With 30 Cabaret and Variety shows on its books, Assembly is by far the most prolific venue for this genre at the Fringe. The Assembly roster features an even focus on comedy and theatre, and is rounded out with a generous measure of music, circus and children's shows. It's the fourth biggest venue in the Edfringe 2018 line-up and placed 8th in our recent Venue Analysis. At Wednesday's press launch, the hard-working Assembly team showcased a wide variety of acts, zanily presented by drag queens Le Gateau Chocolat and Jonny Woo.

Our Trends tracker shows a diverse range of shows topping Assembly's roster in terms of popularity. Well-known stand-up comic David O'Doherty takes first place with his newly-written show You Have to Laugh (Daily Mentions = 2.9, Positivity Share 0.5%). Also newly written, quirky Norse-deity-themed comic musical Thor + Loki from Vicky Graham Productions comes in second (Daily Mentions 1.7, Positivity Share 0.4%). A very close third place is claimed by The Fishermen, an adaptation of Chigozie Obioma's original play and an exploration of brotherhood, vengeance and fate from New Perspectives Theatre Company (Daily Mentions 1.4, Positivity Share 0.3%).

Fittingly — given the broad spread of genres on their roster — the message from Assembly's press launch majored on diversity and inclusivity, with opening remarks highlighting the range of nationalities and ethnicities performing in their venues for Edfringe 2018.