Greg Holstead, Author at North West End UK

6Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Chopin’s Nocturne – Summerhall

“10:15am — WTF?!” is Aidan Jones’s opening exclamation, and a fair one. It’s not often you’re asked to laugh — and think — before your second coffee. But by the end of his 50-minute set, this Australian comedian and pianist has the audience fully on board, combining comedy and classical music with irreverence, warmth, and surprising emotional depth.Chopin’s Nocturne is built around Frédéric Chopin’s much-loved Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 — a piece that, for many in the audience, will stir up memories. For me, it resonated deeply. My late father used to play the Nocturne when I was very young, and hearing it live again, laced with Jones’s affection and analysis, was unexpectedly moving. While the show is pitched as comedy, for me it was not funny in the conventional sense — or ra...

Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me, but Banjos Saved My Life – Summerhall

6Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me, but Banjos Saved My Life – Summerhall

Tomatoes, the staple foodstuff of his Italian upbringing on the Canada/America border, were almost the undoing of Keith Alessi. They caused acid reflux his whole life, which led to his Oesophageal Cancer diagnosis in his early sixties and a 50/50 chance of living more than one year. Fortunately, he was one of the lucky ones who responded well to treatment, he lasted the year and here he is on the Summerhall stage over 9 years later. Like Lazarus resurrected, his brush with death set him free. Keith only began to play the banjo seriously after his cancer diagnosis, turning his back on his previous jobs as a certified accountant, major public company CEO and College Professor. Since then, he has created this show and gigged his way around the world, donating 100% of the profits, over ...

The Cadaver Palaver– Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

5Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Cadaver Palaver– Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

Clad in fine tweed and leather brogues, one man band, writer, director and performer Bennett Cooper Sullivan certainly looks and sounds the part of the Victorian gentleman adventurer. In this supremely well-crafted piece, narrated by a highly skilled storyteller, we follow our rakish raconteur as he travels from the bazaars of Afghanistan, via London to the foggy streets of 19th Century Edinburgh. As Egyptomania sweeps over the UK our hero becomes embroiled following the strange disappearance of a good friend with a pile of mummies hidden in his basement. Sullivan manages an impressive turn of hand, foot and mouth along the way, bowling maidens as he goes. An impressive looping storyline has the audience leaning into this and willing our hero to get his man, and his woman! But...

5Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Darkfield: Eulogy – Summerhall

Set in a shipping container outside of Summerhall this liminal experiment uses binaural sound and haptic feedback to provide an experience unlike many at the Fringe. This year, Darkfield have also introduced speech recognition technology into the mix, and a series of questions are asked at the outset to allow the algorithm to curate a more individual experience. They are pushing the boundaries, and with the powerful tools they have, they are closing in on their goal of ‘participation theatre’ but are not there yet. The storyline is set in a strange hotel, where you are transported to different levels by a lift, which you can feel and hear moving. Air movement across your face adds to the virtual reality. You also have a guide, in my case a young woman who whispers in my ear, whic...

Mr Chonkers – Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

5Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Mr Chonkers – Summerhall, Anatomy Lecture Theatre

This unlikely named clown creation, Mr Chonkers, from American comedian, John Norris, is a Grade-A, nonsense-filled, gold-plated, home run, hit. It is just brilliantly silly and the bevvy-filled youthful audience that cram into the tiny semi-circular Anatomy Theatre auditorium are screaming with glee and pounding the wooden lecterns by the close! From the Gregorian Monk opening to the magic trick climax, the pacing, comic, timing and audience interaction are all perfectly aligned within the perfect space at the perfect time. All of his stars have lined up, as have mine! Like all great comic turns that have you laughing out loud for no apparent reason, I just wish I could record it, pull it apart, study it and understand it. But even then, Norris introduces enough variables into t...

NYO2: Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony – Usher Hall

4Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

NYO2: Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony – Usher Hall

Edinburgh’s Usher Hall tonight hosts the European debut of NYO2—Carnegie Hall’s amazing youth orchestra for 14–17-year-olds. Led by the energetic conductor Rafael Payare, they perform a bold and exciting programme, including Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. The evening begins though with an unexpected treat, Jimmy López’s Perú Negro (2012), a dazzling tribute to Afro-Peruvian musical traditions. It’s rhythmically electric and full of colour, the highlight of the night for me. The percussion drives it with so much energy, and the whole orchestra plays with real joy and confidence. It’s a perfect way to start. Visually, the stage looks fantastic. The orchestra wears red and black, with cellist Alisa ...

Darkfield Radio: Eternal – Summerhall, Old Lab

3Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Darkfield Radio: Eternal – Summerhall, Old Lab

A very welcome lie down in a darkened room in the middle of a blazing hot day on a very busy Fringe Sunday. I’ll take it! And the bed ….is oh so relaxing …and the earphones are, well, just… just a minor issue. I begin to drift off. But then! The sound is extraordinary, and I swear I feel the bed move and feel the air shift over my face. Things are moving close to me. Someone, something is lying beside me. Yes, I have a bedfellow who is acting in a very peculiar way, and yet his voice has a certain reassuring quality and timbre, which is not altogether unpleasant. I just wish he would lie in one place for a minute! To say any more would be to enter spoiler territory. As a previous guest of Fringes past I can testify that Darkfield are moving on, flooding the zones, getting m...

Ordinary Decent Criminal – Summerhall, Techcube

3Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Ordinary Decent Criminal – Summerhall, Techcube

Frankie is just your Ordinary Decent Criminal, who unfortunately got caught. Yes, he may have been convicted of importing drugs, but he isn’t a grass and he definitely ain’t no nonce. Unfortunately, though, he does lack a certain right hook, which means he definitely needs to keep on the right side of certain characters inside, and find friends, fast. Walking the tightrope between being too tough and not tough enough is a minefield as we discover in Mark Thomas’s memorable and hilarious monologue. One of Edinburgh Fringe’s best kept secrets, Mark Thomas once again teams up with longtime collaborator, playwright Ed Edwards where their brilliant England & Sons (Fringe First 2023) left off. A similar diamond geezer, but this time behind bars and at the mercy of Tony Blair’s New Lab...

Opening Concert: The Veil of the Temple – Usher Hall

3Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Opening Concert: The Veil of the Temple – Usher Hall

With its hushed reverence and cosmic scale, John Tavener’s The Veil of the Temple opens this year’s Edinburgh International Festival not with a bang, but with an invocation. Across eight immersive hours in the Usher Hall, Tavener’s vast and luminous work offers something rare: not simply music, but a spiritual experience—at once intimate and immense, ancient and disarmingly modern.First performed in 2003 as an all-night vigil in London’s Temple Church, The Veil has never been heard in its entirety in Scotland—until now. It is a demanding work, not only for the 250-strong ensemble of singers and instrumentalists, but for the audience as well. Beginning at 2:30 p.m. and ending at 10:15pm, this performance asked for attention, stillness, and patience. It gave, in return, something deeply movi...

Standing In the Shadows of Giants – Traverse Theatre

2Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Standing In the Shadows of Giants – Traverse Theatre

You get the feeling that the substantial metal frames, the chunky lighting rig and mirror -walled set surrounding Lucie Barât on her oh-so-shiny red stage are all compensating for the flimsy mental scaffolding that supports her own psych, It teeters like a five-storey bamboo structure. The show begins with Lucie launching into a song, she has a clear and powerful voice, before signing cut to the sound desk. She interrupts herself to talk directly to the audience and give us a bit of personal history. Lucie always wanted to be an actor. But, from Drama School golden girl to dole queue drop out she fell, to call-centre fill-in, to failed STD advert auditionee and the very occasional paid acting job. A low point occurs in the earlie naughties when she throws up on the open-toed sandals ...