Edinburgh festival Day 16: Apparently . . .

BECKETT fans will be disappointed to discover that the all-dancing, gender-bending musical version of Waiting for Godot has had its performing licence revoked by Beckett's publishers Samuel French. Reduced to one-act ('for reasons of time'), this version has Lucky dancing to Kylie Minogue and the Stereo MCs and the cast wearing Groucho Marx masks and dungarees. 'They haven't even seen it,' complains cast member Dickson Savage. They don't need to. Beckett, an old stickler for stage directions, always insisted that not a word should be cut from his work.

MERVYN Stutter's Spirit of the Fringe Awards were presented yesterday during his grab-bag of Fringe samples, Seen Anything Good at the Pleasance. From the 148 shows Stutter and his team have sampled over the last fortnight, he has selected six which he feels embody the wild, anarchic and adventurous essence of the Fringe. Sadly, early rumours that Rolf Harris would sweep the (wobble) board have failed to come true; Stutter himself was very keen on Extatic's 1080 Original Gravity, but their trapeze act proved difficult to rechoreograph for ground level in the Cabaret Bar. The acts which made it to the list are the Sibikwa Players, Gary Drabwell, Theatre Sans Frontieres, The Cage, Woody Bop Muddy and He Han from the Zhang Houde Troupe. Five of the acts were honoured to be a part of the Stutter six, but not DJ Woody Bop Muddy of the Comedy Zone. Muddy, whose show involves smashing naff records with his golden hammer, decided to extend his act to naff awards and promptly destroyed it.