Money talks at the Edinburgh Fringe

Matthew Partridge rounds up the best money-themed shows at the Edinburgh Festival.

Edinburgh Fringe street theatre
The Fringe: an accidental success
(Image credit: © Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The last decade has seen cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin move from the fringes of finance to the mainstream. In 2015, Viv Ford found herself at the centre of this revolution when she moved to the apartments in San Francisco that would come to be known as “Crypto Castle” – only to find she was the sole “normie” in a building full of “tech bros”. In New Kids On the Blockchain, Ford mixes tales of excess and eccentricity with a genuine passion for the industry’s potential (Just the Tonic at
The Mash House, Venue 288, 8pm, ends 25 August).

Neglected female economists and thinkers have found themselves back in the spotlight in recent years, and Making Marx, written and performed by Clara Francesca, is a worthy addition to the genre. Francesca argues that Jenny, Karl Marx’s supposedly “dull and pretty” wife, deserves to be recognised as an important figure in her own right. She supported the author of Das Kapital financially and emotionally, but also served as his editor. Francesca’s intense performance makes a good case for looking at Jenny again, as well as providing a less than complimentary view of a man the show portrays as feckless and self-centred – “…the Victorian equivalent of a hipster”. (Assembly Rooms, Venue 20, 11.35am, ends 25 August).

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri