Earlier this year a number of the independent media which cover the Edinburgh Fringe formed the Festival Media Network, with the aim of sharing knowledge and information, cross-promoting coverage, making communication with the Fringe Community easier, and promoting best practice in festival reviewing.

Next Wednesday FMN will host an open form at C Central. The event will introduce the Network to the Fringe Community, and then promoters, performers, publicists, press officers, venue managers, journalists and ticket buyers will be encouraged to discuss the changing role of the media at the Edinburgh Fringe. Especially up for debate will be the increasingly important role of the independent media at the Festival, and how those media could better service the needs of performers and ticket buyers alike.

There will be an opportunity for both media and performers/producers/venues/audience members to air and discuss grievances, and the Fringe community will be invited to input on a code of practice that will be adopted by all FMN affiliated media.

Media On The Fringe will be held in the Cabaret Bar at C Central on Wednesday 25 Aug at 1pm. Admission is free.

FMN affiliated media include Broadway Baby, Festival Previews, FringeGuru, FringeReview, Hairline and ThreeWeeks.

With the ThreeWeeks preview edition now on the streets of Edinburgh, work has begun on our Week One weekly edition, and so it's time to reveal who will be writing exclusive columns for us this year. And there's three of them lined up to entertain you.

First up, we'll be hearing from Laura Mugridge, whose show 'Running On Air' is set inside a VW campervan that has been parked in the middle of the Pleasance Courtyard. Laura explains: "Joni the campervan is now properly installed in the Pleasance Courtyard and has already had several adventures. She is attracting quite a crowd, ranging from people who used to holiday in a VW when they were a child, to people who own one now, to people who have never been in one but have always wanted to. I'll be updating you on these advertures and people each week in ThreeWeeks".

Next, we'll have a weekly update from Mrs Moneypenny, who you would more usually find writing a weekly column for the Financial Times. She is in Edinburgh to perform a daily show at the AGA Showroom and she'll be documenting the experience and recommending some shows for ThreeWeeks readers. Says Mrs M: "I've just arrived in Edinburgh for a month, complete with three children, one husband, his best man from our wedding 21 years ago, two cars, a plane and my hairdresser. I'm determined to make the best of the fest, and will be taking in shows to recommend to ThreeWeeks readers between my own show, on at the AGA Showroom each day at 12.30pm".

Finally, and this is a bit of an exclusive, every week a certain Ian D Montford, Fringe medium extraordinaire, will be conducting an interview just for us with another dead celebrity. Says Ian: "For my first interview I will be joined very graciously in visitation by a lovely gentleman, an eminent playwright known to many of you here at the Festival. I talk, of course, of William Shakespeare".

Look out for Ian's interview with the Bard, and all our columns this year, in the main ThreeWeeks weekly edition, and online here.

If, in this internet-iPhone-Sky-Plus age, you prefer your entertainment to be a little bit interactive, then Apostrophe Theatre Company might have the show for you. Although their play 'Confidence' is already written, the nine scenes can be peformed in any order, and the audience choose the order at the start of each performance.

Apostrophe's Keziah Warner told ThreeWeeks: "Amongst the many hundreds of shows being performed what is unique about our show is that the order of the scenes changes every day. There are nine scenes in total and at the beginning of each performance the actors will ask the audience to choose the order in which they would like to see the play performed - so the story is seen from a different angle everyday".

Explaining the motivation for the show, Warner continued: "We really wanted people to come away from the show each day with completely different ideas of what the story is that they have just seen. And the best part is that it's free so there's no excuse not to come - and come again and again to see it done totally differently!"

'Confidence' is on at Bar 50 as part of the Free Fringe daily at 3.30pm until 28 Aug. 

ThreeWeeks is teaming up with it's sister media CMU to provide Edinburgh Fringe-goers with a weekly Spotify playlist, compiled by a different Fringe performer each week, to tune into during any Festival down-time.

The first playlist is programmed and ready to go. It's been put together by MJ Hibbett who, with his backing band The Validators, released the album 'Say It With Words' in 2000. Four years later, one song from the album, 'Hey Hey 16k', became an internet hit thanks to an animated video created by Rob Manuel of B3ta.com. Numerous subsequent album and single releases over the last decade have gained him cult status in the indie world.

All of this and more was chronicled in Hibbett's first Edinburgh Fringe show, 'My Exciting Life In ROCK!', in 2008. With that out of his system, he set to work on another Edinburgh show. Called 'Dinosaur Planet', the lo-fi rock opera promises "dinosaurs, giant robots, space invasions, high quality academic research and the outright destruction of Peterborough". This year Hibbett brings that show back to Edinburgh for a second run, boasting an expanded cast (there's now two of them), at The GRV until 14 Aug. Find more info at www.dinosaurplanet.co.uk

Ahead of the show, we asked MJ to put together this playlist for us, and here's what he had to say about it: "This mixtape reflects the inner workings of my BRAIN at the moment, as I'm up to my ears in all sorts of stuff, notably 'Dinosaur Planet', my two-man musical that we're taking up to the Edinburgh Fringe, and the Indietracks Festival, general PANIC about whether I've got everything sorted out, and some songs which have just got stuck on The Walkman In My Head. Listening to this should give you an idea of what it's like to be in my head at the moment - for which, apologies!"

Click here to find out more about MJ Hibbett's musical selection over on theCMUwebsite.com. And click here to buy tickets to Hibbett's show.

Ginny Davis has been talking to ThreeWeeks about her new Fringe show 'Double Booked', which is playing at the Pleasance this Fringe, and again sees the writer and actress adopt the character of stay-at-home mother Ruth Rich.

"It's a show about every day living in a family with teenagers", she explains. "The premise is that parents think that their children are hopeless and disorganised but that the parents are just as capable of telling lies, turning off their mobile phones when they are needed and generally getting themselves into hot water in their daily dealings with each other, their children, their children's friends, and, best of all, their children's friends' parents".

Asked about the inspiration for the show, Davis continues: "Seventeen years of hands on research as a parent! Early on in my own children's lives I realised that their own playground rivalries, tussles, troubles and friendships simply mirrored what went on at home and that the goings on between parents - the rivalries, tussles, troubles and friendships - were a rich source of comedy".

'Double Booked' runs daily until 29 Aug at The Pleasance. Click here for tickets.

As the Edinburgh Festival Fringe officially kicks off today there's been some positive rumblings from the powers that be regarding ticket sales. According to The Stage, bosses at The Pleasance have reported that pre-sales are up 6% on previous years, while Assembly say sales so far are up a third on 2009. Ticket sales within the C venue empire, the biggest venue this year in terms of number of shows, are up a massive 60%.

Of course both Assembly and C are running sizable new performance spaces this year so some sort of uplift in ticket sales is to be expected, but with such big increases it does seem fears that the bleak economic climate of the last year might keep casual ticket-buyer at home.

And when speaking to The Stage, Assembly man William Burdett-Coutts additional providing figures that account for the uplift caused by the new venue. He said: "We are tracking slightly ahead of where we would expect to be. We have two more venues this year than we had last year, so we have added our tracking to that figure. If you add in those extra venues we are tracking about 5 or 10% up on what we should be. If you take were balancing it against last year, we are about 30% or 40% up on last year".

Speaking for sales across the Fringe festival, the boss of the Fringe Society organisation, Kath Mainland, told The Herald: "Ticket sales are good, we are not releasing official figures until the very end of the Fringe but we are up on where we were this time last year. I think there is something to be said for success breeding success. Last year we spoke a lot about 'staycations' and people holidaying in the UK rather than abroad and maybe it is the same this year - and if you have been to the Fringe once, you would come back, wouldn't you? But we have a long way to go - it is where we are at the end that matters".

With over 3000 shows at the Edinburgh Festival this year, over 2400 in the Fringe alone, how are you - the busy ticket-buyer - meant to decide what shows to see? ThreeWeeks has been surveying some Fringe performers for their advice on how to select shows. And here's what three of them told us.

Comedy man Ant Dewson (pictured) told us: "A spreadsheet! It's the only way to make sure you get to see all the shows you want to. At first everyone will laugh at you. After a few days they'll be asking to look at your spreadsheet. Oh, and always go and see one person / show you've never heard of. Sometimes they're rubbish, sometimes they're brilliant. A few years ago I saw Amanda Palmer as my random pick. She was amazing".

The team from Double Edge Drama advised: "Talk to lots of people! One must remember a review of a show is the opinion of one person so get out onto the Mile and talk to festival goers and performers. Which show has a buzz about it? You will soon find out…"

And finally, a rep from Cambridge University ADC, who are performing 'The Cure' at C this year, added: "Be tactical with your flyer acceptance – if you're shallow (like me) then a show will be vastly more pleasing if it's got a beautiful cast, so only keep flyers that you receive from people you find attractive or interesting-looking. On a completely unrelated tangent, I'd like to reassure people that the cast of 'The Cure' were chosen because of their unrivalled theatrical talents, and it is by sheer coincidence that they’re all gorgeous".

Check out more Fringe navigation tips in the preview edition of the ThreeWeeks paper.

With Fringe previews underway, now seems as good a time as any to publish the ThreeWeeks preview edition for Festival 2010. So let's do just that. The preview edition is entirely written by Editors Chris Cooke and Caro Moses, and is their guide to the upcoming festival. With over three decades of Fringe experience between them, they know a thing or two about working out what shows have the most promise ahead of each Festival.

Inside you will find Caro's Three To See show recommendations, tipping shows galore that are appearing at the festival this year. There are also interviews with previous winners of the ThreeWeeks Editors' Awards all of whom are back at the Fringe this year. Among them Eric, Lynn Ruth Miller, Mervyn Stutter, Aindrias De Staic, Moishe's Bagel and the teams behind Belt Up Theatre, NoFit State Circus and Newbury Youth Theatre.

Cooke says: "The great thing about ThreeWeeks is that, due to our media-skills programme, we have a brand new team of reviewers every festival, providing a fresh viewpoint on the world's biggest festival. But when it comes to the preview edition it's mine and Caro's long experience of covering Edinburgh's summer festivals that come into effect. So for previews we're proudly veteran, for reviews, proudly fresh faced".

You can read the preview edition online here. It will also be appearing in venues across Edinburgh over the next 24 hours, so if you are in Edinburgh make sure you pick up a copy. Distribution points include Assembly @ George Street, Bedlam, C, Dance Base, Diverse Attractions, Fringe Central, Gilded Balloon, Just The Tonic, The Hub, Lyceum, New Town Theatre, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance Dome, The Stand, Sweet Grassmarket, The Traverse, Underbelly, Zoo Roxy and Zoo Southside.

Yes, ThreeWeeks Co-Editor has another batch of theatre tips for you, this lot reworked classics.

Down The Rabbit Hole
This is a reworking (as you may have suspected) of Lewis Caroll's 'Alice In Wonderland'. It's already a dark tale, but it looks like the Lincoln Company are taking it into even darker realms in a show where Caroll himself comes face to face with his own creations inhabiting a sinister netherworld, and ends up fighting for Alice's life. For grown ups. 
C soco, 4 – 30 Aug (not 16), 12.05pm (12.55pm), £6.50 - £8.50, fpp 247. Click here for tickets.

The Gospel At Colonus
This take on Sophocles' 'Oedipus At Colonus' is a radical reworking indeed. It's set in modern day America, and features the rather brilliant gospel group The Blind Boys Of Alabama in the role of Oedipus. You can't go wrong with gospel, in my opinion, and I'm more than fond of the works of Sophocles too. Definitely one for the diary, if you can get a ticket.
The Edinburgh Playhouse, 7.30pm (also 2.30pm performance on 22 Aug), 21 - 23 Aug, £8.00 - £30.00, eifpp 27. Click here for tickets.
 
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Brecht's classic turns up at the Fringe on a very regular basis. Here it is reworked - using a fusion of physical movement and puppetry - by 3BUGS Fringe Theatre, who last year wowed ThreeWeeks reviewers with their show 'Ophelia Drowning'. Very pleased to see them back again this year.
The Zoo, 8 – 30 Aug (not 17), 6.30pm (7.45pm), £6.50 - £7.50, fpp 238. Click here for tickets.

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For a guide to ThreeWeeks listings, and especially how we present ticket price information, click here.

With over 3000 shows at the Edinburgh Festival this year, over 2400 in the Fringe alone, how are you - the busy ticket-buyer - meant to decide what shows to see? ThreeWeeks has been surveying some Fringe performers for their advice on how to select shows. And here's what three of them told us.

Cabaret singer Ali McGregor (pictured) told us: "My 6 show tip - 1) a show by a big name comedian 2) a show by one of the best newcomer nominees from last year 3) an unknown show that you get flyered for by a nice person 4) a show in a completely different genre than you usually go for (music if you are a comedy head etc) that has a poster or flyer you like the look of 5) a show that is recommended by one of the other acts you have seen 6) my show - easy!"

Andy Mosely (appearing in Are You Lonesome Tonight?') proposed: "Have a day where you have nothing planned in advance, take the first flyer you get and if the show starts in the next hour, go and see it. When you come out from it, take the next flyer you get and do the same again all day. By the end of the day you will have seen moments of utter brilliance and complete rubbish, and I speak from experience having done this last year".

Finally, comedian Gill Smith said: "Trying to pick shows is really tricky, so the best advice I can give is not to overstress it, and don't worry if not everything is amazing. There'll be a show you can't get a ticket for - which will probably tour, so keep that in mind. There'll also probably be one that sounded great, but you'll wish you could subtly escape from, so make sure you always take a beer in with you. If nothing else, it'll make the time pass quicker as you debate whether the show is half full, half empty, or half-arsed".

Look out for more tips on how to navigate the Fringe here on the website and in the preview edition of ThreeWeeks later this week.

Fringe regulars will already know about these guys, but if you're new round these parts then ThreeWeeks Co-Editor Caro Moses feels it's important to bring you up to speed. Here's the Fringe theatre favourites.

Pip Utton Is Charles Dickens
Pip Utton is a Fringe legend, institution, star. And this year a ThreeWeeks guest editor, hurrah! His one man shows are must sees, and this one will be no exception: Charles Dickens is on tour to give a reading, and rails about social injustice whilst enjoying his fame and adulation. You can also see Utton in 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' at The Pleasance, which also looks amazing . Either way, I’d recommend checking him out, at one, or both. 
New Town Theatre, 7 - 27 Aug (not 17), 6.45pm (7.55pm), £7.00 - £9.00, fpp 279. Click here for tickets.

Decky Does A Bronco
Theatre company Grid Iron’s production of Douglas Maxwell’s ‘Decky Does A Bronco’ first hit the festival a decade ago, and won massive acclaim and a Fringe First before touring the UK and winning more awards. The site-specific piece (set and played out in a playground) makes a welcome return to the Fringe this year.
Traverse @ Scotland Yard, 6 - 21 (not 9, 16), 7.30pm (8.45pm), £12.00 - £17.00, fpp 243. Click here for tickets.

Under Milk Wood
Guy Masterson is another one-man-show Fringe legend, and he's been around the festival even longer than Pip Utton. His solo version of Dylan Thomas' classic play is universally acclaimed, and these days only usually performed as a one off. You can also catch Masterson in another one night run, of his also acclaimed version of Orwell's 'Animal Farm'. 
Assembly @ George Street, 24 Aug, 2.45pm (4.35pm), £12.00 - £15.00, fpp 300. Click here for tickets.

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For a guide to ThreeWeeks listings, and especially how we present ticket price information, click here.

Although the Edinburgh Fringe officially starts on Friday, in reality it kicks off today as many of the festival's venues open their doors for the first time, with The Pleasance, Assembly and Underbelly among the Fringe haunts hosting launch parties and clip showcases and press junkets and other such flim flam at some point in the next twelve hours. Shows will then open in preview mode, which often means cheap tickets until the weekend.

Today is also the day the ThreeWeeks review team start reviewing. This year's team met in a secret location in Edinburgh last night for their final briefing, and today will hit the streets of the Scottish capital to take in some quality theatre, comedy, musicals, dance and cabaret. And some mediocre theatre, comedy, musicals, dance and cabaret as well, I would imagine.

We have over sixty shows booked in to be seen today alone. Reviews will first appear in Twittique form at www.twitter.com/twittique on Friday, with the first full reviews appearing in the ThreeWeeks Daily Edition, out on Friday night. Reviews will start appearing online in both the eDaily and here on the website on Saturday.

So, here we go, Edinburgh Fringe 2010 is go go go.

ThreeWeeks Co-Editor Caro Moses takes an extended walk through the many streets of the Fringe's theatre programme and discovers three men who...           

The Man Who Was Hamlet
Solo show veteran George Dillon takes on the role of Edward de Vere - the chap who quite a lot of people think was really William Shakespeare. Personally, I've never bought into that idea myself, but this sounds like a great show, and with Dillon centre stage you can expect a high calibre performance.
Hill Street Theatre, 8 - 30 Aug (not 10, 17, 24), 7.10pm (8.40pm), £7.00 - £9.00, fpp 269. Click here for tickets.

The Man Who Was Thursday
This New York Theatre collective, that would appear to be bursting with talent, present a 21st century take on GK Chesterton's 1908 detective tale. It’s described as a mix of psychological thriller, political nightmare and breakneck farce, and sees its principal character attempting to out-terrorize terrorists in order to save the world. 
Gilded Balloon Teviot, 7 - 29 Aug (not 16), 5.45pm (6.45pm), £8.00 - £10.00), fpp 269. Click here for tickets.

The Man Who Fell Out Of Bed
Here’s another one from The Lincoln Company, which is probably a bit unfair, giving one company two preview slots. I didn't realise I was doing it, and it’s too late now. But this looks good, so it deserves to be here, plus, I couldn't possibly have completed this section without it. It’s another thriller, which apparently presents a nightmarish vision of a world to come. Yikes.
C central, 5 - 27 Aug (not 16), 2.30pm (3.30pm), £6.50 - £9.50, fpp 269. Click here for tickets.

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For a guide to ThreeWeeks listings, and especially how we present ticket price information, click here.

With over 3000 shows at the Edinburgh Festival this year, over 2400 in the Fringe alone, how are you - the busy ticket-buyer - meant to decide what shows to see? ThreeWeeks has been surveying some Fringe performers for their advice on how to select shows. And here's what three of them told us.

Simon Feilder and Sy Thomas (pictured), performing 'Life Of Si: Si Harder' at The GRV, told us: "Take a chance. Engage with those idiots who give you flyers (especially if they are on the flyer). The best shows are not necessarily the ones with the hottest girls in. Don't see any shows whose title is a play on words based on the sequel to a Bruce Willis movie. Oh hang on a second".

Stand-up Dave Thornton recommended: "A good friend of mine gave me this tip – the person who does the best job flyering you, go and see their show. Now I'm not saying the most annoying person or the person who accosted you concerning their rendition of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' set to Abba music. The person who you believe did the best job, check them out, it’s only an hour. What could go wrong?".

While Will Green from Bedlam Theatre-based improv comedy group The Improverts added: "The other shows at Bedlam! It's a great theatre right in the middle of town with some sensational shows from all over, plus there's a café with drinks. And, like, several sofas. Hell it's where I'll be. And I might buy you a drink. My name's not in this right?"

Look out for more tips on how to navigate the Fringe here on the website and in the preview edition of ThreeWeeks later this week.

ThreeWeeks Co-Editor seems to have had fairy tales on her brain while picking out some theatre shows to recommend.

The Glass Slipper
It has a fairy tale connection but that doesn't mean to say that it's going to be all lovely and light. In fact, this devised theatre piece sounds pretty dark, and involves a nasty-sounding Prince who isn't about to provide his princess with a traditional happy ever after... not for children, eh?   
The Vault, 24 - 30 Aug, 4.20pm (5.10pm), £4.00 - £5.00, fpp 256. Click here for tickets.

Grim(m) Tales
I suppose, if you think about it, most fairy tales are a bit dark; let's face it, we often sanitise them for children, don't we? This show, however, is not one for the kids, as it's focusing on the dark and gruesome side of the already pretty dark Grimm Tales. Storytellers Louna use folklore, theatre and storytelling (obviously) to relate some lesser known stories from the famous tale-collecting brothers.
Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20 - 21 Aug, 9.30pm (10.30pm), free, fpp 257. 

Rachel Rose Reid: I'm Hans Christian Anderson
Well, this one doesn't altogether fit with the fairy tale theme, but Hans Christian Anderson was a storyteller, and so is Rachel Rose Reid. And she is utterly fabulous; ThreeWeeks loved her last year, and so, seemingly, did all the other critics (though their views are not important as ours, of course), for her unique and modern style of storytelling.
Pleasance Courtyard, 4 - 30 Aug, 2.05pm (3.05pm), £6.50 - £10.00, fpp 282. Click here for tickets.

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For a guide to ThreeWeeks listings, and especially how we present ticket price information, click here.

CMU is ThreeWeeks' sister media, the year round insiders guide to all things music. From next week CMU will be providing ThreeWeeks readers with some extra music-related goodies related to the Fringe programme.

First up, pretty much every day of the week ThreeWeeks asks a new artist or band the 'same six questions' as part of a fun quick quiz interview. We'll be putting those same six questions to three of the artists playing at the Edge music festival within the Fringe this year.

Another regular feature in CMU is the Powers Of Ten playlists where we get a different guest each week to compile a playlist of some of their favourite tracks. You can then access those tracks by a pre-made Spotify playlist, and read a little about why said guest chose the tune they did. For the next three weeks the Powers Of Ten playlists will have an Edinburgh theme, and will be available via the pages of ThreeWeeks as well as on CMU. If all goes to plan we’ll be raiding the record collections of MJ Hibbett (pictured), Reginald D Hunter and Andrew Collins over the next three weeks.

Says CMU Editor Andy Malt: "The Fringe's music section is one of its best kept secrets. But it's a secret that really shouldn't be kept. By tying up with ThreeWeeks this year we hope to let our music community readers know more about Edinburgh's festival".

Yes, it's ThreeWeeks Co-Editor Caro Moses with another helping of tips from the cabaret section of the Fringe.

Cabaret Chordelia: Making A Song And Dance
This is listed in the dance and physical theatre section of the Fringe Programme and calls itself a "highly charged and witty reinterpretation of the live cabaret form". Corsets, dance, a baritone, and dark profundity juxtaposed with light comedy; it certainly sounds pretty interesting.
Pleasance at Ghillie Dhu, 7 - 22 Aug (not 11, 16), 4.15pm (5.15pm), £8.00 - £12.00, fpp 144. Click here for tickets.

Cabaret Chekhov
This is a cabaret with some very specific subject matter, as you might expect from the title. The show, which runs for about a week, will feature vaudeville, readings, plays and special events designed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Anton Chekhov. Devotees might want to note that it will include world premieres of new adaptations of some of the writer's early work.
Zoo Roxy, 17 - 23 Aug, 12.20am (1.50am), £8.00 - £10.00, fpp 236. Click here for tickets.

Tricity Vogue's Ukelele Cabaret - free
Wooooo, ukelele. I am very fond of the ukelele these days. I think it was the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain that got me into it. Anyway, it looks like I'm just following the trend, because it seems that other people are very much into the whole ukelele thing too. I wonder what brought that about? Well, if you are a ukelele devotee, here's the cabaret for you. 
Laughing Horse @ The Three Sisters, 9 - 23 Aug (not 10 - 15, 17 - 22), 8.45pm (11.15pm), free, fpp 205.

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For a guide to ThreeWeeks listings, and especially how we present ticket price information, click here.

We're used to comedians turning their hands to theatre at the Fringe, but this year a stack of our comedy favourites will be getting all musical while in Edinburgh this August.

'Gutted - A Revenger's Musical' is a brand new musical being performed at Assembly this year, with story and lyrics penned by comedian Danielle Ward. Various Fringe favourites, including Colin Hoult, Lizzie Roper, The Penny Dreadfuls and Sarah Pascoe appear, plus the show will also include an appearance from Jim Bob who, those of you of a certain age, will possibly remember as one half of  Carter The Upstoppable Sex Machine.

Shortly after announcing the line up for her musical venture last month, Ward told ThreeWeeks: "I wrote 'Gutted' simply because both me and [score composer] Martin [White] love musicals, and we wanted to make one together. Cast wise it's brilliant. Colin Hoult was my muse as a writer and I would have him involved  everything I do if I could! It also felt natural for the Penny Dreadfuls to be in the show. And I just loved Jim Bob when I met him through the Dave Gorman Radio show. But, while most of the cast are comedy people, this isn’t a parody show. We honestly love musicals!"

'Gutted' runs until 29 Aug at Assembly @ George Street.

ThreeWeeks Co-Editor Caro points you in the direction of three great cabaret nights at the Fringe.

Bongo Club Cabaret
There's not much to say about the Bongo Club Cabaret except that it is a fine and venerable institution, and that it is always a good thing to be there. I will now try and think of something else to say on the matter. Struggling. OK, here we are: If you want to see a cross-section of what the Fringe is really about, forget the big name comedians, get yourself along to this.
The Bongo Club, 7 - 30 Aug (not 14, 20), 10.15pm (11.30pm), £7.00 - £8.00, fpp 233. Click here for tickets.

Magic Faraway Cabaret
I suspect I may have chosen this because I was an Enid Blyton addict in my youth. It's no wonder I am mildly insane. Anyway, this has nothing to do with Enid Blyton, apart from having a name similar to one of her better works, but it has all the makings of a great cabaret night, which is possibly why it's won no small amount of acclaim.
Cabaret Voltaire, 7 - 27 Aug (not 10, 17, 24), 6.00pm (7pm), free, fpp 91. Click here for tickets.

Vive Le Cabaret
Another day, another cabaret. If you're an enthusiast, better make space in your schedule for this one, which promises big names, a changing line up, vaudeville, and comedy, with cabaret veteran Desmond O'Connor in the driving seat.
Pleasance at Ghillie Dhu, 4 - 30 Aug (not 9, 23), 9.30pm (10.45pm), £10.50 - £12.50, fpp 220. Click here for tickets.

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For a guide to ThreeWeeks listings, and especially how we present ticket price information, click here.

Cabaret and musical comedy man Desmond O'Connor is back in Edinburgh with two shows this year – 'Vive Le Cabaret' at the Pleasance Courtyard and 'Me, Me, Me' at Pleasance at Ghillie Dhu.

ThreeWeeks caught up with Des at the Brighton Fringe back in May and asked him about the recent cabaret revival. He told us: "Mention the word cabaret and inevitably someone will mention Berlin and Weimar Culture. But one shouldn't neglect the rich tradition that Britain also has always had for variety, albeit with a distinctly English flavour; cheeky, quirky, self-mocking and above all…fun! Comedy, music and variety have always had a special place in the hearts of the British audience, and that is why cabaret is enjoying a spectacular renaissance!"

"In the middle of the last century", he continues, "the arrival of television slowly killed off our celebrated music halls, and as tastes changed we became embarrassed by the gaudy glamour and predictable one-liners of 'end of the pier' entertainers. Comedy became sharper and audiences more critical. But just when variety seemed to be getting squeezed out of the picture altogether, the 'alternative cabaret' movement of the 1980s gave the genre an anarchic new lease of life. Then everything went normal again…but thankfully not for long".

Concluding, he observes: "The best thing about the soul-sapping tedium of reality TV and 'search for a star' formats is that an appetite for genuine skill and talent has been revived in anyone with half a brain-cell who desires to be entertained. Now Britain is enjoying a cabaret explosion where clubs feature gravity defying aerials, hilarious left-field magic, high-octane hula-hooping and spectacular musical comedy. Performers are of world-class quality and production values are high. This is a great era for British cabaret".