Academic badass Amy Hunt sets sights on four golds and place in European history

Summerhall, Edinburgh Fadi Murad’s unconventional drama is a collage structured with the free-form imagination of a poet Last year, a group of Scottish producers staged a four-day mini festival called Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine. One of the excerpts was a scratch performance by Fadi Murad, which now returns as a full-length show. It is not a conventional drama. Rather, Come Back Home is structured with the free-ranging imagination of a poet, an impressionistic collage that resists straightforward interpretation. Murad’s theme is one of loss and the pull of home, focusing in particular on the death of his mother in a car accident when he was nine. He speaks touchingly from a child’s perspective of what it meant to lose the nurturer in his life, the one he turned to in just such a moment of distress. And he shares video footage of his younger self singing Mad World by Tears for Fears at her memorial. It is as cute as it is sad. At Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 31 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews..

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Andy Roninson’s tribute to a friend who died aged 21 combines original rock, soul and folk songs in a considered exploration of grief They say don’t speak ill of the dead – how about singing instead? Based on real events, this new US musical is designed as a loving but warts-and-all eulogy. His friend and bandmate Kyle, who died out of the blue at the age of 21, was a rock for him, says creator Andy Roninson. “But in a Sisyphus way.” Roninson narrates and plays the keys in a concert-style show that mostly unfolds in the days just after the death. It’s that strange period where a private sense of loss collides with congregation and you see the deceased through the eyes of mutual acquaintances, which can be jarring. This is exactly Andy’s experience as he’s outraged to find another so-called “best friend” Liam (Vincent Jamal Hooper) delivering a speech at the memorial, while tiptoeing around Kyle’s formidable mother (Jaygee Macapugay) and encountering Kyle’s ex (Sarah Coffey). Each of them has a solo tribute, covering a pleasing variety of rock, soul and folk (Coffey’s plaintive ballad stands out). Sean McVerry, who wrote the music and lyrics with book-writer Roninson, is ever-present as Kyle himself, frequently ribbing Andy...

Saturday marks the 5th anniversary of the current Taliban rule in Aghanistan. They've had a devastating impact on girls' education. A lesser told story is their impact on the education of boys.