The Pleasance Theatre Trust’s epic and incredible 2023 programme was showcased this morning in the venue’s own Grand way at their Opening Gala. For the first Saturday of the Fringe, a selection of amazing acts highlighted music, comedy, theatre and new types of production, displaying the excellent talent the venue has to offer this August.
The Opening Gala had open captions provided by Claire Hill cementing the Pleasance’s commitment to making as many shows accessible as possible. This year, the Pleasance is presenting its largest programme of captioned shows at the festival to date with 33 productions offering captioning at some point in their run. This forms part of the venue’s wider programme of accessible work with shows offering audio description, touch tours, BSL interpretation and relaxed performances. The full programme of accessible shows can be seen at: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/events/accessible
Opening the show was the award-winning Comedy of Operas complete with a bespoke opera, rock and pop soundtrack. A spectacular love story, set in the striking and colourful world of opera, this highly original show fuses pop hits with the world’s favourite arias, including many you didn’t realise you already knew.
The morning was MC-ed by the fantastic Darren Harriott who returns to the Pleasance this year with his brand new show Roadman, all about how his life has changed for the better (yay!). He used to be a ‘Roadman’ who wouldn’t even smile for a photo, but now he’s trying all sorts of things he thinks he missed out on: some good, some bad, but at least he’s smiling…
Gillian Cosgriff won Most Outstanding Show at the 2023 Melbourne International Comedy Festival with this brilliant hour of hilarious original songs, killer stand-up and a big book of things that are actually good. And now, she brings Actually, Good to the Cabaret Bar this August.
Lucy McCormick is back with her most ambitious medium-concept catastrophic show yet – Lucy and Friends. Expect pole dancing, variety acts, strip routines and some quick reworking of social policy. In a despairing world, lonely Lucy creates community, connection and conversation the only way she knows how!
The Chortle Award 2023 finalist, Flat and the Curves, bring you their glittery comedy cabaret of unbridled fun in Divadom! The comedy quartet delivers their self-penned songs celebrating sex and sisterhood in a bra-burning evening of mischief.
Winner of the Pleasance’s Charlie Hartill Fund, showing the venue’s ongoing commitment to supporting and nurturing new talent, Public – The Musical follows four unlikely strangers who find themselves trapped together in a gender-neutral public toilet. With an hour to fill until maintenance arrives, the group navigates unexpected challenges, pungent opinions and some seriously sticky conversations. Exploring stories of identity, connection and compassion, alongside an electrifying pop/rock score, this will be a trip to the bathroom you’ll never forget.
Following her acclaimed, sell-out debut hour, Celya AB returns with Second Rodeo. As a child, all she wanted was to be an adult. Now she’s at the table, she wants out. Expect tales of romance, a hologram and a near-death experience in Thorpe Park.
Receiving its world premiere at the Fringe is Sound Clash – an exciting urban love story set in a dystopian world of dancehall, conceived by Reggae Reggae sauce creator and musician Levi Roots who spoke this morning about his vision for his new type of show. Young lovers torn apart by family politics and musical warfare are brought together with electric dance-offs, lyrical contests, and death in the arena. Get ready to dance to the thumping soundtrack as the battle begins at the Pleasance!
Pleasance Director Anthony Alderson spoke about the need to nurture the arts and plant the seeds to ensure the growth of new talent. He said, The Fringe is for arts lovers what Chelsea is for gardeners. Each production is a testament to the determination of artists who refuse to ‘keep off the grass’ and be confined by the boundaries of convention. The need for creative thought has never been greater and each and every year I am astonished at just how glorious that invention is.
Like any good herbaceous border, that which lies dormant in winter, can only burst into bloom in August with continued care.
The Ice Hole just couldn’t resist sneaking on stage during Anthony’s speech with some of their cardboard genius; grand residents, and creators of Fringe sensation Fishbowl are back in Edinburgh with their latest Molière Award winning production. Using a thousand pieces of cardboard, this innovative show, in the spirit of Monty Python and with a Laurel and Hardy style twist, is told by two actors with some side-splitting and meticulous theatrical acrobatics.
