Our intrepid band of reviewers have been pounding the pavements of Edinburgh for nine days, doling out stars to deserving shows. As the weekend approaches, why not have a gander at all of the four- and five-star wonders we’ve unearthed for you. 

Five stars 

Jessie Thompson: Crawler 
(Dance)
‘Crawler starts out much like its name, with dancer Jessie Thompson moving almost imperceptibly in a corner of the stage, lit only by lamps on the underside of three small tables. As she migrates into the centre, she begins to form stiff shards with her fingers, or holds suspended beats, responding to industrial creaks and staccato hits created by musician Jason McNamara, who plays live drums and electronics throughout. Sometimes she surprises us with a fluid twist or quick backbend; as McNamara’s drumming segues into freeform jazz, Thompson’s movement transforms. She scratches, twitches and trembles; the cymbal shimmers rattle down her arms and across her sternum.’ 
Read the full review. 

Salty Brine: These Are The Contents Of My Head (The Annie Lennox Show)
(Cabaret)
‘Brine pulls together threads from Diva, Judy Garland’s classic live album Judy At Carnegie Hall, Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (a classic American novel that’s less well-known here) and stories from his own life to weave a genre-busting cabaret high on drama and power. There’s complexity as parallels are drawn between The Awakening’s protagonist and his own mother, who both spend a seminal summer almost marooned on an island. Heavy with symbolism, you can almost feel the steam rise in New Orleans, the cold strength of the rip tide and the slap of water against the tiles of the local swimming pool as Brine sings through the bars of several gilded cages.’
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Please Right Back 
(Dance)
‘What begins as a send-up of mid-century crime noirs and spy thrillers in Please Right Back becomes a moving and thoughtful story about two working-class children, Kim (Chardaè Phillips) and Davey, coping with their father’s imprisonment. Writing from prison, Mr E (Stefan Davis) keeps his children’s spirits up with whimsical stories about the top-secret mission he’s been assigned to, but as school bullies and government agencies disrupt the children’s lives more and more, reality catches up with them.’
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Lewis Major: Lien/Triptych
(Dance)
‘"I didn’t expect to be talking about your dog’s pre-funeral party," says dancer Stefaan Morrow, sitting across from me, some way into the preliminary chat that takes place before each individual performance of Lien. “But that’s the beauty of this piece.” The one-on-one dance performances were conceived by Australian choreographer Lewis Major in response to pandemic social distancing. The resonance however, of sharing intimate space with a stranger, within such carefully held boundaries, is something that transcends covid times.’
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Tweedy’s Massive Circus
(Kids)
‘Standing in line with my ten-year-old daughter, we overhear people talking excitedly about Tweedy, and how we’re so lucky that he’s taking a break from the Cotswolds. Having not been to a circus for a few years, our interest is piqued to hear people so enthused about this near-sell-out show. Tweedy is a Scottish clown who has been a staple in the acclaimed Giffords Circus (which travels the English countryside during the summer months) for 16 years. Along with Sam, Madame La Reine, Reuben and Lulu, Tweedy has decided to create his own circus.’
Read the full review. 

Four stars 

Doktor Kaboom: Man Of Science!
(Kids)
‘For those who have seen his previous Fringe shows (based around a ‘wheel of science’) it doesn’t feel like there is a whole lot of new material here. But that’s no matter to those new to Kaboom. Performer David Epley is a natural entertainer as well as educator, clown and inspirer to young and curious minds. He balances quickfire rapport with the audience (constantly engaging us with questions to keep little brains on their toes), alongside silliness and short, sharp explanations of the science behind each of his stage experiments.’
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Kelly McCaughan: Catholic Guilt
(Comedy)
‘A welcome reprise for Kelly McCaughan’s visceral, flirty and funny 2023 show, Catholic Guilt pits the American’s faith-based upbringing against her burgeoning adolescent sexuality for a candid, shame-riddled and physically expressive confessional. Structured through the immovable, immutable object of that religion’s dogma, from the order of service to the communal singing she coaxes the crowd into, dramatic and comedic tension arises from the clash with the irresistible force of her awakening carnal thoughts.’ 
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Marjolein Robertson: O 
(Comedy)
‘Given the set-piece with which Marjolein Robertson opens her latest Fringe show, this is ironically a less messy, more structured hour than her memorable breakthrough last year, but is almost as impactful. Initially indulging the caricatures of her Shetland home as a backward but mystical place, where she and her brother allegedly participated in cannibalism and harmless games of life and death, the accomplished storytelling comic has dialled down her native folktales in the mix, only occasionally returning to seasonal parables of Sea Mither and Teran as an adjunct to her deeply personal saga.’ 
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Seed Dance Company: Lost Connection
(Dance)
‘Dystopian and violent in its aesthetic and movement, Seed Dance Company’s Lost Connection, is a physically intensive show. A meditation on the detachment, impassivity and prevalence of social media’s impersonal nature, it combines elements of classical and modern dance as well as acrobatics to loosely convey an overall feeling about the state of human connection.’ 
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Josh Thomas: Let’s Tidy Up
(Comedy)
‘To say a buzz has surrounded Josh Thomas’ first show at the Fringe would be an understatement. Long famous in Australia (his home country) and internationally for his unique and amiable TV creation Please Like Me, he’s already proven himself as a unique voice adept at translating personal experience into universal truths. Let’s Tidy Up manages a similar feat, taking the form of a comedy monologue in which he discusses his life and relationships as a man with both ADHD and autism. Unafraid to gesture towards theatricality, the stage on which he tells his story resembles a warm and comfortable living room, setting the tone of the next 70 minutes; you’re welcomed into his home and into a warts-and-all discussion of his life.’
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Shitty Mozart
(Comedy)
‘There’s nothing about Shitty Mozart that isn’t deliberately low rent and shabby, from his dodgy Amadeus wig that looks as though it was foraged from a skip to the crude cartoons this filthy composer presents on a screen behind him. Performer Aaron Nemo revels in DIY humour, wrestling ideas from his makeshift musical instruments to provoke belly-laugh gags about bodily fluids, darkly surreal flights of fancy and bristling gross-out satire.’ 
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Katie Norris: Farm Fatale 
(Comedy)
‘Farm Fatale feels like it was written after the deadline for submitting a title to the Fringe programme, which is to say there are disappointingly few jokes about tractors. Hopefully that means Katie Norris will return to mine the rich seam that is agriculture-based humour, because it’s truly the only thing lacking in this cracking solo debut hour. Pacy, tight and featuring her own original songs, there’s a true writer’s brain at work here: her callbacks, in particular, are so deft, daft and delightful that there should probably be a case study written about them.’ 
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The Outrun 
(Theatre)
‘Was growing up with her father’s bipolar disorder a reason why Amy Liptrot craved rollercoaster extremes as an adult? It’s something the Orcadian author ponders in The Outrun, her 2016 memoir of addiction and recovery. Stef Smith’s visceral adaptation begins with Dad being hospitalised following his daughter’s premature birth. Liptrot’s central character, renamed Woman, is carried confidently by Isis Hainsworth with a gritty, glittery blur of ebullience, anger and vulnerability. We ride like ‘a gull on the gusts’ through her clubbing days in London, where alcohol becomes more important than relationships and an enamoured boyfriend has to retreat while a self-destructive whirlpool sucks her under.’ 
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Amy Annette: Thick Skin 
(Comedy)
‘Thick Skin is about as assured a Fringe debut as you could hope for. Amy Annette’s been on the comedy scene for some time as a podcaster, producer and writer, but for a first full-length show, this is cracking stuff. A teen during the early 2000s, Thick Skin is dedicated to fellow millennials, and she joyously dissects the extraordinary things that young women had to deal with just two short decades ago. She describes herself as ‘a big gal’ and rails against Kate Moss’ infamous quote that “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” (a statement the model has since said she regrets).’
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A History Of Paper
(Theatre)
‘No matter how reliant we are on technology, nothing will ever replace the weight of memories imbued into something tangible. A handwritten letter or an origami rose will always trump that quick text message. This new musical, brought initially to radio by playwright Oliver Emanuel and re-adapted into its musical format by Gareth Williams following Emanuel’s death, is the simplest of tales: a love story, one told through the paper which clutters our lives. A History Of Paper folds itself tightly, passed around on a shared journey, becoming increasingly intimate before bursting into a confetti stream of affectionate nostalgia and an appreciation of our time together.’ 
Read the full review. 

TaleGate Theatre: Goose
(Kids)
‘You needn’t be familiar with Laura Wall’s illustrated kids’ books to enjoy this sweet and simple story of Sophie, a lonely girl who loves playing pretend. After meeting Goose in the park, they become inseparable. TaleGate have plenty of experience in panto and school shows, so know how to draw in their audience of under-fives: babies coo when Goose says hello to the front row and bigger kids get to splash in imaginary muddy puddles.’ 
Read the full review. 

Half A String: Breathe 

(Theatre)
‘Despite its title, the intricacy and wonder in this beautiful show almost takes your breath away. Inspired by the mighty oak tree, but actually paying homage to forest dwellers large and small, Breathe is a feat of technical, musical and educational ingenuity. Kent-based theatre company, Half A String, have their work cut out delivering this highly complex show but they make it seem effortless. Swooping around the stage with rod puppets, tiny woodland sets and cameras that replay the action in real time, the talented threesome build a woodland world and turn a tiny seedling into a hero.’ 
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D_Antidote Production: Palingenesis
(Dance)
‘Life in its barest, most oozing, alien form goes on a full circle journey in this beguiling piece from acclaimed Taiwanese choreographer Chuang Po-Hsiang. Three dancers, nude except for flesh-coloured underwear and masks that anonymise their faces, start out as a knotted, pulsing single being. They tumble over and under the clot of their own bodies, fire out limbs into deity-like formations, balance in strange postures that make bulbous eyes out of upturned buttocks, and create antennae out of legs waving in the air.’ 
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Carmen
(Opera)
‘Anyone looking to Le théâtre national de l’Opéra Comique’s Carmen for sunshine and señoritas could almost be forgiven for thinking they were at a different opera. There’s no mistaking Bizet’s eternally glorious score, but this was Carmen stripped back to the physical basics of the stage, populated by characters laid bare to the painful vulnerability of their human frailties for all to see.’ 
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Luke Rollason: Luke Rollason, Luke Rollason, Let Down Your Hair
(Comedy)
‘Luke Rollason makes a regal entrance as King Midas, ‘cursed’ so that everything he touches turns to comedy gold. It’s a great ruse to warm up the crowd and sets the kooky tone nicely. The contortive comedian prowls around his mediaeval kingdom: a sparse stage decorated with occasional toilet paper clouds and impressively engineered loo-roll ramparts and crenellations.’
Read the review. 

Looking for even more Festival recommendations? Check out our Festival issues available in a print edition from good stockists in Edinburgh, or in a digital edition online. Or check on our special Edinburgh Festival site for a daily bevvy of reviews, previews and features.