Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews: Terry's: An American Tragedy About Cars, Customers and Selling Cars to Customers | Disco 2000 | 8-Bit Dream | Unprofessional | A Murder in Motley | Nightmares by Sandy Jack | Horatio, in Thy Heart

Terry's: An American Tragedy About Cars, Customers and Selling Cars to Customers

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 60)

★★★★☆

In world where it’s “better to be dead than in the red,” the military precision of peak capitalism is captured in this slick comedy set in the sales team of a US car dealership. Top seller Sheila is a “Ford girl”, fresh-faced honours student Kelly is looking to earn her branded T-shirt, Henri from France needs to get this month’s bonus to pay for his visa application, and all of them are overseen by (Major) Tom who’s, in turn, overseen by the unseen and uncompromising owner, Terry.

With the brightly painted cartoon-like sheen of a freshly-sprayed bonnet, it pairs a Wes Anderson-style heightened reality with the potted production design of an attic-based Fringe show, including bunting, balloons and a glitter curtain swaying to the boom, boom sound of a marching drum. Developed from clowning (the company trained at Lecoq), Terry’s is sharply directed and punchily performed with a smartly scripted structure that turns marketing jargon into a hilarious and horrifying poetry. It rattles along as the team attempt to outsell one another using real and surreal strategies during the build-up to Memorial Day.

Making a killing and simply killing are never far apart in this American Dream-turned-nightmare, and the writing and performances that pastiche this are deliciously funny, with the real-life horrors of the US today rippling beneath the surface but never quite puncturing the tyres. While the ending captures the bleakness of individuals trapped inside an endless selling machine, the pain and destruction caused by the relationship between capitalism and war feels like it could be addressed more thoroughly through the serious collision that everyone is clearly heading towards. Pop goes the balloon, when what is really needed is a full-scale David Lynchian crash.

SALLY STOTT

Until 25 August

THEATRE

Disco 2000

Thistle Theatre at Greenside @ Riddles Court (Venue 16)

★★★★☆

Disco 2000 charts the relationship between Bonnie and Amelia, as it flits between the present-day (Bonnie frantically preparing a fancy dinner party to impress Amelia after years apart), and back when everything felt simpler and the pair were inseparable. We immediately understand the sterility of adult life compared to those halcyon days, as adult Bonnie obsesses over Amelia’s Instagram and child Amelia explains longingly how she’s always wanted layers in her hair.

Arabella Finch and Stella Cohen portray Bonnie and Amelia with warmth and generosity, perfectly capturing the emotional intensity and clarity of those first friendships - when you were forced to scrounge whatever food your parents had left lying around, when the ranking of best friends was Really Important, when the reality of moving abroad felt irrelevant and unknowable.

The innocence of young Bonnie and Amelia serves as a love letter to the simplicity of pre-teenage connection; for those of us who spent many hours choreographing the perfect dance routine with which to wow our parents, their skits will be especially nostalgic. However, Hedge Maze Theatre also chooses to touch on the beauty of adulthood – having autonomy over where you go, what items you buy to decorate your house.

Disco 2000 cleverly waits to introduce adult Amelia until the very end, leaving us to plug the gaps with child Amelia's rowdiness – in doing so, we experience Bonnie’s anxieties around reintroducing herself to someone who is now effectively a stranger. And while the ending itself may be neater than messy human relationships would necessarily allow, it's also a much-needed reminder that people can come back into our lives if we're brave enough to ask them. Fundamentally, Disco 2000 will leave you thinking about your childhood friends, and wondering if you can smooth over the callouses of time with a quick Instagram message.

ARIANE BRANIGAN

Until 9 August

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THEATRE

8-Bit Dream

C Aquila (Venue 21)

★★★☆☆

With climate insecurity, fast-disappearing jobs and the relentless demands of self-entrepreneurship, young people have plenty to trouble them in 2025. Weren’t things better in the good old days of analogue communications, dodgy jokes on TV and easy comradeship? Macready Theatre Young Actors’ Company dares to prod and poke at some unsettling questions – and, it has to be said, dares to confuse and infuriate too – in the brief but potent and technically elaborate 8-Bit Dream.

Apparently trapped in a decades-old TV show, seven young people run over random lines and intricate choreographed movements in ways that sometimes coalesce, other times run off at meaningless tangents, all under the gaze and incessant demands of an unseen director. Is this a satire on the demands of the stage industry, or even the more fundamental requirements of contemporary student life? It’s never entirely clear – but it quickly becomes apparent that these youngsters are programmed to comply, and that resistance ends up with ejection. You couldn’t accuse the show of over-amplifying its message – if anything, its meanings remain elusive. But it’s a clever, colourful creation that delves deep into the absurd, even if the relentless search for meaning might ultimately seem futile.

DAVID KETTLE

Until 10 August

THEATRE

Unprofessional

theSpace @ Niddry St (Venue 9)

★★☆☆☆

Clearly influenced by The Play That Goes Wrong it’s fair to say that Oisín Byrne’s new comedy about an actor will wrong-foot audiences a couple of times but it’s a device that quickly falls flat. The metafictional structure follows Guy as he struggles with crap jobs and a crap life as each successive scene is scuppered by missed cues and technical gaffes. To carry this sort of conceit off you have to be really talented and while the cast are fine when called upon to be competent they don’t manage to make awkward pauses anything more than… well, just awkward.

RORY FORD

Until 9 August

THEATRE

A Murder in Motley

Greenside @ Riddles Court (Venue 16)

★★☆☆☆

There’s a neat idea in Kiera Joyce’s Shakespearean pastiche set in early 17th century England. Initially presented as the murder trial of a fool, the audience are given cards to deliver their verdict after watching proceedings. However, the most likely final verdict is “not proven” as the script is unclear as to who’s been murdered or what the possible motivations may be. Performances veer between big theatrical declamations and ill-judged naturalism (which can’t compete with the whirr of the air conditioning) and, fatally, it carries on for too long after the verdict.

RORY FORD

Until 9 August

THEATRE

Nightmares by Sandy Jack

theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39)

★★☆☆☆

Sandy Jack is the Edinburgh horror enthusiast behind such cheap and cheerful Frighthouse productions as Wheel of Misfortune. This is his most serious (and seemingly personal) project yet and while it’s not entirely successful, it is clearly a more mature work. A series of vignettes based on Jack’s dreams – grotesque clowns feature heavily – this has effective sound design and demonstrates an intent to discomfit rather than easily entertain. Eschewing campy horror, this occasionally carries the authentic weirdness of outsider art. It’s not great but it is great that Jack continues to practise his craft.

RORY FORD

Until 9 August

THEATRE

Horatio, in Thy Heart

Snug at Paradise in Augustines (Venue 152)

★★☆☆☆

A spin-off from the Shakespeare classic, in this version Horatio himself falls for Hamlet. Playing the title character but wildly stepping in for all the parts, performer Merlin Stevens does well to amplify the distinctive voice of his Horatio.

This hour-through monologue is constituted by detailed references to Denmark’s monarchy and Greek mythology, and whilst I must commend Achy Bits Productions for their extensive research informing the production, the result becomes slow and difficult to follow. Even meticulous lighting design cannot save Horatio from his weary audience, awoken only by monotone voiceovers and the occasional song.

RÓISIN MCMULLAN

Until 9 August

READ MORE: The Best Edinburgh Fringe Theatre 2025: Every show with a four or five star review from The Scotsman so far