Festival diary: Graham Norton's tips and Outlander star makes police pals over Old Firm fans play

With more than 4,000 events and shows competing for ticket sales in Edinburgh in August, reviews and awards are as sought after as ever.

But given the power of social media these days, a celebrity endorsement can also be worth its weight in Fringe gold.

Graham Norton seems to have been throwing himself into the Fringe, with a long list of recommendations, including Kara Wilson’s “star turn” as the artist Beryl Cook, the comics Emma Siki, Catherine Cohen and Sophie Duker and two plays packing them in at the Traverse – The Sound Inside, which he hailed as “truly extraordinary”, and the “hugely enjoyable” retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac.

Norton has promised “part two” of his Fringe tips, which might just include the new show from Camille O'Sullivan, which pays tribute to the songs of fellow Irish singers Shane McGowan and Sinead O’Connor.

Sharing a post-show picture with Norton and his husband, she said: “They were so lovely chatting away afterwards, even though I was babbling for Ireland. Poor things caught in the O’Sullivan cork vortex.”

Actor Scott Kyle is appearing in the play ‘Singin’ I’m No a Billy, He’s a Tim’ at the EICC. | Supplied

^{Split loyalties for Outlander star}

There was an impressive array of costumes on display at the Fringe’s annual “Meet the Media” event. But I had no trouble spotting Outlander and The Angels’ Share star Scott Kyle amid the throng of festival hopefuls.

The actor and producer is back at the Fringe with a revival of Des Dillon’s hit play Singin' I'm No a Billy, He's a Tim, which follows the events which unfold when a Rangers and Celtic fan are locked up together on the day of an Old Firm match, while an all-female cast is performing an alternative version, Singin' I'm No a Billie, She's a Tim, at the same venue, the EICC.

Kyle and his PR team should be instantly recognisable, at least to Scottish football fans, when they are out and about promoting the show and handing out flyers, as they are all wearing “half and half” football tops.

He describes the show as an exploration of bigotry and ethnic identity, as well as an “allegory” for peace processes around the world.

Kyle, who admits he has had to get “really creative to get noticed” in Edinburgh, reports the strips have been a “great conversation starter” on the streets. That presumably includes some of the city’s police officers, who happily posed for pictures to help promote the two shows.

Witch to cast spell at art festival

The rhythm of the festivals is set to shift significantly with the launch of both the book and art festivals, with their one-off events posing plenty of diary dilemmas.

Escaping the city centre for a trip out to Jupiter Artland has long held appeal in August, but even more so since it started staging its Jupiter Rising festivals. Its latest collaboration with the art festival, which offers the chance to explore the sculpture park and its exhibitions after normal opening hours, will take the form of a queer summer fete this year.

Among the more intriguing attractions will be artist Alima Askew, who will lead a performance through the landscape exploring folklore, personal mythologies and the supernatural, and tarot reading from American “hereditary witch” Tara McGilvray-Guard, director of the recently-opened Wheel of Fate shop in Edinburgh, a location seemingly chosen because of the city’s “witch history”.