The big ask: What is the weirdest Fringe show you have ever seen?

 I was in a lunchtime show with five senior citizens. It looked promising. Until the one-woman show became an extended simulated masturbation scene. Hardeep Singh Kohli: You-Topia,  Assembly Studio Three, 17:15

Razzmatazz. It was done by a group of art students at C Main in 2007. The show began with fifteen minutes of a smoke machine followed by two girls dressed as ghosts running up and down for ten further minutes before a guy with a horse head started playing the drums as someone else read out facts about the Solar System. This continued for 20 minutes or so until all the performers came out in fur coats and started dismantling the set, removing the audience's chairs etc while counting down from 10 over and over and over. My friend Andy was tasked with flyering for them and would hand out the flyers with one word: 'Astounding.' Hard to disagree. Kieran Hodgson: '75, Pleasance Beneath, 20:15 

A dance show  in 2010 that me and a friend had specifically gone to see because of the bizarre brochure description : "a half-woman half-horse has a brief encounter with a tiger". That's exactly what happened. At one point, the dancer (with a horse's head over her) got a piece of tissue stuck to her shoe and tried to dance it off, as if the audience hadn't noticed the mistake. There were four people in the audience, including a reviewer who we're pretty sure fell asleep. My friend went back to see it a second time. Rory O'Keeffe: The 37th Question, Banshee Labyrinth, 13:20

I am sure I saw a show where a woman got into a box and stayed in it for 20 minutes when I first went up. It was called 'Woman Crawls Into a Box' I think.  Athena Kugblenu: Follow The Leader; Underbelly Clover; 17:30 

A naked man in a red robe going on and on and on... but you couldn't leave without crossing the stage. Every time it looked like he'd come to the end, he would start revving up his engines again for another monologue. I'd had three pints, was desperate for the loo and  had to tiptoe out over the train of his red gown avoiding eye contact with his red penis.  Charmian Hughes: Bra Trek, Counting House Attic, 15:35

There was a show in 2015 that consisted of a baby on stage for an hour. I know people panic about their show in July but that felt like a rash call. Sisters: On Demand,  Pleasance Courtyard. That, 22:58

A show which was just an empty stage for an hour. It was called 'Cancelled' very meta. Tom Neenan: It's Always infinity, Underbelly Bristo Square, 15:45

I once wondered into a show in a Free Fringe venue called, Rodger.  All that happened was a head slowly appearing then disappearing out of a large bin Marny Godden: Marny Town; Heroes @ The Hive, 18:20 

I saw a drag show a few years ago where the performer spat in the audience faces, and then gave out to people who wouldn't stand in front of the stage after doing so. Incredibly uncomfortable. Davey Reilly: Disposable Camera; Barbados; 15:45

I saw Doctor Brown back in the day when he was on the Free Fringe and it was such a strange, raw and visceral show. Mainly because it was very much a weekend crowd and he was trying to make a deeply angry 20-year-old rub his naked body in lotion who was so uncomfortable that it ended up in a fist fight and security having to shut the show down. It was absolutely electric. Richard Soames: Let's Make a Movie, Underbelly Buttercup, 15:55

Something called a 'play' where there were no callbacks and nobody mentioned genitals. Waste of time. Joe Sutherland: Toxic, Underbelly: Dexter, 20:10 
 

Published: 2 Aug 2018