Edinburgh Festival - Part 1 The Review Show

This programme contains some strong For the next three weeks the Review

Show will bring you the best, the weirdest and rudiest of what the

festival has to offer. Live as usual, and joined by a studio who

couldn't get into any other show! On tonight's show, we explore three

fringe productions of experimental theatre. Two in unusual locations

and one which virtually does away with actors all together. We also

throw ourselves into the best of the Edinburgh Art Festival, with

new exhi bigs from Tony Cragg, Robert Rauschenberg and the force

of nature, David Mach. Put Mark Almond and Mark Ravenhill together

and the result is one of the hottest tickets of the week so far.

A song-cycle collaboration, Ten Plagues. With 941 comedy acts

jostling for attention, we ask if there are any tab boos left,

looking at four comics, whose acts are trying to push the boundaries.

Asian people don't have a lot of So, here we are in our new home for

the month, slap bang inside the castle. Joining me to discuss

everything are writer and Edinburgh resident Hannah McGill. Author and

critic Natalie Haynes and the novelist Hari Kunzru, whose latest

book is hot off the fress. Before we get going -- press. Before we

get going we thought we should give you a taste of the atmosphere. We

asked Tom Allen to lead us in. With 41,689 performances of 2,542

across 258 venues using 21,192 official performers, the figures

for Edinburgh continue to be as baffling as ever. The numbers are

up on last year. It is still the world's largest arts event. This

year the big four are closer together.

George square gardens has been taken over. The weather has

nominated the conversation. John Malkovich has his own show. The

Edinburgh International Festival, known to comedians like me, as the

posh one, draws inspiration from Asian culture. Shakespeare will be

performed in Korean and man da drin -- mandarin. Phil Glass,vy never

met him, we are all friends here. I he is making his debut sound

tracking films. Then, there's the art festival. I know! Taking to the

street with Martin, David Mach tackles the king James's bible. And

Robert Rauschenberg - the first works for 30 years T book festival

has welcomed a lot of book royalty. We hear about the new book, The Kid.

And the fringe. The venues continue to range from someone's front room

through to telecom mixs packing people in by the thousands. Last

year 2.74 million people visited the fringe. Stuart Leigh has sold

out previews at the stand. Joesy Long is more political than ever. I

have a chat show at the Gilded Balloon. And a stripper, through to

comedy for kids, showcasing comedians as young as 12. There is

something for everyone. Simon Callw has put on lipstick. -- Callow has

put on lipstick. Margaret Cho, we have not mentioned that picture of

the tattoo, the one at the castle. People love it so much, you cannot

get a ticket. I thought it was a bunch of soldiers mincing up and

down with bagpipes. It is just like Glastonbury but there is short

beard in the gift shop and you don't have to camp, not unless you

really want to! This is the see-through upon cho

festival. I have seen hundreds over -- poncho festival. I have seen

hundreds of them. I only own endless waterproof and thin layers

because of doing the show so many times. It is steamy.

All the comedy venues would say they are up. It is a good sign.

hope it is true. There are lots and lots of people who have been on

main-stream TV shows and they have massive venues, so the numbers go

up every year. I am not sure it is easy to be a new act here. You are

appearing here on the Review Show, but you are at the book show at the

festival? Looking at the international festival, it is

looking towards Asia this year? Fascinating. The range of stuff on

there is extraordinary. You get caught up with the fringe at the

beginning. You forget there is still the book festival, still the

international festival. Hopefully the rain will ease off.

International Festival, what has come up this year is the Art

Festival. There is lots to see. Masses and masses. We will review

some tonight. Let's dive head-long into the festival, starting the

fringe. Travelling minute strels, cameramen, there is no shortage of

weird and sometimes wonderful settings for the experience.

The Edinburgh Fringe has been the place to experiment. We asked our

three guests to try out some very different theatrical experiences.

Ranging from performances in a constructed child's bedroom to a

performance in their own living room. The Lounge Room are happy to

tell theiral tales. The thin air was lost. All of its passengers

were never seen again. The two are making their Edinburgh Fringe debut

after a sell-out tour in Australia, where they won two Adelaide Fringe

awards already. They are armed with a guitar and props. They weave

together Gothic stories, set everywhere from your lower intest

tins to an unusual morgue. I opened my eyes and I noticed I was back in

the morgue. She lies neck tot me. I am scared to touch her cold, dead

body. I notice she is breathing. I put my hand on her bottom. It's

warm. It's a warm bottom. It's a sexy one.

Also embracing an experimental approach to performance is a

journey played out in an iPad within a child's bedroom. Each

person enters alone and the story unfolds on their hand-held screen.

Lasting 20 minutes. It offers a child's eye view of the world in an

unusual space. I'll sit on the bed. The viewer is encouraged to move

around the specially constructed white room, directed by the action

in the film. The fringe is the perfect place to

have a piece like this. There are a lot of audience members who are

really open to different experiences. They are not worrying

about exactly what it would be. They want to see something

different. Also offering something different

from the more traditional theatre is a Belgium company, who have

returned to the fringe this year w a piece that promised to celebrate

us, the audience. I guess there's nothing else I can

do. All the faces before me. I'm waiting to hear what you'll say

about me! Turning the cameras on to the seats, they take handbags and

ask about individuality. I want to create something which will make

people have an opinion and make people react to that. We all look

at each other and we adapt. What is wrong with that? It is beautiful!

Let's take you back to the Contrabulators. Did it fall into a

different kind of production, or do you feel you have seen this before?

I don't know if I have seen it before in the fringe. I am

essentially charmed by the idea these two guys will turn up and

make a space out of theatre. They bring a carpet. A very small carpet.

They unroll it. They kind of make a little space for themselves and all

their props are in a case. They - I found - you have lots of footage in

that package of me looking grumpy. That's my happy face. That is your

"I better not give away what I think face!" They are engaging

performers. It was a sweet show. was like travelling - kind of mis-

firing tales. It was not their fault we had them during the day,

with telly lighting on. I could have gone a little more horror. It

has a strange tonal clash that you get often with Australian comedy,

of having incredibly glory or gruesome and then really volume ger.

They smash into each other. No, -- vulgar. They smash into each other.

I kind of want to see the next one more than I wanted to see this one.

Underbelly, a huge sensation in Melbourne and in Adelaide. They are

charming. Do you agree with Natalie they are not dark enough? I could

have gone darker. What I had problems with, like Hari I liked

something coming to your house. When you have Fringe fatigue and

you are in venues too hot or too cold t idea of having someone come

to perform to you, it is like being spoilt. It had a child-like quality.

I mean, I can take a lot of flimsy, I liked the little characters.

had to say, the lighting, we had bright lights on them. They have a

shadow puppet we had to imagine really. The stories take on a life

of their own and change in the retailing. You can imagine it

happening every day as they do it differently. The nearest is the

village in India. The guy turns one the puppets and the back lights. It

is a traditional form of story telling. Moving on to the product

of bang new technology was the iPad experience of being in a little

white room. Were you disconcerted? I don't like interactive things.

This is the most I have spoken to other people in about a month. If I

am honest I am finding it disturbing now. It looks

interactive, but it isn't. For me, the fact it was in an enclosed

space is more harrowing. Did you think the child was going to come

through the window. When it did not happen, weirdly because I would

have skwarked had it happened, I was disappointed. There is a moment

you walk into this empty white room. You look at the empty white room on

the iPad. You are in there. And you look on the iPad and two pairs of

shoes had appeared. And the thing is that awesome thing does not come.

It is charming, but it is never thrilling. If I am honest! They

were all about narratives, a weaving narrative. This was about

imagination. What did you make of the way it was filmed The music and

cinema was gorgeous. There was some pretentious art-class cliches. I

didn't know what was going on. The same as Natalie. There is a

disconcerting n a lovely way, you walk in, you are holding the thing,

you can see the door and a real door. You want more of that to run

through it. You end up sitting on the edge of a bed thrsm is a bit n

the film she --. There is a bit in the film she looks under the bed

and finds something. I wish there had been more interactivity.

performance by the six-year-old, I thought was mesmerising. She's a

very compelling little girl, isn't she? She is the best thing about it.

It looks great. The set that they have built for you to have this

experience in is also great. Then The mother becomes a ginger bread

woman. I'm not convinced it's ginger bread. The dough can't make

that baked item. This is not Masterchef. Let's move to a

performance group who have been here before and they ultimately

have said right, OK, it's down to the audience, but except it's not

because we're going to turn ourselves on you and make you do

things. Never hand over your coat and bag to an actor when you walk

into a show. Did you do that? Is it the whole idea is that they

take very kindly your coat, bag, whatever you have and then what

they do is reveal it on stage. Of course none of us were stupid

enough. I live with an actor. I'm not an idiot. Then they train the

camera on the audience. You get voices going "Oh, I'm so self-

conscious." That's sweet for a while. Then it becomes nasty.

the message? Their trouble is they've co-flaited the idea of an

audience with the idea of a crowd. By the end of it they're flowing

everything at the wall like the Nuremberg rallies and vi a dream.

We know a lot of things about being in crowds and being in an audience

is a specific thing. They started to play with that. I felt it was an

undercooked show. It was like if they'd really focused on what they

wanted to tell us a bit more, it could have been good. Of course,

what they had was this scene where, well, the moment where they abuse a

member of the audience, because everyone is savvy, you don't know

whether it's a member of the audience or the cast. Yes and

they're doing this thing in the wrong town. What you get is people

going, here's the things, we as actors have realised that the

audience, like you, are not completely passive. We can interact

with them. Yeah you're in a mate with nearly a thousand stand-up

comedians. Even the ones doing a free show have thought more about

going through a fourth wall than you have, honestly. What about the

whole idea of immersion, not you because I know you're in hives

already, what about being involved? You like it or you don't? Generally

I hate it. I think it's nice if it's a connection, it's nice if

they're nice to you. I like the fact the performers are making

contact with you. What the audience show did that was offensive was

kind of going, you're all so passive sitting there judging us.

It's like you came to your show. That's what you want. I don't see

where this big ref latory thing about the bad audience. You pay

your audience to be entertained. have a lot of time for beingents

taind after a hard day's work. their job. When anyone welcomes the

Nazis as a retorical point, we should be able to go home. The idea

that the crowd goes to a nightclub with the Mexican wave at a football

match, With fascism. If you want details on that, you can find them

on our website. From staink theatrical experiences to the more

recognisable setting of the art gallery and our selection of three

big exhibition that's are very hard to miss.

This year's Edinburgh Art Festival is the most ambitious yet, with

major work from world renowned artists and sculpt Tors. Robert

Rauschenberg is at Inverleith House, a posthumous exhibition of his work,

Botanical Vaudeville focuses on work from the latter part of his

career, from large-scale scuppure to intricate painting. Turner Prize

winner Cragg considering's first museum show for more than a decade

is at the Scottish modern gallery of modern art. At the City Art

Centre, Professor of sculpture at the Royal Academy David Mach has

taken up residence. This is his biggest solo show and perhaps his

most important ever. It is absolutely massive, spread over

four storeys of the City Art Centre, everything from colossal kolaudges

to soaring sculpture, it's all inspired bit King James version of

the Bible. What Mach has done is take biblical stories and set them

in a modern context. I had thought about the King James Bible maybe

ten, 12 years ago. There's the place where all the stories are,

all the love and pest lens, the heat, famine, sex, jealousy. It's

got everything you know. When you have people standing in front of

judgment day, it means different things to different people but what

do you want people to think when they're looking at this? I want you

to look. I want you to feel. I want you to use this. I want you to use

that. I want you to use your stomach, all the thing that's

you've got to figure out what it is that you're looking at. You want to

suck people in. When you move to the sculptures you have golgopha.

needed to tease the hooks for spikes. The hairs on your body

standing on end. It's a coat hanger. It sounds naff. But when you see it,

it's a powerful thing. There's an insulation, which is essentially

your studio. A kolage has a mood. It has a feeling, a message, a

story, it has colour, size, shape. You're busy using those things. I

mean thousands of those things together, you're weaving them

through and trying to get some kind of collective idea of a story.

construction of the satan's head to be burnt, tell me, how did you go

about doing all that? The devil took about three-and-a-half, four

months to work. It's mad work. they're going to be burned? Yeah,

in a couple of days we will burn the devil. What you get is a 30

second, 40 second ludicrously powerful performance, where this

thing flares up. Stand back, if you do it inside, it would burn the

house down. Of all the stars on this year's art festival stellar

programme, who lives up to their illustrious billing?

Let's start with Precious Light on the anniversary of the King James

Bible. Do you think this was simply a vehicle for David Mach, I don't

mean that disparagingly or is it something more epic, not in a

religious way, but epic as the stories in the Bible are.

certainly has captured a stale in these pieces. They're enormous

pieces. They're busy. You can dive into them, all these tiny figures

doing them. They are a lot of them very powerful. The one that's work

less well for me shade into the weird aesthetic of Jehovah's

Witness literature, where you get pandas and multiethnic people happy

in a garden. I would split the show down the middle. The works are by

and large fantastic. The sculpture is awful. Really, the tank traps?

The weird horror movie Christ thing I got nothing from it. And the

strange pop Jesus and pop devil as well. It didn't relate very well to

the other work. It made it slightly unbalanced show for me. Natalie,

what did you think? I quite liked the sculpture. I liked the scary

devil. I didn't realise, I had a catalogue, but I was so wet, I

couldn't view it. When I saw the devil's head, it's burned now. I

thought how smart the devil is burned out. And look, lovely Jesus

who is lovely matches. It was one of those things going, I see that

the subtitle of this exhibition is the celebration of the King James

Bible and I wonder if that stopped people who really like the Bible

from really hating you, because vi to admit there were moments when I

was going, these sculptures are properly horrifying. This is a cues

fix... He looks like he was made out of cake. He's going to be

burned as well at the end. crucified Jesus is, it reminds you

that the crucifix is an instrument of torture. I'm blanking on the

horror movie when the guy has... Hell raiser. The idea that David

Mach moved his entire studio up here. What the audience can do when

they go there is they can watch everybody working, cutting out

commando comics, cutting out woman and homes, cutting all these things

and there are stacks of moxs of things like women kneeling, frogs

jumping that have been collected over the years. The idea that it's

like Victoriana. I love that there's a huge exhibition, over

five floors. A lot of them, I mean, some of them I found compelling and

some of them I thought it's more of the same, there's so much material

on the walls. But when you get up to a certain level and you see him

doing it, that's wonderful. That's moving and it reminds you that this

is a real craftsman and actually, one of the things that's nice about

it... With assistance. Yes! Cutting out parrots all day. It's been

built by hands, it's not photo shop. It's been layered. If these scraps

are incredibly fine, Tony Cragg has got the completely material, this

is massive stuff, working with a lot of assistance as well, created

a bronze, muscular stuff, but feeling very fluid wha. Due make of

that? It's the solidity and fluidity that's beautiful. The

scale of it is great. It's just something that you can wonder

around and gaze upon. It doesn't have forceful meanings. It's

beautiful images of mofl caught. You want to touch them and you

can't. You'll not damage a bronze to stand and stroke it. Really

properly passive aggressive. Even clean hands can cause damage.

though. I know it's true. I take it all back. I didn't touch anything

and I walk round with my hands like that. The wooden ones look so

tactile and they are just, I really loved them. They are slightly more

than opt cull illusions I think. You walk round them and suddenly

these things which look like random collections of discs on top of each

other, suddenly a face appears. You walk past and it disappears. It's

there from one side or both. There's lots of space to walk round

things. He's a Turner Prize winner, but this show is his biggest in a

decade. And a lot of this work has never been seen in this country.

Did you feel that you were kind of, in the presence of something

masterful? He's a serious modernist sculptor. He's making references to

thradigs. These fluid movement works are nods to futurist

sculpture and he's also making gestures towards St Ives, Barbara

Hepworth and Garbo. He's into his Chinese scholars rocks, the natural

form that's he's copying in some of these things. There's earlier work

where, which is completely different. It's odd to see it in

this show, next to the fin shalled, polished sculpture on plinths.

Things are on the floor, with humble materials, raw. It's the

phase he was in in the 70s and 80s. It's odd to show the two things up

against each other. The third thing in the show, which I think is

beautiful, are wonderful, delicate water colours that, you know, I

haven't seen these water colours of his at all. And some of these

wonderful drawings, intimate drawings with zeros and ones.

drawings are quite strange. There's something obsessive about the

doodles. There's metal work transforming form. You mention the

Italian movement using cheap material. Robert Rauschenberg

followed that tradition as well when he moved into pop art. His

show is a late show at Botanical Vaudeville. Did you like it or did

you think you were at the fag end of a career? A little bit of the

latter. If you put it in the botanic gardens you already get

three stars from me. It is gorgeous. Even though it was pouring with

rain when I went, it's still beautiful. So the Rauschenberg

there's a video down stairs on a 60 minute loop, which is really

interesting. I was glad I went to that, because otherwise I'm not

sure I would have enjoyed the exhibition as much. I think the

found object pieces of roadsides I liked much less than the strange

metal etching pieces. Beautiful fossil with the lace. Incredible

silver, aluminium. You look at it from one side and you go this is

pretty. Then you see a peacock or Egyptian king appear out of it.

Things like idle speed no wake, is like Ian Hamilton Finlay. Those as

found objects were wonderful. Harked to a depression era in

America, which we are in again almost. This is my problem with it.

This is isn't the Rauschenberg of the 50s and 60s which transformed

American art, who made the combines out of these kind of materials.

This is him being asked to dot same thing by wealthy collectors going

again and again and again. They are works made in the 80s but they have

a look of stuff that's 30 years previously. The whole thing has

been faked up to look like his earlier work the -- work. The newer

style, the shiny stuff, makes a vague go at saying something about

luxury and the shininess of the 80s, but he's trailing in the wake of

other people by that point. It was a sad show for me. If any of those

have taken your fancy, find details on the website or tweet us and

we'll let you know. Now before we come to the

seriousness of the new muedsical from Marc Almond and Mark Ravenhill,

something light hearted. Joining us now the YouTube hit that has set

them stratfeerk, the one and only fascinating aida. # We received an

invitation in the post one Monday morn,

# To attend our cousins wedding in the town where we were born,

# The do was back in Kerry, so wishing to be frugal

# We trawled the net to find some decent travel deals on Goole

# Cheap flights, cheap flights as cheap as they can be,

# Bedad we found an airline selling flights for 50p.

# Diddly aiden daidin daidin dai # Well, we clicked onto the website

# And were mightily surprised, # To find the actual cost

# Wasn't quite as advertised # We'd forgotten airport taxes, had

also to be billed # But a bargain is a bargain and

begorrah we were thrilled # Cheap flights, cheap flights

# Stansted to Trelee # Ah, it isn't every airline offers

flights for 50p. # Diddly aiden daidin daidin dai

# After studying the website we decided it was best

# To pay priority boarding so that we'd sit three abreast

# Three abreast, that's the best # And of course we'd all have

luggage so that's an extra cost # And then we paid insurance in

case our cases might get lost # Our cheap flights, chips flights

# It's obvious to see # There must be extra charges when

the flights are 50p # Minya, minya, minya, key change

# At last the flight was booked, with all of the additions

# We'd read the reams of small print of terms and conditions,

# And then picked up the charge for using visa which was drastic '# Cos

how the feck are you supposed to pay if not with fecking plastic?

# Cheap flights, cheap flights # We paid the fecking fee

# Because by now we were committed to the flights for 50p

# Diddly aiden daidin daidin dai # Ochone, ochone aah

# Now I don't if you've tried locating

# Stansted on a map # But checking in at 5am is a load

of fecking crap, # You's are banjaxed if you tried

to catch a train or underground # So a taxi to the arse of the

world was more than �100s. # Cheap flights, cheap flights, we

should have gone by sea # There's no such fecking thing as

a fecking flight for 50p # Feckity, feckity, feckity,

feckity, feck, feck, feck # Feckity, feckity, feckity,

feckity, feck, feck, feck # Then at last we reached the

airport where we had to pay a fine, # The fecking feckers charged us

'cos we hadn't checked in online # And finally aboard the flight

there's an extra charge of tax # 'Cos the fecking, fecking,

feckers charge to use the jacks. # Cheap flights, cheap flights,

# I think you must agree # That only fecking gobshites think

there's flights for 50p # Feck, shite, feck, shite, feck,

shite, arse # Feck, shite, shite, feck, feck,

arse Sad verse, # Well finally we landed and tried

to shuffle up the aisle # But the steward sent us down to

the back # With never a hint of a smile

# And as we heard this announcement # Our hearts gave a terrible thump

# If you haven't prepaid to use the steps

# You'll have to fecking jump # Cheap flights, cheap flights

# Your harking onto me # You're an eejit if you think a

Fascinating Aida there with a look into the world of low-cost travel

or not. Now to as dark as it gets. Mark Almond, the eighties synth pop

supremo has delved into history 30 years on from his hit song

Tainted Love, Mark Almond has swapped pop music for a song cycle,

with an emotionally and musically challenged score. It tells a tale

of one man's journey through plague-ridden London. Now I am

getting into the swing of it, I find the whole piece is like a

rollercoaster,. Once you start it the words and music take you from

one place to another. Working a fantastic director like Stewart

Laing. It was strange for me. I only worked with directors on a

small scale. He has guided me through the whole piece. Made me

see it in different ways. It brought things out of me that I

never realised I could do. That is interesting. I think of Mark as a

bigger project, playing rock concerts. I was looking to see what

Mark could bring to the project. I see what Mark is, he's a fantastic

storyteller, through song. Mark Ravenhill, better known for his

plays, wrote Ten Plagues especially for Mark Almond, along with

composer Conor Mitchell. balance is writing something that

Mark as a performer can log into, without it being out of his range,

and also to hand over a mellodic line to Mark and see what he --

melodic line to Mark and see what he does with it. This whole piece

has been emotional for me. I cried a few times when I performed it. I

kind of felt the songs like Farewell and Seeing You, where he

sees his dead lover in the pit and sees the bodies.

Obviously I have feelings to mind like grieving and loss. I can bring

so many of my own experiences, thingsvy been through through my

life, so I have lots of experience to draw on. One week in, and

reviews have been favourable. However, on opening night, there

was one voice of dissent. We did get booed. I work a lot in opera.

Booing is big in opera. It is like you feel like you have not done

your job properly unless you get booed. If we wanted to please

everybody we would be doing Mamma Mia!.

You know it was a big ask, it was, I know he has done rock concerts,

out on stage, on his own with a pinnist. Did he have this --

pianist? Did he have this? One of the problems with it is his voice

is not there. You feel a bit pained. He has to keep singing and keep

singing. I feel conflicked about it. I admire the fact they did

something deliberately divisive and different. It does feel original

and it is very creative. We were talking about reading this thing on

the page, which is a different experience. The text is interesting.

Having it presented in such a stark way with one person's voice the

entire way through is moments of comedy I felt were miss judged. I

felt it didn't quite connect how they wanted it to. There were many

different things there. It is moving about the plague. You get

all senses of different plagues, including AIDS. There is the thing

about survivor guilt. Did you feel he invested enough of himself in

that? I did. I know an opera singer would sing better. His voice may be

radleed by the end of this -- radled by the end of this run. I

found him the most compelling. There are moments he stands on

stage and the lighting falls on him, suddenly you can see 30 years ago

Mark Almond. The light changes and he looks haggarded and the idea of

this man becoming more and more raddled by his survival as people

around him drop, I found him absolutely astonishing. It did

mirror what happened during the plague, Defoe and Pepys, the ones

who stayed and survived. The others fled and came back. There was a

huge division. That comes out in this? Mark Ravenhill knows his 18th

century. He has worked with that used that plague-ridden city - he's

made a very claust introduce phobic world. I would say it is -- class

tro phobic world. He has guided Britain through AIDS

until now. This is a piece about AIDS.

Mark Almond, as this di va figure, and the way that he performs is

very very important in the atmosphere of this. What do you

feel about how he inhabited that stage? It is difficult when you

don't have furniture. Instead of furniture what they have is music

stands. Then they have this wonderful projection. How did you

feel about the music stands and him having to weave around them? They

needed something for him to do physically, so he can move around a

bit and you have something to look at. The set is beautiful. I think

the use of projection is very clever and elegant. It gives him

someone to interact with. I am interested to know if you connected

with the character or not. I didn't know who he was at all. He was a

void to me. I felt he was Mark, basically. This was a piece for a

star and it was a piece which worked because of this background

that he brings into it. If another unknown singer had walked on to

that stage and performed in the same way it would have felt

extremely flat. If they were not so well known I

think they would have had to perform in a better singing way. I

think that was the problem. He's not hitting the notes. He's

straining a lot doing that. There is an aesthetic failure in this.

His imperfection makes it very human.

That is true because his physical and vocal performance, he walks

around the flights of stairs with such caution. You remember that he

had a terrible motorbike accident. He was crippled and he has to --

had to learn how to walk again. It is compelling to watch. The music

is fantastic. And the piano player is extraordinary and wearing a kilt.

Ten Plagues is playing throughout the festival. If Ten Plagues was

not a bundle of laughs we should send you into the wokend on a

lighter note. The most famous fringe, the comedy. Be ware some of

what you see contains extremely strong language.

We can rely on comedians to push the envelope, to try and shock and

court controversial with provocative material. This year is

no exception. Torchwood actor Tom Price reveals intimate tales of his

mother's alcoholism and cerebral palsy. We arrive at the chemist. He

gives her medication. It is one of those bottles where you have to

squeeze. She cannot do that. She only has one hand. She is shaking

it, going "I may be a locking ...." Ending racism in about an hour,

part stand-up, part social comedy, it proves that de-- despite

electing its first black President, racism is still there. There is a

black President. I saw a woman cry. I was like, "Wow, first of all you

should never play Scrabble, because there's no U in America." Radical

comedian and recording artist Margaret Cho is back in the cap

follow for the first time in a decade with her show. I know that a

lot of Asian people don't have a lot of bush. I have all of their

bush. I carry the burden of my race!

Based on the recent Grammy nominated album of the same name t

by sexual American aims to shock with her treatment of sexuality,

which one critic said would make Richard Prior blush. They turn

around and their T-shirt says "Number one grandma." Almost a

quarter of a century since she first appeared on the Fringe, Ruby

Wax is back on stage, supported by singer-songwriter and close friend,

Judith Owen. I said if you have a disability, use it. I said "Get out

of bed." Losing It is an autoby og graphal story of her mental illness.

It is one in four. It is one, two, three, four. Actually that whole

row is not well! Do these shows prove there are plenty of taboos to

be busted through comedy? Does comedy have the shower to shock,

provoke and challenge an audience? Let's begin with Ruby Wax, which is

a combination of stand-up comedy and personal pain. Does that give

it an added kick? It does and it doesn't. I have to be honest. I

think Ruby Wax is a massively inspirational figure to my

generation of comedians. It's no exaggeration to say I worshipped

her as a teenager, of course. My expectations were too high for this

show. I kind of assumed it would be a brutal unpicking of her nervous

breakdown, her time in The Priory. Strangely it feels like she has

backed off from writing that show. There are 40 minutes of

observational stuff about American people may not like English people,

English people might not like Scottish people. You think, OK, you

are better than this. Why are you here? When it comes to her

depression it is much more raw and much more painful. I am not sure

the first half of the show really needs to be there. Isn't it the

case to welcome the audience in you have to soften them up. Isn't that

the structure of the show? There are blows. I think what she was

celebrated for when she was.... She was kind of brutal.

She's been busy. She's been in The Priory. I forgive her! What I was

looking for was more of an attack. There is this kind of, some middle

of the road stuff in there. Maybe she did back off from revealing too

much about her -- herself. There are instrumental singer-songwriter

stuff about sadness. Do you think Judith Owen was there

to have a foil for her to have I didn't think it fitted together.

Judith Owen starts talking seriously about tragic events in

her life. You're like, I don't this. It's weird to have suddenly

gone there. That was one taboo. Let's move on to Tom Price, who

talk abouts his own embarrassing story. He's referring to his mother

several times as a plastic and revealing a bit about her. I think

again it's a similar thing. Most of the show is very nice and you know

he's a very charming man. It's nice, friendly stand-up guy you want to

go for a drink with. The stuff about his mum, it was like you use

the word plastic when you're little. It didn't seem he dug deeply as to

whether what he was saying it true seasoned if it's what he felt about

it. His mother as cerebral palsy, she's a single mother and alcoholic.

I felt she was more interesting than him. That's extremely

ungenerous. But for a show, I think it's incredibly charming. He's a

massively likeable performer. And the clunky direction in ruby's show

is not in his at all. There's so much narrative distance to make

sure you don't think he's being offensive. The word plastic is only

used in the context of my mother calls herself a plastic and other

people are upset by it. He goes, I would never say that, you go yes I

know that. He's shy ago way from taboo to bust it. Now let's move on

to WpsKamau Bell. What lovely is that he opens up with a clip of

himself on American television saying how much he loves Obama, but

Obama will never be President. Very good to fess up on his own mistake.

He's a very charming performer. He giveles us a tour of the current

state of race relations in the States. You know, I'm living in the

US, at the moment. A lot of that material is very familiar. I didn't

have a sense how it would play to the Edinburgh audience who aren't

quite engaged in the cultural wars in the same way as they are in the

States. There's something exciting about him. When you get stand ups

here from the US, they are bullet- proof. If the building caught fire

they would have a line. It's incredibly impressive but not

remotely scary. For somebody so competent, he was surprisingly

nervey the night we saw him. It made me like him so much more. At

one point he says smoking a fag that means something different here

from in America. You know, why I know, that joke needs cards and a

cake. Please don't do it. It is beneath you. What he had which

helped, is he had some furniture. He had the US census and UK census

and they're such a joke in themselves the way they address

race. I thought it was good. It gave shape to his show. What he did

say was white people have to re- examine the way they behave.

think that is interesting. You write a bit of research and a bit

of Powerpoint is right. He was partly nervous because there was

rioting going on. He was nervous about whether his material would be

more incendiary than it was. It was quite the opposite. It would have

been great if he had gone there. We were seeing it. What we've seen is

a lot of comedians going I'm shocking you, aren't I? Well

actually no. They were shocking and not really. Margaret Cho. Margaret

Cho did shock me. Margaret Cho there's nowhere Margaret Cho won't

go. That's part of the whole thing. She wants to overturn the idea.

Were you upset the fact she told you everywhere she's been. It's not

that the fact that the jokes are that funny, but it's that she's

actually saying these things. was really funny. She was the only

one who really got the laughs out of me. I couldn't tell when I was

laughing out of sheer shock and when I thought it was funny. That's

great. You can't believe she's doing that and the actions. There's

a lot of mime, yeah. She has wonderful confidence as a performer.

It's very funny, when she does her own parents... That's wonderful.

She takes the Michael out of her Korean parents, it's funny, but

it's like we're laughing at her parents. I felt fine about laughing

at her parents. They aren't, you can see them as individuals. She

also does her grandfather as well. There's a whole interesting family

dynamic. She has this thing that a lot of Asian women have of being,

as children being very, very talked down to, you're ugly, you're bad,

you're wrong by her mother and grandfather, seems to have been the

person who saved her, saying it's fine, I'm ugly too. I felt the Cho

familiar will were real to by the end of the show. Was that taboo

busting or just a really fine show? A fine show, but in a way retro and

therefore taboo busting. Jenny Eclair won the Perrier in 95 with

such a show of mind numbing vulgarity. It was I long time

before she was talking about, I can't even say it. It's like going

back in time. Wow remember when standups weren't all desperate to

be on the comedy road show and they were prepared to take a risk of

upsetting everybody in the building. She was thrilling in that reguard

and she mentioned Dancing With The Stars. It's not just The Review

Show which has taken up residence here for a movement you'll be able

to hear more of what's going on in the Culture Show Edinburgh special.

Here's Sue Perkins to give us a taster of what they have coming up.

On the Culture Show next week, Alastair Sooke meets Tony Cragg.

Book Festival regular, Ian Rankin investigates art theft. And we look

at the art of the comedy song. I'll be talking to American huem arist

David Sodarist. And the theatrical take of Murakami's cult novel of

the international festival. That's Thursday, 7pm on BBC Two. Thanks to

my guests, Natalie Haynes, Hannah McGill and Hari Kunzru and fatly

for putting herself through the trauma ever audience participation

again. Full details are on the website and a few added extras.

We'll tweet updates on the festival every day. Do tweet us back. We

have thick skins. Next we're week we discuss the winners of the James