Month: August 2014

Red Bastard

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07/08/2014

Pleasance Forth, Edinburgh

Another Fringe phenomenon, Red Bastard (or Eric Davis as his friends hopefully call him) was one of the biggest hits of 2013 and he’s back with a reputation strong enough to lure 300 punters at a time into one of the bigger venues at the Pleasance. We’d been warned to expect to be outraged. ‘Whatever you do, don’t put your hand up!’ And the posters for the show boasted that ‘something interesting will happen every 10 seconds.’ In the event, it didn’t, but maybe I’m quibbling.

Red Bastard is a skinny gentleman in a weirdly distended leotard, who bounds onstage and starts bullying the audience. It’s like an elaborate game of Simon Says. ‘All change places with each other!’ he barks. We all do. ‘Raise your mobile phones in the air!’ We all do as he says. His command over the audience is undeniable and it’s clear that many of the avid crowd have worshipped at this altar before, but… it’s hardly groundbreaking material. And then, he starts in with the self-help stuff and suddenly we’re into a different kind of show entirely. We are led to believe it is all about empowerment, about facing your fears, about realising that you are amazing and you have to stand up for yourselves. Which is frankly like the trite nonsense that people paste over pictures of dolphins on Facebook, to show the world how ‘sensitive’ they are. I suppose that Davis sees himself as ‘the fool who speaks the truth,’ but to me it’s more of a case of ‘the fool who talks like a novelty fridge-magnet.’ I cannot deny the show’s evident success, but this left me cold. On the way out, I overheard people enthusing about how brilliant it had all been; all I could think was that was an hour and twenty minutes I’ll never get back.

1.8 stars

Philip Caveney

The Fair Intellectual Club

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07/08/14

Studio 2, The Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh

The Fair Intellectual Club is comedian Lucy Porter’s first foray into play writing, and it’s certainly a promising start. It tells the true tale of three young women who, in 1717 – at the dawn of the Scottish Enlightenment, set up an illicit club with the aim of studying literature, science and philosophy, determined not to be kept in ignorance merely by virtue of their sex. This was a risky venture, with social censure and reputations at stake, and Porter cleverly conveys a sense of genuine peril and brave rebellion.

The director’s light touch means that we focus on the actors (Samara MacLaren, Caroline Deyga and Jessica Hardwick), who convey their respective characters with exuberance and wit. The three girls have a convincing rapport, with all the love, anger, misery and jealousy of a real friendship beautifully portrayed. There are moments of real heartbreak – and of untamed laughter; this play is definitely one to watch. It has a contemporary resonance that should not be ignored.

4.6 stars

Susan Singfield

Gary Little – The Thing Is

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06/08/14

The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh

We chanced on Gary Little by way of the official Edinburgh Festival Fringe app, which has a handy section called ‘nearby now.’ It was five o’clock; we had a couple of hours to kill; what should we see? It had to be something in the less Fringe-dense New Town, so that we could be sure to make our later – planned – appointment with One Man Breaking Bad in St Andrew’s Square (see review). And, on paper, Gary Little’s show seemed to fit the bill. An hour at our favourite comedy club, The Stand, rarely disappoints, and we were keen to see at least one Scottish performance during our sojourn in the capital.

Little is certainly engaging; he commanded the tiny stage and my attention never wandered. There were inspired moments when he made me snort with laughter, such as his suggested method for breaking Thornton’s toffee, but – over all – this show was not for me. I found Little’s routine too reliant on gender stereotypes (men only agree to cuddle because they’re hoping for sex; it’s a real disappointment to discover that women fart and stop shaving their legs when they’re in a long-term relationship), and his general persona rather too aggressive (I couldn’t relate at all to the idea of chasing down a fellow dog-walker in a park because he failed to say, “All right?”).

That said, the latter section of the set was – for me – markedly better; Little’s routine about visiting Auschwitz was a lot less hackneyed, and his final piece about using Abba Gold as an anti-depressant was genuinely heart-warming. If the rest of his show were as original as this, he might have found himself a new fan.

2.6 stars

Susan Singfield

One Man Breaking Bad

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06/08/2014

Famous Spiegeltent, St Andrew Square, Edinburgh

The  massive queue outside the Famous Spiegeltent speaks volumes about this show. American performer Miles Allen has really hit the zeitgeist with One Man Breaking Bad. There’s also an irresistible story behind the production that sounds like a PR man’s wet dream. (Perhaps it is). Allen was homeless on the streets of LA, when somebody filmed him imitating characters from the iconic TV series. The film promptly got a million hits on Youtube and overnight, Allen had a  career. He went on to be the runaway hit of the Melbourne comedy festival and… ah, you can guess the rest.

As massive Breaking Bad fans we were bound to want to see this. But in the cavernous surroundings of the Spiegeltent, it all felt rather so-so. Allen is undoubtedly a talented impressionist (he nails the character voices with ease) and his attempt to encapsulate the entire series in 60 minutes seems an intriguing proposition. But sadly, the rather flat script, peppered with ‘topical’ references (Braveheart anybody? Only Fools and Horses?) failed to connect with an audience that had arrived seeking a good time and were met with exactly what it said on the can. A synopsis of the series. A malfunctioning microphone for a large section of the proceedings didn’t help matters and the only parts that took off were the bits where Allen deviated from the core story to add another dimension. (A sequence with a singing glove puppet was by far the best bit). This would have worked better in a smaller venue where Allen could have really connected with his audience, but this was a major disappointment. Shame.

1.8 stars

Philip Caveney

Lear’s Daughters

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01/08/14

C Nova Venue, Edinburgh

Lear’s Daughters (Footfall Theatre Company) offers an interesting premise. What would Shakespeare’s famous play look like presented from the point of view of his daughters, Regan, Goneril and Cordelia? Presented in the rather unprepossessing C Nova venue (complete with occasional distracting bleed-through from a raucous performance next door) the production delivered rather less than it promised. The performances were pretty good overall, with Goneril a stand-out, but the lack of a programme prevents me from identifying any of the four actors featured. Shakespeare’s dialogue (including lines by the play’s other characters) is assigned to the daughters, who constantly bicker about their father’s needs. Lear himself is represented by an empty wheelchair and the character of the Fool is now a nurse, who sings (seemingly unrelated) songs throughout the performance. This is either going to be A) a refreshing novelty or B) an irritation, and sadly I leaned towards the latter. When the Fool/Nurse continued to sing whilst being blinded, I started to feel disengaged from the proceedings. I think at the end of the day, if you’re going to mess with the bard of Stratford On Avon, you’d better have something pretty amazing up your sleeve and I’m not convinced that Lear’s Daughters actually did. But the performers acquitted themselves well under quite trying conditions, so I’ll be lenient.

3.2 stars

Philip Caveney

Lucy Porter – Me Time

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31/07/14

Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh

Lucy Porter supplied a chirpy, exuberant start to Ed Fest 2014. Porter is what used to be called a ‘pocket dynamo’ – tiny and full of energy, she launched headfirst into her routine and rarely stopped for breath along the way. There’s nothing remotely ‘new’ or indeed challenging about her approach to comedy, but she’s so charming and charismatic that this hardly seems to matter. Her stories are essentially anecdotal (I loved the remark that when she and her very tall husband, Justin, have sex, he looks like he’s wearing a novelty glove puppet), and she has an easy rapport with the audience, making this a delightful experience. This was a lunchtime preview show, so some of the timings and the musical links hadn’t quite been worked out, but this will surely only get better as the festival progresses. We could have chosen a lot worse to kick things off.

3.8 stars

Philip Caveney

Bridget Christie – An Ungrateful Woman

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02/08/14

Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh

Bridget Christie arrives at Ed Fest 2014 with a huge weight of expectation balanced on her shoulders. Last year, her show was voted the overall ‘Best Comedy’ and as she herself wryly acknowledges, few critics thought that a series of routines based around the subject of feminism would be able to fuel a SECOND hour! Well, the naysayers can take an early both because Christie’s nervy, effervescent performance demonstrates that she is total control of her material. Expertly walking a tightrope between laugh-out-loud funny and genuinely thought-provoking, she brings a whole series of topics to the party – FGM, rape, the exploitation of women in advertising – and knows exactly how to bring her audience back from the edge of disaster with a perfectly timed quip. An extended routine about a Mueller Yoghurt commercial is just one of many highlights in this triumphant performance. As with any preview show, there were a few small issues with timing and continuity but make no mistake, if you are at the festival this year, here is one show you simply mustn’t miss.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

Wastwater

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03/08/14

C Nova Venue, Edinburgh

I’ve been a fan of playwright Simon Stephens ever since I saw Punk Rock at the Ed Fest a few years back. Wastwater is an early work, originally performed at the Royal Court in 2011. This new production is ingeniously staged in a promenade style ranging between two main rooms linked by a middle one where uniformed extras guide you along designated pathways, into the next piece of action. Wastwater is essentially three short plays, linked only by brief mentions of characters from the previous section. Although an amateur production, the standards of acting in each part are uniformly excellent and the simple but effective staging manages to involve the audience to such a degree that they feel as though they are part of the action. The overall theme is one of transience – nearly every character is on his or her way to somewhere else. One minor niggle – some of the actors are clearly too young for the roles they are playing, but in a production as accomplished as this, that’s easy to live with.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney

I Killed Rasputin

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05/08/14

Assembly, George Square Theatre, Edinburgh

As both a theatre-lover and a Richard Herring fan, it was obvious that I would attend this show. Less obvious was what I should expect. I know that Herring has written plays before, but I haven’t seen them. The poster looks rather solemn and serious; would the performance eschew all humour to focus on the history?

Of course not. While this piece is certainly informative, it’s entertaining too (“laughing and learning, folks”), and the ridiculousness of the story the world was supposed to swallow is cleverly exposed.

The casting is audacious, with Nichola McAuliffe in the lead role of Prince Felix Yusupov, playing up his notorious gender-bending reputation. McAuliffe is magnificent and Eileen Nicholas, as his arch wife, Irina, is the perfect foil, these two ‘older’ women easily commanding the stage. (Pay attention, Hollywood! Pay attention, BBC! Pay attention, everyone! Women who are over fifty can be wonderful. Write more parts for them!) In fact, the sheer brilliance of these two actors creates what, for me, is the only problem with the play: their combined charisma and charm means that they steal the show, and so the enigmatic Rasputin (Justin Edwards), appearing as a ghost to torment Yusupov, perhaps fails to make as much impact as he needs to, and it is, at times, hard to see how the Russian aristocracy could have been so beguiled by this relatively ordinary man. However, this is a minor quibble – and there’s plenty to relish in the performance, not least the multi-role playing and clever direction.

Overall, the play works very well, combining artful exposition with delightfully silly humour, and really helps to illuminate this fascinating moment in history. 

4.2 stars

Susan Singfield

Cal Wilson – It Could Have Been Me

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05/08/14

Gilded Balloon, Teviot, Edinburgh

One of the great delights of the Edinburgh Fringe is the chance of discovering new talent. Cal Wilson is well-established in her native New Zealand and in Australia, but apart from a solitary appearance on  QI, she’s fairly unknown on these shores. We took a punt on her largely because the act we wanted to see was sold out and  partly because she was handing out her own fliers and seemed charming. How glad I am that we did, because her show was a revelation. Unlike many stand-ups, Wilson adopts four distinct personas during the performance – an over zealous children’s party entertainer, a mega successful (male) sic-fi writer, a stern feminist in a neck brace and (my particular favourite) a drunken woman delivering the eulogy at the funeral of her love rat husband. Wilson delivered each character perfectly, undeterred by the presence of Phill Jupitus in the second row (laughing heartily, I might add). To say I laughed would be an understatement. I nearly cried at several points. Wittily written, brilliantly paced and with a conclusion that utilised a series of seemingly innocuous props, this was a triumph in every respect. Clearly we need to see more of Wilson’s undoubted talents and I sincerely hope we shall.

5 stars

Philip Caveney