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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Bruce Dessau's rating
Reader rating
Richard Herring has been coming to Edinburgh for 20 years, but this is his best show yet
Stewart Lee never fails to be interesting
Richard Herring
****
Stewart Lee
****
Richard Herring has been coming to Edinburgh for two decades, doing sketches, plays and cod-lectures, but his latest stand-up show, Oh F*ck, I'm 40, is his most successful yet.
It's not remotely cerebral, just a heartfelt assessment of what it is like to have a middle-aged body and puerile mind.
The scruffy commitment-phobe crams his set with a dense mix of pungent one-liners and extended examples of his kidult antics. He still feels 20 - "except when I'm walking upstairs" - but knows that time's winged chariot is about to mow him down.
So who can blame him for wanting to cling on by taking up skateboarding and wearing paunch-revealing T-shirts?
There is room for a seize-the-day moral, too. Though not before our hero has confessed to brawling badly in a Liverpool street with an academic, had an exquisitely sarcastic dig at Ricky Gervais and slotted in a topical stab at Chris Langham, which prompted gasps but mostly guffaws. Herring may be past it as a man, but as a comedian he is at his peak.
Herring's erstwhile partner Stewart Lee never fails to be interesting. His latest show, 41st Best Stand-Up Ever, is not quite his finest hour, but it is still a dazzling monologue skewering television, celebrity culture and Tom O'Connor.
Lee is at the Soho Theatre from 13 November, so expect further deconstruction of stand-up's finest deconstructor then.
• Until 27 August (www.edfringe.com).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
