.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26auto%3Dwebp%26quality%3D75%26trim%3D0%2C5%2C0%2C5%26crop%3D&w=3840&q=100)
18 household names in Edinburgh next month for the Fringe and TV festival - including Bob Geldof & Tina Fey
Having sold every ticket in 2024, the iconic award-winning actress, TV personality and author Miriam Margolyes returns to the Pleasance EICC at the Edinburgh Fringe for 14 dates from August 9-24, except the 18th and 21st, performing her 70 minute show at 6pm. She will have more characters, more Dickens, and more fascinating stories about the man behind the classics. At 84, Miriam's energy and passion are undimmed and her performance as electric as ever. She was Professor Sprout in Harry Potter, and also appeared in Yentl, Little Shop of Horrors, I Love You To Death, End of Days, Sunshine, Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, Cold Comfort Farm and Magnolia. Amongst her many awards, she won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for The Age of Innocence and was awarded the OBE for her services to drama in 2002. Her most memorable TV credits include Old Flames, Freud, Life and Loves of a She Devil, Blackadder, The Girls of Slender Means, Oliver Twist, The History Man, Vanity Fair and Supply & Demand. | Steve Ullathorne Photo: Impressive PR
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
9 hours ago
- Metro
'I am orgasming on stage every night for this very good reason'
If art is digging into the human condition, then Betty Grumble has arrived at the core with a pickaxe. The eco-sexual sex clown (more on this later) will be taking her most risky show yet to this year's Edinburgh Fringe in Betty Grumble's Enemies of Grooviness Eat Sh!t. The show is a flowing blend of clownery, silliness, fleshiness, poetry and in its essence is deeply queer – born from drag, burlesque, strip-tease and underground LGBT scenes. Betty Grumble is both profane and profound – depending on who you ask. Her show is also deeply personal for Emma Maye Gibson, the Australian performance artist behind Grumble, she explains in a chat with Metro ahead of her Fringe run. Gibson's alter-ego Grumble – a 'war-mask' against patriarchy and love letter to living – will be masturbating and orgasming on stage every night. Emma Gibson explains: 'If you haven't encountered a sex clown before, you might imagine somebody who uses their body to remind us to love ourselves.' Audience members will be encouraged to look at a content brochure pre-show, which will warn of 'sex scenes' and 'joyfully wetter full-frontal nudity'. The orgasm is a release of all Gibson's personal grief: of losing her best friend, drag artist Candy Royal, in 2018, and the grief of injustice in her horrifying domestic violence ordeal. Gibson has aptly named the moment the 'Grief Cum'. 'I did it last night, and I hadn't actually had an orgasm in my personal life in about a little while, maybe a week and a half,' she says. 'The first time I ever did the show I was so nervous… I didn't fake it, I just didn't have a kind of clench-release orgasm that some of us have. It didn't happen for me. 'So the next night, I said to myself, 'You have to, let's experience this. Let's really go for it.' So I allowed myself to kind of really be seen in all of the contortion and twists that can happen as you're climbing in that way. 'And I did. Then I've had a 'real orgasm' – a big orgasm – every time I've done it.' Some nights, reaching orgasm takes Gibson longer if she's nervous or feeling uncomfortable. But she's always healing. 'I feel genuinely restored after the show. I feel good. It feels liberating,' she says. 'If it's feeling particularly difficult, I'll imagine myself being more and more non-human, and that's where ecosexuality will help me.' Emma Gibson explains: 'Ecosexuality is a sexual identity, where people reframe their relationship with the Earth from mother to lover. 'For example, breath work would be very eco-sexual. Swimming is very eco-sexual. It's not necessarily about like, literally f**king a tree. Though people can do that. It's called dendrophilia. 'It's about coming into erotic and sensual relationships with nature, with fire, with our perspiration. 'Our bodies don't begin and end. We're as the world. We are of nature. Yeah, that's what ecosexuality is to me. How do you express eco-sexuality? 'Whenever I feel myself hardening in particular ways to the world with anxiety and stress, the eco-sexual mindset can help me just expand and breathe out. 'I can zoom into the gradient of the blade of grass and think: 'How am I bringing pleasure and love to this absolutely extraordinary dimension we find ourselves in and all of the living force we're sharing?'' It's an undeniably vulnerable act. But Betty Grumble isn't just about radical rumination: she's also punk. 'Grumble has always helped me celebrate my body, but also criticise the ways in which it has been hurt by patriarchy,' Gibson says. 'In 2018, I experienced domestic violence in a relationship and I then court justice through the court system. It was the same year that my best friend died, and those two griefs kind of composted me,' she says. 'So what I do is share that compost on stage.' It goes without saying that the Grief Cum is also a march against shame – and the male gaze. 'I've been really interested in shame, and where shame lives in the body, and the power of pleasure as a tonic for that,' Gibson says. 'For women, especially – and I use that term really expansively – our bodies have been the site of so much violation, so the orgasm, the Grief Cum and sharing my body that way is a deliberate act of un-shaming. 'Even though I'm talking about my own story, what I'm actually talking about is another way of being with pain and grief and coming to love our bodies despite the wounds that we have.' While all this is a lovely idea, reality is rearing its cynical head. Yes, queer spaces are magic – but isn't Gibson worried about a more mainstream and possibly less respectful audience at the Edinburgh Fringe? Many of them may not be there for Betty Grumble, but for an eye-catching leaflet, or a night on the town. Some will likely scoff at and resist her art. 'We're connected as humans by being human, and it's the role of the artist to make visible the invisible, and the team and I have done a lot of work to translate and to hold the meaning of the show in a protective membrane,' Gibson says. 'So this was a really valid point. But I also think that the Fringe is a place to take risks, and there are people that might come into the show and be surprised, either happily or not, and that's okay, because we can make that together.' Rather than hushing the audience into submission, Gibson is actually inviting them to participate in her Grief Cum. Come again? (No pun intended.) 'They're involved in a percussive way,' Gibson says, carefully avoiding ruining the surprises of the show. 'They can contribute energetically to the soundscape. They are given a tool to assist the climax,' she says, cryptically. 'A sonic tool!' she adds quickly, before explaining, '…I just kind of want people to be surprised by it.' Of course, Gibson isn't a fool: she knows her art is unsettling stuff. But why shouldn't it be? 'It's a big invitation to sit in some discomfort. The ocean goes through different tides; waters are sometimes calm and then sometimes tumultuous, and that's good for us,' she says. 'When handled the right way, this kind of work can be helpful, and that's why I play with taboo and play with my body in particular ways.' Gibson's goal isn't to shock you, however much this may feel like a wacky, avant-garde Fringe stunt to get tongues wagging. 'I don't sit home and go, 'How will I shock them now?' I genuinely want to invite people into my body, even though I'm very aware of taboo protocol. More Trending 'While there are reasons things are taboo, people have agency to be in their bodies in a particular way. 'There are boundaries that definitely need to be tested, especially as we pendulate the way we are towards more conservatism.' She adds: 'I hope that this act of pleasure can be one that is of defiance, but also unity.' See Betty Grumble's Enemies of Grooviness Eat Sh!t from August 1 to 24 at 9.15pm at Assembly Roxy – Upstairs. Tickets here. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: 'I was in love with an incarcerated man – now he's my Edinburgh Fringe show' MORE: 'I was in Amazon Prime's biggest surprise hit – now you can watch me in a hotel room' MORE: Jewish comedians devastated as Edinburgh Fringe shows axed despite being non-political
South Wales Argus
10 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Convention centre promises a magical Christmas for all the family
At Newport's ICC Wales a selection of events are being lined up for each age to enjoy. The Ultimate Christmas Festive-al will run at the convention centre from December 5 to 20 when visitors can experience an evening of circus acts, street food and live entertainment. Suitable for ages 18-plus only, tickets start from £50 and include a drink on arrival and unlimited selection from the street food stalls. Scrooge - A Cirque Spectacular is a theatre performance for all the family. Be captivated by breathtaking aerial cirque stars and extraordinary performers who portray Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future in this Dickens classic. Running from December 12 to January 3, tickets start from £25. Once again there will be a skating rink, which this year will use real ice after popular demand. As well as the real ice indoor rink, there will be live performances, Après-Skate food and drink, and festive treats around every corner. Skating Aids are available for little ones just finding their feet on the ice. Skate will be at the ICC from December 9 to January 3, with prices starting from just £10. For more details and to book go to the ICC Wales website.
Times
13 hours ago
- Times
19 books to read this summer before they hit your screens
Anyone who was forced to read the whole Harry Potter series before they were allowed to watch the films with their friends might roll their eyes, but knowing a book before sitting down with the film or television version is hard to beat. There's the chance to build an imaginative world of your own — and then see how the screen version shapes up, what it includes and, equally vital, what gets left out. Here, then are some of the key releases to swot up on this summer. Interested in 1066 and all that? Head for this drama starring the uncannily Bayeux Tapestry-faced James Norton as Harold Godwinson and the Games of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as William. Strictly speaking this is not a literary adaptation, but you can prepare by reading Marc Morris's zippy chronicle The Norman Conquest or William the Conqueror by David Bates, a biography as weighty as its corpulent subject. Meanwhile, readers who prefer fiction — Norman People, maybe — can try Julian Rathbone's superior historical novel The Last English King. So ubiquitous was Richard Osman's 2020 cosy crime novel that a recommendation to read it is probably only useful to three UK residents. Still, catch up on the intriguing happenings at Cooper's Chase retirement village before Chris Columbus's film and its high-end cast — Helen Mirren, Celia Imrie, Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan — fix the image of the charming but poignant crime-fighting pensioners in stone. • The 60 best Netflix series to watch in July 2025 'Team Laura or Team Cherry?' could be this autumn's water-cooler question thanks to this six-part adaptation of Michelle Frances's gripping debut novel from 2018. 'The most marvellous psychological thriller,' according to Jilly Cooper, The Girlfriend hinges on Laura, whose luxurious life starts to unravel after her well-meaning 23-year-old son, Daniel, takes up with a smart, ambitious new partner. Robin Wright stars and directs; Laurie Davidson and Olivia Cooke complete the Mumsnet-worthy mother–son–daughter-in-law triangle. 'A place of yellows and greys,' is how Mick Herron describes the MI5 outpost Slough House, an epically dingy milieu superbly recreated across four Apple TV+ seasons. Book five in the series, London Rules, arrives on screen soon and, while Gary Oldman's portrayal of the disreputable agent Jackson Lamb is as indelible as the stains on his mac, viewers should do themselves a favour by hitting the source material. Start with the knife-edge first book Slow Horses to see the kebab-shop le Carré build his world of espionage from the ground up. And if you've watched the series already, don't be put off the books — they bring another dimension to the Slough House renegades. Paul Thomas Anderson has form with Thomas Pynchon: in 2014 the director orchestrated the first film of the elusive author's work with an adaptation of the 2009 psychedelic gumshoe ramble Inherent Vice. Headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another is loosely based on Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland, a timely trip through a divided America. Stephen King has long been a gift to book-lovers — how many new readers have been forged between the pages of It, Carrie or Salem's Lot? But he's also become such an essential creative wellspring for film-makers that the industry would shrivel without him. After The Life of Chuck with Tom Hiddleston (cinemas, Aug 22), two of his dystopian stories finding their natural place in 2025. The Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright has remodelled The Running Man, originally filmed with Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987, while Francis Lawrence's take on the 1979 novel The Long Walk (like The Running Man, published under King's Richard Bachman alias) is Squid Game x Speed. This is a name-changed take on Max Porter's 2023 novella Shy, the story of a troubled young offender sent to a special boarding school ominously called Last Chance. While the excellent cast — Simbi 'Little Simz' Ajikawo, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman and, as the headteacher Steve, Cillian Murphy — are likely to be up to the storytelling task, Porter's lyrically tangled, psychologically astute writing demands to be read on the page. • The best films of 2025 so far The last novel by the young adult/romance writer Colleen Hoover to be made into a film was It Ends with Us, a production that incubated the legal feud between Blake Lively and her co-star and director Justin Baldoni. Here's hoping this adaptation of Hoover's 2019 novel ran smoother, with Allison Williams (Get Out, Girls) and Mckenna Grace portraying a complicated mother-daughter relationship. Fans of Gilmore Girls-style family intrigue will regret nothing. Robert Grainier — an itinerant labourer and the protagonist of Denis Johnson's time-skipping Great American novella — returns home one day in 1920 to discover his wife and child have vanished after a fire 'stronger than God' rips through their Idaho valley. Catching the book's signs, wonders and spectacular landscapes, Clint Bentley's film adaptation casts Joel Edgerton, William H Macy and Felicity Jones in Johnson's profound meditation on the shape and meaning of a life. Mary Shelley's 1818 novel has long galvanised film-makers, the idea of a bolt-necked monster now a pop-culture staple. Read the original to experience the violent gothic sweep of the 18-year-old author's imagination — and to earn the right to reprimand anyone calling the creature 'Frankenstein'. The Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro has been promising his version of the man-v-God meltdown for nearly 20 years; this autumn, it will jolt off the slab, with Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his creation. Set in 1975 on the outskirts of Belfast, Louise Kennedy's slow-burning but highly acclaimed 2022 debut novel tells the story of Cushla Lavery, a 24-year-old Catholic primary school teacher and part-time barmaid who starts an affair with a married Protestant lawyer. Lola Petticrew will play Cushla and Tom Cullen her dangerous love interest Michael, but the starriest presence is Gillian Anderson, who will take on the role of Cushla's chaotic alcoholic mother, Gina. The dank second novel by Nick Cave is no beach read, but if you're spending the holidays in an upsettingly grimy motel room somewhere in southern England, it could be a perfect match. Digest its strong meat — think David Peace writing for Robin Askwith — then watch the six-part adaptation starring Matt Smith as a sex-obsessed cosmetics salesman who takes his son on an ungodly Fiat Punto road trip. Lindsay Duncan, Robert Glenister and David Threlfall join Cave's grotesque odyssey. A sequel to the BBC's 2016 version of John le Carré's 1993 novel has long been in the ether, with the writer open to an all-new storyline before his death in 2020. Season two is now imminent, featuring a reprise of Tom Hiddleston's star-making turn as Jonathan Pine. Refamiliarise yourself with the novel's tangled geopolitical web, or descend into le Carré's classic Cold War labyrinth with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the source of the BBC's immaculate 1979 adaptation with Alec Guinness. William Golding's pre-pubescent Apocalypse Now thrums with postwar visions of evil. When a band of boys are stranded on a tropical island, Piggy and Ralph attempt to establish an egalitarian society, but brutal Jack has different ideas. Peter Brook's ominous 1963 adaptation was brilliantly pastiched in The Simpsons episode Das Bus; this version, scored by Hans Zimmer and scripted by the TV powerhouse Jack Thorne (Adolescence), will introduce a new generation to the power of the conch. • The best films to watch on BBC iPlayer The pseudonymous physician Freida McFadden has become a thriller-writing sensation since self-publishing her debut in 2013. The Housemaid was the brain specialist's breakthrough, though; lurid psychological catnip for Gone Girl fans. The story of a former convict turned maid and her dysfunctional employers, it was made for a sun lounger and a tall drink, so get ahead of the twists before Paul Feig's adaptation — starring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney — hits cinemas on Boxing Day. John Steinbeck's biblically inclined 1952 family saga relocates the story of Cain and Abel to First World War-era California. James Dean's brooding portrayal of Cal Trask in Elia Kazan's potently distilled 1955 film was generation-defining for the sensitive young men of its time. This reimagining, written and produced by Kazan's granddaughter Zoe Kazan, will re-spin the tale by focusing on Cal's absentee mother, Cathy Ames (Florence Pugh). If you missed the rite of passage that was passing Jilly Cooper's Rivals around a form room — the dog-eared copy suspiciously falling open at certain erotic pages — there's no better use of a summer holiday than initiating yourself into Rutshire mores. Series one of Disney+'s excellent adaptation managed to navigate the less 2025-friendly aspects of the book without losing the sexy, silly thrust of the whole enterprise. Armour yourself in stilettos and hairspray ready for series two. • Read more TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews Despite being announced in 2022, the BBC's adaptation of Douglas Stuart's 2020 debut still appears to be in limbo. There's still time, then, to read the Booker-winning novel if you haven't already: no matter when the show emerges, Stuart's harrowing tale of the Glaswegian teenager Shuggie Bain, his alcoholic mother, Agnes, and their lives in the cab ranks and council flats of the 1980s 'real Glasgow' will not quickly leave your memory. As her husband and fellow academic faces charges of sexual misconduct, the nameless protagonist of Julia May Jonas's sharply modern 2022 campus novel becomes obsessed with a new professor 15 years her junior. Sex, power, female appetite, 'morality in art': the twists in the book's Nabokovian ethical maze are elegantly signposted by Jonas. Executive produced by Sharon Horgan, it will star Rachel Weisz, with 28-year-old Leo Woodall as the title character. Which TV show, based on a book, are you most looking forward to watching? Let us know in the comments below Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix, the best Prime Video TV shows, the best Disney+ shows , the best Apple TV+ shows, the best shows on BBC iPlayer , the best shows on Sky and Now, the best shows on ITVX, the best shows on Channel 4 streaming, the best shows on Paramount+ and our favourite hidden gem TV shows. Don't forget to check our critics' choices to what to watch this week and browse our comprehensive TV guide
