Richard Burton and Bette Davis headed to Fringe

QUENTIN Crisp, Richard Burton, Bette Davis, Enoch Powell and Dylan Thomas will be among other famous figures inspiring shows at this year’s Fringe, while the former prime minister Gordon Brown will be the focus of two separate productions – entitled Confessions of Gordon Brown and Gordon.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Picture: Getty

Bette Davis Ain’t For Sissies looks at the actress’ famous rivalry with Gone With The Wind star Vivien Leigh, while The Assembly Hall on The Mound will host a play examining Welsh acting legend Richard Burton’s rise to become one of the biggest names in Hollywood.

The life of his countryman Dylan Thomas will be explored at the same venue in Clown in the Moon.

The Tulip Tree will tell the story of a love affair that Enoch Powell embarked upon with a younger woman in 1950, while Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope, part of the Gilded Balloon’s programme, is a solo show which depicts the late writer holding court in London and New York.

This year’s Fringe will also feature a show inspired by the true story of three teenage girls who formed their own intellectual society in 18th-century Edinburgh.

Comic Lucy Porter has written The Fair Intellectual Club, set at the dawn of the Scottish Enlightenment in 1717 and billed as “a tale of teenage love, friendship and betrayal.”