Caution: Filming in Progress – 2016 Edinburgh Fringe

I was pleasantly seduced into staying for the next show in the room that How to Talk to the Dead had been in by Iain Smith's leafleting and chat as the audience left.

He's a location manager in the UK film industry – we chatted about somewhere near to where I used to live in London that's often used as a location – and the show is basically him doing nice chat about his 'real' job. Almost no names are named, with the exception of Rupert Penry-Jones, and 'nice' would be the one word summary of the show.

2.5/5

How to Talk to the Dead – 2016 Edinburgh Fringe

Ash Pryce is a magician and skeptic with two main shows this year on debunking frauds who claim mystical powers but who are doing it the same way he does: cheating, aka 'magic'.

This one is on communicating with dead people, and covers the history of spiritualism from its invention in 1848. As well as the obvious cold reading (throwing out guesses until something sticks – people will remember the hits and forget the misses), it also includes the Ouija Board (originally presented as a game rather than any thing serious), ectoplasm (a wonderful demonstration) and all the rest of the fake medium repertoire. Most of it is explained, but a highlight isn't: trepanning done via the nose. Don't try it at home, but do see it being done.

4/5

Makin' It Rain – 2016 Edinburgh Fringe

I have been extremely impressed with Nicole Henriksen before. This isn't the same sort of delightfully weird show she's done before, and is doing again in another show this year, but a more serious piece about her work as a stripper.

It includes her shedding her clothes, all of them, in a series of dance interludes. The first laughs of the show come when the queue of people waiting to get in are warned that the show includes 'full frontal nudity': clearly it's what some of the audience come for.

But what they get is more than that. The start talks about how she got into the work and her first steps in it – the sort of stuff that sex workers get asked, a lot. The combination of this and seeing her in very high 'stripper heels' meant it took me a few minutes to banish previous experience of her. They affect how she moves and before long, they're one item of clothing on the floor.

For me, the show started to soar when it moved onto people's reactions which include 'what if something happens' as a polite way of saying 'what about the risk of rape?' This leads to a wonderful section on the problems of an approach that effectively says 'let it be another woman, not you' rather than being 'no-one should be raped, regardless of work, clothes, behavior…' It's followed by an equally good criticism of the sex work hierarchy – escorts will disagree with their position relative to strippers, but it's very much there with brothel workers and street workers being at the bottom of both lists.

The other questions sex workers get asked are about the effects on relationships and mental health. Both get covered in the final section, including an aside that should surprise no-one and talking about anxiety in a very open and moving way.

'Beyond superb' was my two word summary immediately afterwards.

5/5

Are You Really Being Served? – 2016 Edinburgh Fringe

This is Steve McLean trying out observational stand-up on things like WH Smith's pricing (cheaper to buy two books separately than take advantage of the 'offer' to have them both); Poundland condoms, lube, vibrator and pregnancy tests; and what Waitrose considers 'essential' (Brussels paté and kale).

There's some nice material, but some of the comments are off. It's not that Poundland pregnancy tests are poor crap, it's that the big brand ones are appallingly overpriced. (I've bought pregnancy tests in bulk for somewhere and they cost pennies.) Similarly, while one of their lubes might not mention being condom friendly in big letters, a look at the ingredients and small print says that it is.

2.5/5

Strictly Come Trancing – 2016 Edinburgh Fringe

The title is great, but could Ben Dali's hypnotism show live up to it? It depends on the audience and who volunteers.

Looking around during a relaxation exercise for the whole audience involving him suggesting one arm floats up, it's clear that not that many hands are up, so what would the volunteers to be hypnotized be like? Mixed was the answer when I saw it. Of the eight on a row of chairs, one left the stage midway through the main section, but Kim in particular was very clearly 'under'.

The exercises that the seven were put through included a couple of them competing in the Olympics (one was unable to throw a balloon javelin for two out the three throws, but won with the third), translating Wookie, and drawing Ben as part of a life drawing class. Here, each person was told something different. Kim was told that Ben's penis was enormous (and reacted appropriately any time he got near), while one man was told that the penis in question was tiny. Others were told he had his head, but the body of a woman or of their favorite animal…

.. and the resulting pictures reflected those.

4/5 for the show I saw, but at least a point of that is down to Kim.

Shaken Not Stirred: The Improvised James Bond Film – 2016 Edinburgh Fringe

The first of two such shows in two days. This one has Alexander Fox and Dom O'Keefe doing all the acting, along with three musicians playing live throughout, sometimes accompanied by one of the actors on a drum box. The set up involves them choosing the title from three or four written suggestions; a start location plus the actor playing Bond picked fairly randomly, and two audience members chucking stuff on stage to initiate a romantic scene or a chase. They also have a nice but mostly pre-recorded video title sequence.

The pair get on well and are clearly the sort of know-it-all that the Connery Bond in particular was. (Even when they're supposed to be Craig!) But only having two of them makes having most scenes much harder and a little too much time is spent on that setup and the prepared elements – the chase uses cutout shadow puppetry – mean there's not as much improvisation as there could be. So while the band are very good, as an experience, it's not as good as it could be.

3/5

Mae Martin: Us – 2015 Edinburgh Fringe

I had seen her 2014 show almost by accident and wondered why there were so many other people at it. Having seen her this year, I no longer wonder.

The two do have some content in common – I am sure that some of the stories about her parents and their friends were there last year – but this is a much better and, not coincidentally, a more personal show.

Most of it is about her sexuality, the responses to how she looks (not everyone reads her as female) and what happened when she put in her dating profiles about being interested in both men and women. (The relationship that was mentioned last year is over…)

She misses out one of the most common questions asked of bisexual people – 'but which do you prefer more?' – and my favourite bit of Roman history – the emperor Claudius being seen as a bit odd for only fancying women – but there is a lot of very good bi stuff here.

And, helped by her delightful delivery, the audience get it.

4.5/5

Kayfabe – 2015 Edinburgh Fringe

The 'real' Kayfabe is the code of silence that allows professional wrestling to pretend that it's not scripted to within an inch of its steroid-enhanced life. This one is a character-based comedy show from Simon Lukacs and Lola-Rose Maxwell.

It starts with them both introducing the 'not a cult' but a close relative of Scientology, Kayfabe. A series of one person sketches follows,  covering some of the people who have been 'helped' by Kayfabe – a snooker obsessed novelist, the jealous sister of a famous novelist, the star of a 1970s sitcom now doing university gigs, a Texan religious campaigner against the Internet – thanks to paying its voluntary mandatory financial donation.

They are all failures as individuals (although I would love to read more of the sister's children's book!) but the show is great. Each of the characters work, down to the little things of each pronouncing the word differently and even the snooker details are apparently true.

Kayfabe? Fab!

4.5/5

Into the Woods – 2015 Edinburgh Fringe

There are three productions of my favourite musical – Shockheaded Peter being an 'entertainment' according to the Olivier Awards – at this year's Fringe.

One's doing the full show from the 12th to the 15th; one looks to be doing the one act school's version from the 24th to the 29th; and this one by US high school Harker School’s Conservatory which is on until the 10th and is doing… well, I wasn't sure. The blurb talks about both acts, but the 90 minute run time strongly suggests that only one is done. The box office at the venue didn't know either.

It turns out that they've made the very brave / unusual / silly decision to do act one on Friday and Sunday, and act two on – at different times! – Saturday and Monday. I could only see act one, alas.

The actual performance was very good given who's doing it. Not all the notes are got perfectly, but this is a show where the lyrics are what matters and I didn't spot any non-deliberate mistakes (for some reason, The Witch has a problem with saying one word early on, but it's obviously a rare bit of odd direction).

If you see it, I recommend sitting at the front – it's not miked, and there's a definite volume drop whenever someone is at the back of the stage.

3.5/5

Quick round-up part 2 – 2015 Edinburgh Fringe

Life Gives You Lemons

Charming and funny comedy – you might even walk out with a lemon. 4/5

Newcastle Brown Male

I was half of the audience for this – it should have been a much smaller fraction. I am not going to mark this one, but definitely see if he's doing any guest spots.

Erich McElroy's Imperfect Guide to Picking the Perfect President

… not that the American electorate have a good track record. If you are interested in US politics, it's amusing but you probably won't learn anything. 3/5

Welcome to Clown Town – at the Fringe

It probably wasn't the best idea to call a 'guest spots' show that in a venue with lots of kids shows. The Yurt also gets distinctly hot and stuffy by this time if the weather is good. The format means how good it is depends on who's doing it. Before I needed to go, both were good.

Live in the Staff Room

Small room, great show on sex and serial killers. 5/5

We're Sorry

Good stand up from two Canadians who also have solo shows. 3.5/5

Jenny Say Qua

Very good stand up. 4.5/5

C U In Court (Cnut vs Fcuk)

Great true story about refusing to be bullied by a big company about a joke logo that wasn't entirely original to them. 4.5/5

Sarah Bennetto

A very good mix of comedy and games. 4/5

Sex Hugs and Gender Roles

Definitely in preview, but already good. How great it gets will depend on the guests, but it's a formal that works. 3/5

Shaggers

Late night sex jokes from four guest comedians. 3.5/5 tonight