#EdFringe News – #Danish Celebrates Five Exhilarating Years #WhatsOnEdinburgh @ThePleasance @AREdinburgh @GreensideVenue

Six Champion Shows Set To Knock Your Socks Off This Edinburgh Fringe,

As #DANISH Celebrates Five Exhilarating Years!

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:

CHAMPIONS

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: 31^st Jul – 16^th Aug
Time: 20:30
Duration: 45 min
Ticket Price: From £10

Age Guidance: 16+

Event Warning: Contains Nudity

SOIL

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: 1^st – 17^th Aug (Not 4^th, 11^th)
Time: 15:50
Duration: 45 min
Ticket Price: From £15.50

Age Guidance: 14+

Reviews From: 1^st Aug

THE GENESIS

17 Arists, 13 Countries, One Body.

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

Event Warning: Strobe Lighting

Reviews From: 31^st Jul

WOMEN IN SOCKS AND SANDALS

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: 1^st – 10^th Aug
Time: 13:20
Duration: 60 min
Ticket Price: From £16

Age Guidance: 12+

Reviews From: 1^st Aug

Prerun: Aberdeen Performing Arts – International Season, 30. Jul

THE INSIDER

A Contemporary Wolf Of Wall Street

An internationally critically acclaimed Scotsman Fringe First Winner in 2023, The Insider returns 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: 30^th Jul – 23^rd Aug
Time: 13:30
Duration: 65 min
Ticket Price: From £10

Age Guidance: 16+

Reviews From: 30^th Jul

LATE NIGHT LEHRER – With Caspar Phillipson

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: 1^st– 9^th, 18^th -23^rd Aug
Time: 20:45
Duration: 60 min
Ticket Price: From £7

Age Guidance: 14+

Reviews From: 4^th Aug

Danish Cultural Attaché Lone 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.  

#Review by Lou of Torvill and Dean, 50th Anniversary Tour – Our Last Dance @torvillanddean @jaynetorvill_official #TorvillandDeanOurLastDance #OurLastDance #UKTour

Torvill and Dean, 50th Anniversary Tour – Our Last Dance

Reviewed by Louise Cannon

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!

Find your tickets and tour dates of here: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/torvill-dean-tickets/artist/34411
*Please note I am not affiliated to Ticketmaster nor the show.
*Photography was encouraged without a flash.

#Review of The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits – The Novel By Jennifer Weiner @jenniferweinerwrites @HQstories #The GriffinSistersGreatestHits #Novel #BookRecommendation #Music #FamilySaga #FamilyDrama

The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits
By Jennifer Weiner

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.

#Review by Lou of Wild About You by Sophie Loxton #SophieLoxton @bookminxSJV #TeamBATC @TeamBATC #Blogtour #SummerRead #Rewilding #RomanticFiction #BookRecommendation

Wild About You
By Sophie Loxton

Written by Louise Cannon

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.

#Review by Lou of The Revenge Club by Kathy Lette @KathyLette #TheRevengeClub @RandomTTours #BlogTour

The Revenge Club
By Kathy Lette

review written by Louise Cannon

Revenge is sweet, best served cold. The Revenge Club is deliciously wicked. It’s a book that can’t be helped but devoured. Clink the glasses and move on down to the blurb and my review below…

Blurb

Four scorned women. One perfect plan.

When the odds are against you, it’s time to get even.

Best friends Matilda, Penny, Cressida and Jo are approaching their sixties with flair until, one by one, their bubbles are burst.

Matilda, a bestselling novelist, is dropped by her publisher; Penny is cut from her prime-time TV show in favour of her male co-host; Cressida’s acting agent can only offer her female incontinence adverts and Jo… well Jo realised it’s still a man’s world a while ago.

Confronted by a society that believes they’re all past their amuse-by dates, the friends vow to face their non-entity crises together. Each has been trampled on by men, so it’s time for a little revenge.

Let the games begin!

Review

Wickedly witty, Kathy Lette has written an escapist page-turner. Once started, it’s hard to put down.

It all begins with a reunion of Matilda, Jo, Penny and Cressida at a rather posh hotel in London. Jo is running late, but a mysterious man rocks up, taking the seat at the table… or is there something more familiar to him than first realised?

These are women who feel hard done by in society. They’re peri-menopausal women who’ve tried to succeed in life, making their way through a male dominated world and now in-return of their strife, want their revenge on the males who could’ve done better, but instead wronged them.

It would make a brilliant summer film. The interactions and plotting of the revenge is sublime!

The writing is hilarious in many moments, which captured me. To create a book that’s so funny and addresses the issues of the day and probably beyond and what’s gone before is no mean feat. The interweaving of this humour with the serious topics of women’s lives is compelling and very well-written.

It’s a sparkly, satisfying read that’s perfect for a warm summer day with a cocktail or favourite wine.

#Review by Lou of The Coffee Shop Masquerade By T.A. Morton @TAMortonWriter @Earnshawbooks @RandomTTours #Blogtour #TheCoffeeShopMasqerade #Coffee #Books

The Coffeeshop Masquerade
By T.A. Morton

Coffee shops, most of us do love them, whatever the coffee type we order, from our favourite latte to cappuccino, flat-white and more, but this one is different from any you’d have stepped into before. This is a coffeeshop masquerade, this is when a cup of coffee isn’t just a cup of coffee, it’s much more, but still one for the coffee lovers. Discover more in the blurb and my review below as I close the blog tour.

Blurb

A mysterious mask abandoned in a Hong Kong coffee shop eavesdrops on the lives of those who enter, asking, who are we beneath our masks?

The Coffee Shop Masquerade is a captivating exploration of transient lives seeking meaning amid everyday encounters, much like the alluring cup of coffee that unites and intrigues us all.

As the enigmatic forces inspired by the Tao Te Ching loom over them, choices must be made, secrets revealed, and unexpected bonds forged—all under the watchful gaze of a mysterious mask.

Review

A cup of coffee isn’t more than what you think it is in The Coffee Shop Masquerade. Have you ever sat in a cafe and looked around at its customers and wondered who they are, what brought them there, what they do? In a coffee shop in Hong Kong, there’s a mask that observes everything and everyone. It’s a great way of creating people’s lives and answering all those questions and this mask is used to great effect, bringing depth of life to the people who come and go. It makes for a quirky read with a great premise. It’s a bit different from what I imagined it to be as it isn’t some big masquerade ball, the masquerade comes from the mask that links all these transient lives together. It carries an air of mystery about it.
The stories that people think are hidden are all there in coffee shops and the Tao Te Ching knows all their secrets, their loves, their sadness and happiness. Each persons lives give thought-provoking snapshots, with each chapter starting with an interesting quote.

Sit with a cup of coffee to feed the body and allow curiosity to takeover to feed the mind. Be enthralled by people’s lives and beware, the mask observes all.

About the Author

T.A. Morton is an Irish/Australian writer.

Previously, she worked as a journalist and editor for Longman Pearson in Hong Kong.

In 2020, she was shortlisted for the Virginia Prize for Fiction and the Bridport Prize.

She has a Masters in Crime and Thriller writing from the University of Cambridge.

Her novel Someone is Coming was published by Monsoon Books in August 2022 and has been optioned for television.