Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe has been helping to answer the most important question at Fringe, ‘Have you seen anything good?’, for three decades. Returning once more with his legendary showcases, Mervyn will also hold a special charity gala to celebrate a phenomenal 30 years at the Edinburgh Fringe.
The Edinburgh Fringe can be a daunting place; an overwhelming smorgasbord of productions. Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe cuts through the noise to help audiences find the perfect shows for them.
Every day Mervyn and his team of arts professionals scour the festival to identify seven shows to invite to stage a five-minute ‘taster’ and to speak with Mervyn – and his trademark pink suit – about the performance and performers. The unique daily showcase covers all genres of performance, from comedy, theatre and cabaret to music, dance and circus – and everything in between! With insights gleaned over a highly entertaining 90 minutes, the audience can be confident in booking their own picks of the Fringe.
With comedy at the heart of his work, the concept for the show was established in 1992, after Mervyn had been successfully running his own solo stand-up show on the Fringe for 5 years. With the programme for the festival still heavily comedy-focused, he wanted to create a platform that would showcase a whole range of performers and talent, to reflect the fun and spontaneous nature of the festival that he so dearly cherished. Kicking off at the Pleasance
Courtyard Cabaret Bar, the show was an instant hit with audiences and his following rapidly grew from there!
To mark a major milestone for this vibrant, stimulating showcase of talent (The Scotsman), Mervyn and a host of top talent will take over the Pleasance Grand for Mervyn’s 30th Charity Gala. Proceeds will go to the Imibala Trust charity in Cape Town which works to enrich the lives of impoverished children.
This huge variety show will celebrate three decades of the legendary Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe. Mervyn’s 2023 Fringe season will close with the highly anticipated annual Mervyn Stutter’s Spirit of the Fringe Awards on Saturday 26th August.
Mervyn Stutter comments, Over the past 30 years it has been a joy and a pleasure to give a platform to not only undiscovered comedians but also undiscovered artists in theatre, dance, circus, music, and the indefinable. Back in 1992, theatre, for example, had no safe space to showcase its work, and the Pick of the Fringe was the first show to provide this opportunity (and still is). I feel very privileged to still be here 30 years later, helping audiences find quality shows from all genres of the Fringe.
