WHAT do you do when the world is turning to shit? If you’re Josie Long, you read stories to your child about the charismatic mega-fauna of eons past. So we learn about giant sloths, glyptodons and a Siberian rhino that looks like a unicorn drawn by a homophobe. Long’s humour is whimsical and witty but also artfully crafted so that everything, even the silly bits, come together in a wonderful constellation of hope and a Gramsican “optimism of the will”. Funny, moving and meaningful, Josie Long: Now Is the Time of Monsters (★★★★★) was probably the best standup show I’ve ever seen.

Was Kurt Trans? It’s a provocative tagline for No Apologies (★★★★★) which begins with Emma Frankland singing Nirvana songs while dressed up as Kurt Cobain from the legendary 1993 MTV Unplugged show, candles and all. There’s a nice layer of verisimilitude to this, as the majority of the audience here are around the same age as the original gig’s audience, making this the latest generation to be introduced to the legend of Nirvana.

Frankland makes a fairly convincing case that Kurt Cobain was trans, based on quotes, anecdotes, but also admits that ultimately, she is going on vibes. While Nirvana are the entry point, this is a much deeper show: just when you think you know where it’s going it takes a turn in another beautiful direction. Deeply political, the performance charts a course through the modern trans experience, and comes out on the other side, scarred but defiant. A triumphant performance.

A solo show written and performed by Nathan Jonathan, A Small Town Northern Tale (★★★★) was both a love-letter to being a teen in the 2000s as well as a reminder of the racial hatred that continues to infuse British society. Jonathan plays David, a mixed race kid in an anonymous small northern town, though the setting and story mirrors his own childhood in Manchester and Crewe. It’s a time of pokemon cards, lads mags, and MSN Messenger; the latter of which is cleverly explained via a slideshow to the non-millenials.

There’s also a serious underplot about family that I wish was slightly more developed but is acted with incredible intensity. This was a lot of fun and a great fringe debut for Jonathan, who brings so much passion to the stage.

Set in South Wales 10 years after the mining industry closed Cyn (★★★★) wears its heart on its sleeve. The plot of an out of town Englishman stumbling into a decrepit Welsh pub is a pretext for a nostalgic look back at the mining town’s way of life. If there’s a fault here, it’s that the nostalgia does at times weigh things down at the expense of a more complex study of the present. Writer/Actor Sam Rees is brilliant as Emyr, equal parts intense and vulnerable and injects fresh vitality into the singalong Max Boyce songs that pepper the play and had the audience engaged throughout.

Josie Long runs until August 24. Tickets: edfringe.com 
No Apologies runs until August 24. Tickets: festival.summerhallarts.co.uk 
A Small Town Northern Tale runs until August 24. Tickets: edfringe.com 
Cyn, runs until August 23. Tickets: edfringe.com