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Our critics' guide to the best theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

News of two new stage productions inspired by the story of Mary Queen of Scots. Our critics give their highlights of this year's Edinburgh Fringe. Plus Hamish Hawk performs live.

Scottish Ballet's new production Mary, Queen of Scots is a punk inspired production which tells the story of the ill-fated queen through the imagination and memories of her cousin, Elizabeth I, who authorised her execution. And a Fringe production Mary Queen of Rock portrays Mary as a rock star in a world in which rock and roll is banned. We discuss why her story continues to inspire so many productions today.

Eva Victor, star of Sorry, Baby, the opening film of this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, talks about her darkly comic treatment of the aftermath of a sexual assault.

Theatre critics Fergus Morgan and Neil Cooper talk us through some of the highlights of this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe - from Eat the Rich (But Maybe Not Me Mates X), a one-woman show by Liverpudlian actor and director Jade Franks in which she tells the story of being a misfit at Cambridge University to Lost Lear, a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear told through the eyes of a woman with dementia.

Show discussed:

She's Behind You by Johnny McKnight at The Traverse

Eat the Rich (But Maybe Not Me Mates X) by Jade Franks at The Pleasance

Windblown by Karine Polwart and Pippa Murphy at The Queen's Hall

Lost Lear by Dan Colley at The Traverse

Red Like Fruit by Hannah Moscovitch at The Traverse

Club NVRLND at Assembly Checkpoint

Philosophy of the World at Summerhall

Plus a live performance from musician Hamish Hawk, who is paying tribute to the late great poet and eccentric Ivor Cutler at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival, complete with Cutler's own harmonium.

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43 minutes

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  • Wed 13 Aug 2025 19:15

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