A review of Alan Bissett: The Red Hourglass, Fringe 2026

Award-winning author and playwright Alan Bissett‘s The Red Hourglass is by now means a new show for Fringe 2026; it’s previously been well received by audiences over the years. However, it was my first time seeing the full show (I think I’d seen a snippet of it years ago at Fife Book Festival) from the master of spoken word and characterisation. I was excited.

Vibe

As we enter the room, Alan is sitting hunched over on a stool in silence; he’s wearing a hoodie. It’s a slightly ominous vibe, with intentionally random scuttling noises in the background, but the audience (including me) happily talks amongst ourselves (about reviews and other shows), until it’s time for Alan to spring to life. And, that he does, when he’s good and ready.

The show’s vibe is dark comedy and silliness as we follow the plight of various spiders that have been captured and locked in a laboratory in St Andrews. There’s definitely an element of nature-inspired horror, too, because that’s nature for ya.

Performance

If you’ve ever seen an Alan Bissett show before, you’ll know that Alan IS the show. He commands the room with his stage presence, magnetism and wry wit, each fully-fleshed out spider character warranting its own mannerisms, accent and slight costume changes to embody these new personalities.

From a Scottish house spider who was just minding his business, and a recluse spider missing his family, to a proud Venezuelan tarantula, and a seductive black widow whose lethal whims really can’t be helped (it’s instinct, baby), Bissett is an utter joy to watch.

The horror elements come when we learn about what the hawk wasp does to tarantulas, and, to a lesser extent, about what the fabulous black widow does to her mates (spoiler: they don’t live). There’s definitely an educational element to the show, but with a comic delivery that keeps you laughing (occasionally wincing in disgust) throughout.

I particularly enjoyed how the spiders interacted with each other, as we become more and more empathetic to their fates – and, of course, the payoff at the end (I won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen). Apparently Alan’s not on TikTok – but, if he were, adapting these characters into a TikTok series could potentially win him a Nursery Nurse-level following.

Overall

I’ve never regretted seeing an Alan Bissett performance; The Red Hourglass was no different. It’s a funny, highly entertaining hour of wonderfully characterised spidey personalities, all told from unique perspectives and through a narrative that delivers a great payoff at the end.