A cast of four utilize an overhead projector to follow the path of biological discovery of a man who retreated from the social world after losing his home in a huge earthquake as a boy. Much of the piece uses physical theatre to represent a variety of interactions between organisms—both large and small. While I found their creativity fun, their staging had some events only visible to a small set of the audience.	Beside at Pleasance Courtyard	11:35	12:35	5
46.	Alice Hawkins -- Working Class Suffragette (***) The great grandson of Hawkins uses a PowerPoint presentation to tell of the life of the woman who worked in a Leicester shoe factory, and in her spare time advocated for fair pay and the vote for women. While the Pankhurst women were more renowned, his photos make it clear that Hawkins was also deeply involved in the protests. This is a simple tale of an ancestor’s prominent role in history.	The Vault at Paradise in The Vault	11:20	12:20	18
47.	The Umbrella Man: What We Talk About When We Talk About the JFK Assassination (***) A fellow explores the sources of evidence relating to the JFK assassination. The information ranges from how Mr. Nuda came to take the famous home movie from that plinth to the search for the man who happened to open his umbrella at the moment of the gunshots. His presentation is thorough and interesting.	Theatre 2 at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall	9:45	10:35	15
48.	Ulster's Doctor Death: The Killer Case of John Bodkin Adams (***) An Irish tour guide uses the tool of his trade, a simple flip binder, to tell the life story of a doctor who was found innocent of serial murders. The presenter provides evidence of a modus operandi that the doctor may have used more than 150 times to murder his patients after they changed their wills to benefit him. He was a good tour guide.	Clover Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court	13:45	14:35	18
49.	Surreally Good (***) The son of the founder of the recently acquired Edutainment company uses an overhead projector to follow the proscribed syllabus in his own, surreal way. The acetate sheets run the gamut from sunbathing, bikini clad bunny to a fisherman catching his wife during a storm with occasional short poems along the way. This personable fellow has created a good hearted, fun, ramshackle show suited to the experimental side of the Fringe.	Former Womens Locker Room at Summerhall	17:20	18:20	16
50.	Witch? Women on Trial (***) A woman describes matrilineal societies and then the witch hunts of Scotland focusing on the first panic from 1590 to 1662. Other than pricking she mercifully avoids describing the other tortures, but does cover the ordeals of prison life. It is a solid prestation about the Scottish witch hunts.	Tarot Room at Museum of Magic; Fortune-Telling and Witchcraft	18:30	19:30	14
51.	44 Minutes (***) Four strangerz find themselves in an electrified cage with a clock that is counting down from 44 minutes. Of course the show is al about the tension as the four deal with the looming deadline. While their acting was superb, I can only say that that was the big problem for me with the final explanation—they were too good.	Front Room at Assembly Rooms	21:05	22:05	16
52.	Call Me Elizabeth: from Burton to Humanitarian (***) As the title indicates, Taylor spends most her time on her work promoting AIDs awareness and her tempestuous relationship with Richard Burton. There are lots of interesting facts here but the author should have had someone else play the part who better matched Taylor’s heavier, well experienced personality. Her close relationship with the Reagans, even when he was president, was a surprise, though understandable.	Studio Two at Assembly George Square Studios	15:30	16:30	16
53.	Meteors (***) An Australian woman tells of her last months with her dying mother. While she tells the story well, I felt that I had heard it all before in other plays. While a meteor shower was supposed to tie the tale together, I found the section where the two holed-up in the house most interesting.	Former Womens Locker Room at Summerhall	21:00	22:00	15
54.	The Late Utopians (***) A real New York City journalist portrays her assignment in investigate that city’s burgeoning rave scene in the 2010s, and her attending love affair with one of the ravers. This seemed more like a love story than an exploration of the utopian counter-culture. Both stories were bittersweet, but the latter would have been more interesting for me.	Iron Belly at Underbelly; Cowgate	14:10	15:10	12
55.	Mrs. Gary Breath (***) This solo show has a 34-year old woman offered a 150,000 pound reward by her parents on her birthday if she is married by her 35^th birthday. After quickly devising a devious plan to get the reward, the bulk of the story is her having to deal with the many unplanned obligations that the scheme entails. The story is cute, but most of the events are predictable.	Snug Bar at Assembly Roxy	16:40	17:40	11
56.	Long Story Short (***) A large cast presents four short plays, a la Big Bite Size Breakfast: each of a couple gives their substantially different version of a conversation; a conservative mother writes a pornographic play; a lonely woman has a conversation with her plant; and a 15-minute murder mystery. The three short plays all worked well, but the mystery was a little weak. I appreciated the slow reveal and gender differences in the porn play.	Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall	18:25	19:20	18
57.	The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show (Menu 2) (***) Four of the topics of this menu’s five short plays were: a woman takes up stargazing only because she likes the astronomer; in a restaurant a woman’s boyfriend invents excuses rather than deal with a bore; after their mother dies a brother of a bride doesn’t like his stepfather; and three Jane Austin woman give voice to their own narration. Note that neither of us could remember the play titled “Stardust” on the same day! Only “Narratively Speaking” rose above the mundane.	Pleasance One at Pleasance Courtyard	10:30	11:40	11
58.	A Simply Beastly Murder (***) This noir two hander has a down and out private detective inviting his prim siter to help him to solve the murder of the sister of his lover. While the detective drips of noir, the sister lampoons the imperial British high society of the Famous Five series of children’s books. I think that readers of that series will love the many allusions to them, but, without that background, I found that Sam Spade and a children’s adventure do not mix well.	Jack Dome at Pleasance Dome	13:20	14:20	5
59.	Call Me Elizabeth: from Lassie to Cleopatra (***) Just before Elizabeth Taylor resumes filming Cleopatra she welcomes us into her suite in the Beverley Hills Hotel while she dictates her autobiography. The actress’s often flat portrait lacked the range of the characters Taylor portrayed. Most of the trouble lies in a script that has her describing how she felt with little actual emotional investment in the telling.	Studio Two at Assembly George Square Studios	15:30	16:30	5
60.	The Provocateurs: When Silence Listens / Galactic Archaeology (***) One researcher taught about how to best interact with a coma patient to increase the probablity that they will awaken. The other researcher was a planetary archaelogist who taught about how galaxies, suns, and planets come to be the way they are. Both did a fine job of keeping us interested and teaching their topic.	Stand 2 at The Stand Comedy Club 2	13:45	14:45	13
61.	The Provocateurs: Your Mind's World / Panic! at the Cortex (***) One researcher spoke of how the brain treats imagined sensory input the same as if he came from the real world. The other researcher said that the key to understanding anxiety was prediction error, i.e. level of sureness. They presented their assertions, but offered little proof.	Stand 4 at The Stand Comedy Club 3 &; 4	17:35	18:35	9
62.	Dirty Dancer (*** or **) The often gyrating performer guides the audience through the whole “Dirty Dancing” movie with her own dance moves and commentary. If you remember and liked the movie, then you may find her enthusiasm infectious, but if you are like me and haven’t seen it since it came out, then you will find the show pretty worthless. I particularly didn’t like the somewhat forced audience participation.	Belly Laugh at Underbelly; Cowgate	19:25	20:25	16
63.	Democrazy (***) This zany show has two guys on a Pacific island use masks to satirize undemocratic regimes. Ukelele playing, mime, and broad comedy combine well for this sort of low brow show. The division of dictatorial spoils among the audience members and a rigged “votemeter” suited their tale and style.	Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall	11:00	11:50	15
64.	A Better Memory (***) A recent widow copes with her grief by talking with an AI bot that contains his personality and memories. The choice to have the actor portraying the AI voice actually roaming the stage while the bot’s smart speaker sat on a table felt wrong. It seemed like just an updated ghost story.	The Green at Pleasance Courtyard	18:30	19:30	11
65.	0:45:00 (***) The audience is behind a virtual one way mirror to watch and judge five particpants who will each receive a large sum of money for participating in a pharmaceutical trial. I found the premise of the experiment too unrealistic to suspend my disbelief. The acting of the subjects was fine, but the experimenter character could not escape the ill-conceived premise despite her rationalizations.	Stephenson Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall	10:35	11:35	17
66.	Fractured (***) A depressed woman is interviewed after being found in a car crash with her brother. The protagonist on the stage all of the time as she veers between various interviews and flashbacks of the events pursued by the interviewers. The failure of the actress who portrayed both her mother and an interrogator to differentiate her two characters meant that the already confusing play became an almost complete jumble.	Belly Dancer at Underbelly; Cowgate	12:50	13:50	12
67.	11½ Angry Men (***) Set in 1950s New York City, twelve comedians and actors join to tell the story of jurors changing their minds in a murder trial that could send the defendant to the electric chair. You would think it a fool’s errand to try to find humor in a setting upon which a man’s life depends, and it was. Many of the un-miked jurors were hard to hear in the large auditorium, there efforts at humorous sniping among themselves added little, and their casual flip flopping belittled these “men”.	Pentland Theatre at Pleasance at EICC	14:30	15:50	11
68.	NON HUMAN ANIMAL (***) An Irish woman, whose father was murdered years ago, still must deal with depression and her troubled mother. The story is heartbreaking, but I could barely understand half of what she said because of her strong accent.	Billiard Room at Gilded Balloon Teviot	16:00	17:00	10
69.	Mariella Frostrup: Cracking the Menopause (***) A TV presenter presents information about different aspects of menopause with an actress occasionally portraying people and objects from those aspects. Some of the information was new to me, but the method of presentation was weak. Both the presenter and actress read from scripts, which seemed lazy for a Fringe show.	Debating Hall at Gilded Balloon Teviot	14:30	15:40	10
70.	You Are What You Eat (Asked to be reviewed) (***) Bumbling best buddies decide to become private detected and are immediately enmeshed in a murder. Zany doesn’t do it for me, and this whole show is full of buffoonery, particularly the fight scenes. On top of that, neither protagonist was endearing.	Space 1 at theSpace on the Mile	20:50	22:00	9
71.	Fun-Size Wine Tasting (***) A wine dealer offered us four wines from Italy, South Africa, and Romania and gave us short descriptions of their origins and tasting notes. The wines tasted good and were surprisingly inexpensive, but there was too much chatting and not enough teaching for me. I was surprised to learn that Prosecco is neither a style of wine nor a variety of grape but must be made from at least 85% Glera grapes.	Boardroom at Vegan Tipples	16:00	17:00	4
72.	Paddy Hill: Inside Out (***) Paddy, one of the innocent Birmingham Six, describes is actual activites at the time of the bombing and how he survived for sixteen years in prison. His thick Irish brogue meant I could not understand significant parts of his tale. It seemed to me that he just spent the bulk of the play just describing different ways he was a tough guy.	Fleming Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall	20:45	21:25	8
73.	Supposing: (***) After falling down a hole, a woman suddenly has to contend with a chorus (a la Cassandra) of 17 voices who seemingly are aware of the future. I must admit that I nodded off a couple of times, but each time I awoke she was just as schizophrenic as before. Her husband’s response was spot on, but her character seemed just a two-dimensional incoherent creature of a play.	Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre	12:45	14:05	6
74.	14th Year! John Hunt Four O'Clock Afternoon Blues and Swing (**) Hurt plays a mix of his own blues songs and covers of popular swing songs. He has a good voice and certainly plays the guitar well, but I didn’t like any of the songs he wrote. He’s no Sinatra but his cover of “Fly Me to the Moon” was interesting.	Venue (Partially Seated) at The Jazz Bar	16:00	17:00	15
75.	Nocturnal Is The New Sexy (**) Just as a couple moves into a flat she must change to the night shift which puts a strain on the relationship. With only an initial game with two loud friends, we never see a normal, loving relationship that might of existed before the work change. The cast did a good job of changing the complicated sets, but there were way too many time consuming set changes when a better designed set would need none.	Space 1 at theSpace on the Mile	13:30	14:20	17
76.	Big Dog (**) A journalist joins a team of two women who write scripts for a true crime podcaster who they never meet. While the show is supposed to be a critique of the heartless influencers who will do anything to draw an audience regardless of the pain they cause victim’s family and friends, the loud farcical portrayals betray its goal. The hysteria of the last act again deprives it of almost any of its potential power.	Dram at Gilded Balloon Patter House	18:20	19:20	5
77.	1918: The Final Salome (**) In 1918, an actress who portrayed Oscar Wilde’s Salome topless is on trial for indecency, and the prosecution is using Wilde’s words against her. The play is quite slow, with much of it spent on the argument between Wilde’s son and Wilde’s editor/lover. Lots of word and little action made it hard for both of us to stay awake.	Olive Studio at Greenside @ George Street	19:35	20:30	17
78.	A&E (**) Set in an A&E waiting room we follow the interactions among four patients and the reception clerk. The high strung drug addict dominated the story but a waiting room has, by its nature, rather limited action. The plot went nowhere.	theSpace @ Symposium Hall - Annexe	23:05	0:05	15
79.	Fear and Misery of the Third Reich (**) The four cast members offered three vignettes about the abuse of the abuse of the Jews in Germany before the war started. The whole show is slow, visually dark, and somber with only a set of reality-denying telephone conversations offering us a respite. It lives up to its title, but offers nothing else.	Ivy Studio at Greenside @ George Street	21:05	21:50	17
80.	Shotgunned (**) The show starts with a man returning to his lover’s flat after having just moved out. The play is a mess with chaotic flashbacks, no chemistry between the lovers, and a musical number that appears out of nowhere. A shouting math was completely unintelligible.	Studio Five at Assembly George Square Studios	15:10	16:10	17
81.	Lil' Miss Kate - Ward of the State (**) A company of five put on a radio play about a Little Orphan Annie type protagonist who has an adventure in a big city. I was so bored that I repeatedly nodded off with Debbie telling me that I missed nothing. The acting was fine, but the script was worthless.	Mint Studio at Greenside @ George Street	13:00	13:40	15
82.	Hamlet (an experience) (**) Around ten people in the audience volunteered to read roles in an abridged “Hamlet” with director playing Hamlet. I can only imagine that some of the players had a good time but for it was only a mild diversion hamstrung by people reading from a script without significant guidance. It seemed like an excuse for the director to play Hamlet than anything for anyone else.	George Mackay Brown Library at Scottish Storytelling Centre	16:30	17:30	14
83.	Detective Blank: A One-Man Noir (**) This short solo show has a noir private detective, a la Sam Spade, interacting with pre-recorded noises and conversations supplied by a loudspeaker. With only a desk as a prop, the large stage swallowed the thin plot and left us with little more than a shadow of “The Maltese Falcon” movie. The biggest problem was that there were no clues for a “detective” to solve.	temple at C ARTS | C venues | C aquila	12:40	13:10	14
84.	The Hobbit (**) This abbreviated high school play does touch on most aspects of the book but has minimal production values. The worst part was that the director inappropriately laughed, whooped, and applauded throughout the show often when no one else did. However, the dragon was well done, and the young cast did know their lines well, particularly Bilbo.	Venue 45 at theSpace @ Venue 45	10:30	11:50	7
85.	Wherefore Art Thou; Woman-Hater? (**) Two women and a keyboardist seemingly produce a 16^th century playing all the parts, including a woman posing as a man. Since women weren’t allowed to act in the 16^th century, the play lacked the humor of a man playing a woman playing a man of the original. They also broke into song at times so that where we had expected the Renaissance we got rap.	Stephenson Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall	14:40	13:25	7
86.	Badgers (**) A combination of loud backgrounds, my poor hearing, and a strange presentation made this whole play pretty incoherent for me. Flashing lights and a voice modifier didn’t help. Though one of our group gave it two thumbs up, three of us just kept hoping it would end.	Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre	18:00	19:20	6
87.	Gerry Carroll: Young (Ased for a review) (**) Last year, I saw Carroll present an abridged “A Christmas Carol”, and I wrote that is was “.. with nary a missed line.” At 73, his age has caught up with him. Now, it was like listening to the rambling reminiscing of your doddering grandfather.	Just the Tonic;The Attic;The Mash House	14:40	15:35	7
88.	This Little Thing of Ours (**) With a very loud rock band behind them, a large cast follows the recent events of a young, ambitious mafioso/restauranteur who dreams of being the head of the family. The plot and conversations are fine but the music is too loud and makes many of the lyrics unintelligible. The band was talented, but those lyrics that I could hear were lousy.	Venue 45 at theSpace @ Venue 45	22:30	23:30	17
89.	WENCH (**) A drag artist sings and tells tales of 17^th century witches and other scorned women. The amplification was so loud that I could rarely understand them, so I left. Debbie stayed for a while longer and found them ill-prepared. Despite it being a preview, a wardrobe malfunction and several prompts made an average performance even less enjoyable, and Debbie left after 40 minutes	Bluebell at Underbelly; George Square	22:45	23:55	5

Scheduling

I expect to see between 150 and 190 shows this year. Because the Fringe website no longer allows search results to be downloaded as csv files, I wrote a C++ program, main.cpp that parses the html files results from the saved files produced from searches on edfringe.com, and stores the information in a .csv (comma separated file), named AllShows2026.csv. I also converted AllShows2026.csv to an Excel file, AllShows.xls. Each includes information about 3690 shows available on 5 June. The coding for the availability of each show for each day is: 0=No show, 1= Sold out/cancelled, 2= Available, 3= 2-for-1, 4= Preview, 5= Free Fringe. Since the information is from 5 June, it doesn’t include information about the 300 shows added after that. I have also not updated their cancellations and sold out days.

To save time during the Fringe, this year I wrote a C++ program that schedules our shows based on our ratings from their descriptions in the Fringe program, number of performances, and travel time between venues. It has plotted a schedule of 192 shows but we have only bought tickets to the 130 shows to which we gave 4 or 5 stars. That leaves room to replace some scheduled shows with those recommended by other Fringe goers. As usual, the biggest problem is that comedy dominates the Fringe evening programming, and I prefer theatre. If you are curious about the full 192 schedule it is here, ourSchedule.txt. The dates in the file are not in ascending order to guarantee that the 30^th and 31^st are filled and the 18th, 20^th, 25^th, and 27^th are more available for recommend shows.