Photo credit: Sam Rockman

post by @nataliagresty

Seen by Natalia at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 8th of August 2026

4 stars – Chaotic good character comedy

Jonathan Oldfield’s Exquisite Corpse is a jam-packed, late-night underground character comedy show (the time and venue do work in its favour) that technically runs for an hour but feels like 20 minutes. Which is exactly what a silly, semi-improvised, sometimes disjointed but always with great comedic timing sketch show should look like. And Oldfield is a seasoned pro at it: he’s warm, ballsy, quick, seemingly at ease, and above all, deeply committed to the bit. 

Oldfield’s credits span writing and performing the comedy show Time of The Week on BBC Radio 4, acting in season 2 of Star Wars: Andor and directing theatre, TV programmes and other Fringe shows. He also teaches acting and comedy, has won a number of awards, and not to mention his social media presence is funny too.

Exquisite Corpse is also an old parlour game, for those unaware (i.e. yours truly), where participants draw different parts of a body without seeing what the others did. The show starts with a few audience members drawing bodily parts which Oldfield then spins around and gets into the individual characters. The show quickly moves on and nothing is off the menu here; there’s pranks, storytelling, random props, accents, singalong songs, pop culture references galore, well executed audience participation, you name it. It’s a showreel of Oldfield’s talents, really – but a joyous one, not one that’s in any way self-absorbed. And to think he managed it all with an arm cast… exquisite non-corpse? It’s in the title, sweetie…

Aug 5th-30th at 21:40
Running time: 60 minutes
Venue: Below at Pleasance Courtyard
Tickets and info: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/jonathan-oldfield-exquisite-corpse 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanoldfield_/
Website: https://www.jonathanoldfield.co.uk/