Reviews & features: Issue 665
- Filtered by:
- Issue 665
Vive Le Cabaret
27 Aug 2010
Fascinating Aida, Meow Meow and The Penny Dreadfuls head up quality cabaret package
The explosion of cabaret on this year’s Festival circuit has meant that there are plenty of shows whose attitude to quality control is suspect. Thankfully Vive Le Cabaret is a wonderful exception to this. Fronted by the inimitable Des O'Connor – a…
Twelfth Night
27 Aug 2010
By my troth, an afternoon delight (if you’ve got the energy)
The small cast composing this year’s C Theatre production are really enjoying themselves. They transport Twelfth Night’s faraway kingdom of Illyria to a sexy 1930s London scene, and complete the look with boater hats, black lace, cigarette holders, and…
Following Wendy
27 Aug 2010
Unconventional take on the Peter Pan story
When a young girl Wendy disappears from a house party she has thrown in the absence of her parents, (through an upstairs window and accompanied by a boy with no shadow apparently!?) her friend Sebastian is arrested in connection. Following an argument…
Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange
27 Aug 2010
Timeless novel given female makeover
Anthony Burgess’ timeless novel is given an unconventional makeover with an influx of girls and an examination of the rise of the female gang. With the delightfully eccentric Amy Brangwyn playing the violent protagonist Alex, and taking full advantage…
Edinburgh Comedy Awards shortlist a strong gathering led by Bo Burnham and Josie Long
26 Aug 2010
2010 awards puts two women on shortlist for first time
According to Nica Burns, producer of the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards, 2010 is ‘a vintage year for comedy,’ and the shortlist for the main award ‘reflects the enormous changes in the comedy landscape’. Of course, this might just be the kind of…
Tim Vine delivers the Fringe's best one-liner
25 Aug 2010
Pannel of judges votes on best, and worst, cracks of the festival
Comedy shows are a great place to try out a new one-liner and this has turned Edinburgh into the genre's Petri dish. While many experimentations end up botched, quite a few can be certified gold. Some of the performers even managed to get jokes onto…
Edinburgh Comedy Awards shortlist announced
25 Aug 2010
Bo Burnham, Greg Davies and Sarah Millican head up 2010 shortlist
The shortlist for the 2010 Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards has been announced. The acts nominated are: Bo Burnham, Greg Davies, Josie Long, Russell Kane and Sarah Millican
Henry Rollins
25 Aug 2010
Fast-paced spoken word from the punk-rock raconteur
Henry Rollins hates inactivity. His opening salvo – and this is surely the only term to use, as his stream-of-consciousness rants hit home like artillery-fire – concerns his need to exercise earlier in the day, despite it being his scheduled day off…
Winner By Submission
25 Aug 2010
Self destructive ethos
A play based on the self destructive ethos which seems to be felt by many of the current generation of American youth. With little to no direction in life, including no signifying rituals as right of passage to adult hood, many are finding solace in…
The Horne Section
25 Aug 2010
Late night jazz comedy shambles – in a fun way
‘We’re combining music and comedy – we’re pretty sure this is the first time it’s ever been done!’ announces Alex Horne, taking on compère duties this evening at the head of a live jazz band. There’s a bit of audience participation, some snappy music…
Lip Service
25 Aug 2010
Matter of fact and moving study of human emotions
Bravery, authenticity, vulnerability. It seems these are three things that Becki Gerrard wants to prove during her autobiographical solo show. Her theatrical device – being totally naked throughout, and making it very clear just quite how comfortable…
A Midsummer Night's Dream
25 Aug 2010
More hood than wood (but still not good)
This year at the Fringe, the young and award-winning Shed Theatre Company give our favourite Shakespearean rom-com a contemporary twist. Poetic couplets become edgy rap rhythms and an urban dub-step dance-off is choreographed into the fairies’s scene.
Tim Vine: Joke-a-motive
25 Aug 2010
Quickfire pun-slinging and silly songs
You know what to you expect going into a Tim Vine show: the man has built a reputation on the rapid-fire delivery of one-liners, even going so far as to secure a Guinness World Record for the most jokes told in an hour (although we should mention that…
Interrobang?
25 Aug 2010
Student-y question and answer improv
The strangely-accented lady in the ringmaster’s costume gathers material from the audience: an unanswered question (‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’), some names (‘Jemima! Theodore!’), and a location (‘the zoo!’). These answers are all duly noted…
Frisky and Mannish - The College Years
25 Aug 2010
Not only hilariously funny, they’re also both brilliant musicians
Jumping straight into Frisky and Mannish’s College Years, having missing out on their 2009 School of Pop, I was a little uncertain as to whether I would be able to keep up with the pace. Fortunately the talented duo are prepared for this, introducing…
Burns: The Video Diary
25 Aug 2010
Rabbie gets down and dirty in Auld Reekie
Donald Smith’s multimedia dramatisation of Robert Burns’ Edinburgh days is a slick, atmospheric affair. Video sequences and fragments of live delivery combine to provide a shifting, restless picture of the Bard as he arrives in the capital of…
Grimm Tales of the Unexpected
25 Aug 2010
Crudely draws out the latent dark content of the Grimms’ fairytales
Offering precisely what it says on the tin (minus an ‘m’), this piece from Manchester’s Broken Productions crudely draws out the latent dark content of the Grimms’ fairytales, with scenes of incestuous rape, three murders and a suicide cropping up. It…
Tales From a Cabaret
25 Aug 2010
A series of increasingly sinister jokes and songs
In the underground vault of Fingers Piano Bar two actors in white face, bowler hats and shabby suits first give us a history of cabaret culture. They go on to a series of increasingly sinister jokes and songs, reminding us that the history of…
Too Middle Class for Chlamydia
25 Aug 2010
Fairly pedestrian – not to mention misogynist
Curiously, this one-man show in which a young middle class lad recalls the variously difficult girls he’s been romantically involved with is delivered as a comic monologue, though the material is probably better suited to a stand-up routine. A few…
I’m Still Here . . .
25 Aug 2010
Ably flitting between genres
The West End pro takes a saunter through hits from Sondheim to Mika and Queen to ‘Moon River’ with a connecting thread of drama. His voice holds up well, ably flitting between genres, but a worrying ironic tone starts to creep in until during ‘MacArthur…
Now is the Winter
25 Aug 2010
Confusion abounds
Unless you’re seriously intimate with Shakespeare’s original give this a miss. This one-woman reinterpretation of Richard III retells the story from his ascendancy to the battle of Bosworth through the eyes of a faithful servant. A challenging notion…
Two Bloody Queens
25 Aug 2010
A noble, but shambolic attempt
It takes a brave man to sum up the lives of two dead monarchs – especially in drag, in a noisy pub basement, in an hour. Robert Inston’s portrayal of Elizabeth Tudor and Mary Queen of Scots is a noble, but shambolic attempt to show the real women behind…
Getting Over Milk Wood
25 Aug 2010
Things go from the sub-standard to the ridiculous
This modern reinvention of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood is trying so hard to be ever so clever that it ends up making little sense at all. The attempts at modernisation and characterisation are heavy handed, cast members frequently fluff their lines…
The Night Heron
25 Aug 2010
An interesting watch, but is a bit too broad
A devout young man suffers in a freezing shack, while his geezer-ish roommate plans their escape. It’s a basic plot outline, at which almost everything you’d expect to see at the Fringe is thrown: poetry, religion, comedic touches, earnest drama…
Legend of the Card Ninja
25 Aug 2010
Flinging playing cards like throwing stars
Jav Jarquin flips the whole concept of the card trick on its head, flinging playing cards like throwing stars to knock over small objects or embed themselves in pieces of fruit. Not all the tricks work first time, but warmly self-deprecating stand-up…
