Best Edinburgh Festival Fringe show on this afternoon
Flight
“Theatre, installation art, or something else entirely, Flight tells its tale with a passion reflected in every detail of its tiny artworks; and with all the care and tenderness for which Aryan and Kabir long, but which they are so brutally denied, almost to the last.”
At Church Hill Theatre and Studio from 12pm
Start Swimming
“The cast of seven women and four men must win against the machine to achieve the basics in life: a job, a home, some peace in which to live. The machine has its preferences: rude or defiant behaviour is bad, subservience is welcomed, dishonesty isn’t always a problem but group resistance is a guaranteed fail. Though ultimately without power, the young people are quick-thinking and resourceful in their attempts to outwit it.
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Hide AdIn the course of the play, they explore a wide range of possible responses: belligerence; abandoning integrity altogether; opting out; giving up radicalism and embracing the middle-class lifestyle.”
At Summerhall (Venue 26) at 2.40pm
Salt
“If The Believers Are But Brothers explores an extreme 21st century reaction to the dominance of the West, Selina Thompson’s beautiful and sometimes overwhelming monologue, Salt takes a much more personal approach.
Set on a simple stage featuring a glowing triangle and one massive piece of rock salt which Thompson gradually pounds into dust, the show offers a mighty 70-minute poetic meditation on what happens when, as a young Birmingham black woman in her mid-twenties, she becomes overwhelmed by rage at the experience of slavery and exploitation suffered by previous generations, and sets out on a triangular voyage – Britain to Africa, Jamaica, Carolina and back – that mirrors the slave routes of the 18th and 19th centuries.”
At Summerhall (Venue 26) at 2.30pm
The Believers are But Brothers
“Javaad Alipoor is a genial and thoughtful young performer, as he takes us on a 55-minute journey into this world. In the end, though, it’s the texture of his writing – combined with stunning visual images by Jack Offord and Adam Radolinski – that makes this tentative but brilliant show a vital Fringe event, full of dark poetry and sheer analytical power in its understanding of how the internet can alter the minds of a generation at frightening speed, and begin to shake our world.”
At Summerhall (Venue 26) at 12.45pm
TUTU: Dance in all its Glory
“Because being funny isn’t the sole pursuit here – for every Dirty Dancing spoof or spangly gymnastics take-off, there are moments of true beauty. An aerial routine which finds one dancer wrapped in silk cloth, spinning until he’s almost a blur as his single pointe shoe twirls on the ground, is utterly mesmerising. And, happily, such moments are clearly just as appreciated by the audience as the guffaw-inducing comedy.”
Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) at 4pm Read the full review
Show Me The Money
“In the first few minutes, Varjack, alone on stage, strips away the convention that you don’t talk about how much you earn or, as an artist, any other jobs you do to make ends meet. Through a series of filmed interviews, we see how taxi drivers react to the prospect of working for free (not very kindly), but also hear from other artists, performers, writers and even an economist. Accompanying rhythmic monologues with a multimedia mixing deck, Varjack highlights a reoccurring pattern: artists doing years of training, only to end up working in menial jobs when they’re not making their art (or doing “endless bloody scratching,” as one puts it).” Bedlam Theatre (Venue 49) at 3.30pm