Jake Brasch and Nadja Leonard-Hopper are the duo the behind the musical Hole!, coming to New York this December.
Chewboy
hide caption
Editor's note: This article contains sexual themes.
EDINBURGH — For nearly a month, Edinburgh has been overrun by performers, posters, packed rooms — and some very strange ideas.
The Edinburgh Fringe comes to a close Monday, wrapping up the monthlong performing arts festival that has become a proving ground for some of theater's riskiest, weirdest and most original work. Sometimes, those experiments escape the festival entirely and go on to become global cultural phenomena. (Looking at you, Fleabag and Baby Reindeer.)
This year, more than 4,200 shows descended on Edinburgh, with artists hailing from 74 countries.
NPR did its research — making its way through roughly 40 of them.
That meant testing out theater in a 200 degree Fahrenheit sauna. A musical about a Nebraska-based butt plug wearing cult. And clowns. So many clowns. A surprising (or perhaps not so surprising?) number of them naked.
We've rounded up some of the best performances from this year's Fringe that are headed to the United States — plus a few more worth keeping on your radar.
Jake Brasch plays the keyboards and Nadja Leonard-Hopper controls the sound effects as the stars of the musical Hole!
Chewboy
hide caption
Garth, a rural Nebraska-based preacher, wakes up one day with a warning from God about an impending apocalypse known as "The Great Sucking" which risks sending his congregation "ass-first" into space to burn on the face of the sun. The only way to save themselves is to wear butt plugs at all times. Next thing we know, Garth has ordered 8,000 wooden butt plugs off Amazon and — as it turns out — he was smart to do so.
Because what sounds like a preposterous premise quickly turns into an incredibly charming and surprisingly thoughtful musical, following the preacher's teenage son, Luke, and his best friend, Conor — both closeted and struggling to find their place — as they escape their small conservative town and embark on a coming of age road trip that explores friendship, belonging, and the risks we take to be ourselves.
Jake Brasch and Nadja Leonhard-Hopper, the talented writers and stars, do a remarkable job of playing the show's many characters, with Brasch also on keyboards while Leonhard-Hopper handles the sound effects using an impressive array of props to take us through every swish and whoosh. If you're wondering how it all comes together, it is in large thanks to the incredible chemistry the pair share on stage — you can tell they are having fun, and in our experience, the audience is too.
Zach Zucker, aka the bad boy of clowning, hosts this raunchy, high energy variety show, built around an ensemble of improvising, slightly manic and frequently very offscript performers.
Zach Zucker leads Stamptown, a raunchy variety show with a new Netflix special.
Jacinta Oaten/Jacinta Oaten
hide caption
Fresh off a Netflix special that premiered earlier this month, Stamptown crams in a dizzying mix of acts — think fire breathing burlesque dancers, aerial pole acrobats spinning above you, and some of the sharpest, strangest clown comedy around.
