We’ve curated three Edinburgh Fringe reviews, all in the genre of theater.
Ohio
Ohio is sold out and buzzing with word-of-mouth hype around Edinburgh. This intimate musical biography follows a two-piece husband-and-wife band from Ohio, USA. Both are neurodivergent, and the husband is gradually losing his hearing. On stage, they’re instantly likeable, warm, genuine, and effortlessly charming.
The show traces their childhoods, marriage, parenthood, and life as working musicians. It’s folksy, gentle, and deeply personal, with a homespun charm that makes you want to root for them. But while the material is original and heartfelt, the tone often stays too soft, never quite lifting the audience to an emotional high.
Is this the folksiness or the plays themes?
A recurring focus on religion, drawn from their upbringing, he a Lutheran and son of a pastor, she a Jew, becomes a dominant theme, even though both now seem agnostic or atheist.
This religious repetition slows the pacing and occasionally flattens the energy.
But ultimately, Ohio is a good show. Not a great one but a good one. It’s intimate, unique, and warmly received by the crowd, just missing a final spark to make it truly unforgettable.
Paldem
Paldem is a sharp, sexy anti-rom-com that dives headfirst into one of the trickiest tropes in the relationship genre, the paradoxical “friends with benefits.”
Like, what could possibly go wrong?
As you might guess, plenty. Feelings surface, complications multiply, and when you add a dash of “look-at-me” culture, an OnlyFans account, an interracial dynamic, and a well-timed betrayal, the result is a fast-paced tangle of lust, loyalty, and lies.
It is risqué without being gratuitous, witty without losing emotional depth, and genuinely riveting from start to finish. The chemistry between the leads crackles, the dialogue zings, and the play keeps its finger firmly on the pulse of modern dating culture. And it’s sexy af.
Playing at Summerhall, Paldem delivers both the laughs and the heat. It is an irresistible Fringe cocktail of romance, humour, and just enough bite to leave you thinking about it long after the curtain falls.
This show is almost sold out nightly click here to get tickets.
Edinburgh Fringe Review
Standing in the Shadows of Giants
Standing in the Shadows of Giants was billed as a musical biopic about a struggling artist living under the shadow of a greater talent. In reality, it’s the story of a woman whose younger brother was in a ’90s Britpop band with Oasis-level fame. She was never really a musician herself, and her only tie to the music world was being “the sister of one of the most famous musicians of his time.”
Instead of music, we get an hour and fifteen minutes of addiction recovery, abandonment issues, rehab, a brief prison stint, and celebrity encounters. While her journey is valid, and not to minimize her recovery and road to peace, but the piece feels like the memoir of someone who’s lived a largely privileged life. It lacks the grit or emotional pull to really land.
The scheduling didn’t help, 1:30 p.m. for such a heavy piece. Plus it started late and ran long, leaving some scrambling to make their next show at 3pm. The house was only about a third full, and the mood was flat.
This show is not selling out and to get tickets click here.
Our favorite Edinburgh Fringe review to date, Philosophy of the World, can be read here.
