Edinburgh Festival '99: Pick of the Day

IF YOU GO TO SEE ANYTHING TODAY, THEN CHOOSE FROM ONE OF THESE FIVE MUST-SEE SHOWS

Jason Byrne

Angelika Kirschschlager, The Queen's Hall, 11am, pounds 5 - pounds 19 The intimate pleasure of the Queen's Hall recital series is one of the Festival's least heralded splendours. Who better to open than the Salzburg- born mezzo-soprano whose voice has been described as "having light streaming through it". Her programme includes Schubert, Schumann, Mahler, Wolf, Schoenberg and Strauss.

It's Not the End of the World

The Pleasance, Venue 33, 4pm, pounds 8 - pounds 9 Richard Herring, of BBC2's This Morning with Richard not Judy, wrote and stars in this surprisingly poignant play about taking your nearest and dearest and someone whom you have never met, for a month's frolic in Fiji. A superb cast bicker and brawl their way through an intelligent script to a delightfully twisted end.

The Speculator/The Meeting

Royal Lyceum Theatre, 2.30pm and 8pm respectively, pounds 6 - pounds 22.50 Philip Howard's Traverse Theatre goes international in every sense, decamping from its home base with David Greig's new play, first performed in Catalan in Barcelona alongside the co-commissioned The Meeting by Lluisa Cunille Both now run in tandem, in English. Queue for returns.

Sean Hughes

The Spiegeltent, Charlotte Square, 1pm, pounds 6 The Irish comedian Sean Hughes - the youngest winner of the Perrier Award, sometime TV star (Sean's Show), radio presenter (BBC GLR) and author (of the critically acclaimed The Detainees) - takes time off from his polymathy to read from his savagely funny new novel, It's What he Would've Wanted and talk about his writing.

Yank Me!

Stand Comedy Club, Venue 5, 5pm, pounds 4 - pounds 5 Anyone who trots out the cliche "Americans don't understand irony" needs to see Harmon Leon's show. Unlike any other American stand-up in Edinburgh, this San Franciscan Fringe virgin covers topics from Beautiful Baby competitions to Christian punk bands with exquisite originality. Expect to see Henrik Larson sounding like Dr Evil. Excellent.