... Darling Bea Gilded Balloon Richard Vergette's salute to the legendary Bea Lillie follows a familiar format. On the set of her last film. Thoroughly Modem Millie, the veteran performer is haunted by fading mental powers and growing insecurity. Alternately comforted and bullied by her companion/ agent, she escapes into memories of her life and career. As she relives the journey from would-be ...

... Rum and Vodka/ The Good Thief Assembly Rooms These two monologues by Conor McPherson share his signature capacity for creating fully dimensional characters and for capturing the telling detail or psychological quirk that gives reality to a moment. Unfortunately, they also share a desperate need for an editor's scissors, since each is twice as long as it should be, losing its momentum and ...

... Are You Dave Gorman? Pleasance It all started- as these things often do- in a pub. There he was, finishing off a pint, waiting for his cab to arrive, when someone at the bar shouted: Taxi for Dave Gorman, and two people stood up. What began as a coincidence, developed into a hobby and descended into something far more fanatical that has ended up as a show on the Fringe. Gorman is the man on ...

... My Life Has Stood, the Journey of a Portrayal Komedia @ Southside Actress Edie Campbell has spent the last 14 years with a quiet obsession for Emily Dickinson, America's finest female poet, mythical recluse and prolific correspondent. And for most of that time, Campbell has been striving to bring a play about Dickinson to the stage. Unable to separate her own character from that of her subject ...

... Mark Maier Assembly Rooms You cannot help liking a comic who provides his own opening act and then gets involved in offstage arguments with himself before coming on in his own persona. Mark Maier opens in the guise of an Israeli minicab driver turned comedian, with jokes on peace talks and airport security, and an engaging grudge against John Lennon. As himself, Maier takes us on a seamless ...

... Jeffrey Cobb's Stress Management Roadshow Komedia @ Southside Do not be misled by the title of the show, the actual star here is a certain Moose a cross between young Barbara Windsor and a minia ture Spice Girl. Moose (Zoe Bywater) is Jeffrey Cobb's (Tim Kane) extra-efficient assistant, in spite of which he is still 'one of the world's most stressed out individuals' posing as a stress ...

... Bob Goody's Bite of the Dog Pleasance Bob Goody reads his poetry. Not, it must be said, a fantastic premise for a show. Particularly when it is the sort of punk poetry that sounds like Patrick Fitzgerald crossed with Jilted John and performed in a posh thespian accent from down London way. But somehow Goody manages to pull it off. Yes. a lot of it is naff. Yes, it will appeal to middle-aged ...

... Simon Bligh- Zips, Whips and the Bloody Chains of Christ Assembly Rooms It s a funny old world, isn t it? I saw Jackie Mason the other day and the house was packed with Jews and Gentiles alike roaring at his dissection of all things kosher, and I found myself lamenting the fact that we Catholics don't have our own Brit version to rip the bells out of the smells. Until I saw Simon Bligh, that ...

... Alone It Stands Traverse Five actors, one actress 62 characters on an empty set; and it works for every minute of it. The play written and directed by the awardwinning Irish director John Breen marks the 22nd anniversary of Limerick rugby club's historic victory against the invincible New Zealand All Blacks. Whether or not you are a rugby fan, The Yew Tree and Island Theatre Company's ...

... A Doll's House Royal Lyceum Who better to turn to for a bench- manVsetting production of Ibsen than the Norwegian National Theatre? Not that this Doll's House, directed by Kjetil Bang- Hansen and starring Anneke von der Lippe as Nora, is a museum piece, but one that speaks directly to the 21st century. Bang-Hansen and von der Lippe's only updating is to the depths and nuances of Nora's ...

... Devilishly good entertainment Pleasance 666 Surprising. Shocking. Grotesque. Cruel. Yllana's 666 is all of these, and a major Fringe hit at that. With only grunts, death row prisoners 666-DE, 66&flE, 666-MS and the initially meek 666-BB are encased by a gate at the rear and a force field at the front of stage. It kicks off a basic narrative made up of lengthy sketches of violence, cruelty and ...

... Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight Pleasance For their late night amusement, a bunch of funny bods have invented the trashy horror writer Garth Marenghi. And a in piece of Fringe comedy that works best as a brief interlude from the bar but works very well indeed it must be said they have brought him out on a cod author's tour to read from his latest piece of execrable nonsense with the aid of mood ...