Monkey Barrel, Cabaret Voltaire 1 • Fringe 2026 ★★★★
With his grumpy style and hilariously absurd wordplay, Huge Davies takes the stage wearing a chef's hat for reasons than only become vaguely less unclear later. He starts by warning that old people in the audience won't like this show, and should just go to sleep. What follows feels like a fever dream that he makes up as he goes, although it's so well-structured that we know better. And he takes his dryly amusing contempt for his audience to startling new extremes this time.
The central joke here is that he hasn't been able to sleep for 10 years, which is affecting the way he sees everything. As he shares anecdotes from his life, he casually undermines homophobia, racism and xenophobia with close-to-the-bone jokes. Absurd stories from his childhood lead into a Henry VIII-style rhyme about his exes. One of these was a witch who placed a curse on him. And now he has discovered a profane ritual that will lift the curse, but at whose expense?
Huge's rapid-fire delivery keeps us thoroughly entertained, even as he snarls at us. He adds nonsensical twists to everyday situations that force us to look at them through new eyes. And his aggressive attitude is balanced by his snappy wit, which occasionally breaks the facade. Goofier moments include reenacting how he thought he was turning into a fly and listening to the audiobook of The Hobbit instead of sleeping, a gag that echoes and deepens right to the very end. It's unclear if he has a point here, but his caustic charm is thoroughly entertaining.
For more: HUGE DAVIES • 17.Aug.26
Zoo Southside, Studio • Fringe 2026 ★★★★
Directed by Maggie Soboil, this one-woman show is expertly performed by Bellina Logan, who walks the audience through her complex relationship with her mother. Bellina is such a skilful performer that every character in the story springs vividly to life with amusingly quirky details. Even though it's sharply well-written, the show only offers a glimpse of Bellina herself, leaving us wanting to know more about her too. But her mother Averil emerges as a larger-than-life figure who inspires us to embrace whatever life throws at us, although perhaps a bit less chaotically.
She launches into her quick-paced story describing her mother as a Maggie Smith-style Englishwoman, blonde and blue-eyed in striking contrast to her father, who looked like Shaft. They met in Los Angeles, and Averil hid her pregnancy from her two older daughters, heading to "Paris" then returning with a gorgeous brown baby. Over the years, they moved between London, New York and Los Angeles. There are several long-term friendships, plus an extended family of cats in Manhattan. And while Bellina was clearly raised to be independent and confident, her wedding and even the birth of her child are described in the context of her mother.
Bellina plays everyone using accents and distinct physicality, catching the most offbeat revelations about their personalities. Everyone is thoroughly colourful, especially her drama-queen mother. This is a funny and deeply involving show, peppered with lively breakout moments that add vivid textures of both musical joy and dark tension. In the final act, the show centres around Averil's slowly growing dementia and how Bellina had to "deconstruct the life of a lioness" to care for her. Even here, there's a terrific combination of real-life humour in the chaos of everyday events. Averil certainly had a very big life, and of course so did Bellina. Revealing more of herself here would make this even more powerful.
For more: BELLINA LOGAN • 18.Aug.26
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