Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Cat Cohen / Lachlan Werner / KC Shornima

Defying a health scare; a surreal invention & a distinctive new voice

Cat Cohen, Pleasance Courtyard

In Broad Strokes Cat Cohen paints a fascinating picture of events leading up to the stroke that could have killed her. Thankfully three years on she is now fully recovered – and from near tragedy comes this superb show.

Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Emmanuel Sonubi / Joz Norris

A second chance at life & a fantastical tale about artistic endeavour

Emmanuel Sonubi, Pleasance Courtyard

This show – Life After Near Death – is not about dying, it is about living, Emmanuel Sonubi tells us. Well, actually it’s about both, as in his case he nearly died of heart failure but, thankfully here he is.

Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews: Kinder / Shunga Alert / Clean Your Plate!

From drag to Japanese erotica via a French cookery show, three of the Fringe's more unusual offerings

Kinder, Underbelly, Cowgate ★ 

Drag artist Goody Prostate (yes, I know) receives a call from a local library. Garbed in lederhosen and sporting a preposterous German accent, she was expecting a brutal, no-prisoners-taking drag roast battle. Instead, she finds that she’s actually been booked to read to a bunch of kids.

Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Lily Blumkin / Shamik Chakrabarti

A life in several characters & a Mumbai shaggy-dog story

Lily Blumkin, Gilded Balloon @ Patter House ★★★ 

Lily Blumkin has always planned to be a big-time comic, she tells us. So when her parents downsized and asked her to clear out her childhood bedroom, she went through her stuff – photographs, toys and other oddities – to curate the future museum dedicated to her life and work.

Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Desiree Burch / Andy Parsons

The delights of perimenopause & pertinent political comedy

Desiree Burch, Monkey Barrel ★★★★

Desiree Burch is a bundle of energy as she comes on stage and gives us a warning about the subterranean venue she’s in. It’ll get hot, the Taskmaster favourite tells us – but maybe that’s just her as she going through the perimenopause, and in The Golden Wrath she’s going to tell us all about it.