Popcorn Group, the innovative film, television and theatre production company, will be partnering once again with BBC Writersroom for the Popcorn Writing Award which champions brave and imaginative writing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that are best adaptable to the screen. Set up in 2019, the award offers a prize fund of £6,000 directly to the winner and finalists. The only award of its kind, it celebrates fearless work which playfully and artistically questions and addresses current affairs, societal trends and contributes positively to public debate. Submissions are NOW OPEN to all pieces of new writing shown at either the Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, The SpaceUK, Summerhall, Traverse or Underbelly.

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The eight major producing venues behind EdFest.com– which comprise Assembly, Dance Base, Gilded Balloon, Just the Tonic, Pleasance, Summerhall, Underbellyand ZOO– collectively commented that soaring accommodation costs are the biggest risk to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s future. 1,965,961 tickets were collectively sold by the eight venues in 2019 while more than 1,486,746 are forecast to be sold this year.

A spokesperson for EdFest.com said: “It has been fantastic to be back at the first full Fringe since 2019 – to see the live performance industry come roaring back to life in this post-pandemic world. There has been a real appetite and energy for shared, live experiences in Edinburgh over the last few weeks and the quality of the programme has been incredible – yet, the forecast number of tickets we’ve collectively sold is down 25% compared to 2019 which is a major threat  for everyone involved in the festival.”

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We’re at a time where the construct of gender has become a major focal point, an aspect societally quietly entrenched with in everything that we do, these fixed ideas and expectations defining who we are, or at least, attempt to. Exploring gender stereotypes and the feeling of not fitting in with these fixed descriptors, Scantily Glad Theatre present Something in the Water, a satirical, risqué, fun yet thought provoking look at ‘gender norms’.

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“A painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour” sums up the feeling of ‘shame’, something we don’t openly discuss, but an emotion that is deeply felt. Three years in the making, Swiss/Russian duo Trixa Arnold and Ilja Komarov present the results of a series of interviews conducted in Switzerland, Russia and Pakistan in response to a time whereby interviewees felt shame. A powerful premise for a show and one that connects us all, Shame on You! allows this emotion to come out from the shadows and in doing so, is examined further.

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Birthdays are a time of celebration, a time to celebrate an increased sense of wisdom and life experience. They’re a natural occasion to possibly look back at what has gone before – evaluating decisions made and contemplating scenarios experienced and whether they’ve positively, negatively, or both impacted the now. An exploration of age and the passing of time, writer and performer Haley McGee presents Age is a Feeling, produced by Soho Theatre.

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Taking on the role of a mother is a life changing one, one that shifts focus from yourself to the new born you’re now responsible for for the next 18 years or so. What motherhood looks like to those experiencing it will be personal to themselves, constructs of how the idealised mother should act and look like perhaps not identical to real life experiences. Inspired by a vote held in 2020 in Switzerland granting fathers paternity leave for 2 weeks, writer and performer Lea Blair-Witcher explores the absurdities and toxic images of motherhood that she finds herself enmeshed in in one woman show, Mama Love.

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The National Theatre of Scotland announce their 2022 programme forming part of this year’s Edinburgh Festivals, including new Alan Cumming dance theatre, Burn, brand-new staging of Liz Lochhead’s Medea at the Edinburgh International Festival and Uma Nada-Rajah’s politically urgent Exodus as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Both EIF productions will tour across Scotland after the Festival. The cast announced for Liz Lochhead’s Medea includes Adura Onashile as Medea, Robert Jack as Jason, Stephen McCole as Kreon, Alana Jackson as Glauke, Anne Lacey as the Nurse and Adam Robertson as the Messenger. The National Theatre of Scotland supports a double bill of Annie George plays Home Is Not The Place and Twa at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and will also take part in the Scottish Parliament’s Festival of Politics (programme to be announced in July 2022).

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It was recently reported that ‘centuries of domestication have radically reshaped dog’s eyebrow anatomy, making their faces easily readable to people (National Geographic)’. Honeyguide birds in Mozambique have been found to understand humans, guiding hunters looking for bees’ nests only after they’ve heard a certain trolling sound from them. There’s a long way to go in terms of fully understanding the communication signals/patterns of numerous species, but what’s exciting is that we’re beginning to witness how, if discovered, humans and animals can love side by side and work together without miscommunication or danger. Performer and Theatre Maker Pete Lannon explores ideas of human/animal love and communication in SUPERFAN’s production of Like Animals. Showing as part of this year’s Edinburg Festival Fringe at Summerhall throughout August, read on to find out more about the show.

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Life is ‘more grey than black and white’ in Alan Harris’ comedy one hander Sugar Baby set in Fairwater, South Wales. Marc (Alex Griffin-Griffiths) bounds on to stage in pure ecstasy, a typical Welsh jack-the-lad just wanting to do what’s best for his Dad who owes local loan shark Oggy £6,000.

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