Award winning Vaudevillian fringe firebrand Paul Vickers hits the town with his new Twonkey chapter house of wizardry and wonder.

Performed this time out in drag as Twonketta, Twonkey’s widow, a lady who is somewhat late for church. This year it’s a thriller about rival roller coasters and fairgrounds set by a smokey lagoon in a valley once owned by ex-milkman turned singer Shakin’ Stevens.

“You arrive at suspense by letting the audience in. By not concealing things”

Alfred Hitchcock

“I wasn't sure if it was a horse or a lion”

Jim Henson

Featuring a Steve Martin puppet made from sanitary towels and the pocket princess Tutti Cnutti back after blowing her top last year. It's time to get wild, giddy and very silly.

It's Twonkey's 13th fringe show. He must be doing something right or maybe he's mad as a lorry.

“Clowning at its very best” ★★★★★ Kate Copstick, The Scotsman

“His idiotic joy is infectious: he is a masterclass in play” ★★★★★ Neurodiverse Review

"He’s in a league of his own" ★★★★ North West End

"Wonderfully weird, it’s very funny" ★★★★ Broadway Baby

Previously a winner of the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality.

"Artistry and eccentricity combine in Twonkey’s world"

Steve Bennett, Chortle

"It wouldn't be the Fringe without Twonkey" The Skinny

August 15, 2025    neurodiversereview.co.uk

A volcano of considered chaos.

Twonkey’s dead! He succumbed after eating a tin of contaminated condensed milk, or so his Widow Twonketta tells us!

Paul Vicker’s Twonkey narrative has coursed through the Edinburgh Fringe for 15 years now! In doing so, he has picked up numerous awards and a loyal cult audience. The reason being is that Paul is a committed performer, who crafts his shows like doll’s houses – there isn’t a cynical P.R stunt angled bone in his body!

For the uninitiated, a Twonkey show is a collage of song, stories and puppetry – ostensibly conveying some grand tale; this year it’s about Twonketta’s fairground, which has fallen on hard times, her only hope is to sabotage the rival fairground ride, the eponymous Zip Wire to Zanzibar. But this conceit is an afterthought to the stories and songs that erupt out of this volcano of considered chaos.

It would be a disservice to Paul to describe his act as just ‘crazy, off-the-wall’, his storytelling tradition is as rich as vaudeville, and it’s his Northern idiosyncrasies that make the language rich.

An example of this is the introduction of ‘Cheeky Chops’ a large felt fly that spies on everyone. The accompanying song is wonderful.

I feel that Paul deserves a better venue. Although his show can rely on the buzzing atmosphere of a cabaret bar’s backroom, it suffers when audiences are too rowdy. Some of his asides are detailed and complex; breathy monologues about Cumbernauld and magic snails are lost amongst the audiences ribaldry. Still Twonketta is a pro, and never lets anything get in the way of a good time.

Twonkey’s Zip Wire to Zanzibar is on at the Other Room at Laughing Horse @ Dragonfly until August 24th Click Here For Review

August 14, 2025    Fringe Review

Vocals punch you in the face like an enthusiastic teddy bear

Paul Vickers’ creation/alter-ego Twonkey has been a wobbly fixture at Edinburgh Fringe since the time of the Ancient Greeks. I’ve personally lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen his shows and I find it a comfort that they are all like episodes in an established sitcom; the characters and sections of the show change little, but their return always evokes a sense of nostalgia.

Was it a shock or not that, this year, Twonkey is dead (this probably won’t last) and was replaced with his widow, Twonketta? Twonketta is basically Twonkey but dressed like a French maid in red heels. I mean, it’s Twonkey. It’s the same person, the same voice, the same teenager’s bedroom of a mess on the floor. The apocalypse surrounding them is a horrifying junk shop of bastardised toys and puppets, picked up and apparently thrown away randomly, but all intentional and scripted.

There is no real narrative. If there were, I’d be worried. It’s a rambling train of thought that begins with an anecdote and usually ends in hysterical silliness, reminiscent of the Golden Days of The Man With The Stick on Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out. This will then go into a deeply quirky song on playback. Some will know of the performer’s career fronting the band Dawn Of The Replicants, beloved of John Peel. As the years have passed, the songs have been getting more and more catchy yet, over the top of it all, Vickers’ Cat Stevens-esque nasal (yet overloud) vocals punch you in the face like an enthusiastic teddy bear as he sways, somewhere between rapture and swotting a fly, singing words that are often semi-intelligible.

I’ve always loved the way that Vickers’ character gets enjoyment from the audience responses. You see a smile forming and a slight chuckle as he tries to deadpan another impossible scenario to delighted giggles. It’s infectious.

Most of the regulars are here: Chris Hutchinson, The Ship’s Wheel (EVERY YEAR I appear to be one of the recipients of its exposés), Steve Martin, the surprisingly intimate yet disturbing ‘Finger Fantasy’ – and this year, with the addition of some fly/ladybird hybrid thing called Cheeky Chops, which makes some sobering observations about the world amongst other nightmarish companions that come and go.

There were only ten people in when I went to the show this year, but at least a couple were die-hards, singing along to the Twonkey classic ‘I Was In The Pub’ in the closing ‘Superbowl Mega-Mix’.

It means nothing. You will leave no wiser than you went in. It has always been the case with the annual Twonkey shows down in the bowels of Grassmarket, and it’s no worse for that. Twonkey is what Fringe should be. It’s home-made, it’s outstanding in what it does, it’s small-scale, it’s challenging without being confrontational and it’s very, very silly. It’s not for everyone but, if it’s your kind of thing (as it is mine), you’re doing yourself a disservice by not checking it out. Chances are you’re going to leave confused but satisfied, somewhere between smiling and snorting, and taking ten minutes out to readjust yourself to reality.

Published August 13, 2025 by Philip Hutchinson Click Here For Review

August 13, 2025    Broadway Baby

Fringiest’ act on the Fringe...

have some terrible news: Twonkey has passed away. However, there is hope for fans of surreal humour, scruffy puppets and batty songs in the form of Twonkey’s heretofore unknown wife (now widow), Twonketta. Dressed in an outfit that screams naughty maid from a Carry On movie meets very low-budget Rocky Horror cosplay, Twonketta totters about the tiny stage at Dragonfly in fabulous heels, doing her best to continue her late husband’s legacy.
Twonkey continues to be the Fringiest act on the Fringe
All the regular gags are there, from the Ship’s Wheel of Knickers used to reveal the audience’s sexual proclivities and the play-within-a-play of the Transylvanian Finger Fantasy, to the supporting cast of fever-dream puppets – including the return of puppet Steve Martin, back to predict our future through the medium of his back catalogue of movies. We also get a couple of new characters, including Timothy Horsepiss, the fairground cat who is an inadequate ratter, and Cheeky Chips the fly, who revels in seeing all the things we do in private. All this is presented through the thick haze of some overenthusiastic smoke-machine use, which makes the show seem even more dreamlike than usual.

There’s very little plot in the first half, but when the titular zip wire is eventually introduced, it’s in the form of a popular ride at a failing funfair where Twonketta’s own rollercoaster is falling behind. Some shenanigans involving sabotage and a faked death lead to a change in everyone’s fortunes but, as ever with a Twonkey show, the plot takes a backseat to the chaos.
To say a show is ‘very Fringe’ is an easy (and often wrong) shorthand for anything weird, unusual or a bit out-there. In the case of Twonkey’s Zip Wire to Zanzibar, Twonkey continues to be the ‘Fringiest’ act on the Fringe. Click Here For Review

August 7, 2025    North West End

4 star Review You won’t find words to describe this.

Whether it’s a night train to Liechtenstein or basket weaving in Peru, you can guarantee a Twonkey show will have little or nothing to do with the topic in the title. So, this proceeds with scant reference to Zipwires or Zanzibar and tonight doesn’t even feature Twonkey – he’s dead! A tin of contaminated condensed milk… no struggle… probably in the library, without Colonel Mustard as a witness. Fear not, his widow, Twonketta—replete with hair-bows, heels, painted nails and pop socks—is here to guide us through the labyrinthine ‘structure’ of the annual experience.


Google synonyms for ‘strange’, ‘surreal’, or ‘weird’ and you still won’t find words to describe this. Upon departure, one’s head is full of ‘incidents’, just not necessarily in the right order. There was a song containing sage advice for anyone contemplating Arthur’s Seat this month: You Don’t Need A Rucksack To Ramble. There was the usual public information piece—this year regarding how the new town of Cumbernauld came into being. The (dreaded) Ship’s Wheel exposed some of the audience’s adult peccadillos; one member was bitten by Dracula, and the Transylvanian Finger Fantasies did their best, but it looked like the audience member misinterpreted the instructions.

And another year has passed, but Steve Martin—despite being the proud owner of a crystal ball—is still bereft of ideas for his next film. Maybe representing Steve’s challenged cogitations, this was a slow burn, but it drew one in. Two-thirds of the way through, it was revealed that the Zipwire to Zanzibar was the rollercoaster of a rival funfair raising commercial issues with Twonketta and the lovechild of Shakin’ Stevens and Cicciolina, Tutti Kanutti.

Tutti is clearly talented on the harmonica, but the stroke she pulls on the Zipwire to Zanzibar eclipses any musical diversions she may have performed. But no plot spoilers—for this was a melancholic, nay, tragic tale, bookended by some sensitive poetry to chill everyone out after a Springsteen-esque, stadium-ready medley described by Twonketta as her Super Bowl moment.

There were just two questions to ponder: had Tutti faked her death… but, of more sinister import, has Twonkey reprised Bobby Ewing’s manoeuvre of yesteryear?

Running at Dragonfly (Other Room) Aug 5th – 10th, 12th – 17th, 19th – 24th, at 20.15 (8.15pm in old money)

Reviewer: Roger Jacobs

Reviewed: 5th August 2025

North West End UK Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Click Here For Review

August 5, 2025    Fest

The future of Twonkey is in safe hands.

Tragedy has befallen the house of Twonkey. Since last year’s Edinburgh Fringe one of the festival’s stalwart characters, Mr Twonkey, died, apparently. Which is why tonight’s audience is welcomed into their traditional home, Dragonfly’s back room, by an absolute vision of feminine eccentricity – his grieving widow. The preposterous show must go on.
The brainchild of ex-indie rocker Paul Vickers, Twonkey is an institution, a slice of pure unsullied anything-goes Fringe. There are grotesque puppets, catchy-but-barmy songs (often absolute bangers, bizarre lyrics aside), a loose narrative about running a funfair, and some brilliantly awkward audience interactions. Mrs Twonkey has decided to continue several of the old onstage favourites. “It’s like if Frank Sinatra didn’t sing My Way,” she says.
This is, let’s be honest, not for everyone. But then half the fun of a Twonkey show is watching the newcomers grapple with what on earth is happening. They may not enjoy it, but rest assured, they will talk about it forever. And isn’t that how the Fringe should be?
Our hostess even ends with a poignant poem, about the love between bird and snail. “That’s powerful,” she says afterwards, stifling a laugh. The future of Twonkey is in safe hands. Click Here For Review

August 3, 2025   Entertainment Now

All That’s Weird…

The genuinely iconic Twonkey has been creating glorious, hilarious holidays away from reality for Fringe-goers for a decade or more. This year he is taking a Zip Wire to Zanzibar. The mind boggles with anticipation. Click Here For Article

August 2, 2025    The Scotsman

Twonkey is dead. Long live Twonketta. 4 stars Kate Copstick

There can be many reasons to love a comedy show: it is witty, full of jokes, cleverly political. But Twonkey's shows are none of these things. He is the closest we have to a comedy Salvador Dali, creating surreal worlds, and populating his with a motley collection of moth eaten puppets.

Such is the power of the Twonkeyverse to draw you in that I spend quite a lot of the show thinking, despite the devastating news of Twonkey's death in a contaminated tinned-product-related tragedy being broken to us early on, that perhaps the great man is not dead, but in the grip of a life-changing gender identity crisis. However Twonketta, his 'widow', is an unexpectable joy to spend an hour with. She handles the puppets – old favourites and exciting newcomers – with aplomb. OK maybe not a full plomb, but at least a half plomb. She is still getting used to the stilettos. With her leading the way we get dastardly deeds at the fairground, a rollercoaster catastrophe, Steve's balls and fascinating facts about the origins of Cumbernauld.

For frequent flyers in the Twonkeyverse, don't worry, she inherits the Transylvanian Finger Fantasies and the Ship's Wheel. However tonight's gathering gets a never to be forgotten moment of onstage inspiration. “This is improvised,” says Twonketta, as she removes her knickers to place on the wheel, having forgotten the prop pair.

Twonkey is dead. Long live Twonketta.

Kate Copstick Click Here For Review

July 31, 2025   The Scotsman

Kate Copstick: 'The church of the clown has never been broader'

Twonkey has charm in ladlefuls and plays in marvellous self-made multiverses that are not always appreciated by everyone. He was banned by The Stand in 2009 for covering the entire stage in treacle in a puppet related comic debacle. He also created the legendary single official performance of Twonkey's Custard Club which submerged the performance space, audience and performer in shaving foam, and destroyed his laptop.

“I hadn't thought it through,” he says. “If people start enjoying it and laughing I have a tendancy to keep going until it all ends in tragedy." And that is my kind of clown.
 Click Here For Article

July 31, 2025   Neurodiverse Review

Breaking into Pink Eyeshadow with a Hammer

Autistic performer Paul Vickers (or Twonkey) on the task of dragging up for this year’s show Twonkey’s Zip Wire to Zanzibar

I started thinking about the best way to make things fun and interesting again for myself was to perform my show as a different character. It made sense to me for that character to be a woman. Twonkey’s widow seemed like a good idea, but becoming her was much harder than I first imagined. The other day I was trying to break into some pink eyeshadow with a hammer, and I found myself thinking ‘I’m pretty sure this isn’t what women do?’ Another tricky aspect is the world of wigs. It’s very difficult to get a wig that fits and they’re also very hot under the lights so at the moment I’m trying to do without one, because I think ultimately it’ll make it a lot easier. Twonketta’s style could evolve to include hair ornaments or ribbons or flowers or decorative hair clips!

I was always a fan of Dame Edna, Barry Humphries said when he was performing as her, the character had a life of its own, and he was often surprised at some of the things he found himself saying. It was almost like he became possessed by the character. I have performed this new show a few times before the fringe and I found a similar thing happened, which is exciting and opens up new comic impossibilities. I once performed a character called Mr. Pines, who was Twonkey’s manager, he disliked the show intensely and a similar thing happened then also, but it’s different with Twonkey’s widow because she can be critical to a point but also with an affection for it as well, so it gives her an extra drive , It’s not as one dimensional as Mr. Pines.

My autism diagnosis also led me to believe that I may be a little bit gender fluid, and I thought it was a good idea to embrace that and I am supportive of the trans movement and I think people should be allowed to live their life as they choose and in peace so yeah, I’ve always being in favour of wild peace.

To coax ideas from myself, I use a process called ‘systematic erasion’, which is where I have a lot of ideas and then I’ll slowly destroy them or remove them by cutting something down. It’s like putting your hands in a big wobbly mound of clay. You have to really push your fingers in until the top comes off. Ultimately you will have something left on the plate and I plan to use that as my latest and most delicious meal ever.

If I lose all interest in myself that could be seen as a bad thing so reinvigorating is an important stepping stone. Challenging myself and pushing myself is vital. I’ve been mining my subconscious in a creative way since I was a teenager. At times it has taken its toll on my mental stability. It has also given me a whole life of work and all the songs and shows – they give me almost a diary of my whole life, which I sometimes look over and try to decode.

Twonketta has developed a wardrobe of some significant size over the last year because I buy a lot of things that I just think may be suitable. Sometimes I throw things together believe it or not, and yeah, I’ve got a certain daft style. Someone said to me recently that they felt that perhaps I was a little bit too good at the drag thing and that I should probably just cover myself with gravy because they felt personally that I should look like I just fell out of a dirty kitchen. I suppose that I’ve always been into things that are a bit cute but also a little bit nasty, so that’s always been part of the aesthetic. So I think when creating a female character there’s always gonna be this cute thing going on mixed with, hopefully, a bit of grit and I hope people will like her and feel I have made the right choice with my bold move forward.

Twonkey’s Zip Wire to Zanzibar is on at Dragonfly from July 31st
 Click Here For Article

July 31, 2025   Chortle

Edinburgh Fringe 10x10: Looking good

Twonkey – aka Paul Vickers, former frontman of cult rock band Dawn of the Replicants, as been coming to Edinburgh since 2010, where he’s carved out a niche for taking his audiences on charming, quirky and slightly shambolic journeys into alternative realities. This year, for his show Zip Wire To Zanzibar, he’s performing in drag as the vaudevillian widow Twonketta, a lady who is ‘somewhat late for church’ as he tells the tale about rival rollercoasters and fairgrounds set by a smoky lagoon in a valley once owned by ex-milkman-turned-singer Shakin’ Stevens.

Laughing Horse @ Dragonfly, 8.15pm
 Click Here For Article

July 31, 2025   Get Your Coats On

EdFringe Talk: Twonkey’s Zip Wire to Zanzibar

“The fringe has got a bit smaller sense Covid which I think is a good thing. It got too big, I remember 2019 that was the biggest Fringe ever had more than 5,000 shows. This year has 3,352 shows so It’s lot smaller now which is better I think.

WHO: Paul Vickers aka Mr.Twonkey,Twonks or Twonketta

WHAT: “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Performed in drag as the vaudevillian widow Twonketta, a lady who is somewhat late for church. This year it’s a thriller about rival rollercoasters and fairgrounds set by a smoky lagoon in a valley once owned by ex-milkman-turned-singer Shakin’ Stevens. An award-winning trailblazer of a show featuring Fringe royalty such as: the Steve Martin puppet made from sanitary towels, the pocket princess and the flugelhorn-tooting Tutti Cnutti. ‘Clowning at its very best’ ***** (Scotsman). ‘His idiotic joy is infectious: he is a masterclass in play’ ***** (NeurodiverseReview.co.uk).”

WHERE: Other Room at Laughing Horse @ Dragonfly (Venue 414)

WHEN: 20:15 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

It’s never the same twice but it would really frightening if it was, Groundhog Day. I’ve done 13 solo shows and I’ve written 2 plays and put them on at the fringe too, so 15 fringe shows in total.

The most famous one had me playing David Lynch which was a bit like Les Dawson playing David it was a real experience that one. My normal show is the Twonkey show if you can call it normal.
I use puppets, I sing songs and I tell jokes. This year i’m dressing up as lady i’m playing Mr.Twonkey’s widow, I like to push myself.

The fringe has got a bit smaller sense Covid which I think is a good thing. It got too big, I remember 2019 that was the biggest Fringe ever had more than 5,000 shows. This year has 3,352 shows so It’s lot smaller now which is better I think The first Fringe was just Peter Cook in a pub that was maybe too small, lol.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

In 2023 I was doing Twonkey at the Voodoo Rooms ballroom, It was a fun year it was great to playing such an amazing room but it was my Greatest Hits show so I pulled out all the stops.
I was on all the lampposts and felt like a real star but I learnt those lampposts cost money BABY!
So I’m at the super cute and friendly Dragonfly, the staff are wonderful and Alex who runs the venue is a lovely man, so I feel at home. I’ve played many venues but I think Dragonfly is the closest to a real home I have had.

Tell us about your show.

t’s a bit like a one man Carry On franchise now. This year is my Carry On Up the Khyber or maybe Carry On Regardless, I don’t know for sure.

It has a plot line that’s goes back years to when show was performed by a small baby dragon which sadly got smashed into tiny lumps on a pool table during the semi finals of the Laughing Horse new comic of the year awards. It’s actually a bit like Doctor Who as I travel through space and time and have many adventures this year we are off to Zanzibar on a zip wire, last year it was Peru on a ship and one year I ran a restaurant during World War 2 and even a jet ski up the Mississippi.

I’m autistic so I’m going full genderfluid this year and why not?

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

Sam Nicoresti : Baby Doomer,

Sam is ace and free wheeling and very funny.
She deals with sensitive issues in a way that never feels overwhelming or heavy-handed.
Go.

Athens of The North : Mark Hannah

A one man Alan Bennett style taking heads theatre show and his acting is mesmerising.
It’s also wonderfully well written and I was blown away by it.
 Click Here For Article