Reviews & features: Reviews

Phantasmagoria

Depressing, lazy and naïvely acted

This glum story about friendship betrayed aims for something moving and grown-up, but isn’t helped by performances that vary from winsome to teeth-grindingly awful (it takes more than pouting, stomping and shouting to represent a child). The lazily…

Mark Dolan

Genial bumbling and his confident stage presence is charming and droll

Ranting about everyday ills could quickly become dour, but Dolan’s genial bumbling, juxtaposed with his confident stage presence is charming and droll. His ability to make mundane chatter with the audience quaintly humorous is his real selling point…

Revolting Rhymes

Lively rendition of Roald Dahl tales

The two performers at the helm of this manic hour may be young (one of them had just received their A Level results the day I saw them) but already they’ve honed considerable performance skills. Not only that, they’ve also amassed a considerable…

Jigsaw

Accomplished but light sketching

There’s no doubting the talent on offer in Jigsaw. The rapid-fire sketch trio comprises stand-ups Dan Antopolski, Tom Craine and Nat Luurtsema and thus boasts a triple Perrier nominee, a Times Top Five 2010 winner and a Chortle best nominee…

Phill Jupitus: Stand Down

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…

Music Box

Mash-up improv troupe never hit a true stride

Maybe it was a lack of imagination on the audience’s part (a musical called Fish set in a chip shop doesn’t seem to be in keeping with the mash-up improv spirit), but this troupe never hit a true stride, going round in circles when they chance upon a…

Spent

Razor-sharp agit prop satire

If you live in the UK, you’d never know it, but agit prop is alive, well, and indeed thriving in the world of theatre. An impressive exemplar exists in the shape of this sharp-as-a-tack satire, which incorporates clowning, physical theatre and…

The Curse of Macbeth

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…

The Oh Fuck Moment

Uneasily entertaining afternoon of reflection on human frailty

We’re ushered into a boardroom where two performers join us in discussing horrifying human errors, from the embarrassingly rude, through the sexually ill-fated, and on to the physically terminal. This is an uneasily entertaining afternoon of reflection…

Dream Pill

Poignant insight into the unsettling reality of sex work in the UK

Produced by Clean Break and based on real experiences, this minimalist performance focuses on two young girls trafficked from Nigeria. The two actresses adopt child-like language and mannerisms to provide a poignant insight into the unsettling reality…

Dürer’s Fame

Tribute to the German woodcut and engravings master Albrecht Durer

German handball star Pascal Hens gazes out from a black-and-white poster, his torso naked, gaze serious, his pose one of self-deification. This is enhanced further by a tattoo on his stomach of two disembodied hands clasped together as if in prayer.

Naked Live and Never Again: My Last Discourse on Dramatic Method

Witty monologue about an acting guru

Andrew Hawkins (son of veteran British actor Jack, star of Zulu and Ben Hur) gives a terrific performance in this witty monologue. Hawkins plays an acting guru named Jack Treadwell who, having had enough of coaching celebrities and politicians, is…

Reykjavik

Get on the next flight

Not one for the participation-averse, but any production where you get to dress as a Ghostbuster is fine by me. Flippancy aside, this is something a bit special. The unpromising surroundings of the Bongo Club are transformed into an evocative…

Matthew Hardy: Willy Wonka Explained

Nostalgic trip back to a time of Veruca Salt and Everlasting Gobstoppers

When Australian comedian Matthew Hardy reached a low point in his life, he turned to the movies for solace. He would often be caught in his underpants with a tinny in one hand and a remote in the other, watching the original Willy Wonka film; in…

Jarred Christmas

Personal set from personable stand-up

With a surname like Christmas, it’s a no-brainer that this Kiwi had to grow up defending himself. And defend himself he does, about his penchant for dance, Michael Jackson fandom and less-than-svelte physique. The jokes come quickly and easily, and…

Doon MacKichan - Primadoona

Turning tragedy into comedy

Life has heaped a lot of lemons on Doon MacKichan: death, divorce, illness, a career in voiceovers. It’s given her some treats as well, to be fair: children, two Emmys, the ability to Flamenco dance. The accomplished comedy writer and performer turns…

Elis James - Daytripper

Scruffy yet sharp show about obsessions

Elis James is charming company. Even when fluffing the end of his show, he’s wooed the audience with the skills of a sharp compere so they totally forgive the slip.

Don’t Look Now - Ed. Paul Newland

(Intellect Press) Don’t Look Now is a work of low-key persuasion; it wants to convince us that seventies British cinema wasn’t an aesthetic dire strait, but a forking path of numerous possibilities. The decade may have given us film versions of On…

John Bellany’s: A Celtic Voyage

Cramped but impressive selection of works by Scottish artist

Scottish painter John Bellany’s East Coast hometown of Port Seton, a small seafaring community where fishing was a way of life and Calvinism blew fear through the streets, informs the artist’s oeuvre. Fish, gannets, swans, playing cards and boats…

Jason Byrne

Life-affirming offbeat madness

The Fringe just wouldn't be the same without our favourite angry Irishman. This year's offering is more hysterical rantings, more rubbish magic and the heart-warming wonderment of a hyperactive child. At times the energy seems to dip below his normal…

Laura Solon

Impressive but patchy follow-up to almighty glory

When Laura Solon first burst into the Fringe psyche in 2005, it was under the most trying of circumstances. Having just split from her comedy partner, she had two months to come up with a completed script. That show, Kopfraper’s Syndrome, won her the…

Kataklo Athletic Dance Theatre's Love Machines

Athletic dance without depth

Love Machines provides evidence that a good concept and strong technique is not enough. Based on the works of Leonardo da Vinci, and apparently set in an underground cave inhabited by strange creatures, Kataklo throw together kitsch costumes, a poor…

You Fancy Yourself

Evocative immigrant experience

It’s amazing what one woman armed with just two costumes and a wooden trunk can do. During the course of just over an hour Maja Ardal very convincingly recreates Edinburgh of the 1950s through the voices of 11 distinct characters. The central one is a…

The Muffia

Uncomfortable, unplanned and best avoided

Tight Women is a baffling little number, telling the tale of two market traders fantasising about their own telly show. However, the action is overshadowed by the awkward silence of an audience desperately trying to like and understand the two stars…

Catwalk Confidential

70s fashion icon Robyn Peterson

Talent-spotted by Valentino aged 14, 70s fashion icon Robyn Paterson jumped a plane from Miami to Paris in search of fame and fortune. While a familiarity with the lifestyle of 00s glitterati makes the shock value of this well-heeled one-woman show a…