Edinburgh 2014

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

Richard Herring – Lord of the Dance Settee

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04/08/14

Assembly, George Square Theatre, Edinburgh

There surely isn’t a harder working comedian than Richard Herring – and no trip to the fringe would be complete without a set from him. This year we also have the opportunity to see a play he’s written, I Killed Rasputin (more of that in due course). His stand up event, Lord of the Dance Settee,  is perhaps less tied to a concept than previous outings; he himself describes it as a collection of ‘bits and pieces’ – but that hardly does it justice. A visibly slimmed down version of Herring bounds enthusiastically onto the stage and launches into some recollections from childhood – though of course, these are much more edgy than they would be in the hands of a lesser comic – and you find yourself laughing (sometimes uncontrollably). Just when you think the event is going to be allowed to peter out, he ties everything together, quite brilliantly, with an ending he’s asked reviewers not to reveal… So I’ll simply say that it is joyful, heart warming and totally unexpected. It’s been said before (mainly by him) but Herring really is the King of the Fringe. Long may he reign.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney

The Lieutenant of Inishmore

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03/08/14

Hill Street Theatre, Edinburgh

The Lieutenant of Inishmore is one of Martin McDonagh’s finest plays – a surreal blend of violence, dark comedy and mayhem. As presented by In Your Face Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe (Hill Street Theatre) it’s a truly immersive experience.

Picture this. You and fourteen others are ushered into a small, claustrophobic room. You can’t help but notice that the walls, floor and ceiling are lined with bin bags. You are issued with a splatter-proof hooded cape and foot covering. You also can’t help but notice that less than a foot away, a half naked man is lying unconscious on a torture table. Then the eponymous anti-hero strides in and the torture session begins…

Of course, it would be easy to dismiss all this as a mere gimmick and at first, I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy the performance. But as the action unfurled, as the gore sprayed around the room, I realised that I was actually loving this production, more so perhaps than the expensive polished version I attended at the Curve Theatre some years ago. When you’re so embroiled in the action, when the characters are actually including you in it, the manic humour of the piece comes to the fore and you find yourself laughing out loud at the absurdity of it all. This production is what the Edinburgh Fringe is all about. With such small audience capacity, In Your Face must be running at a loss, but they’re doing it for the sheer, unadulterated joy of putting on a show.

Make no mistake, this is immersive theatre at its most literal. Forget about breaking the fourth wall. Here, it doesn’t exist and at the play’s conclusion, there’s no time for applause, because the cast are helping you out of your gore-splattered covers and asking you what you thought of the show. What did I think? Phenomenal. For its sheer brass neck brilliance, this gets a full 5 stars.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

Hancock’s Last Half Hour

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04/08/14

Studio 1, Assembly Rooms, George Street, Edinburgh

As an enthusiastic Tony Hancock fan since childhood, it was a given that I would want to see Heathcote Williams’ Hancock’s Last Half Hour. Essentially a monologue, it chronicles the great comedian’s desperate last sojourn in an Australian hotel room as he steadily drinks himself to oblivion. Pip Utton doesn’t so much play the role as inhabit it. He manages to conjure Hancock’s rumpled desperation perfectly, while the voice is also spot on. You might expect a play with such a grim storyline to be a rather glum affair, but don’t be fooled. Williams’ script is liberally stuffed with acid one-liners that will have you laughing out loud, right up to the heartbreaking conclusion. I loved Utton’s post-bow speech, urging those of us who liked his performance to tell everyone via social media – and those that didn’t to keep our mouths shut! Well, Pip, I loved your performance and I’d urge others to catch it while they still have the chance. Please note, you don’t have to be a Hancock fan for this to work, but it certainly helps. Stone me – this is a cracker!

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney