Danielle Ward: Seventeen

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06/08/16

Just the Tonic at The Caves, Edinburgh

Ugh, I don’t like this venue. The rooms are small and damp, with all the inherent charm of a medieval dungeon. But this is the Fringe, so it’s par for the course.

And I do like Danielle Ward. I’ve never seen her live before, but I’m a fan of her Do The Right Thing podcast, loved her musical, Gutted, and have heard a lot of her work on Radio 4. I’m excited to see what she does live, and she doesn’t disappoint.

The show’s premise is a simple one: what advice can Ward, at the ripe old age of thirty-seven, offer to a new generation of young women? What wisdom can she share with seventeen-year-old girls, on the cusp of adulthood? Can they learn from her experience?

Part reminiscence, part polemic, this is a fascinating show. Ward has a warm, natural appeal, and is so at ease on stage that she has no problem engaging the audience’s trust. She takes us with her effortlessly, through a list of topics as diverse as female masturbation and Donald Trump, chocolate oranges and red loo roll. It’s a feminist show, albeit one that eschews bold claims, and there are some delightful lines. “Back in 1996,” she tells us, “The Spice Girls invented Girl Power, which was to feminism what Dairylea is to a strong, mature Cheddar.” Some bits are very accessible, while others are more challenging; it’s a good balance and we’re laughing throughout. She’s right, it’s not really a two-in-the-afternoon show, but I can’t think of many better ways to spend an hour at any time. Today’s show was close to sold out, so don’t wait too long to book a ticket for this one!

4.6 stars

Susan Singfield

 

Holly Burn: I Am Special

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05/08/16

Underbelly, Med Quad, Edinburgh

Shirley Bassey is bellowing My Life as Holly Burn slinks onto the stage, clad in a red jumpsuit. She’s clutching a stuffed parrot and exudes enough confidence to light up the Royal Mile. Back in the 80s, growing up in Newcastle, she was told by just about everybody she knew that she was ‘special.’ But now it’s 2016 and she’s finding it difficult to admit that things haven’t worked out as well as she might have hoped. This show is essentially about the yawning chasm that lies between our childhood ambitions and what most of us have to settle for as grown ups.

Holly sings a bit of Barbara Streisand (very well, I might add) and she interacts effortlessly with her audience. I am dubbed ‘Spaghetti Phil’ (largely because of what I had to eat before attending the show) while three young girls off to one side of the performance space are adopted as Holly’s posse. There are some genuinely funny lines here. ‘What do you want to do with your life, Holly?’ ‘I want everything but I don’t want to do anything to get it. I just want to faff around until somebody notices me.’

Well, we’ve all been there, haven’t we?

She cuts back and forth between scenes from her childhood and some of the outlandish fantasies she indulged in back then. An extended sequence that has her riding a scooter naked through Sienna is a highlight. Occasionally the piece loses its focus, and she has to work hard to get the audience back again, but she largely succeeds. It’s a diverting hour spent in her company and while it may not be the most memorable performance we’ve seen, it’s nonetheless enjoyable. Hearing Holly sing makes me wonder if that’s a part of the show she might want to develop more in the future.

I for one would be interested to see where she takes this next.

3.6 stars

(Spaghetti) Philip Caveney

24 Hours with Mary Lynn Rajskub

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04/08/16

Assembly George Square Studios, Edinburgh

Mary Lynn Rajskub is best known for her role in hit American TV series 24, and that notoriety is certainly helping her to draw in a crowd. As a comedian, she has little presence in the UK, but she seems set to have a successful debut at the fringe. But, while it might be her fame as an actor that brings the punters in, they’re unlikley to leave disappointed if tonight’s performance is anything to go by. Because she’s really very good.

She seems a little tired, and needs to refer to her set-list on occasion, but this is the first show, and she’s jet-lagged, so we can forgive her that. She’s a strong, engaging performer, with an easy confidence and an attractive persona: she’s self-deprecating but not too much; she knows how good she is.

There’s a confessional tone to the show, and what seems like genuine emotion behind the stories she tells (although she is, of course, an actress…); she’s relatable despite being an international star. Her account of attending the Golden Globes, for example, is less a starry tale of showbiz glamour than an everywoman howl at how awkward life can be.

There are a couple of hack moments (slagging off man-buns just seems too easy, really), but overall this is a delightful show. Mary Lynn is an interesting woman, and it’s worth hearing what she has to say.

4 stars

Susan Singfield

Gratiano

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04/08/16

Spotlites, Edinburgh

There’s a fascinating idea behind Gratiano.

Take one of the minor players from The Merchant of Venice, (the comedy sidekick who no-one quite remembers), transport him forward in time to 1940s Italy during the rise of Mussolini, and have him re-examine his role in the events of one of Shakespeare’s most enduring plays. A monologue, written and performed by Ross Ericson, this opening night show is somewhat marred by the fact that only a few people have actually turned out to see it – but it’s early days at the Fringe and there’s plenty of time for this to find the right audience. The play is beautifully scripted and gamely performed – and it offers views about fascism and racism that seem powerfully prescient given what’s happening in the world right now.

Ericson’s tale imagines the consequences of the original play’s events: something terrible has happened to Gratiano’s old friend, Bassanio. He’s been found murdered and the police are wondering if his former best friend might have been involved. Gratiano, of course, is quick to dispel such notions. After all, he and Bassanio parted ways years ago. So where’s the motive?

Spoken in contemporary language, this is compelling stuff and some passages – particularly the observations about the concentration camps spill over from prose into sheer poetry. Those who are looking to find a new approach to a time-honoured classic could do a lot worse than investigate this.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

John Robertson: Arena Spectacular

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04/08/16

The Stand 2, Edinburgh

We first chanced on John Robertson at last year’s fringe when we reviewed his Dark Room game show, in which I managed to be ‘out’ in a spectacularly short time. (Go me!) This year, we had the chance to see his Arena Spectacular, something we jumped at. The title is of course, ironic. The room in which he performs seats 45 punters tops, but you have to admire the chutzpah of a man who enters  to booming rock music and then proceeds to hurl a barrage of excoriating criticism at virtually every member of the audience. One young man who bears a passing resemblance to Christopher Reeves suffers a whole series of Superman jokes – another guy, in Robertson’s opinion, looks like a member of the Hitler Youth. Our reviewer’s lanyards make us the butt of a whole string of running remarks, where he pretty much advises us how many stars to award his act. He gets away with it all largely by dint of an angelic grin, that would charm the birds from the trees.

Robertson seems to be fuelled by equal parts anger, contempt and perversity. He’s a brilliantly funny comedian, an inspired improviser and he looks like (in his own estimation) ‘a dead Nick Cave.’ From his opening line he has pretty much the entire audience laughing raucously, a condition he keeps them in pretty much until his flamboyant exit where he gets in a genuine plug for some T-shirts he’s had made to mark the death of his pet dog. (Death figures quite prominently in this set and if you don’t think that’s a suitable subject to be laughing at, trust me, you won’t be able to stop yourself.)

Robertson’s a true original. I can’t think of another comedian who works in quite the same way as this. Do yourself an immense favour. Grab a ticket for this before they’re gone.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney

If There’s Not Dancing at the Revolution, I’m Not Coming

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04/08/16

Summerhall, Edinburgh

Julia Croft’s ‘performance collage’ is an unconventional piece of theatre, laying bare  -quite literally – the representation of women’s bodies in contemporary popular (western) culture. Swathed in an extraordinary number of layers, Croft’s exploration evokes the shedding of skins, as she sloughs off costume after costume to reveal yet another unpalatable image of womanhood. Finally, she stands before us, naked and silent. The preposterous outfits are now heaped on her head, disguising her face, but exposing the truth: this is a female body.

It’s a serious, disturbing and thought-provoking production, but there is laughter here too: Croft is an engaging performer, interacting with the audience, prolonging eye contact and forcing us from our comfort zones. But the apparent simplicity is deceptive; our expectations are subverted here. The familiar is exposed as absurd; what we have come to accept is clearly unacceptable. The juxtaposition of The Ying Yang Twins’ The Whisper Song with Taylor Swift’s Love Story makes for a particularly discomfiting vignette, as does a mirroring of a scene from horror movie House of Wax: while Paris Hilton, clad improbably in underwear, flees a serial killer on screen, Croft, similarly dressed, crawls around the small performance space, climbing over and under the audience, bringing the horror far too close for comfort, showing how brutal the scene really is.

This is an important piece, I think, that a lot of people should see. Be one of them. You won’t regret it.

4.2 stars

Susan Singfield

Maggie’s Plan

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03/08/16

It’s ironic that before the screening of Maggie’s Plan, we’re shown a trailer for Cafe Society, the kind of film that Woody Allen makes now – ironic, because the main feature is the kind of film that he used to make, back at the height of his powers. Greta Gerwig stars as the titular heroine, a self-confessed control freak who believes she has her whole life planned out in advance. Having failed to sustain a meaningful relationship for more than a few months, but deeply addicted to the idea of becoming a mother, she decides to go ahead and have a baby via insemination by Guy (Travis Fimmel) a ‘pickle entrepreneur’ who readily agrees to eschew any notion of parental responsibility. But matters become a bit more complicated when Maggie’s fellow university lecturer, John (Ethan Hawke) asks her if she wouldn’t mind reading some chapters from his novel, a thinly veiled account of his own life and marriage to the highly successful, but  extremely neurotic Georgette (Julianne Moore).

As Maggie and John’s friendship develops, it soon becomes apparent that they are falling for each other and matters are compounded when, inevitably, they sleep together

Three years later, they are a couple with a toddler to look after but Maggie is beginning to realise that this isn’t anything like the kind of rosy future she’d envisaged. As well as her own child, she’s also handling the other kids that John had with Georgette and John is too intent on that blasted novel to pay her any real attention – so Maggie hatches a devious plan to get John and Georgette back together…

The film is a delight, funny, acerbic, beautifully handled by writer/director Rebecca Miller. Gerwig builds on the sterling work she did in Frances Ha and Julianne Moore submits another of her chameleon-like performances, that stays just the right side of caricature. Bill Hader is particularly funny as Maggie’s long-suffering best friend, but to be fair, there’s barely a wrong note anywhere in this movie, which is as light and palatable as a perfectly cooked soufflé. It’s interesting to note that there are no villains in this story, just a collection of people dealing with their own life issues- and there’s a delightful surprise at the film’s conclusion that makes for a truly satisfying ending.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney

 

 

The Fundamentals of Caring

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01/08/16

I really enjoyed The Fundamentals of Caring. A Netflix original, written and directed by Rob Burnett, it’s a sweet, quirky story, reminiscent of Little Miss Sunshine in its worldview. Despite the sarcasm and raw pain, there’a a refreshing lack of cynicism here: most people, it seems, are essentially okay. This is a film with neither heroes nor villains, just ordinary folk, getting by with all their flaws.

Coming so soon after Me Before You, another film about the relationship between a disabled person and a carer is bound to draw comparisons. But The Fundamentals of Caring manages to avoid a lot of the traps the more mainstream film falls into, largely by making Trevor (Craig Roberts) a convincing human being, defined by more than just his disability. He can be a bit of a shit, moody and truculent, contradictory and annoying. And so can everyone else. Dot (Selena Gomez) doesn’t kiss him because she feels sorry for him, nor because she admires him. She kisses him because she fancies him, because he’s “handsome and cool.” And, yeah, Ben (Paul Rudd) does find some redemption in his caring role; yeah, Trevor helps to ‘heal’ the able-bodied bloke. But the fact that this cliche is acknowledged makes it okay, I think: “I have no interest in saving you,” Trevor tells Ben, making clear that he will not be used this way. And, in the end, no one is really saved; they all just feel a little better about the crappy cards they’ve been dealt.

This is a funny film, with a number of successful running gags. Trevor’s repeated attempts to convince Ben that he’s dying might not sound like the stuff that jokes are made of, but they’re moments of silliness and tension that help ensure we stay on-side. So it’s a comedy about pain, a road-trip movie without much road, a buddy-movie without much buddying. And you know what? It’s really good. Watch it. See what you think.

4.4 stars

Susan Singfield

 

 

Finding Dory

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31/07/16

Pixar don’t often do sequels and they’ve certainly waited a long time before offering this one, following on from Finding Nemo (2002). This film concentrates on the character of Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) the fish with short term memory disorder. We start with her as a child desperately trying to follow the instructions of her parents and then cut to one year after the events of ‘Nemo’ with Marlin (Albert Brooks) still trying to cope with his best friend’s irritating habit of repeating everything at five minute intervals. Somewhere amidst the flashbacks she regularly encounters, Dory remembers her doting parents and before you can say ‘tunafish’ she and Marlin and Nemo (Hayden Rolance) have set off on an epic quest to find them.

What can I say about this film? Obviously, it’s not aimed at people of my age and obviously, it reintroduces a raft of characters from the original film. I remember enjoying Nemo and I guess I mostly enjoyed this one. The animation is as customarily dazzling as you’d expect from Pixar and perhaps it’s unfair to attribute the occasional forays into cheesy fridge magnet mawkishness to the fact that Disney now own the animation studio and are bound to exert a certain influence. It also occurred to me somewhere along the way that the story could be interpreted as an metaphor about senile dementia, but perhaps I’m over over-thinking something that has much less serious intentions.

There are good elements scattered throughout proceedings. I particularly liked a pair of indolent (English) sea lions and Hank (Ed O Neill) the intrepid octopus (or should that be septopus, since he’s missing a tentacle?) A sequence towards the film’s finale depicting an articulated lorry going over a cliff in slow-motion is suitably awe-inspiring, and  – even if, ultimately, Finding Dory is just swimming gamely along in the wake of its ground-breaking progenitor – it is beautifully done and there’s much to commend it.

Kiddie-winks will love this; and do try to get along early enough to see Piper, the by now traditional short animation that precedes the main feature.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Jason Bourne

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30/07/16

The Bourne franchise has been through some interesting twists and turns since its inception in 2002. Created by director, Doug Limon, the first instalment was successful enough to engender two assured sequels, both directed by Paul Greengrass, at which point its influence could be seen in several other films, most notably in Casino Royale, where the Bond series could almost have been accused of plagiarising Greengrass’s frantic, shakey-cam style. When Matt Damon and Greengrass both announced they’d had enough, The Bourne Legacy attempted to fill the gap with Jeremy Renner stepping into the lead role, but it failed to do the kind of numbers that the previous films had achieved and many people thought that it had run its course.

Now, despite all their protestations, Damon and Greengrass are back at the helm and the big question on everyone’s lips is ‘can they pull it off a third time?’

The answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ There may not be much depth to these films but they do grip like a steel vice as they race relentlessly from one chase to another, while all the supporting characters gleefully double cross each other at every opportunity. This is kinetic cinema at its most compelling. It puts you right in the driver’s seat and it’s an enthralling, exciting ride.

When we first meet Jason in this adventure, he’s been reduced to illegal boxing to make ends meet, something he does with his customary mixture of skill and melancholy – but when Nicky Parsons (Julia Styles) comes back into his life, it soon becomes evident that Bourne is not yet finished with Treadstone and it is not finished with him. Reptillian CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) is still pulling the strings and now he has ambitious new recruit Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) to help him engineer the capture of his most elusive enemy. He also has The Asset (Vincent Cassel) hiding behind every corner with a high-powered rifle, ready to blow Bourne’s brains across the screen should he try to evade the elaborate traps that have been set for him by the powers-that-be. And just to add a touch of contemporary relevance, there’s a Mark Zuckerberg-like entrepreneur (Riz Ahmed) who’s multi-billion dollar social network empire has, it appears, been built on rather dodgy foundations.

Stir it all together with a selection of pulverising car chases, brutal punch ups and vicious shoot-outs and we have another pulse pounding instalment of one of the most successful franchises in film history. If you liked the other films, you’ll enjoy this one. You might argue that Jason Bourne offers nothing new to the established formula but when it’s put together as brilliantly as this, you’ll get no complaints from me.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney