THERE are many comedians who have ‘died’ on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but next month for the sixth year running, there will be a serious attempt to discuss and debate the final curtain we all face.

Death on the Fringe is the charity-run initiative to get the world’s largest arts festival talking about the issues surrounding death, dying and bereavement.

The mini-festival draws together shows and lectures within the Fringe that deal with those issues.

It is curated by Good Life Good Death Good Grief, an alliance of organisations and individuals working to make Scotland more open and supportive around death.

Robert Peacock, director of Death on the Fringe, said: “There’s no shortage of issues being talked about at the Fringe, but death is one we all have to experience.

“We wanted to present people with thought-provoking, moving or sometimes even amusing ways to look at the topic.

"Our hope is that people will engage and maybe start a conversation with friends and family about their own feelings, fears and plans for the end of life.

"It’s not a pleasant thing to discuss but it’s easier to face if you’ve taken some time out to think about it.”

The Death on the Fringe programme offers a range of perspectives on the subject – some heartbreaking, some comical, some profound, some perverse.

This year’s programme includes ex-River City star Gary Lamont’s show Fancy A Stiff One? (Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre, 31 Jul – 25 Aug (not 12) at 20:45) in which he talks about his new sideline as a funeral celebrant, and acclaimed duo Ridiculusmus whose Die! Die! Die! Old People Die! (Summerhall, 13 – 25 Aug (not 19) at 17:40) is a farce about ageing, dying, and grieving.

There’s drama in Ticker (Underbelly, 1 – 25 Aug (not 13) at 16:10), in which a young man struggles with the untimely death of his girlfriend from an undiagnosed heart condition, and in Cut The Cord’s show I Run (Pleasance Courtyard, 31 Jul – 26 Aug (not 7, 13, 20) at 13:55), one man finds that running is the way to cope with the death of his six year old daughter.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Greenwood’s It’s Beautiful, Over There relates the death of various members of her family tree (Venue 13, 3 – 24 Aug (not 7, 12, 21) at 20:10).

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