Top 10 Things to see at the Edinburgh Fringe

At this year's Edinburgh fringe I saw 35 shows, around 1% of the total on offer but here are my top recommendations. There were a couple of notable shows that did not quite make the top 10 recommendations: “Keith Moon: the real me” for Who fans, “Now that is what I call Brexit” for musical satire fans and “Paris de Nuit” for circus fans but here are my favourites ten.

The Dots ★★★★★

The Dots are a sophisticated singing trio, elegantly dressed, stylishly choreographed and word perfect ..at least they were until the soprano stormed out and the mezzo died. The remaining Dot Helen played by Helen Colby decides to carry on with under rehearsed understudies, Macey Cherett who wants to incorporate magic and Nerine Skinner an enthusiastic amateur. The joy of this show is that they each totally inhabit these comic creations.

Knock Knock ★★★★★

It is devised and performed by the Founders of Hot Coals Theatre, Clare-Louise English and Jo Sargeant who work so well together. You hardly notice that there are no words as they use movement and facial expressions synchronised with the beautiful underscore to tell their story. With their comical noses and Harris's sumptuous beard, so much of the emotion is expressed through their eyes and they exploit this wonderfully, never rushing the moment and always aware of the audience watching them. 

EDINBURGH FRINGE REVIEW: If I Die on Mars at theSpace @ Venue45

The Queen Mary (University of London) Theatre Company have booked four shows into theSpace and If I die on Mars is the latest to open for the first of six performances. It seems a timely play as we are engulfed by the effects of Global Warming , celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing and talk of travelling to Mars and space holidays grows. The play is partly verbatim theatre, partly reimagined and explores the process of recruiting for a one way trip to Mars and the real life failure of the Dutch company that started that process. As someone notes there is only a 30% chance of reaching Mars. 

The five young actors play multiple roles and at times we lose track of which they are and the whole show is simply staged using five white stools and a screen with projection of planets on. The direction by the writer Clarice Montero keeps them moving for much of the opening scenes which is a little distracting from the words being spoken but the stools are put to good use shining torches through the whole to create a star sky scape. 

The stand out performer is Peter Smart who has the most authoritative voice and the best comic timing. When he takes centre stage he takes control and even eating a bag of Quavers he makes a delightful mouthful of every bite as he sits with the others watching a reality TV show to select the first astronauts. There is good support from Andrew Atha as a twin competing to join the trip and from the three actresses Abigail Whitney, Sophie O'Connor and India Raniol. We seem them being interviewed for the job and for some explained reason discussing no sex in space.