An Unflinching And Personal Exploration Of Chronic Pain And The Gender Health Gap
August 1-9 13:45 at Clover Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court, 322 Lawnmarket
Written by Olivia Ormond
Starring Olivia Ormond
Directed by Juju Jaworski
Produced by Alexa Spiegel
After the medical system fails to find the cause of a woman’s pain, she is driven to extremes to finally be heard, leaving her questioning the world around her.
Emmy-winning writer, director, and creative producer Olivia Ormond is premiering her solo play, Call Me Crazy at the the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a 9-date run after the U.S. premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Call Me Crazy is an unflinching and complex look at a woman from the inside out as she risks it all deciding what is better: to disappear, be tossed aside or give in and completely explode. After the medical system fails to find the cause of a woman’s pain let alone acknowledge that the pain exists, she is driven to extremes to finally be heard, leaving her questioning the world around her.
Said writer and star Olivia Ormond, “writing this show was not something I intended to do, but whenever I started writing something else it all seemed unimportant compared to this.” And the story is hitting home. She says, “I don’t go a day without meeting another woman who also shares this same experience.”
Call Me Crazy is Ormond’s true story of her lived experience of being told by medical professionals for years that the pain she was experiencing all day, every day, was not real. Says Olivia Ormond, “a lot can happen in 6 years, and living in pain for that long can make you crazy.” This show is the story of Olivia fighting to get her life back after consistent gaslighting from those who took an oath to help.
The gender health gap and medical gaslighting are real and only getting worse. Women are not listened to and their pain is not taken seriously. Call Me Crazyis for anyone wondering how many times people can call you crazy before you lose your f*cking mind and Ormond hopes that women come away from the piece feeling empowered, seen and heard. With her previous work creating original content for networks and studios, this play is the next evolution of her storytelling ethos: truthful, urgent, and impossible to ignore.
Run Time: 50 min
Dates/ Times: August 1-9 at 13:45
Venue: Clover Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
322 Lawnmarket EH1 2PG
Set just up from the Royal Mile and over the years some familiar faces such as Dame Maggie Smith and Stephen Fry have graced the stages in this venue make it a wee bit special. With four spaces, a bar and beautiful courtyard seating, Greenside @ Riddles Court is the perfect addition to our Green family.
Sheeps, their full live band & very special guests will be performing songs from their (unexpectedly) chart-placing album & more.
Sheeps are ‘arguably the best sketch group of their generation’ (Guardian), and now they’re inarguably the best Christmas-themed band of their generation too.
For two nights only, Sheeps and their full live band will be coming to the Edinburgh Fringe to perform songs from their unexpectedly-chart-placing album (58th on the Official Downloads Chart) and more, with a host of surprise guests. It may be August in Edinburgh, but it’s always Christmas somewhere.
Sheeps: A Very Sheeps Christmas – Live in Concert! In the Summer! is the perfect (and probably only) Christmas musical comedy show for the summer. A big, joyous musical extravaganza that feels as much like a gig as it does a comedy show, it showcases Sheeps and their band’s brilliant musical abilities alongside their comedy songwriting chops.
15 years into their comedy careers, these shows will mark the biggest Edinburgh Fringe shows performed by the critically-acclaimed sketch group.
Featuring zerocovers, these shows are guaranteed to include your new favourite Christmas songs, such as ‘My Baby Looks A Lot Like Santa Claus’, ‘Christmas Sex (That No Condom Sex)’, and a special live rendition of ‘Goodman Jizz’.
Previous special guests have included Jamie Demetriou, Rose Matafeo, Lolly Adefope, Charlotte Ritchie, Emma Sidi & more. Sheeps are Jonno (Guitar & Vocals), Al Roberts (Piano & Vocals) and Liam Williams (Vocals). They will be joined on-stage by a brilliant 5 piece band: Johnny White Really-Really (Guitar & Piano), Luke Bainbridge (Drums), Charlie Flynn (Bass), Sophie Burrows (Saxophone) & John Tothill (Clarinet).
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The album ‘A Very Sheeps Christmas’, a labour of love for Sheeps for over a decade, is available now on limited edition vinyl, as well as downloading and streaming. All links are HERE.
The musical passion project of lead songwriters and vocalists Daran Jonno Johnson and Al Roberts, the album features a whole host of incredible guest stars: vocal appearances from Jamie Demetriou, Rose Matafeo, Lolly Adefope, Charlotte Ritchie, Emma Sidi and Amy Annette, and musical appearances from comedians Kieran Hodgson on violin, and John Tothill on clarinet – as well as incredible session musicians appearing across the album.
Beloved sketch trio SHEEPS have created six sell-out sketch hours, and have had years of individual TV success. Together, they created the cult web series 2016: Year Friends, also co-written by and starring Jamie Demetriou, Natasia Demetriou and Ellie White, as well as popular BBC3 sketch pilot People Time.
AL ROBERTS has had notable roles in Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4), What We Do In The Shadows (FX), Starstruck (HBO/BBC3), Feel Good (Netflix/Channel 4) and Man Like Mobeen (BBC3).
JONNO (DARAN JOHNSON) co-wrote the Rose d’Or-nominated international comedy series Parlement (France.TV), for which he also won the 2020 Grimme-Preis for Fiction. He was also a writer for Wedding Season (Disney+), Elliott From Earth (Cartoon Network), and Siblings (BBC3).
LIAM WILLIAMS is the creator and star of BAFTA-nominated series PLS LIKE (BBC3), Ladhood (BBC3), and has also starred in This Time With Alan Partridge (BBC1), Everyone Else Burns (Channel 4) and Back to Life (BBC1).
What the press have said about A Very Sheeps Christmas:
“The funniest triple act in British comedy… deliver the ultimate Christmas album”Guardian
“Brilliant, a timely repository for daft, surprisingly catchy singalongs”Chortle
What the press have said about Sheeps:
“There’s no act in comedy more thrillingly, mind-expandingly funny”Brian Logan, Guardian
“Brilliantly crafted” Time Out
“something quite different and very exciting indeed” Independent
Famous for showcasing some of the most critically acclaimed, thought provoking and daring international work in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, #DANISH returns with five new shows to celebrate five exhilarating seasons of work from Denmark. Alongside this theatrical feast for the senses, the showcase’s Fringe First winning international hit THE INSIDER returns for an exclusive run at The Pleasance’s King Dome, allowing audiences and reviewers a second chance to enjoy this astonishing high-tech bank heist thriller based on a true story.
Committed to bringing the finest performance work from Denmark to the world via the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, this year’s showcase includes a line-up of daring women taking on hard wood and big balls, a dashing Dane in a dinner suit keen to ply you with cocktails, a soloist exploring belonging through her Danish/Greenlandic heritage, a man wrestling internal demons from his armchair and a brand new physical theatre company taking Europe by storm.
A highlight of this year’s new works is the return of the award-winning Danish company HIMHERANDIT Productions, which captivated audiences in 2023 with the powerful MASS EFFECT at Summerhall. This year, they return to Edinburgh with the deeply moving performance CHAMPIONS at Pleasance.
#DANISH continues in 2025 with support from the Danish Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is a multi-year collaboration between the founder of the #DANISH initiative, production company WILDTOPIA and the Embassy of Denmark in the UK.
This year the #DANISH showcase is proud to introduce:
Danish Theatre Award Nominee Champions A Heroic Internal Struggle
Hot on the heels of Edinburgh Fringe 2023’s sensational Summerhall success MASS EFFECT, HIMHERANDIT Artistic Director and Choreographer Andreas Constantinou introduces a work so strikingly different that the juxtaposition of both pieces marks a defining moment in his career so far. Award-nominated Constantinou’s Champions is a deeply personal, emotionally charged performance delving into themes of family dynamics, identity, loneliness, and resilience. This impactful 30-minute piece seamlessly blends theatre, live art, video projections, and haunting audio to immerse audiences in a vivid portrayal of personal struggle and self-acceptance.
In Champions, Constantinou courageously confronts his strained relationship with his homophobic father, stern mother, and his own vulnerabilities. Seated silently before the audience, Constantinou allows recorded conversations with his parents and therapist to unveil layers of grief, rejection, and emotional turmoil. This intimate narrative creates an intense, reflective atmosphere that engages viewers profoundly.
Dynamic and unsettling, the performance’s set erupts with striking video projections depicting an intense wrestling match between two men, an evocative metaphor for Constantinou’s internal battles. These visuals alternate with quiet stillness, mirroring the tension between silent endurance and inner chaos. Venue: Pleasance, EICC, Pentland Dates: 31st Jul – 16th Aug Time: 20:30 Duration: 45 min Ticket Price: From £10
A Greenlandic Inspired Dance Of Belonging And Becoming
Drawing on her joint Greenlandic Inuit and Danish heritage, performer Sarah Aviaja Hammeken brings a timely and enchanting work of belonging and becoming to the Edinburgh Fringe. Her work, SOIL, is a compelling dance performance deeply rooted in Greenlandic traditions, exploring identity, language, and cultural belonging. Through the resonant movements and rhythms of Kalaallisut, this solo performance by Hammeken herself embodies a powerful exploration of cultural connection beyond spoken words and geographical boundaries. A poetic and physical journey of self-discovery, SOIL illuminates the intimate relationship between language, body, and heritage. It invites audiences to experience the beauty and challenges of communication in new ways. Produced in collaboration with Dansehallerne.
Venue: Dance Base Dates: 1st – 17th Aug (Not 4th, 11th) Time: 15:50 Duration: 45 min Ticket Price: From £15.50
A family friendly show for both hardcore circus lovers and artistically inclined audiences alike. The show explores authentic and profoundly touching topics as it leads their audience through emotional highs and lows and ultimately leaves it joyous and excited with a new outlook on how far human collaboration could take our society.
Since premiering debut show The Genesis less than a year ago, fledgling acrobatic company The Copenhagen Collective has dazzled audiences across Europe with this moving contemporary work that uses breathtaking feats of circus artistry to explore themes of togetherness, conflict, integration and collaboration, all while leaving audiences gasping for more.
Venue: Assembly, Main Hall Dates: 31 July – 25 Aug (not 6, 11, 18 Aug), Time: 12:30pm Duration: 60 min Ticket Price: From £10.50
Female Power In A World Of Hard Wood And Big Balls
From the Danish dance company DON GNU, who brought you compelling macho dance off Tennis and acclaimed exploration of modern masculinity M.I.S. – All Night Long, comes a girly K.I.S.S.
Don’t let yourself be fooled by the lip smacker of a title, however, because this love letter to the trials of feminism and meeting men on their own terms comes with a powerful punch of energy and imagination from female performers, Nadja Bounenni, Giulia Quacqueri & Paulína Šmatláková.
Translated to Women in Socks and Sandals for the Edinburgh Fringe from its original Danish title K.I.S.S (Kvinder I Sokker Og Sandaler), the show explores what happens when women enter a world created by men. What is it like to be expected to act like the men around them? Is it possible for them to find their own expression in world of raw physicality, ego battles, and cheesy dad humour? Or is the air coming out of the balloon? What does female power in a world of hard wood and big balls look like? Produced in collaboration with Bora Bora.
Venue: Zoo Southside Dates: 1st – 10th Aug Time: 13:20 Duration: 60 min Ticket Price: From £16
Age Guidance: 12+
Reviews From: 1st Aug
Prerun: Aberdeen Performing Arts – International Season, 30. Jul
An internationally critically acclaimed Scotsman Fringe First Winner in 2023, The Insiderreturns to give audiences a second chance to see this incredible visual phenomenon live. Based on a real scandal, it charts the story of a young bank lawyer sucked into a criminal financial network, intent on stealing £50 Billion from treasuries around Europe. With superb acting, an extraordinary visual and binaural soundscape that enhances the building tension and a compelling script exploring greed and large-scale financial fraud, this show is guaranteed to send chills down your spine!
‘Unexpectedly gripping, brilliantly inventive and technically ground-breaking… an immersive masterpiece‘
★★★★★ Liam Rudden, Must See Theatre
‘It would be a crime to avoid a play that manages to create so specific and unique a vision’ ★★★★ British Theatre Guide
★★★★★ Theatre-News
Venue: Pleasance, Pleasance Dome, King Dome Dates: 30th Jul – 23rd Aug Time: 13:30 Duration: 65 min Ticket Price: From £10
When You’re Up To Your Neck In Shit – It’s No Use Hanging Your Head
Dashing Dane Caspar Phillipson, invites you to join him for a naughty Copenhagen cocktail of absurd current affairs, the thrilling life of a middle-aged married man, and Tom Lehrer classics in Late Night Lehrer. Edinburgh Fringe 2025 sees Phillipson premiering the English language version of the play, which has been playing in Copenhagen, as well as touring Denmark, for the past five years. Phillipson is your late-night host at the piano, taking a sharp look at international current affairs and life’s absurdities through the lens of famous musical satirist Tom Lehrer’s shockingly timely songs. A morbid yet dazzlingly entertaining evening of satire and music. As Caspar’s Danish grandma used to say: ‘When you’re up to your neck in shit – it’s no use hanging your head’.
Venue: Greenside, George Street, Lime Dates: 1st– 9th, 18th -23rd Aug Time: 20:45 Duration: 60 min Ticket Price: From £7
Age Guidance: 14+
Reviews From: 4th Aug
Danish Cultural AttachéLone Britt Christensen, from the Danish Embassy in London has followed the work behind #DANISH since 2018. She says:
“This year has an incredibly strong line up of Danish theatre and dance organisations, and the Danish Embassy is again this year proud to collaborate with Wildtopia on supporting all the Danish talent at the Edinburgh Fringe. This platform has built up a reputation of showcasing high quality work from Denmark. So don’t miss it!”
Arts Entrepreneur and Founding Producer of #DANISH, Karen Toftegaard said:
“The role of art in the world is more important than ever. With #DANISH, we are not only creating export opportunities – we are strengthening Denmark’s cultural connections and positioning Danish performing arts in an international context, where art becomes a catalyst for dialogue and relationships. And we simply love meeting people from Scotland and the whole world in Edinburgh every year.”
#DANISH is the Danish showcase at Edinburgh Fringe 2025 presented in a collaboration by founding producer WILDTOPIA and The Embassy of Denmark in the UK – supported by The Danish Ministry of Culture and Foreign Affairs.
Torvill and Dean, 50th Anniversary Tour – Our Last Dance
Reviewed by Louise Cannon
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
This is the Greatest Ice Show! The ice was purple hues and bursting onto the stage was Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean with a host of other ice dancers, some from Dancing on Ice to The Greatest Showman. I saw this in Glasgow’s OVO. There are still tickets available for other locations. See the link at the bottom of my review.
There was something for everyone from pop, classical and stage music, all fabulously choreographed and danced. Of course the most joyous, highlight parts were with Torvill and Dean dancing, either together with no one else on the ice or with the company, but it was lovely seeing the other professionals doing their own segments of the show and Torvill and Dean were generous to them.
We get an entertaining glimpse into how they chose the music Mack and Mabel.
The audience are treated to a look at Torvill and Dean’s glittering career from their humble beginnings at Nottingham ice rink to competing for the Olympics, touring, meeting various prime minsters, the Queen and Queen’s Mum, receiving an OBE each.
Generously, they had a duo who they think are the ice skaters to watch, Isla Forsyth, 12 and Lewis Macdonald, 13 from Ayrshire, Scotland, who played Torvill and Dean when they were younger with Karen Barber playing the coach.
There were beautifully tender moments throughout many of the performances, humour, some chat, which was done both on the ice and on screens, there were spectacular lifts, spins and more… There’s even a sing along with a chorus bit.
The Bolero, which won them their Olympic Gold had an interesting story behind it, which they shared before they danced it.
Time goes by as fast as the skaters fly past, sometimes literally as one took to the skies for one routine. Torvill and Dean, Our Last Dance is bittersweet, joyous and celebratory of two legends of the ice that you’ll never forget. They’re two special people and this is one special, spectacular show I highly recommend.
This was a spectacular, special performance you won’t want to miss!
The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits By Jennifer Weiner
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
The Griffin Sisters shows a duo in the music world, bringing nostalgia and then tears the curtain back on fame in this engaging new book by New York Times No1 Bestseller, Jennifer Weiner that is part music world, part family drama. Thanks to HQ for providing me a copy, I have the blurb and the rest of my review below…
Blurb
A story of sisters, love and the power of music, perfect for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six! ”Weiner is the undisputed queen of the fun yet thoughtful poolside read” Vogue” I came for a Daisy Jones fix and left with a craving for more Griffin Sisters! The kind of immersive, uplifting read you”ll clear the rest of your day for – just wonderful” Louise Candlish”*****Fame comes at a price…
The Griffin Sisters had the world at their feet, catapulted to stardom in the early 00’s before they become one of rock music’s greatest mysteries: Zoe, effortlessly gorgeous, who loved the fans and the fame, dancing under the lights while her sister’s voice rang out across stadiums. Cassie, never comfortable with the crowds or the attention, but with the voice of a generation, rich, haunting, touched with heartbreak. It’s two decades since The Griffin Sisters broke up. Zoe’s a wife and mother, living in suburbia, occasionally recognised by a nostalgic fan. No one knows where Cassie is. The sisters haven’t spoken in years. Now, despite her mum’s warnings, Zoe’s teenage daughter, Cherry, is determined to break into the music business and to discover the truth about what happened to the band all those years ago. But as secrets emerge, Cassie and Zoe must face the consequences of their choices: the ones they made and the ones the music industry made for them. Can they forgive each other – and themselves? And will the Griffin Sisters ever make music again? From the Number 1 bestselling author Jennifer Weiner comes a glittering novel set in the world of pop music about sisters, motherhood and the dreams we chase.🎧🎤🎵🎶
Review
A great dose of nostalgia of early 2000’s/noughties is fun. It shows this time through the eyes of Cassie and Zoe Grossberg who were thrust into the crazy, chaotic pop world of fame in the group, The Griffin Sisters. They hit the big time, being covered by all the big places, including MTV and Rolling Stone. The book mixes the real with the fictional rather well. The Griffin Sisters is written in a way that this pop duo could have existed. It catches you with all the excitement and seemingly freshness that era was like. The portrayal of the energy is absolutely recognisable.
There’s a real pulling back of the curtains of fame and how pop duos, seen so together and so like each other aren’t always in reality. Zoe craved the fame, but Cassie didn’t as such. You get under their skin, see what makes them tick, and more significantly, why they broke up and what a big secret was. Delving further into the book reveals a lot about Zoe’s and Cassie’s lives and how far removed they become from each other and those heady days. Zoe’s daughter is a good bridge between the two, although its a bit cutesy in premise to use as a vehicle to try to bring them back, but it does work in this instance. It allows the exploration of the former music duo, further, the issues faced and those needing addressing. Relationships can be complex and become more complicated over time, even with the bonds that tie them together. Will they reunite or remain going their separate ways?
The Griffin Sisters’ is an engaging book, full of nostalgia and many emotions that make, even those who have tasted fame, human.
Re-wilding, people-pleasing and changes to life circumstances is explored in this book that takes you outside big country house and grounds, the type you go and visit. Discover more in the blurb and then my review below…
Blurb
Anna Whitlock is a people-pleaser, but she is done saying yes. Now she has to learn how to put herself first…
After splitting up with her fiancé and ready for a new start, Anna takes a job rewilding the glorious Stonemore Estate in Northumberland.
But when she arrives the only thing driving Anna wild is her boss: the sexy, but emotionally unavailable Jamie, who is hellbent on making Anna’s job – and her life – as difficult as possible. On the plus side, there’s Callum, the gorgeous estate manager, her best friend Fi, and an enthusiastic beagle called Hugo.
When romance with Callum blossoms, is Anna’s resolve to stop people-pleasing about to falter? And why can’t she stop thinking about Jamie? Can she truly put herself first and say yes to the thing which will make her happiest, falling truly madly wildly in love…?
Review
Set in Northumberland, North England in the gloriously picturesque surroundings of the Stonemore Estate, is quite the behind the scenes tour of a big country house as it were as, through Anna and her newfound colleagues. It’s an interesting tour in a way and a glimpse into the lives, in a fictional way of those involved in the upkeep. It does have an air of authenticity and originality in setting about it.
Anna Whitlock is a people-pleaser who, I’m sure many people with this personality will recognise a bit of themselves in. She’s said yes to so many things that now she feels “done”. She now has a desire to take care of herself and learn how to put herself first. In order to do this, to a certain extent, she’s got rid of her fiancé and started a new job on a re-wilding project on the Stonemore Estate, Northumberland. The author has taken great care not to give Anna a job title that has just the topic of the moment in it, but has given it a bit of depth so readers can pick up bits here and there about what re-wildling means, the eco-system and more… Smartly, Loxton has made what appears to perhaps be one of her passions, engaging as she wraps it up with other life circumstances.
There’s some good, well-written comedy as romance becomes once again a thing to creep into Anna’s life, as does a dog, who wants to steal the scene at times. Anna has dilemmas and choices to make in this new life she’s carved out for herself, but who will she end up with? Will the emotionally unavailable, enticingly sexy Jamie get it together and be with her or will the rather good-looking manager, Callum be the one?
Wild About You is a slow-burn romance that compellingly unfolds in a gorgeously setting that holds an interesting premise. It’s a book that will warm your heart, uplift your spirits and create a desire to explore the great out doors and grow your own.
Thanks to Simon &Schuster, Books And The City for a review copy and a pack of seeds. The wildflower seeds are showing, so look out for a further post about this book when they are in full bloom. All opinions on the book are my own and whether the seeds fully grow or not are down to how green-fingered I am this year. My review isn’t influenced by a pack of seeds. Wildflower growing happens in my garden, but it is a welcome and beautiful extra.
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 