Reviews & features: Fringe
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Innocence meets surrealism in Leads & Stern Edinburgh Fringe show
25 Jul 2012
Light-heartedness with surreal undertones from comedy duo
Quick-witted, sharp sketches are what to look out for from Leads & Stern, a bright, young double act with a fine line in unexpected absurdism. Gemma Leader (that’s Leads) clarifies: ‘We considered calling the show One and a Half Minutes with Leads…
Sesame Street Live - Elmo Makes Music at 2012 Edinburgh Fringe
23 Jul 2012
TV stars make muppet melodies
He has dueted with pop siren Katy Perry and upstaged opera don Andrea Bocelli. Now huggable Sesame Street muppet Elmo is bringing his loveable musical prowess, and furry companions, to the Edinburgh Fringe. ‘This is a real feel good, fast paced, fun…
Edinburgh Fringe show Prodigious mixes dance with music of The Prodigy
23 Jul 2012
Prodigy-inspired show starts a fire of its own
Neil Davy is a barrister following his passion for dance. His new company, Lite Fantastic, was set up to make dance more accessible to new audiences. It makes its Fringe debut this year with two shows: Collision, a feel-good music and dance mash-up, and…
Edinburgh Fringe Theatre 2012 for a fiver
18 Jul 2012
Shows offering discounted previews at 2012 Edinburgh Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Desperate for a big dose of culture but short of the necessary funds? Kelly Apter, James Corlett and Suzanne Neilson pick a selection of Fringe theatre and dance previews, all showing at a venue near you at a price that’s nice.
Madness frontman Suggs tells life story at 2012 Edinburgh Fringe
11 Jul 2012
20 fascinating facts about the 80s superstar
1 His real name is Graham McPherson. 2 He was born on 13 January 1961 in Hastings (‘on a stormy night’, according to the man himself), the only child of William Rutherford McPherson, who left home shortly after his son was born and was never heard…
Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012: Music highlights
11 Jul 2012
Steamy samba, sleazy-noir synths and goth-pop to feature at Fringe
Brazil! Brazil! Presents Favela Funk Party. The 2010 success of Brazil! Brazil! brought the steamy sounds and sights of samba to the festival and the same people behind that glory deliver an explosion of favela funk and samba reggae. Among the acts…
Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012: Kids highlights
11 Jul 2012
CBeebies' Andy Day, Tall Stories, Sesame Street Live and more
Andy & Mike’s... Tick Tock Time Machine. Andy and Mike’s 2011 Fringe show, Big Box of Bananas, was a genuinely funny affair that entertained both wee ones and their adult companions. So we’ll expect great things from the CBeebies presenter’s return.
Soldier and Death
26 Aug 2011
Soldier fable let down by tiny puppets
There’s bags of potential in this talented young troupe of puppeteers who tell the fable-esque tale of a soldier who cheats death. All are compelling storytellers, taking turns as the narrator. But the puppets are miniscule, dwarfed by multiple…
Kerry Godliman - Wonder Woman
23 Aug 2011
Laugh-a-minute routine with warm charisma and attitude to match
Marauding seamlessly through discussions on motherhood, ambition and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a comic actress who possesses warm charisma and an attitude that complements her onstage persona as a middle-of-the-road Englishwoman. However, with this…
I, Malvolio
22 Aug 2011
Revisiting Shakespeare’s maligned steward
Appearing in the latter half of a Festival that has made its theatre audience work harder than in previous years, Tim Crouch keeps us on the edge of our seats with a show that probes cultural tastes through the figure of Shakespeare’s much maligned…
Andrew Lawrence - The Best Kept Secret in Comedy Tour
18 Aug 2011
Mirthful and delicious kamikaze comedy
Coming on like a poetic auctioneer or a wayward racing commentator, Andrew Lawrence variously channels the guises of his grandmother, a fitness buff, a middle-aged man, a whining Scottish wean and a long-lost Trinidadian relation. All the while he…
Phill Jupitus: Stand Down
18 Aug 2011
An excitement-sapping hour of chat
The first thing that you can’t help but notice about Phill Jupitus is not his substantial weight-loss, impressive though that is. It’s how much he closely resembles the silvery-pirate modern look of Eddie Izzard, even down to the eyeliner and…
Untitled Love Story
17 Aug 2011
Stories of love and loss that fail to catch fire
Untitled Love Story is the first of David Leddy’s productions for years to be set in a conventional theatre. And, while the Venice-set meditation on lost love contains the lyrical writing and formal innovations that have made his past work so exciting…
Jus’ Like That!
16 Aug 2011
Recreates Tommy Cooper's final performance
Eschewing a biographical narrative, this show about stage magician and comedian Tommy Cooper simply recreates his final performance in all its balmy, cheeky glory. It’s a crowd-pleasing celebration of the utterly unique variety show talent, and Clive…
Festival Insider: Iain Heggie
16 Aug 2011
Festival veteran and multi-award winner takes a step back in Fringe time
Back in the dark days of 1988 when people were still being disgusted, and before they had taken up being offended, a well known city councillor, after seeing my play Wholly Healthy Glasgow, was so disgusted she had to go home and have a bath. The play…
Milton Jones
16 Aug 2011
There more to the week mocker than one-liners
Tim Vine Syndrome (TVS) is a well known affliction for ‘one-liner’ comedians. It occurs when a comedian has so much material, that not all of it can possibly be good. This is true of all comedians, but especially those who specialise in puns and…
Interview: Henry Rollins on his eating habits
16 Aug 2011
Rollins set for Edinburgh Festival Fringe spoken word show
What time is breakfast? Even though I am not hungry when I get up, I try to eat to get me ready for the day. Within an hour of getting up. Tea or coffee? Both. Usually tea in the morning, coffee after that. Smoking or non-smoking? Non.
Joe Fairbrother: Characters
14 Aug 2011
Gentle audience-teasing character comedy
Whoever was doing the flyering for this show should be awarded some kind of Edinburgh Flyering Award. They absolutely nailed the target audience for the opening salvo of Joe Fairbrother’s fiendishly subtle character show. Welcomed in by a posh…
Jen Brister is British(ish)
12 Aug 2011
Wonderfully madcap look at identity
Jen Brister has got it all going on in this splendid hourful of laughing till your face hurts. As a half-Spanish, ‘sepia’-tinged lesbian from London, the question ‘yeah, but where do you come from originally?’ led her to consider what it means to be…
The Curse of Macbeth
8 Aug 2011
Great staging, shame about the acting
From the knife-wielding thugs that welcome you into the venue, it’s clear that this production of Macbeth is going to be bold, brash and in your face. And in those terms the show doesn’t disappoint. Its striking design – all bloodstained mirrors and dry…
Fringe 2011 comedy: 5 shows about parents
29 Jul 2011
Scott Capurro, Tom Rosenthal, Catie Wilkins and Des Bishop
Scott Capurro. In 2009, the San Francisco comic wrote movingly and warmly about the death of his mother, Donna. Now he’s turned his pain into Who are the Jocks? a show about his ‘best friend and coke dealer’. Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 6–29 Aug (not…
Fingerstyle guitarist Andy McKee Glasgow and Edinburgh dates
28 Jul 2011
Virtuoso guitar plucker who made his name on YouTube
In 2006 American ‘fingerstyle’ guitarist Andy Mckee joined the YouTube sensation club when he posted a video of himself performing his song ‘Drifting’. It has to be seen and heard to be believed – nearly 78,000,000 hits and climbing – but McKee is…
Edinburgh Fringe show Spent inspired by global financial crisis
27 Jul 2011
Ravi Jain and Adam Paolozza from Canadian company Why Not Theatre
Canadians are in a unique position to comment about the global economic crisis. We spend most of our time braving the long, cold winters. To survive, much of our year is spent in hibernation. As a result, we know how to save. Also, living in Igloos…
The Edinburgh Festival 2011 shows creating new kinds of audience interaction
26 Jul 2011
Are you sitting comfortably? Not for long
Oh Fringe audience, you poor, beleaguered souls. Herded in and out of cramped venues, besieged by flyer-happy teenagers and bankrupted by increasingly stretched ticket prices, now you also have to provide the entertainment. Terrible, isn’t it? This…
Leo - Circle of Eleven’s new physical theatre show
26 Jul 2011
Show juxtaposes projected film and live performance to comic effect
Leo, the latest piece from Berlin theatre group Circle of Eleven, is a must for fans of visual and physical theatre. Indeed, fans of Aurora Nova – the late, lamented mini-festival of visual theatre, which ran on the Edinburgh Fringe from 2001–2007…
