The world’s largest arts festival starts this week in Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Fringe has more than 3,000 events alongside many other events under the Edinburgh Festival banner.Here is a pick of some of the best events opening from August 3 onwards.A Tale of Two Cities: Blood for Blood - The Charles Dickens story as you haven’t seen it before. Writer-director Jonathan Holloway shifts the action to the present days of Brexit, shuns many of the original novel’s words and makes the whole thing into a parable for our times.“BLUSH” covers revenge porn, blackmail and its victims. Writer Charlotte Josephine joins again with Snuff Box Theatre for a work as promising as their previous “Bitch Boxer” in 2012.“Foiled” is a first for the Fringe: a show staged in an actual working hair salon on Clerk Street.“Mr Incredible” is by the writer/director team behind the Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show “Where Do Little Birds Go?” Camilla Whitehill’s second play has the same sort of brutality about modern love, old-fashioned entitlement, male privilege and sexual consent.“NewsRevue 2016” is a no-brainer pick. This, after all, is the Guinness World Record-breaking, Fringe First-winning, Perrier finalist, news-based song and sketch show par excellence. Expect to find everything from Trump’s tweets to Boris’s banter.“The Inevitable Heartbreak of Gavin Plimsole” arrives trailing plaudits and was the winner of Les Enfant Terribles Award 2016. In a fascinating twist, the SharkLegs Company will measure audience members’ heartbeats during the show and these readings will influence the action of every performance.“Verge of Strife” stars Jonny Labey (whose credits include Paul Coker in BBC TV’s “Eastenders”), and is based on the life and works of Rupert Brooke. While Brooke’s World War I poems such as “The Soldier” will be remembered for centuries, the writer himself is less well known.Lastly, two shows in one: Janey Godley and Ashley Storrie. This mother and daughter comedian combo won’t just tickle your funny bone, they will probably give you a kick in the ribs and bash your elbow while they are about it. Storrie has been getting radio buzz for her standup routines. Stick around and listen to her mum. Her fans include Billy Connolly - while she is no fan of Donald Trump.Click on the slideshow for more detail on the shows
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