Edinburgh Festivals daily guide: 11 August

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The War at the King's Theatre as part of EIFThe War at the King's Theatre as part of EIF
The War at the King's Theatre as part of EIF

REVIEWS

Comedy: Alex Horne: Monsieur Butterfly

What can I tell you about this extraordinary show? Well, without spoiling the fun, not very much. And it is enormous fun. Comedy “material” Horne proves to us, comes in many different forms and while the setlist for this show must have been written on the back of a postage stamp, it does not matter one jot because we get toilet seats and squirrels, balloons and bowling balls, potatoes and a professionally sharpened nail.

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Cultural Explorers: Exhibit B

Each audience member enters alone, to encounter Brett Bailey’s great international installation work Exhibit B. Silence is required, and absolute attention. For in this quiet, almost muted 25-minute experience, Bailey has found a way to encapsulate all the breathtaking cruelty of the age of colonialism which forms the bloody backdrop to this summer’s Commonwealth celebrations, and to bring us face to face with it, in the most literal sense.

Theatre: The War

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As the show begins, the stage roughly represents a cafe in Paris at Christmas 1913. There’s a piano, a scratchy wind-up phonograph, a group of young people in Edwardian dress; and a great chandelier, brought down for cleaning in what seems like a visual premonition of ruin. The young people, including an English painter called George, are discussing the possibility of war.

Theatre: Calypso Nights

Anyone who can keep a room entertained for the opening portion of their hour at the Fringe speaking entirely in Spanish and offering just a manly shake of the maracas here and a gruffly raised eyebrow there has got to be worth your attention.

INTERVIEWS

Glenn Patterson on Belfast, South Africa and falling in love

Glenn Patterson’s work has always looked beyond the crude sectarian divisions of his native Belfast, writes David Robinson

Diana Rigg on her Fringe debut and dealing with criticism

She may be a Fringe virgin but Dame Diana Rigg is a past master at taking the most vindictive criticism on the chin, she tells Kate Copstick

GUIDES

Best festival venues for disabled audiences

Euan’s Guide is a disabled access review website and app, launched last year. Here they select three Edinburgh Festival venues with the best access for disabled audiences.

BLOG

Video interview: Rob Rouse

Rob Rouse talks mixing stand-up and childcare with WOW247 at the Edinburgh Festival.

Spencer Brown: Losing your voice at the Festival

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Spencer Brown is back at the Fringe after an eight-year hiatus. But his voice initially stayed at home. Here he explains how a comedian copes with losing their powers of speech…

TOP RATED SHOWS

Want reviews that you can trust? Here you will find an overview of every Scotsman review published in 2014, arranged by star rating.

DAILY DEALS

Today’s selection of half-price ticket deals for Edinburgh Festival shows, from The Scotsman and WOW247.

Complete coverage of the Festival from The Scotsman and WOW247

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