Ben Pearson, Author at North West End UK

Jake Donaldson: Spectacle – Mash House, Just the Attic

10Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Jake Donaldson: Spectacle – Mash House, Just the Attic

Jake Donaldson delivers a hilarious hour of entertaining and at times informative comedy in his stand-up show Spectacle. Donaldson is partially sighted, meaning he sees things, in his words, ‘like a memory’. He has a picture, but it’s blurry round the edges. Donaldson uses his disability as a starting point for some truly brilliant humour. Most notably, there’s an ‘audio description’ recording that plays on and off throughout the show. Beginning as a simple description of Donaldson’s movements around the venue, the ‘voice’ soon goes off-piste, insulting both his appearance and his routine. I don’t want to give anything away, but the audio description even allows for a closing twist that made several members of the audience gasp (myself included). I had an enormous grin on my face...

Richard Cobb: Running Joke – Laughing Horse @ Raging Bull

9Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Richard Cobb: Running Joke – Laughing Horse @ Raging Bull

Richard Cobb’s Running Joke is an entertaining hour of stand-up comedy, perfect for passing the time in the early evening. Performing in an intimate venue, Cobb’s natural delivery creates a friendly atmosphere almost akin to a chat at the pub. The show centres around various challenges Cobb had to overcome before he faced the challenge from which the show derives its name: running the Edinburgh marathon. It’s a relatable premise, allowing the audience to empathise with his journey and feel present in the stories he told. This isn’t an absurdist, existentialist or political stand-up. Rather, Cobb derives humour from real situations that happen to real people (mostly himself). He was perhaps a little nervous at the beginning and spoke very fast as a result. Unfortunately, this meant ...

7Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Beach Babe – Paradise in the Vault

Beach Babe is an entertaining, thought-provoking dark comedy about love, grief, and the afterlife. A young couple find themselves stranded on a rubbish-filled beach in Wales with no recollection of how they got there and no way of leaving. The young ‘woman’, played wonderfully by Julia Tidmas Goodall, is heavily pregnant but, due to the nature of their situation, is never able to give birth. Her partner, ‘man’, tries to inject optimism into their predicament, even if he does not feel it himself. The Starving Creatives’ media pack described ‘man’ as ‘the human embodiment of a golden retriever.’ An apt description, and one Nicholas Holloway channels expertly in his performance. Throughout the play, more information about the reality of the situation and the nature of the beach is revealed. I...

Finding Splashman: Aunty Ginger – Assembly George Square Studios

6Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Finding Splashman: Aunty Ginger – Assembly George Square Studios

At last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, I was lucky enough to review Aunty Ginger’s highly entertaining show I Consent. So, I was excited, if a tad nervous (what if it didn’t live up to last time?) to go and see Finding Splashman. I’m thrilled to say that I was not disappointed. Aunty Ginger is as engaging, sassy and stupendously fun as ever. This time round, she’s hired a director, and it shows. Mikey Smith brings an element of fluidity to the performance that was slightly absent last time. Now her hilarious gags and segments, including ‘Aunty Ginger’s Problem Area’, in which she solves all kinds of explicit sexual problems, flow seamlessly from one another. It no longer feels like she’s jumping from sketch to sketch, but rather a complete performance. Another welcome addition was the int...

007 Voices of Bond – theSpace @ Symposium Hall

28Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

007 Voices of Bond – theSpace @ Symposium Hall

007 Voices of Bond is any James Bond fan’s dream. Brought to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by Night Owl Shows, this hour-long concert takes the audience on a journey through the title tracks of Bond. Other than the opening number, Diamonds are Forever, the songs are performed in chronological order of release date, charting the evolving style of the music through the decades. Between each song either Maia Elsey, the truly phenomenal lead singer, or a pre-recorded video of ‘Mike’ (a hilarious yet informative M stand in), provide the audience with the context of each track. How they came to be made, what the meaning behind the song is, and its place within the wider world of music. These brief interludes were fascinating, and enhanced the experience from beyond just spectacle, to a genuine e...

22Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Bacon – Summerhall

Bacon, written by Sophie Swithinbank, and brought to the Edinburgh Fringe by HFH Productions, is a masterclass in storytelling. Focusing on the lives of fifteen-year-old’s Mark, Corey Montague-Sholay, and Darren, William Robinson, it explores masculinity, sexuality, and the dangers of toxicity in youthful relationships. Mark has just joined a new school and is struggling to make friends until he meets the hot-tempered Darren. The two could not be more different, and as such seem drawn to one another. Swithinbank’s script is electric. Despite repeatedly switching between narration and dialogue, it feels incredibly real. The characters may address the audience, but they never stop feeling like actual human beings. Perhaps this is because they are both so relatable, albeit in very differen...

The Improv Musical – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

20Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

The Improv Musical – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

Music Theatre Warwick, from the University of Warwick, have made the impossible look easy in this entirely improvised musical. The audience chose the two lead characters, Sherlock Holmes and SpongeBob SquarePants, and the location: the Titanic. The musical was named ‘who lives in a monocle under the sea’, by a particularly witty band member, and the performers got straight into it. What followed was hilarious, ridiculous, and highly entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the short mid-way break, in which the audience decided the next plot point. In this case, that John Watson, who had been thrown overboard, would arrive back on the Titanic to declare his love to SpongeBob through an opera song. It was just as crazy and hysterical as it sounds. Throughout the show, I was...

If You Were to Die Tomorrow – Paradise, St Augustine’s

15Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

If You Were to Die Tomorrow – Paradise, St Augustine’s

If You Were to Die Tomorrow has been the most difficult show for me to review at the Edinburgh Fringe so far. Brought to the festival by Hive MCR, it uses a love story between Charlotte, Sasha Dowdy, and Hope, Frankie Weatherby, to explore existentialist questions about the universe and our place within it. Charlotte has a nihilistic approach to life, believing everything is predetermined and so there is no point actively trying to do anything. We’re not going to be able to change the course of our lives. In contrast, Hope seems to think that if there is no greater meaning to life, then we must find meaning in our everyday actions. To put it simply, the meaning of life is living. This provides a good foundation for the play discuss these wider questions whilst simultaneously getting ...

Nobody’s Talking About Jamie – Underbelly Cowgate (Iron Belly)

15Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Nobody’s Talking About Jamie – Underbelly Cowgate (Iron Belly)

I am still not 100% sure whether this is a true story or not, but honestly it doesn’t matter. Whether fact or fiction, Jamie Finn has crafted a highly relatable, consistently entertaining and at times moving performance. Charting the highs and lows of romance and friendships, Finn takes us on his journey out of his first relationship and into the whirlwind life that followed. Accompanied by numerous original songs, the best of which is ‘a song for my ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend (Warren)’, Finn’s storytelling is hilarious and heartfelt. The songs were all very funny, and suitably drove the plot. His voice was at times nasal and slightly out of tune, but I think this was a purposeful choice for the character. He isn’t meant to be a godly rockstar! There are so many moments in...

Lash – Bunker Three, Pleasance Courtyard

11Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

Lash – Bunker Three, Pleasance Courtyard

Lash, written by Philip Stokes, and performed by Jack Stokes, was the most impressive thing I’ve seen at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Written in lyrical, rhyming verses, it tells the story of a young man, Sonny, on a night out after work. Philip Stokes has crafted a remarkable script, which seamlessly blends comedy, tragedy and political commentary whilst never losing our protagonist’s voice. Despite speaking in rhyme, Sonny feels real and relatable. He’s working a job he doesn’t like, with people he has little in common with, and just wants to escape the harsh realities of existence with a good night out. Throughout the night, Sonny has run ins with drug dealers, colleagues and the local homophobic and toxically masculine ‘hard men’. Each of these encounters reveal something new abo...