Reviews & features: Issue 664

Meow Meow - Feline Intimate

Cabaret will never be the same

The former star of La Clique, who counts David Bowie among her fans, strips away the mystique of cabaret in this riotous postmodern deconstruction of her art. That’s literally the case when during the first few minutes of the show she’s interrupted by…

Pedestrian

Fishy tale from an engaging performer

Tom Wainwright’s monologue, which he performs with simple but effective animation creates a man haunted by the surreal vision of a giant goldfish. Said Piscean apparition appears in a recurrent dream, while its narrator walks through the shopping…

Ali McGregor

A versatile diva, doing jazz this time

As soon as Ali McGregor takes to the stage to sing she has the audience captivated for the rest of the evening. A seasoned performer (she has appeared in La Clique, and in The Opera Burlesque at previous Fringes) she commands the stage with her warm…

Call Mr Robeson

Inspirational story of legendary singer

Having suffered a setback by losing his voice during the world premiere run of this show in Edinburgh three years ago, writer and star Tayo Aluko subsequently took it on tour around the world. This year the monodrama about the life of African-American…

Arlo Guthrie

Folk runs in this family

Following the same career as a famous parent can be a double-edged sword – a name can open doors, but it can also be a lot to live up to. Arlo Guthrie, son of folk legend Woody Guthrie, has carved out his own successful niche over four decades, but also…

5 Questions - Frank McConnell

Frank McConnell of Plan B takes time out from performing A Wee Home From Home with musician Michael Marra, to answer our 5 Questions.

The White Dalmatian

Fairytale musical with a twist

Little Claire gets a special new stuffed toy for her birthday, Dalmatian Polkadot, but one of her old toys, Witch, is jealous. She magics Dalmatian’s spots to Fairyland and all the other toys have to journey there to retrieve them. In this musical…

Belt Up's Octavia

Confused quest in a war zone

Princess Octavia is on a quest to restore order to her war-torn land. In a tale inspired by Cornish folklore, she is guided on her way by sprites, witches and hobgoblins. Belt Up have won many fans (and an Edinburgh International Festival award) for…

The Railway Children

A classic revisited

Rather than cater to contemporary children’s experiences, Sell a Door Theatre Company has gone for a faithful rendition of a classic. E. Nesbit’s well-loved tale of Mrs Waterbury and her three children, who are forced to move to the country while her…

Alice in Wonderland

Fast-paced adaptation goes full throttle

This entertaining version of Lewis Carroll’s classic is an inventive blend of physical theatre, music, puppetry and pantomime. The three young Derby-based performers who juggle all the roles between them establish a strong and immediate rapport with…

Andrew Clover’s Almost Famous Story Show

Free range storytelling

Nobody could ever accuse Andrew Clover of phoning his show in. The smart-suited comedian gives everything he’s got during this hour of high energy, low structure entertainment. He’s the kind of man you would have killed for as an uncle when you were…

Hairy Maclary and Friends

Canine capers

This is old-school children’s theatre in all the right ways. Based on Lynley Dodd’s hugely popular picture books, the show ticks all the kiddie boxes: audience participation that’s fun, but not humiliating; lively songs; a few ‘it’s behind you’ moments…

The Fly in the Fridge

No flies on this

This is what the Fringe is all about. One ersatz stage, one stepladder, and one immensely-talented performer. Karin de la Penha enacts the traumatic true story of an Orphean journey through an underworld of heroin and prostitution. At times almost…

Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides

Kelly Jones and Pascal Nichols are a free drumming duo, who add cobweb-light flute to their primal, otherworldly sound. A little bit New Age, a little bit jazz-punk, it’s a beautiful, ethno-folk slow-burner – for those who can get past the slightly…

Could it Be Forever?

A bittersweet comedy will have you recall youthful emotion

Six schoolfriends reunite after 37 years to remember an eventful week during which they were in thrall to David Cassidy in this bittersweet comedy about first loves, friendships and the unexpected course of life. Whether you were a pop picker in 1973 or…

Plague! The Musical

Vibrant musical with sassy humour about a quest for fame and fortune

In this vibrant musical cute but clueless Clive travels to London to find fame and fortune, but gets waylaid by jack-the-lad Jerry and finds himself working for an undertaker instead. In a plot featuring elements of Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist and…

Ray Bradbury’s 2116

A dreamy fairytale about the perils of creating perfection

Creepy. Macabre. Childish. Puppets are dangerously captivating. In this new musical by speculative fiction guru Ray Bradbury Mr Marionette leads a dreamy gothic fairytale about the perils of creating perfection. The production, masterminded by…

Conor O’Toole

Some good joke-writing

Since making a disappointing Fringe debut here in front of an audience of two reviewers, this young Irish comic is doing the right thing and spending time at shows of more experienced stand-ups. While he has acres to learn about delivery and presence…

Aidan Bishop

Sounds more like he’s 50 than 30

Dublin-based American Bishop presents another charming hour of laid-back stand-up. This year his slant is how technology has changed since he ‘were a lad’. As he acknowledges himself, Bishop sounds more like he’s 50 than 30 but it gives him a chance to…

The Master and Margarita

Atmospheric and exciting, yet a difficult to follow and rough performance

Staging as dense and convoluted a novel as Bulgakov’s masterpiece in 70 minutes necessitates ellipsis – so much, in this version from Oxford University Dramatic Society, as to make it very difficult to follow. The set is atmospheric and exciting, the…

Maeve Higgins

She could talk all day and keep you smiling

I’d love Maeve Higgins to be my best friend. And it’s not just due to the whimsical stories and wonderful asides, she’d knit you a nice scarf too. On stage though, she can stumble with silences not so much awkward as unnecessary. She could talk all day…

Two

Uneven play about a succession of couples packs a powerful punch

Two frantic, versatile actors play a succession of straight couples – in love, in hate, in cynicism – who come into a pub in the north of England. Through it all runs the relationship of the landlady and her husband, a dark, unspooling thread strung…

Bec Hill

An endearing quirkiness

Stand-up doesn’t get more mixed bag than this. In this show from the perky Aussie about the downsides of growing up, there are a couple of gags that shouldn’t have even reached the strangled-at-birth stage. Yet, there’s an endearing quirkiness about…

Vieux Carré

The Wooster Group returns to Edinburgh with this typically inventive new take on Tennessee Williams autobiographical play set in a dilapidated boarding house in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The production draws on the improvisational films of…

Expectations

An earnest, intelligent, and honest piece

The daily struggles of raising a disabled child are explored here through two couples who react in very different ways. This is an earnest piece, intelligently and honestly delivered by the cast, though some overplaying and the odd incongruous scene at…