MONDAY 26 AUGUST 2019 THREEWEEKS EDINBURGH | THISWEEK LONDON
WELCOME BACK TO THE TW WEEKLY - the weekly bulletin from ThreeWeeks Edinburgh and ThisWeek London, landing in your inbox each Monday.
IT'S EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FINALE TIME!
Yes, somehow we've got to the finale already - today is the last day of Edinburgh Festival 2019. And while some productions and venues have already wound down, there are still plenty of shows to choose from before tonight's big EIF Fireworks Concert.

It's been another great Festival with so many brilliant shows and performances. Don't forget, all our coverage is collected together on the website.

There are all the Caro Meets and Chris Meets interviews from this year's festival season, plus the Eight Step Edinburgh guide we built by getting practical tips and advice galore from no less than 25 very fine Fringe people.

And, of course, there are all the reviews. You can check out all of this year's critiques here. Or for the top recommendations, check out the 5/5 reviews and 4/5 reviews.

Talking of top recommendations, well done once again to all ten winners of this year's ThreeWeeks Editors' Awards. Read up on them all here. Their shows and projects are all highly recommended. Some still have performances today - for the rest, do look out for their future projects and productions, in Edinburgh and beyond.

Talking of which, don't forget we tip top shows to see in London all year round.

This week's London-centric Threes To See are below. We recommend lots of great comedy, theatre and other cultural delights each and every week, with many of those recommended shows having first appeared on our radar during the Edinburgh Fringe.

To get a new batch of those every Monday morning make sure you are also signed up to our TW Weekly bulletin. Click here to get signed up to our year-round email as well as our Edinburgh-time one.

We hope you've had a great Edinburgh Festival 2019. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2020, which will be our 25th year covering the Fringe! To stay in touch with all we have planned sign up to that weekly bulletin or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
THREE SHOWS AT KING'S HEAD THEATRE>>

Voldemort And The Teenage Hogwarts Musical Parody | King's Head Theatre | 29 Aug-21 Sep 
I actually selected these three shows for inclusion in this week's London tips without actually registering that they were on at the same venue, so it was just quite handy that they handily sorted themselves into a section like this. Anyway, this is a fab and funny show that's won love and praise and oodles of fans when performed up at - yes, you guessed it - the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The cast just completed a run at said world's largest arts festival, yet seemingly because they are absolute troopers, they're jumping straight into this short run in the capital. Info here.

World's End | King's Head Theatre | 27 Aug-21 Sep (pictured - photo by Kate Harding)
We're staying at the King's Head Theatre (yes, you knew that already) for this production of an intriguing sounding debut from James Corley. "It's November 1998 on the World's End Estate in Chelsea. Energetic single mum Viv has just moved in with her shy, troubled son Ben, eager to start afresh. Next door, single father and painter-cum-security guard Ylli and his confident, yet enigmatic son Besnik are also negotiating their horizons, against the televised backdrop of catastrophe in their native Kosovo. Each grappling with their own expectations, assumptions and responsibilities to family, neighbours and nation, emotions run high as Viv, Ben, Ylli and Besnik are thrown together". Details here.

Stripped | King's Head Theatre | 1-16 Sep
"Ollie is a self-proclaimed Beta Male. He's into ultimate frisbee, vegan barbecues and playing the Hamilton soundtrack on repeat. When he volunteers to model nude for an artist, he's hell bent on showing her just how woke he is. Lola doesn't care if Ollie is a nice guy or not - she just wants to draw him. When he won't let her get on with it, she decides to teach him a lesson. Soon, Ollie starts asking if he can have his clothes back but Lola is far from finished. 'Stripped' is a tense comic drama that asks whether those "nice guys" are really all that they seem". Another intriguing sounding play from a great team, get your tickets booked here.


THREE MUSICAL SHOWS>>

Chiaroscuro | Bush Theatre | 31 Aug-5 Oct (pictured)
And these kinda sorted themselves into a musical section, too, it was really lucky. We must be having some sort of well-deserved post-Fringe serendipity thing going on. Anyway, let's start the section with this, a fab sounding gig theatre re-imagining of Jackie Kay's 1986 play. "Aisha, Yomi, Beth and Opal couldn't be more different, but when Aisha hosts a dinner party, the friends soon discover that they're all looking for an answer to the same question. Does it lie in Aisha's childhood? Or in Beth and Opal's new romance? Who will tell them who they really are?" More here.

HMS Pinafore | Wilton's | 28-31 Aug 
Although all the shows in this section are connected by music, this one couldn't be more different than the first one, being, of course, a comic opera satirising the British class system. Well regarded operetta and comic musical theatre types Opera Della Luna present this acclaimed production in which a cast of eight become crew, chorus and principals to tell the tale of the captain of HMS Pinafore, whose marriage plans for his daughter go awry when she falls for a lower-class sailor instead of the First Lord of the Admiralty. See this page here for info and to book. Quickly, though because tickets are disappearing fast.

Hotspur / Pierrot Lunaire | Arcola Theatre | 29 Aug-1 Sep 
And finally, we make what I predict will be our penultimate visit to Arcola's Grimeborn for a fabulous operatic treat. It's a double bill (you probably know that because of that slash in the title): firstly, 'Hotspur', with Music by Gillian Whitehead and libretto by Fleur Adcock, which follows Elizabeth, who in 14th-century Northumberland, waits on the fringes of civil war while her husband, Henry 'Hotspur' Percy, leads a rebel force against the King. Secondly, well loved song cycle 'Pierrot Lunaire' by Arnold Schoenberg and Albert Giraud. Details here.


THREE SHOWS AT SOHO THEATRE>>

Aaron Chen: Piss Off (Just Kidding) | Soho Theatre | 28-31 Aug 
This one, I will admit, came about because I was looking at the Soho Theatre website and thought "wow, there are loads of shows I'd like to see on at Soho Theatre in the coming week", and so decided it would be fair to pick our three from my wishlist and talk about them. And this was the first pick. Don't be put off just because he told you to piss off in the title of his show because a) he subsequently clarified that he was just kidding, and b) he is a multi award winning comedian and he is on at a venue near you. See this page here for more.

Aboriginal Comedy Allstars | Soho Theatre | 28-31 Aug (pictured) 
This show was on at the Fringe this summer (actually, as I write this, it's still on at the Fringe this summer) and I really wanted to go see it but you know how it is when you don't actually get to see many Fringe shows any more because you are writing and editing a publication at the Fringe. Maybe I'll manage to get along to Soho Theatre on one of these London dates. "From the oldest culture on earth comes the freshest, fiercest and funniest stand-up around. Cheeky, loud, black and proud, featuring the brightest stars in Australian comedy: Kevin Kropinyeri, Andy Saunders and Steph Tisdell". Head this way for details.

Hotter | Soho Theatre | 2-7 Sep 
"What is the sweatiest you've ever been? When was the hottest you've ever felt? How would you describe your orgasm? Hello, we're Ell and Mary. We're best friends and ex-girlfriends and we're bored of playing it cool. So this is a show about what gets you hot". Not one for those of you prone to blushing, possibly, because this is a fairly brutally unapologetically frank show, but if you can stand it, do give it a chance, because a number of our reviewers have seen it and they have all given it a resounding thumbs up. So, see this page here for info.
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