Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews: Shitbag | The Horniest Girls in New York City | Dropped | Timonopoly + more

Shitbag ★★★★

Summerhall (Venue 26) until 25 August

Even a passing acquaintance with theatre over the last decade will make anyone well aware of the all-pervading influence of Fleabag. Hundreds of solo shows have joined the quest to chase Phoebe Waller-Bridge's success, with the realisation that one performer, a microphone and a couple of props make for a very cheap way to have a hit.

Hayley Edwards in Shitbag | Nick Mick Pics

Australian performer Hayley Edwards smartly plays both sides in her own solo performance Shitbag, because it's absolutely a contender for an "If you liked Fleabag, you'll love..." quote on the poster, while at the same time very subtly commenting upon the rampant ubiquity of such shows.

Think you want to hear another monologue about a troubled twentysomething woman having lots of uninhibited sex? What if she tells you in graphic detail about her alarming bowel movements while she’s at it?

It's hard to tell how much, if any, of this is autobiographical (at one point Edwards briefly breaks the fourth wall to refer to “my character”), but on the surface the issue-based nature of the play feels deeply personal.

It begins with the character luxuriating in the aftermath of sex with a person so famous they have a blue tick on Instagram, and very quickly finds her caught short by the discharge of “placentas from my arse”. Soon, she’s diagnosed with Crohn’s colitis.

This revelation that she’s “the youngest and hottest person on the gastroenterology ward” spurs a period of increasingly hungry sexual promiscuity and experimentation, initially because she wants to have as much sex as possible before she has a stoma bag fitted, although the way the text later ties together physical and mental health is lightly and cleverly done.

Through it all, Edwards is bright, compelling and very funny, with an energetic physicality (the commode in centre stage becomes both podium and unlikely bed) and a frank delivery which lends seriousness to the character’s increasingly manic sexual exploits and silliness to a concerning, life-changing diagnosis. So yeah, if you liked Fleabag, you will indeed love Shitbag.

David Pollock

The Horniest Girls in New York City ★★★★

Underbelly Cowgate (Venue 61) until 11 August

Riley Stark and Tess Lancaster’s new play is a hoot and a half, exuding the kind of don’t-give-a-shit eccentricity of John Waters’ early punk filmmaking, and almost as silly.

The Horniest Girls in New York City is a Gen Z sex comedy-meets-social satire featuring rampant heroine Riley, possessed of a horny bone (it’s genetics, baby), her innocent but biddable best friend Tess, dorky neighbourhood bar owner Derek, lesbian elder Dr Barbara and dastardly mayor Jake, who is partial to a Malcolm Tucker-style tirade of obscenities and threats, such as banning gay people from dancing.

What a shady kryptonite move to pull on the sassiest kids on the block.

This is gonzo Youth versus The Man stuff, as Riley and the freshly enlightened Tess use sex as a weapon to outwit authority (“you don’t want to be the mayor that all the cool people don’t like” they warn with withering disdain) and foment revolution by founding the Gay and Horny Club, a loose polyamorous association divested of all hang-ups. It’s the Stonewall Riots without the IRL stakes.

Chuck a couple of loony tunes into this hot mess and they could have an Off-Off-Off-Broadway smash.

The script is gloriously unfiltered and gleefully executed by Stark, Lancaster, Alex Forrest and a particularly gung ho Liam Caplan having far too much fun across a bunch of ridiculous roles.

There’s something being said somewhere in the slapstick and crosstalk about tolerance, liberation, solidarity and punching upwards against Trumpian bluster, plus a bonus cool soundtrack of new wave nuggets because who doesn’t love a rudimentary dance routine finale set to the fidgety groove of Devo’s Whip It?

Fiona Shepherd

Dropped ★★★

Easter Road Stadium (Venue 518) until 10 August

There’s a bruising authenticity to this monologue from debut writer-actor Alfie Cain that sets it apart from other plays dealing with the beautiful game.

Cain was a trainee at Chelsea’s football academy until he was unceremoniously dropped by the age of 18. Alfie took the opportunity to retrain as an actor at LAMDA but the rejection he suffered clearly still stings and while autobiographical to an extent this play presents a fictionalised account that documents the pressures faced by young players.

Although informed by a love of the game — at least initially — this quickly becomes a cautionary tale.

Academy players have a one in thousands chance of going on to enjoy a professional career. Cain’s young footballer ploughs on against the odds, desperate for affirmation from his father and success in the face of verbal and physical abuse — both on and off the pitch. It offers some insight into how toxic masculinity takes root and looks at the fallout of filling young boys with unrealistic dreams.

While necessarily bleak, Cain’s powerful performance holds your attention and it’s to Hibs credit that they would host such an unflinching look at the challenges facing young players — for whom it should be required viewing.

Rory Ford

Timonopoly ★★★

Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30) until 12 August

Timonopoly is the final instalment in Brite Theater’s Coward Conscience trilogy, a series of Shakespearean adaptations including Richard III (a one-person show) and Hamlet (an experience). One needn’t have experienced the company’s previous works to appreciate their latest piece, however.

In this reimagining of Timon of Athens (a cautionary tale exploring wealth, greed and betrayal), which is entirely audience specific, six participants become characters in a game of fortune. To begin, each player – the Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Jeweller, Dancer, and Aristocrat – is allotted an individual amount of gold based on their earning power.

The gold, here represented by foil-wrapped sweets, is Brite Theater’s version of monopoly money (the artists, as one might expect, bank little to nothing at this juncture). Performed in the round, Timonopoly is very physically demanding for Timon, who, dressed as the Monopoly Man, produces property cards (Forest of Arden, The Capitol and Elysium are just some examples) in accordance with the roll of a giant dice and orchestrates dinner party games where we write sonnets, draw, or dance.

These games can become a little repetitious, but overall, Timonopoly is engaging and entertaining, with the game-show format allowing themes of friendship, generosity, and wealth to take on new significances.

Josephine Balfour-Oatts

Loose Threads ★★★

the Space @ Surgeons Hall (Venue 53) until 12 August

Created by Malachy O’Callaghan, Loose Threads is a gloriously rich, laugh-out-loud sketch comedy featuring a cloakroom attendant at a London nightclub.

Known only as ‘Danny’s brother’s boy’ (his lack of self-identity will later become a key plot point), he experiences a series of encounters with drunken strangers, estranged school friends, and friends of family, all of whom utilise the conversation-stopper that is the recent death of his best friend, the weight of which gathers focus as the narrative endures.

Notable scenes involve a drunken lad who consistently leaves his shoes at the venue (the lost property box seems to be tenanted exclusively with his belongings) a stag do, a hen party, and a Louis Theroux impersonator. Watch out for the easter eggs that the company of four plants, and that occur and reoccur to the audience’s delight.

Perhaps it’s his height, or his self-confessed resemblance to the Lord Jesus Christ, but others trust Danny’s brother’s boy and his counsel, which true to form, gets him into trouble further down the line.

Credit to the company, the cloakroom setting proves perfect for good old-fashioned miscommunication, brilliantly timed references to Simon and Garfunkel, and voicemails from a concerned father to his grieving son.

Josephine Balfour-Oatts

Bluffstone is Starvin’ ★★

theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39) until 13 August

With no rain for months, barren fields and dying cattle, remote dirt-bowl outpost Bluffstone is indeed fast running out of food. So when two mysterious drifters roll into town, they’re viewed with suspicion - especially when one sets his sights on local girl Dolly.

String Cheese Theatre’s early-morning Western has a promising set-up but struggles to deliver, with a disconcertingly variable tone (from schoolboy humour to bleak despair), similarly variable acting and a storyline that could do with quite a bit of tightening.

Kudos, however, to multitasking Zachary Hodges for an effective musical score (played by a live trio), some idiomatic blues guitar and a memorable turn as absent-minded barman Jim.

David Kettle

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