Where To Catch the Hottest Edinburgh Fringe Shows in London

Autumn is a great time to be in London if you’re into theatre, cabaret and comedy. While the West End sees a clutch of major new openings, top shows from August’s Edinburgh Fringe also hit theatres across the capital. Below, the fringe shows coming to London that captivated (and in some cases, confounded) audiences, and garnered rave reviews.

US cabaret artist Salty Brine and his Living Record Company take famous albums and rework them into gloriously inventive and often very personal shows. In this work, he spins Neutral Milk Hotel’s 1998 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and spins it into a rousing and meditative celebration of life, love and queer coming-of-age, interspersing his own teenage poetry with reflections on reincarnation and Anne Frank. (It makes sense in context). Soho Theatre; September 7–9.

The brainchild of Fleabag producer Francesca Moody, Shedinburgh has become the place to catch returning cult shows, works-in-progress by up-and-coming talent and comedians trying out new material. The Shed will relocate to the Young Vic’s Maria studio for a three-week stint featuring shows by Lucy McCormack, Frankie Monroe, Sara Pascoe, Nick Helm, poet and playwright Sabrina Mahfouz, the Javaad Alipoor Company, and Mothersole and Biscuit (the artists formerly known as Sh!t Theatre). Young Vic; September 19–October 10.

One of the unexpected hits of the festival, this new show from the Hotter Project – aka Mary Higgins and Ell Potter – will make meat-eaters in the audience question their ways. Inventively interlacing Hamlet’s existential self-interrogation with some big questions about the meat industry and the impact it has on the planet, it splices Shakespearean parody with naked dancing and some tough facts – and images – about the way meat we eat is farmed and produced. Soho Theatre; September 29–October 31.

It’s a title designed to get your attention. And the rest of the show is no less eye-catching. Ros Watt’s play about a young murderer killing cis men for body parts walks a line in terms of taste and frequently crosses over it – it’s not for the squeamish – but underneath the gore and the jokes about bodily fluids, there is a strong and surprisingly emotional core to the piece, about isolation and loneliness, being endlessly judged by society and needing to feel complete. Camden People’s Theatre, October 8–17.

Acclaimed clown Frankie Thompson has an unnerving talent for lip-syncing. She looks like a woman possessed. This follow-up to her early fringe hit Catts and Body Show, her inspired double act with London writer and performer Liv Ello, has been one of the talking points of this year’s festival. A collage of horrible things – and they don’t come more horrible than a nine-year old Jacob Rees Mogg – this is a thrillingly off-kilter hour that will keep you on your toes (let’s just say Thompson is very hands-on with her audience). Warped, weird and like very little else out there. Soho Theatre; November 9–21.

Poet Richard Marsh’s show is less a homage to the testosterone-drenched Tom Cruise movie – though there are recreations of aerial dog fights and sweaty beach volleyball – it’s also about the films we watch as kids and the place they hold in our memories. Told entirely in verse with an array of paper planes for props, it’s at once an affectionate send-up of the movie, and a reflection on being a father and attempting not to fall into the same patterns of behaviour and make the same mistakes as your parents. Wilton’s Music Hall, November 16–21.