FRINGE REVIEW 2026: Round-Up 3!
- Mix Up Theatre (Stewart)
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Here's a quick run-down of everything else we've caught at the festival so far...
CinderGorilla: The Musical
★★★
Children's Shows
Age 5+
run ended
Sarah - Mix Up - ★★★
"Chaotic and silly, the performer Gareth P Jones really brought the audience in to the show. Younger kids enjoyed more than the older kids who didn't connect as well with the show, however it was well paced and told. A fine story with puppetry and music."
Helen Bradley: Painter and Storyteller
★★★
Theatre (Painting, New Writing)
Age 12+
11:20 - Cellar at Pleasance Courtyard - until 30th August
Stewart - ★★★
"Actor (and painter) Kara Wilson brings to life a sweet little monologue full of vivid detail of the life of Helen Bradley, who found fame later in life for her paintings. It's a nice way to start a day at the festival and Wilson gives a fine performance retelling Bradley's story whilst recreating a painting of her work. Hardly a groundbreaking piece of theatre amongst the more extravagant works to be found at the Fringe. Still, if this is your cuppa tea then certainly worth having a brew with good company and stories to listen to."
Apparently Ugly: A Stepsister Story
★★★★★
Musicals and Opera (Family-Friendly, Comedy)
Age 5+
11:40 - Ermintrude at Underbelly, Bristo Square - until 30th August
Uma (Age 11) - ★★★★★
"This hilarious story that talks about beauty and uglyness is totaly worth to watch.
The thing that I like the least is when their mother said their daughters were ugly but the best part was their search for the spell's ingredients. The actors were very good and funny, specially the mother."
Chris Forbes: Father Christmas
★★★
Comedy (Stand-Up, Solo Show)
Age 16+
13:30 - Monkey Barrel 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy - until 30th August
Stewart - ★★★
"Chris Forbes does a wonderful job of transporting his audience to a nostalgic fest of Christmas cheer with this winning retelling of his life throughout his early years at Christmas. A lot of the laughs come from the fun observational aspects that will be familiar to many. The show certainly takes a bit of an unexpected turn at one point when a more emotional aspect of the story comes into play. Part of the comedy actually comes from Forbes now finding his ability to poke fun at the tragedy. It's an emotionally charged excellent performance from Forbes. But perhaps the show itself could have done with just a bit more comedy beyond laughing at old pictures."
Hold on to Your Butts
★★★★★
Theatre (Comedy, Film)
Age 8+
20:30 - Forth at Pleasance Courtyard - until 26th August
Stewart - ★★★★★
"Recent Cutbacks are very busy at the festival this year with both KEVIN!!!! and Fly, You Fools doing very well - though for me, this is their masterpiece! And there's only three performances of the show this year! A spoof remake of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park performed by two actors and a foley artist. It's a lovingly recreated low budget remake and the fun really comes from the clear love of the original movie. Every little detail, from the film actors choices to the dinosaur's movement and sound is so perfectly recreated in this superb, fun and more than a bit manic show. Love it, was my favourite show of last year and might just take the title again this year."
Tweedy's Massive Solo Show
★★★★★
Children's Shows (Clown, Comedy)
Age 0+
10:15 - Udderbelly at Underbelly, George Square - until 30th August
Mix Up Junior (Age 7 ) - ★★★★★
"10 points! This is very funny and Tweedy kept losing his shoe and I didn't know how did that. It looked dangerous on the ladder but I laughed all the way through the show and I liked getting to go up on the stage as well. But didn't like the costume had to wear."
Stewart - ★★★★★
"This is soo much fun, an unbearably hilarious show from one of of the UK's finest clown's, Tweedy. It's one laugh after the next and the whole set-up looks deceptively simple but it's actually clowning genius. Perfection, Tweedy deserves big audiences because there's big laughs to be had - so go book a ticket!"
Tweedy came along to visit us this year at our Fringe Camp...
Splash Test Dummies Circus
★★★★★
Children's Shows (Circus, Comedy)
Age 0+
Various Times - The Lafayette at Underbelly's Circus Hub on the Meadows - until 29th August
Mix Up Junior (Age 7 ) and Oban (Age 8) - ★★★★★
"Soo funny! A hundred thousand stars and they had water guns which was brilliant. They made me laugh and the one guy was very sweaty and kept wiping it on the others. I liked all the dancing it was hilarious."
Stewart & Hazel - ★★★★★
"Brilliant family fun and the .... Test Dummies create another masterpiece of chaos laughs and lots of audience interaction. An excellent fun hour of entertainment and even baby Thea loved it!"
Baby Thea (Age 0) - ★★★★★
"Waw waw woo woo!"
We also caught these...
The Pleb's Pow Wow
Stewart - ★★★
"A fine hour of comedy from Ian Stone. Though it's hardly the most riveting and some of the jokes did feel a bit run-of-the-mill - as ever though there's hilarity still to be found in there from this expert hand and Stone's ambitions to change the world with his audience is a nice take on his comedy style."
Samantha Day: I've Started So I'll Finish
Stewart - ★★★
"Similar to Stone's show, Samantha Day has a bit to say about the youth, especially the Gen-Z generation which provides a lot of the funniest material in her show. Day is a welcoming fine comedian and has a lot of fun with her audience, there's maybe a spot of pacing issues still but this feels like the show which will launch Day into the stratosphere and there's, I'm sure, even more great things to come."
Make sure you've booked in for Mix Up Theatre DRAMA CLASSES!
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