Author: Bouquets & Brickbats

Nanyang

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21/08/16

Quartermile Edinburgh

Tucked away amidst the confusion of building work currently taking place on The Quartermile, it would be very easy to overlook the Nanyang. This bustling contemporary restaurant offers an interesting take on Malaysian cuisine and is well worth seeking out. The friendly staff are attentive and once we’ve ordered, the food arrives quickly and is handsomely presented.

There are four of us to dine, so we each choose an appetiser, deciding that we will share them out between us. They comprise Vegetable Rolls, served with a sweet and sour sauce, Curry Puffs, (filled pastry parcels) accompanied by peanut sauce; Crispy Won Tons (again with sweet and sour sauce) and King Prawn Dumplings with soy. All the appetisers are nicely cooked, the curry puffs particularly satisfying with their spicy potato filling.

The main courses also arrive promptly. There’s a Beef Rendang, powerfully spiced and fragrant, rich with the flavour of coconut and served with a bowl of sticky coconut rice – Beef with Ginger and Spring Onion, the beef succulent and tender, is served with thick, earthy noodles – a Mee Goring (fried noodles with grilled chicken and a Nasi Goring (fried rice with chicken) are both selected from the ‘Malaysian Street Food’ menu and I’m asked, when ordering, if I require it spicy or not. I opt for spicy (and by golly it is!) Keith chooses the milder option, yet still reports that his Mee Goring is ‘on the hot side.’). The only slight disappointment with these two dishes is that they are traditionally served with a fried egg on top, but in both cases, the yolks have solidified and you really do want that yolk spilling down over the mound of spicy rice or noodles.

This is perhaps a minor niggle. The food is otherwise cooked to perfection and the generous portions mean that we have no room left to sample one of the (largely coconut based) puddings. With the meal, we drink a bottle of sauvignon blanc and I have a couple of bottles of Tiger beer (it would be nice to see this available on draught, I think.) The bill for four comes to a very reasonable £99.

Would I eat here again? Most certainly. The building work will eventually be done with and then, I suspect, it will be a case of booking early to secure a seat.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney

Wonderman

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21/08/16

Underbelly Potterrow, Edinburgh

Based on the short stories of Roald Dahl – and incorporating a true incident from his eventful life, Gagglebabble’s collaboration with the National Theatre of Wales is a sprightly mix of drama and music with a deliciously dark heart. Though musicians are onstage throughout the show, it’s somehow not so much a musical as a comic drama with songs. These days, Dahl is best known for his children’s books, but anyone of a certain age will be well aware of his parallel career as the author of comically disturbing stories with a ‘twist in the tale.’

In 1940, young airman Roald Dahl is rushed to hospital after crashing his plane in the Egyptian desert. He has serious facial injuries and is suffering from temporary blindness. Swathed in bandages and pumped full of drugs, he begins to hallucinate – and the hallucinations take the form of several of his most successful and grotesque short stories – including Man From The South, for my money one of the best stories ever written.

This is a brilliant ensemble piece – the script and lyrics by Daf James are witty and entertaining, the music by Lucy Rivers is delightful and the seven-strong cast perform faultlessly in their multiple roles. The one hour and five minutes zips by in a trice and if there’s a single disappointment here, it’s simply that it’s over so soon.

One delightful image – sheets of paper blowing around the stage in the rush of wind from an electric fan, stays with me as I leave the theatre. Wonderman is aptly named. This is a fabulous production.

4.8 stars

Philip Caveney

Just by Ali Smith

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21/08/16

Piccolo, Assembly Gardens, Edinburgh

At a time when arts provision in state schools is under real threat, it is heartening to see what amazing opportunities can be created for students when a team of dedicated educators goes all out to show what theatre can be.

Corelli is a school-based theatre company, with the not inconsiderable benefit of being attached to Greenwich Theatre. Clearly, this gives them access to professionals across the board, not least to their patron, the wonderful Scottish writer Ali Smith. Her play, Just, was originally penned for the National Theatre Connections programme, and it was she who suggested a revival by the young company. And what an excellent suggestion that was.

It’s a fascinating play all about conformity, and what we choose to be offended by. This is a Stepford world, where Waitrose shoppers are always presumed innocent and outsiders are guilty by default. Everything is very nice exactly as it is, and anyone who threatens the status quo is immediately killed.

Corelli Theatre Company’s young actors certainly do the piece justice (if you’ll excuse the pun). The ensemble work is deftly choreographed, the terrifying Ukip-coloured crowd moving and speaking with impressive precision and control. And the leads have been very well cast too; Edie Friar, as Victoria, is particularly good, an appealing rebel determined to stand up for what she knows is right.

Lucy Cuthbertson (director) and Shermaine Slocombe (producer/choreographer) can be justifiably proud of what they have achieved. The youngsters in their care have been given opportunities here that all children should enjoy. Theatre really is for everyone; drama does matter, and – at Corelli College at least – a new generation of performers is being offered a chance to shine.

4 stars

Susan Singfield

Loyiso Gola: Dude, Where’s My Lion?

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20/08/16

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

Loyiso Gola’s show, Dude, Where’s My Lion? manages to be both gentle and uncompromising, challenging the “not at all diverse” audience to think about what racism is, and just how privileged we really are.

He’s friendly and charming, but he doesn’t pull any punches. Two (white) audience members reveal they used to live in South Africa. One says she is from Eastern Transvaal. “We don’t call it that any more,” Gola says with a smile,. “That’s an apartheid name.” The other says he was in the mining industry. Gola shakes his head and replies, ruefully, that miners were expected to live on £300 a month. “It’s not enough to eat.”

It’s a funny, carefully crafted show, making some very important points. The tale of his encounter with a homeless man in London, for example, is particularly sharp, highlighting the false narratives that we are fed, and which colour our impression of ‘Africa.’ Likewise, a bit about Gola’s education in a Muslim school shows that knowledge is vital for understanding. If this all sounds very serious, that’s because the underlying message is serious, but Gola’s comedic skill is what drives the show – and what makes his message accessible.

And it’s an important message. This isn’t a ‘preaching to the converted’ show. I’ll bet that most of us inside this little bunker consider ourselves liberal and anti-racist. But I, for one, leave feeling challenged and humbled, and with a determination to find out more about the countries and cultures that make up our world.

4.6 stars

Susan Singfield

Simon Munnery: Standing Still

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20/08/16

The Stand, Edinburgh

Simon Munnery has been performing stand-up for something like thirty years and is cited by many as a comic genius – but it’s clear from the moment that he stumbles onto the iconic stage of The Stand Comedy Club, that Standing Still isn’t up there with his best work.

He’s wearing a jacket adorned with empty Strongbow cider cans and Golden Virginia tobacco pouches, and he sports a weird headpiece with a revolving appendage sticking out of it. He also has a codpiece made from a pig’s head (in reference to David Cameron’s alleged exploits). He knocks a whole collection of ramshackle props flying whilst bellowing near-incomprehensible dialogue into an echo-enhanced microphone. A packed audience looks on in bemused silence.

Once through this opening routine, he treats us to a selection of bits and pieces salvaged from his illustrious past (even including a few lines as Alan Parker; Urban Warrior, dating from the early 90s). Occasionally, he holds up a selection of tattered illustrations and photographs for our consideration and, at one point, he even sings a Billy Bragg song. It all feels curiously cobbled-together, as though he hasn’t really found the time to write much new material. While the bumbling chaos is classic Munnery, this just isn’t as honed as it might have been.

This is a shame because, from time to time, he does come up with some genuinely funny stuff (the extended conversation between a ski-obsessed couple, for example), giving us a glimpse of what he’s actually capable of.

3 stars

Philip Caveney

Wil Greenway: The Way The City Ate The Stars

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19/08/16

Underbelly, Med Quad, Edinburgh

What a curious and delightful confection this is – one of the most original productions we’ve seen at this year’s fringe. Wil Greenway’s show is a delightful blend of storytelling and music (the latter supplied by Will Galloway and Kathryn Langshaw). It’s set in Melbourne Australia and proves to be the perfect antidote for a cold, rainy afternoon in Edinburgh.

Greenway spins a magical yarn that blurs the lines between prose and poetry. It begins with a chance encounter between Greenway and Margaret, a mysterious woman he meets in a Melbourne bar. It then speeds effortlessly forward in time to the impending birth of Margaret’s child and there’s a series of coincidences that send three men speeding along the same remote road to an encounter with fate.

Greenway’s dazzling words and the haunting harmonies of his musical collaborators combine to create something quite extraordinary. The packed crowd at the event we attended would seem to suggest that good word of mouth about this show is already spreading fast. Our advice? Grab a ticket for this while you still can. Only those made of stone will be able to resist its charms.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

Luna Park

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19/08/16

Zoo Southside, Edinburgh

It’s the morning of Delmore’s eighteenth birthday and, on a cold winter’s day during the great American depression, he and his mother, Rose (Eugenia Caruso) are barely getting by. There’s no money for a birthday cake and Rose can’t even motivate herself to sew up the tear in her cardigan. That night, Delmore (Jesse Rutherford) has a dream, and we’re taken with him into a series of flashbacks charting his parents’ relationship, from the optimism of their first date in Luna Park on Coney Island, to the devastation of their marriage falling apart.

Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Donald Margulies, Luna Park is a piece about coming of age, about finding your own place in the world and accepting who your parents are. It’s nicely acted (Caruso is particularly good in her role), and the direction is visually very pleasing, particularly the balletic movement in the transitions between scenes. If there’s a criticism here, it’s that the various household objects used to delineate different areas of the house sometimes feel too much like clutter; on this small stage, less would almost certainly be more.

The play itself has a beautiful simplicity, which helps to make the characters utterly believable, but the tension seems to dissipate quite quickly, and there isn’t much of a denouement; we’re left feeling that we’ve witnessed maybe half of something very good, which is a real shame.

3.5 stars

Philip Caveney & Susan Singfield

The Mr. G Summer Heights High Singalong

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18/08/16

Udderbelly, George Square Gardens, Edinburgh

I am really excited about this event; Summer Heights High is a finely crafted piece of observational comedy and I’ve watched it more times than I care to admit.

And it starts well: the crowd is giddy; we are all given Mr G masks; some people are even in costume – and it’s lovely to see that Lou Sanders is our host for the night; we really enjoyed her 2015 Fringe show and are hoping we’ll be able to find the time to make it along to this year’s (What’s That Lady Doing? 20.10 each evening in the Pleasance Dome).

But sadly, the show doesn’t really work. There’s a technical failure (the screen goes blank for a good ten minutes and we lose a section, because there’s no time to rewind). But this isn’t the biggest issue. The real problem is the nature of the programme itself: it doesn’t work as a singalong. There are no full length songs at all, just snippets and odd lines, cleverly giving the impression – when you’re watching the series – of a complete school musical, but simply inadequate for a satisfying communal karaoke.

It’s a shame, but the excitement soon abates and the atmosphere is leaden. Even the appearance of a Celine lookalike, surely designed to wow the punters, fails to dispel the general sense of disappointment. Sanders does her best to keep the audience engaged but she’s fighting a losing battle, and it’s a subdued crowd that leaves the Udderbelly at 1 am.

It’s still a brilliant TV show though.

2.8 stars

Susan Singfield

 

Garrett Millerick: The Dreams That Stuff Is Made Of

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18/08/16

Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh

Garrett Millerick is a welcome breath of foetid air. This is not a show about a nice chap who’s a bit rubbish at relationships, nor a rueful but essentially chipper trip down memory lane. No, this is a searing, blistering, visceral howl of a show, railing against a world where everything – except for Amazon Prime Now – is shit.

We’re a small audience, which helps propel the show’s narrative of failure (this really wouldn’t work in a bigger, fuller space), and the stories Millerick tells are a curious mix of the extraordinary and the mundane. This makes them utterly compelling. TGI Fridays and documentaries about ballroom don’t usually share space in a single anecdote, for example.

His anger is palpable – if manufactured, it’s expertly done. We laugh. A lot. He’s really very good. This is definitely one of the best stand-up acts we’ve seen this year.

4.8 stars

Susan Singfield

Stunning The Punters

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16/08/16

Spotlites, Edinburgh

The description tour de force is often used and seldom deserved; but I can’t think of a better description of George Dillon’s extraordinary performance in this searing monologue that features excerpts from three theatrical works.

Steven Berkoff’s Master of Cafe Society is the tale of a struggling actor facing up the bleak prospect of another day’s failure; Robert Sproat’s Stunning The Punters is the story of a skinhead who indulges in racist slogan-scrawling alongside some London railway tracks – and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Dream of a Ridiculous Man is about a vision experienced by a would-be suicide.

Dillon is a truly gifted actor – every utterance, every gesture draws the audience in to his respective characters and holds us spellbound. Anybody who cares about serious theatre and the actor’s craft should make their way quickly down to Spotlites to catch this performance. Rarely has a show been more aptly named.

5 stars

Philip Caveney