Ed: the new, totally unofficial, ginger-inclusive parody sketch show is a late-night comedy parodying Ed Sheeran’s rise to stardom is premiering at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Accompanied by a glittering live band and fresh from a sold-out London run, makes its Edinburgh Fringe debut.
‘Ed’ is a positively mad experience for any audience member in the best possible way, a non-stop train of comedy chaos. The show gives us a hilarious retelling of Ed Sheeran’s journey to fame, starting from his messiah-esque birth all the way to his international success. The show both pokes fun at gingers and celebrates them in their own way, however if you are going as a red head, maybe avoid the front row because you will be in the smack-talking firing zone.
The staging was minimal, mainly just a few chairs and a 3 stringed guitar- yes not an error it only had 3 untuned strings. Comically exaggerated props were brought on and off stage by the actors, ranging from a scarlet head baby, to a rather large looping pedal. There was a band on stage as well who played the soundtrack to the musical phenomenally, however the cast kept them on their toes with their constant interactions. I found that the interactions, improvised moments really included the band as part of the show, I do hope the bass player is alright though, Ed may have launched a phone at her…
The cast was absolutely fabulous, Rosie Parrish done a terrific job as Ed, she gave a laugh out loud portrayal of Sheeran that gave him a lot more personality. Absolute scene stealers were Alex Mentzel and Stella Williamson who played almost every other character as ensemble. Willamson was amazing at switching characters at the drop of a hat, literally she dropped a hat while playing Justin Bieber and popped on a blond wig to play Taylor Swift. Also she had quite a set of pipes, in fact all of the actors were fantastically skilled vocalists. Mentzel was hilarious as his multitude of characters, bursting with energy and just watching him perform was exhausting. His accents are very questionable however that was all part of the fun, parodies aren’t supposed to be taken literally so I think the bad accents actually added to the performance.
The writers and directors Alex Mentzel and James Carroll have hit it out of the park with this one, fantastic humour and tons of fun, as well as excellent parody songs. This show made me feel as if I had dropped acid, some parts were completely bonkers but I believe this type of show is what makes the Fringe. Imperfect yet genius, intimate and such a good time- before the Fringe was a large scale capitalism it was about finding diamonds in the rough, this show is a diamond.
Catch it from the 4th – 19th August at the ZOO Playground.
Theatre Scotland 
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