By a Thread review – soulful circus with a sprinkle of magic

Many species under threat use the African-Eurasian flyway, one of the planet’s largest mass-migration systems It may still feel like summer, but in the world of birds, autumn migration is already well under way. Cuckoos and swifts have already left us, and while swallows and many species of warbler will not depart our shores until September, many species of Arctic-breeding waders have begun to stop off at our coastal marshes to refuel for their long journey south. This year, however, there could be fewer than usual. A review by the British Trust for Ornithology, working with other international conservation organisations, has found that more than half of these global travellers are suffering major declines in numbers – a worrying downward trend. Many of those under threat use the African-Eurasian flyway, one of the largest mass-migration systems on the planet...

TheSpace Triplex, Edinburgh Nine college students fall out and make up as they dance to punk-pop and alt-rock in this lively show This is such a festival show: uncategorisable, buzzing, slightly chaotic and unlike anything else. As director Christie Lee Manning of Response Theatre Company tells us at the outset, I Made You a Mixtape is not a play, not a musical, not (really) a dance show, even though it is pretty much only dance all the way through, plus some hand-written captions. But it’s the kind of dance that real people do – or how you’d like to think you could dance, especially if you were nine girls at a college dorm party somewhere in North America in the 1990s, which is the setting here. The show fully embraces nostalgia from the off: camcorder, cassette tapes, the Friends board game, Sporty Spice’s wardrobe, and a pop-punk, alt-rock soundtrack (Blink-182, No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers – not the Britpop/trip-hop 1990s of the UK), with live drums and guitar to make it all the more visceral. At theSpace Triplex, Edinburgh, until 29 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews..

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Both outrageous and tender, this stellar follow-up to Main Character Energy gives new meaning to body language Temi Wilkey serenades us, asks if we fancy her and wonders if the love of her life could be here right now. The G spot? Call it the T spot, says Temi, before popping the question: “Do you want to come inside my Infinity Pussy?” It’s seductive stuff and, naturally, the room agrees to take things to the next level. Cue a conversation between Wilkey and, with a soundscape to make you blush and a quick change into a ruffled reddish peignoir, her forthright vagina. At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 30 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews..