Reviews & features
Jonny & The Baptists
28 Aug 2012
Enthusiastic comedy blues, whole-heartedly committed to political satire
Ex-Roaring Boys frontman Jonny Donahoe has enjoyed well-heeled success at previous festivals, and landed at the Fringe 2010 with the kind of dynamism required to prosper in a double act. He transfers the same wild, raw energy to his new trio…
Tom Stade Totally Rocks!
28 Aug 2012
Lavishly furnished routine from master of hardcore comedy
It’s certainly worth doing your research before travelling to a Tom Stade show, as he won’t be for everyone. Comedy audiences may well have seen watered down versions of the Canadian’s stand-up on TV, when censors request that he keep the hardcore sex…
Seeing Double: Figures
24 Aug 2012
High concept two-pronged show is the perfect slice of Fringe fun
Seeing Double: Figures and Vision are a pair of thoroughly modern farces playing out different sides of the same story. While the Pleasance Hut and Baby Grand are rather small venues for the large audiences the shows have been drawing, their proximity…
Les Naufragés du Fol Espoir (Aurores)
24 Aug 2012
Théâtre du Soleil's debut production at the Edinburgh International Festival is a coup de théâtre
The first ever Edinburgh International Festival production by the great French company Théâtre du Soleil promised to be an unforgettable event. And so it proves. The brainchild of Théâtre du Soleil’s founder and director Ariane Mnouchkine, Les…
Folk at the Pleasance
24 Aug 2012
An enjoyable variety of folk music in a relaxed and intimate setting
This folk session is led by a tentative, yet somehow regal Sophie Ramsay, who in her flowing red dress and tumbling brown hair resembles a folky Kate Bush. After a soft introduction the Scottish songstress performs two songs, the first a melancholic…
Künt and the Gang - Free
24 Aug 2012
Against the odds, a stream of filth can only stretch so far
Word of mouth has certainly worked for Künt and the Gang. Stewart Lee and various amused Facebook and YouTube proponents are among those who have been banging the drum and the tightly spaced seating here just about coped. The first thing of note is that…
Simon Amstell: Numb
24 Aug 2012
Raw, moving narrative from the despairing comedian-cum-poet
'It’s all about rules,' Amstell tells us urgently, as if his life depends on it, continuing an anecdote on why he had opted for the particularly joyless route of becoming a vegan. 'We need rules. Living with other people imposes those rules. Otherwise…
Luke Wright: Your New Favourite Poet
24 Aug 2012
Rock’n’roll tour de force of performance poetry
Despite the title of Luke Wright’s show this year, he doesn’t mind if he’s not quite your new favourite poet. Being second to Larkin is not, he concedes, to be sneezed at. I’m not quite sure he really occupies the same niche as the post-war poet…
Ta Daaa!
24 Aug 2012
Clowns with magic skills that are no joke
It takes a few minutes to really get the measure of Frehd Astarr and Tim Eee Presley, but once you do, you want them for your best friends. Claiming to be aged eight and ten respectively, Frehd and Tim are dressed in full clown regalia, including big…
Grit
24 Aug 2012
Powerful and quietly moving depiction of children in conflict
The new show from Scotland’s Tortoise in a Nutshell is barely three-quarters of an hour in length. Yet the journey it takes its audience on, both geographical and emotional, is extensive. The piece draws on real-life accounts by war correspondents to…
Fran Moulds: Significant Human Error
24 Aug 2012
Multi-character yawn from a spirited performer
Fran Moulds is the latest in a series of female character comedians who have laid on a feast of Fringe creations in recent years with one thing in common: their shows have all been extremely high on intricate character detail but decidedly low on…
Trevor Browne - I Think... I Am
24 Aug 2012
Barnstormingly bad character creation
From horrible start to dreadful finish, I Think... I Am is just god-awful wrong. Hamming up the role of a former folk-rock god who is trying to reclaim his previous glory, Browne treats us to some pre-show ‘entertainment’ which has us paying heed to…
Scientist Turned Comedian - Tim Lee
24 Aug 2012
A lazy lecture on pointless PowerPoint
Chatting about molecular bonds, rule matrices and scalar/vectors is certainly one way to avoid attracting a boorish comedy crowd. But if the sciencey boffins who have been flocking to attend Tim Lee’s debut Fringe hour assume that all stand-up shows are…
The Harri-Parris - The Leaving Do
24 Aug 2012
Cake-filled musical hour about leaving it all behind
Anni Harri-Parri is about to leave behind forever the Welsh farm she grew up in and head to the big London smoke for a new life away from her doting family and friends. The audience are the guests for her surprise leaving do (cake is handed round) and…
Luke and Harry's Dot Dot Dot
24 Aug 2012
Shock tactics sideline the sketch laughs
When you are just two guys doing a series of sketches with no props or a set to speak of, those routines live or collapse on the quality of writing with weight of performance coming a close second. Jonny Sweet and Joe Thomas managed it to gloriously…
Bob and Jim - Go
24 Aug 2012
Top-notch buffoonery and lecherous lookalikes
After indulging in some Modern Urges last time around, now the truly big and daft Bob and Jim are imploring us to Go. No doubt deliberately, this is a title which admittedly could be read in a couple of contrasting ways. These classically cockney gents…
The Dog-eared Collective
24 Aug 2012
Brave, bonkers but too often a bit bland
If effort equalled quality then the Dog-Eared Collective gang would be on a bullet train to glory by now. Formed seven years ago, it seems unclear quite where they’re headed, but if the quartet (three women and one bloke with long hair) are content to…
Scottish Comedian of the Year 2011 - Jamie Dalgleish
24 Aug 2012
Lacklustre Fringe debut hopefully hides real talents
The current Scottish Comedian of the Year has a wide-eyed enthusiasm for his work that has to be admired, but judging by this short appearance (it’s not really a ‘show’ as such), Jamie Dalgleish clearly has quite a way to go before emulating the…
Ladies Live Longer - Ladylike
24 Aug 2012
Charismatic if clumsy sketch outing
Two performers with energy oozing from their fingertips, the Ladies fire through a series of skits and songs in which they appear convincingly posh one minute, and quite credibly chavvy the next. Louise Fitzgerald and Victoria Temple-Morris are the pair…
The Noise Next Door: Bring the Noise
24 Aug 2012
Improv mayhem to delight the masses
For those who believe the whole ad-lib world is the lowest rung of the comedy ladder, it might be time to hang out with a Noise Next Door audience. They are virtually messianic in their acclaim of this quintet of very talented improv actors. There isn’t…
Encounters series offers insight into themes running through the Edinburgh International Festival 2012
23 Aug 2012
2 for 1 deals on Encounters talks during the last week of 2012 EIF
The Fringe/Book/International Festivals are coming to their various ends, but there's no need to dissolve into a flood of fest regrets: there are still gems to be found, and we can help you locate them. Encounters is a series of lectures and talks…
The Rape of Lucrece
23 Aug 2012
Bold interpretation of Shakespeare's poem from Edinburgh favourite Camille O'Sullivan
It’s not every performer at the Edinburgh International Festival that enters to applause and finishes to a standing ovation but, then, Camille O’Sullivan is not just any performer. Having built an impressive following over the years as a mesmerising…
Greg Proops
23 Aug 2012
Natural storyteller paints even overhashed topics a new shade of funny
Greg Proops is rambling (‘If there’s any critics in – fuck you. Why did you come on a Sunday night?’ Colour me chastised.) He finds tangents and embraces them, drawling on about the Scottish accent and his inability to understand that old chestnut: the…
Who’s Your Daddy?
23 Aug 2012
Poorly presented account of Johnny O’Callaghan's bizarre true-life tale
Johnny O’Callaghan went to Africa in the pits of a deep depression in the hope that spending time there would somehow increase his chances of dying. He came back the father of a small Ugandan boy. His one-man show, starkly set and told, it feels, in…
Dana Alexander: Breaking Through
23 Aug 2012
Desperately Seeking the Exit might be more fitting title for fly-by show
A theme seems to be emerging from several reviews of Dana Alexander’s 2012 Fringe show. She just doesn’t seem to adapt very well to playing in front of a small audience. Of course, it’s not ideal for any comic, but the old maxim surely must apply: ‘the…
