Swimming against the tide

This year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe features a solid line-up of disabled performers, says Kelly Mullan

Did you hear the one about the disability arts reviewer who went to Edinburgh on the wrong year for the bi-annual international disability arts festival? Well, 2008 may be a fallow year for the Degenerate Festival, but the degenerates have spread their mutant seed into the mainstream Fringe, so there’s still a fair crop of disabled acts to enjoy.

Liz Bentley and Liz Carr, despite the shared first name and automotive surnames, are not to be confused. Bentley, the “female Ivor Cutler”, describes herself as a sit-down comedienne drawing on her personal history of mental health and multiple sclerosis.

She’ll be swimming, singing songs and telling tales in her show, Liz Bentley-on-Sea, at Edinburgh’s only poolside venue, Sweet Grassmarket Swimming Pool, from 31 July to 24 August.

Liz Carr was a finalist in the 2006 Funny Women competition, and both the Hackney Empire and Laughing Horse New Act of the Year competitions in 2007. From 5 August to 12 August, she’ll be part of a rotating line up of six up-and-coming comedians at the Comedy Bank. “Rotating line up” sounds like a rotisserie comedy store, but hopefully the only skewering will be from Carr’s piercing wit.

Laurence Clark is the only act this year to reference disability in the title of his show. In Spastic Fantastic at the Pleasance Courtyard from 1 to 10 August, he uses stand-up, hidden camera tricks, and a Superman tee-shirt to tell the story of how he attempted to reclaim the contentious S word.

With the tag line, “1978: A gunshot in a crowded bar. A life changed forever,” American Lynn Manning (pictured above) was a hit at last year’s Fringe. Now the award-winning poet, actor, playwright and former world blind judo champion, has returned to Edinburgh with Weights, at The Assembly Rooms, from 1 to 25 August.

A red rag to hecklers, Steve Day’s show asks Should I Stay or Should I Go? His wife says he should quit comedy, but he wants your verdict. Decide his fate at Laughing Horse, from 1 to 9 August.

• www.edfringe.com