REVIEWS Archives - Page 19 of 629

19Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Pervert Werewolf – Banshee Labyrinth

There comes a point late enough at the Edinburgh Fringe when the normal rules of theatre begin to loosen. At 11.25pm, down in the Banshee Labyrinth, Pervert Werewolf positively encourages them to fall off altogether. You may know the party game Werewolf, or you may not. In its simplest form, everyone is assigned a secret identity. Most are innocent villagers, while hidden amongst them are werewolves who quietly pick off their neighbours during the night. By day, everyone wakes up, argues, accuses, lies, defends themselves and eventually votes on who they think the werewolves might be. Then everyone closes their eyes and night falls again. Pervert Werewolf takes that familiar structure and adds, well, a pervert. The result is essentially Werewolf afte...

19Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

A Better Memory – Pleasance Courtyard

There can hardly be two more different approaches to AI and bereavement at this year's Fringe than An Echo in the Void and A Better Memory. Intriguingly, you can see them almost back to back, and as a theatrical double bill they make fascinating companions. Where An Echo in the Void throws us headlong into the Matrix, asking us to grapple with neural networks, alternative realities and a future where 1.5 billion people have effectively disappeared inside an artificial world, A Better Memory brings everything back home. Literally. Ihsan Kerr's new play is less psychological thriller than homespun domestic drama. Eleanor, played by Lubna Kerr, is a widow living with an Alexa-like device containing an AI reconstruction of her dead husband Harold, pla...

19Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

An Echo In the Void – Assembly Roxy

An Echo in the Void takes a little working out. Unless you have read the programme blurb beforehand, but even then, you may spend much of the opening trying to establish exactly where you are and what the rules of this strange new world might be. So perhaps I can do something the production itself rather fails to do. We are in the future. Sanctuary is an AI programme originally created to help people deal with grief and loss. With some 1.5 billion people apparently using the system, however, something designed as therapy has developed into something considerably more powerful, and potentially more troubling. The really clever idea here is that Sanctuary isn't actually creating your alternative reality. You are. The smells, sounds, images and sensations already exist wi...

19Aug

By Abigail PendleburyNo Comments

North West

Mean Girls – Winter Gardens Blackpool

Mean Girls the Musical is a sensational, high-energy production that delivers everything you could hope for in a modern day musical, with its sharp humour, outstanding performances and visual style, it radiates energy from start to finish, creating a relatable story that audiences can connect with. This is a show that feels both fresh and faithful to the original story, and the Winter Gardens provides the perfect backdrop for such a vibrant, fast‑paced production it’s rare to see a production that balances comedy, heart and contemporary storytelling so seamlessly, but this one achieves it with style. One of the standout strengths of this production is the cast, who bring enormous personality and precision to every moment. Vivian Panka commands the stage as Regina George with a remarkabl...

Jeeves and Wooster: Stiff Upper Lip – Actors’ Church

19Aug

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Jeeves and Wooster: Stiff Upper Lip – Actors’ Church

Is it possible to take a P G Wodehouse novel featuring his iconic characters and bring it to the stage with the silliness and farce turned up to eleven? Apparently, it is, if Oliver Stockley's adaptation of "Jeeves and Wooster in Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves" is anything to go by. Stockley also directs the troupe of four performers in a show so fast-paced and full of laughs that it's a sheer delight to watch. The four players, Shaun Mendum (Wooster), Scott Slocombe (Jeeves/Sir Watkyn Bassett), Chioma Uma (Emerald/Rev Pinker), and Lowenna Morgelyn (Gussie Fink-Nottle/Madeline Bassett/Aunt Dahlia) romp through the story, shifting effortlessly between personas, playing instruments, and singing, all with perfect comic timing. The plot is a riot of misplaced relationships, a possibly curs...

19Aug

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

corto.alto – The Hub

corto.alto was easily one of my top acts at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. I’ve listened to Liam Shortall’s work for a while, but this was my first time seeing corto.alto live, and it was a seriously good introduction to the project in its live form. Shortall is the creative force behind corto.alto, with the live lineup changing around him. For this performance, he was joined by Mateusz Sobieski on saxophone, Fergus McCreadie on keys, James Mackay on guitar and Graham Costello on drums. The chemistry between the five was one of the best things about the set. They were constantly exchanging looks and cues, which became almost as interesting to watch as the playing itself. The set was only around an hour and fifteen minutes, but it was packed. There was a lot of room for...

Tap Out! (Or I’ll Hit You Again) – Gilded Balloon Patter House

19Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Tap Out! (Or I’ll Hit You Again) – Gilded Balloon Patter House

The stage is adorned with a punchbag which gives you a clue as soon as you enter. Now, just to make things clear, this is not a play about boxing, but it is used during the play – the play is so much more! Written by Conor Dye, the play follows a man (Matt Ackermann) who at the beginning of the play is handcuffed to a hospital bed, and it is the playwright’s job to write his story. And, what a story it is! Tired of his everyday existence, and getting gradually more and more frustrated, man (as I am going to call him) decides that he is going to take out his frustration on anyone who annoys him, which is just about everyone! As he picks his targets, he stumbles upon a homeless man who he conducts a quick moral evaluation on before he decides punch him, b...

Witches Corner – The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

19Aug

By Christina SchmidtNo Comments

Scotland

Witches Corner – The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

Walking into the space to see Witches Corner, the audience is welcomed with a soft song being performed as they settle into their seats, perfectly setting up the tone of the show. Blending the stories of real women convicted as witches with modern women’s struggles, Eilidh Smith’s play is a lesson in Scottish history and a feminist rallying cry packaged into a 50 minute music theatre production. Stepping into the accused women’s shoes, it is incredible how contemporary their pleas for justice sound even though we like to tell ourselves that the world has changed since the witch hunts. And unfortunately the men’s points of view for convincing these witches isn’t unfamiliar either. Similar points of view can easily be found on the manosphere side of TikTok. But it makes sense. After a...

Love’s Labour’s Found – Greenside Riddles Court

18Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Love’s Labour’s Found – Greenside Riddles Court

To avoid being fired, modern poetry lecturers Jackie and Kate tell their employers they discovered a long-lost play by William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Found. The lie quickly spirals out of control when they’re invited to perform the “new” work at the 45th Shakespearean History International Teaching Conference (notice the acronym) the next day, aided and thwarter by a collection of zany characters such as one of their mothers, an actor, their boss and the dean, who is called Dean. Written and performed by members of the Newcastle University Theatre Society, the ensuing farce has its moments but unfortunately lacks the internal reality to properly build from. To properly spiral, one must have a centre to start from (or finish with), and Love's Labour's Found, which chose its tit...

The Palestinian Circus: Step and a Half – Underbelly Circus Hub

18Aug

By Ella BeckleyNo Comments

Scotland

The Palestinian Circus: Step and a Half – Underbelly Circus Hub

Palestinian Circus artists are taking Edinburgh Fringe by storm with their awe-inspiring, heart wrenching show ‘Step and a Half’. 'Joy is an act of resistance’. These words are voiced over the Lafayette in a moment of stillness and echo throughout the show, this sentiment is at the heart of the Palestinian Circus. As a non-profit organisation, they spread connection and hope across Palestine through performance art and community outreach programmes. The group have persevered through unthinkable challenges to reach the stage they are on today, and their resilience seeps into every moment of contagiously unfiltered joy. Before the show begins the crew skip, dance and sprin...