2nd Coming. Again., Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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by Laura Kressly

Carl and Jason, like many millennials, are special. Or rather, they’ve been told they are in their formative years. The two have grown up clinging to that knowledge as the world has bombarded them with rubbish. When they each receive a mysterious leaflet telling them they’re the chosen one, they both buy it without question.

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Outside & Fallout, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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by Laura Kressly

With the world as it is, it’s fair to feel like the apocalypse is coming and there’s nothing us powerless citizens can do about it. In that context, making a show about how we’re all doomed seems a rather reasonable response. Doom and gloom shows are a dime a dozen at the fringe, and these two address a particular brand of disaster with varying results.

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A roundup of the Roundabout, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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Paines Plough’s flatpackable Roundabout theatre is one of the most exciting new writing venues of the fringe. Tucked in the rear courtyard at Summerhall, the intimate, domed space features several plays spotlighting Britain’s working class this year. From Scottish school gates to a Yorkshire village, the best writing here this fringe wrenches theatre’s narratives away from the privileged classes.

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Emilia, Shakespeare’s Globe

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by guest critic Nastazja Somers

Anger is what I am not allowed to feel.

Most days I wake up, think about the prospect of hiding my anger and dealing with whatever life throws at me, then consider hiding under my duvet. The theatre industry keeps throwing so much shit at women that sometimes the only way we can keep going is by unleashing our rage. Except anger is an emotion often denied to women. So we suppress and suppress and suppress. It’s a vicious circle and it keeps happening. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. My hope of ever witnessing a true revolution for women in theatre began to disappear over the last year – until this show.

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Kin, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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By Laura Kressly

Sarah and Lilly haven’t seen each other in 20 years. They’re now awkwardly navigating each other in their father’s kitchen somewhere in rural America. As they wait for their dad to die, the sisters comb through their pasts in the hope of finding out where everything went wrong. But with two very different sets of memories, is it possible to forgive?

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Losing My Mindfulness, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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by Laura Kressly

Our company is restructuring and every one of us has to reapply for our jobs. Tensions are running high, but don’t worry! Our caring employers have asked one of the HR team to lead us in a Mindfulness workshop to help us cope. The thing is that this workshop leader’s life is falling apart as well, and the skeletons are tumbling out of her closet quicker than she can put them back in.

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