By Jay Richardson, Claire Smith, Sally Stott

Published 22nd Aug 2023, 13:24 BST

Updated 22nd Aug 2023, 13:36 BST

String V SPITTA ****

Pleasance Courtyard (Pleasance Above) (Venue 33) until 26 August

This supremely well-crafted, slickly executed two-hander from Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Ed MacArthur has enjoyed successive acclaimed runs at London's Soho Theatre and is being piloted for television by the BBC. And it's easy to see why.

A tale of warring children's entertainers seeking to dominate the London's kid's party scene, it has all the showy set-pieces, musical numbers, magic and jokes you could wish for to fulfil a childlike desire for spectacle. Yet it's borne on a pacy, neatly plotted narrative arc of rivalry, friendship and betrayal.

From different sides of the tracks, privileged, classically-trained musician Mr String (MacArthur) and streetwise rapper MC SPITTA (Smith-Bynoe) have carved up East and West London between them, but both have designs on being top dog, with the jewel in the crown of their empires a birthday party for a Russian oligarch's daughter.

Like Salieri in Amadeus, String fumes at his coarse rival's natural talent but schemes his way into turning them into a double act to secure the lucrative gig, while instinctive lone wolf SPITTA finds his head turned by the model mother of the birthday girl.

With some limited improv elements, the otherwise tightly wound show leans on childhood nostalgia and muscle memory of participation in party games, all the while undermining that too with the pair's bickering and sniping, occasionally exploding into, say, String's denunciation of London's reputation as a Russian money launderette, or SPITTA drifting off into lovestruck reverie.

A giddy blend of colourful fun and bitchy cynicism, whether dovetailing or roasting each other, MacArthur's piano and Smith-Bynoe's raps are in delightful synchronicity. And the whole production is just so densely layered with enjoyable throwaway gags, asides, ad-libs and that irrepressible desire to entertain displayed by the best performers for any age demographic.

Jay Richardson

Mike Rice – Hand of a Sinner ***

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn (Beehive 1) (The Lounge) (Venue 178) until 27 August

Affectionately fondling the heads of his front row, roistering Irish stand-up Mike Rice is a delight to spend time in the orbit of. Sharing tales of his misadventures, from Wexford, to Barcelona, to Berlin, he's an irrepressible pleasure-seeker and incorrigible force of nature.

A drug-free existence and steady relationship don't seem to be his natural state. But he's trying, even if his anecdotes largely rely on him crashing from one hedonistic pursuit to another.

Morally ambiguous, he'll happily pretend to be gay to secure free sexually transmitted disease treatment in Germany. But his most debauched tale, of sharing a threesome with a friend, is essentially a loving ode to comradeship, of acknowledging a pal's devotion, like someone who'll unthinkingly hold your pint for you, even when you're going at it hammer and tongs.

Rarely given to understatement, an adolescent trip to a Catalan beach, where he was surrounded by the nakedly displayed female form, is recalled like a religious epiphany.

And he revels in retelling his chatting up of a South American girl, passionately rolling her vowels round his mouth like he's enjoying the sensuality of it all over again. With a poetic bent to his hell-raising, Rice is barking good value.

Jay Richardson

Paul F Taylor: Head in the Clouds ***

Monkey Barrel Comedy (Monkey Barrel 2) (Venue 515) until 27 August

Though his show title originates in the classic teacher's dismissal of a creative kid as never likely to amount to anything, Paul F Taylor's show is joyful affirmation rather than vengeful self-justification, even if he balances soul-stirring little offerings with faux-intimidating his crowd with demands.

His simple but inventive set design and silly visual gags help ensure that Head in the Clouds is a near-midnight treat, a charming but never twee series of daft observations. As he cries in mock-lament, “who the fuck does whimsy late-night?”

Pondering on the industrial relations of dogs and cats, who were the more skilled negotiators at settling on their relationship with humans, he tops the routine with the memorable image of a much larger, more dangerous animal being incorporated into the domestic setup. Transplanting aspects of the UK's north-south divide to Korea is a strong comic conceit. And when he explores the mentality of mime artists, he really goes all in, getting fully into character and badgering his “volunteer” through the pre-planned, knockabout farce.

Fans of Taylor's sometime double-act, Short & Curly, with his wife Rebecca Shorrocks, will grasp the allusion to the health complications that made their daughter's birth so special. And it's that childlike perspective, alongside a Gareth Richards-style anecdote that's a tribute to the recently deceased stand-up, that are the grounding warmth to the show's flights of fancy.

Jay Richardson

Troll ***

Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61) until 27 August

Following a thousand years of prejudice and vilification, two Norwegian trolls emerge, appropriately, from a stone, cold cavern in one of the darkest depths of the Underbelly, to rehabilitate their image. With eyebrows as strong as their arm muscles, plus green hoodies and tights, they lift rocks – but also are the rocks – and embark other tasks in what feels like an attempt to integrate or at least communicate with us, in particular Meg in the front row.

Despite initial translation issues, they are a loveable duo, played as adorable rather than atrocious by Marie Kallevik Straume and Anna Marie Simonsen, particularly when they retell the story of a “sweet and innocent” troll targeted by an “evil” goat.

With the world of the Norwegian landscape literally at their feet, in a clever use of scale, a tiny house is ever at risk of being crushed in an ongoing conveyor belt of audience participation, which today includes someone who looks like Sian Clark (from the equally public-powered iCON).

A story connecting the comic sketches, with the threat of the terrifying Askeladden hanging over events, could be developed more, with an audacious final audience Q&A session not so much finishing things off as opening them up to what could be to come.

Sally Stott

Ari Eldjárn: Saga Class ****

Monkey Barrel Comedy (Venue 515) until 27 August

The delights, absurdity and joy of being Iceland’s most famous stand up is the bread and butter of Ari Eldjárn – now with his own Netflix special. Iceland is so small practically everyone knows each other – and the Icelandic language is amusingly direct and straightforward. During lockdown it got so boring everyone was relieved when the volcano started to erupt.

Eldjárn delivers a succinct and entertaining tour of his country, introducing us to its airport, its President and even its criminal class. It’s an affectionate portrayal, which also includes an introduction to his two young daughters, including the younger one, Saga, for whom the show is named.

Since he last saw us, Eldjárn’s life has changed, having split with the mother of his children and having to renegotiate life as a single part time Dad. You feel he may have more to say about this - but maybe not just yet.

Eldjárn is a great one for sound effects and impressions. He used to be a DJ and he’s a tremendous hip hop beat boxer – which he does, mercifully, for short bursts only, and always to make a funny observation. As one of Iceland’s most famous exports he has an easy familiarity with international accents and manners – and he slips into German, Swedish and American accents with consummate ease.

His familiarity with almost every aspect of his own country gives his observational comedy an unparalleled confidence. And like the rest of his countrymen he has an open-minded and easy-going approach to life. Eldjárn is a classic stand up – Icelandic style.

And while you feel he is holding back on personal detail - his joy at being able to deliver his craft in front of an English-speaking audience in Edinburgh again is genuine and real.

Claire Smith

Edinburgh Festival Fringe comedy reviews: String V SPITTA | Mike Rice – Hand of a Sinner | Paul F Taylor: Head in the Clouds | Troll | Ari Eldjárn: Saga Class