'It's about love': Jodhi May and
Roger Allam in Blackbird
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod
It's week two of Europe's biggest arts jamboree, and the dizzying onslaught of indulgence and inspiration keeps a-comin'. Luckily for anybody struggling to choose between a sackful of flyers, the Guardian's team has been busy picking out the plums.
At the official festival, legendary German director Peter Stein is back. Stein is one of the international circuit's most celebrated interpreters of the classics who never bothers "with the lousy plays of today". Except that this year, he is: with Blackbird, a controversial examination of paedophilia by David Harrower. He tells Michael Billington why.
From the febrile Fringe, we bring news of Jerry Sadowitz's favourite cabaret artist; A Dingo's Got My Productions explain to Lyn Gardner how they've refined their strategy for staging shows in Edinburgh; and Naked Art offer festivalgoers a chance to cash in on conceptualism.
There's also Phil Daoust's five-star review of pink-mohicanned comedian Wil Hodgson's very odd show at the Holyrood Tavern. Also reviewed is the intriguingly titled The Girls of the 3.5 Floppies, Shazia Mirza's daring stand-up about life as a young Muslim woman in Britain, Nicholas Parsons' startlingly profane show and, God help us, Gyles Brandreth's musical version of Twelfth Night.
And for the truth about backstage shenanigans, look no further than Guy Browning's latest festival diary entry.
Pop back to the Vulture's nest later on for Charlotte Higgins on why surtitles don't really work in comedy, and Phil Daoust explaining why remaining responsibly sober as an Edinburgh reviewer has its drawbacks.
