Cabaret

Who Sarah Louise Young in 'Cabaret Whore'
What Outstanding polished and confident character cabaret with Superman-quick costume changes.

Why What is usually a strangely-shaped basement club becomes a tough room to hold – all pillars, squished together seating, a tiny ‘stage’ in the corner, and a dual-sided bar attracting the attention of those standing at the back. Full credit to Sarah-Louise Young: she handles the room with rare and confident skill. The link throughout is what makes these three characters a cabaret whore. There’s trailer park trash-bag Sammy Mavis Jnr, ‘Cabaret Idol’ quarter-finalist Loretta the Librarian and an Edith Piaf-loathing French cabaret singer whose name roughly translates, she tells us, as ‘frumpy pigeon’, each given their 15 minutes (give or take) and a Superman-quick costume change. Part of the Free Fringe, the room is full to bursting and there's an electric, tangible feeling of seeing something really special. Young shouldn’t be down here, working for tips – money in the bucket at the end, or suffer the wrath of Frumpy Pigeon – but that’s part of the joke. She’s beautiful (and thin, damn it), sure, but she’s also full to bursting with character and polished talent. Her pacing is outstanding, she’s hilarious and she handles a talkative heckler with style: ‘It is not wise to talk through the show when I am holding a knife, have high blood pressure AND PMT.’ Outstanding cabaret. Simone Baird

Until Aug 30 at Espionage, 6.15pm

Who Die Roten Punkte

What The White Stripes’ Berlin cousins put through a late-night musical comedy rock blender.

Why Die Roten Punkte have landed in Edinburgh as part of their international Robot/Lion tour. Otto Rot – looking like Jack White after a few make-up lessons by The Cure’s Robert Smith – follows a series of white arrows across the very small stage to the mic. ‘Danke Edinburgh!’ His sister, larger-than-life Astrid in corset and music hall skirts, slams the drums. Let the rock concert begin. Their pseudo-German accents wobble and waver, the sibling rivalry threatens the very show, and audience participation – ‘rock bang!’ – wins over anyone not convinced by their original songs. While overly long and not overly deep, it’s prime late-night, scream if you want to go louder stuff: guitars, drinking, so-bad-it’s-good choreography and a cow bell. Bring your money: the party carries on at their inspired T-shirt and badge stall by the front door. Simone Baird

Until Aug 31 at Pleasance Over The Road 2, 11.11pm

Who Bourgeois & Maurice

What Colourful, acidic neo-cabaret duo who get under your skin.

Why It’s a sold-out Saturday night for Bourgeois & Maurice, the caustic cabaret duo up for the whole month; the audience as full of middle-aged folk as younger whipper-snappers in vintage-by-way-of-Topshop fashions. This is their ‘Social Work’ show which ran at London’s Soho Theatre in March, an original ode to 21st century debauchery – stalking, celebrity, drugs and the tedious lives of dull people – dressed up and put on display. Reduced to an hour – as nearly all cabaret and comedy shows are here – it’s all the stronger for it: tightly-wound, oozing with assured confidence, Georgeois Bourgeois owns the stage, while Maurice Maurice is a much clearer, more twisted character. Shallow and superficial Bourgeois & Maurice surely are, but there’s more to them than fabulous false eyelashes, as witnessed in torchsongs ‘Addicted’ and ‘Forget You’, numbers which get under your skin and come back to haunt you later. It’s a shame that ‘All The Boys’ doesn’t translate here, however: few in the audience seem to get the many references to London’s gay clubs. Funnily enough, what is middle of the road in, say, east London is considered wildly edgy here: ‘Just Die’, with its ‘if you don’t know what to do with your life, just die’ lyrics, doesn’t wash with the whole audience. Happily, Bourgeois & Maurice don't much care. Love them or loathe them, they're never going to respect you in the morning. Simone Baird

Until Aug 31, The Pleasance Over The Road 2, 9.45pm