Theatre review: Fix Us, Underbelly

Sir Ian McKellen is in the bath, and with Magneto off the stage three minor players go rogue with their own inner superheroes.

Fix Us, Underbelly - Cowgate, Edinburgh * * *

Zara swaps her awkward body for Zia, a sex-bomb who stubs out cigarettes on her sultry bosom, with a film career as a femme fatale in hits such as Shoeshank Redemption. Kirsten has grown up keeping quiet, because not speaking out is the best way to be; now she’s trash-talking Killer KK, tough and tattooed and purple-haired, dealing in drugs and dishing it out with a machine gun. Lee is the ultimate hero, Everyman, tossing off muscle weakness to take to the skies in a salmon-pink chiffon cloak as flexes his biceps and leaves the ladies quivering in his wake.

8 Fringe First winners from week two

This is a sharp and memorable little show, with a particularly punchy performance from Kirsten, though with unfortunate consequences for Sir Ian.

Until 25 August

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Theatre review: Fix Us, Underbelly - Cowgate, Edinburgh