REVIEWS Archives - Page 7 of 611

Rachel Fairburn (Vexy Beasts) – Edinburgh O’Neill’s/Tron

14Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Rachel Fairburn (Vexy Beasts) – Edinburgh O’Neill’s/Tron

At first sight this seems and sounds very Merton and Manning but don’t be fooled as Fairburn quickly progresses beyond these Mancunian comparisons. Even if the mercy-free, quickfire delivery echoes that of the nearby (now defunct) Embassy Club. She doesn’t so much entertain us for fifty minutes as paint a vivid portrait of a rapidly gentrifying Harpurhey. Or Harpur ‘Vale’ as it seems to be known these days. At least you can’t accuse the local estate agents of being idle. She does it with the help of several local personalities; her rival Julie Noone, mayor of Harpur Vale and (only just) runner-up in Miss Harpur Vale 2019… Aunt Cheryl who has a burgeoning social media channel (Cheryl’s Chats) exploiting her friendships with the great, good, rich and famous… Lady ‘Literally’ who’s jus...

Bubble Schmeisis (remixed) – Sauna Theatre, Summerhall

14Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Bubble Schmeisis (remixed) – Sauna Theatre, Summerhall

Of all this year’s Sauna Theatre propositions at Summerhall, Bubble Schmeisis (Remixed) perhaps feels the most like theatre. There is good reason for that. Nick Cassenbaum’s one-man show was already a sell-out Fringe and international success long before anybody decided to put the audience into swimsuits and turn up the heat. Ten years on, it has found what feels like its natural home. This is not simply an old stage show squeezed into a sauna. It feels like a genuine evolution of the piece, with Nick now performing the story inside the very environment he has spent years describing. And the experience begins before we even get there. Live klezmer music, created for the show by Daniel Gouly and Josh Middleton, accompanies us as we wait to enter and continues inside, becom...

Boiler Room Six: A Titanic Story – Pleasance Queen Dome

14Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Boiler Room Six: A Titanic Story – Pleasance Queen Dome

I have always been a fan of the one-man show. There seem fewer of them at the Fringe this year, with the two-hander apparently enjoying something of a resurgence. But there is something about the singularity of the form that appeals to me. One performer, complete control, nobody else required to feed the next line. Boiler Room Six: A Titanic Story demonstrates just how powerful that control can be. Written and directed by Tom Foreman, the play takes us into one of the most familiar disasters in history, but from a very different direction. Here we are below decks with Frederick Barrett and the men who kept Titanic alive. This is not the world of evening dress, champagne and sweeping staircases. This is dirt under the fingernails, sweat on the skin, coal dust, heat, steam and...

13Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Blackbox – Underbelly Cowgate

This is the true story of Henry "Box" Brown, the enslaved African-American who, in 1849, mailed himself to freedom in the North in a wooden box measuring just 3 feet by 2.5, in which he had to remain quietly, and not always right side up, for 27 hours. This adaptation by Rickerby Hinds (who also directs) draws on Brown's own autobiographical writings, published as Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown Written by Himself, to tell his story. As such, it is mostly monologue form (performed by Josiah Alpher as Brown, with Jada Evelyn Ramsey as Spirit and chorus) combined with partially live gospel soundscapes and, reflecting Brown's later career, stage magic. Though the play starts and ends with the box which is so central to this show (not to mention the man's name), it is really...

13Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

The Hobbit – The Space @ Venue 45

Officially licensed by Middle-Earth Enterprises, Theatre On The Blue does what Warner Brothers could not, telling the story of The Hobbit in an hour with a team of six young actors. The original story is epic on a scale only dwarfed (sorry) by its sequel The Lord Of The Rings, and with multiple kingdoms, races, a dragon and a battle with only one less army than there are actors, cuts were inevitable. Some are seemingly quite drastic, such as the loss of all the dwarves save Thorin (prompting a knowing joke later about Bilbo eating for 13 hobbits and Thorin for 13 dwarves), or the Battle of the 5 armies getting reduced to two paper cutouts repeatedly bodyslaming each other into submission. Never-the-less, this is a very faithful, light-hearted adaptation of the children's story, w...

Crudi Dench: Someone Help Her! – Underbelly Cowgate, Iron Belly

13Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Crudi Dench: Someone Help Her! – Underbelly Cowgate, Iron Belly

Tucked away in an old vault cellar within the George The Forth Bridge you will find this wee gem of a show. Crudi Dench takes to the stage with some “celebrity friends” (spoiler, you are the celebrity friends) to run a help line show. Taking in calls from for those looking for a little assistance and somewhat (although this bits up for debate) working to help those callers. Whilst Crudi’s methods may be a little unorthodox and bizarre and absolutely unhelpful to the cause, they do succeed in thoroughly entertaining her audience. Crudi is a huge personality, her laughter is infectious and even as a disembodied voice from time to time, she still has her audience in the palm of her hands. As with most drag performances there is a heavy reliance on sexual and flirty humour however, even ...

13Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Knocking – The space@Surgeons Hall

Three sisters come together to clear out the belongings of their deceased mother only to find even in their mother’s absence the house is not empty. Together they must work to unearth the secrets of their house and help put a lost spirit to rest. The premise of the story is interesting and has real potential, however the overall production falls flat. We start the show with a mysterious hooded figure standing by the door, entering the stage space and then retreating to the tech desk to loudly stage whisper to the techie throughout the show. In an intimate space such as Theatre One in Surgeons Hall, this was rather distracting to say the least. Our three sisters are the main focus on the show establishing a nice bond between the three however all emotional reactions to the trauma ...

Salty Brine: How Strange It Is – Summerhall

13Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Salty Brine: How Strange It Is – Summerhall

Weird, uplifting, heartfelt. Salty Brine does not simply perform an album. He takes it apart, rummages around inside it, follows its obsessions down unexpected rabbit holes, then somehow puts the whole thing back together again in front of us. And this particular concoction is no overnight creation, this one has been marinating in Brine for the best part of a decade, part of Salty’s long-running Living Record Collection, in which numerous albums become the starting point for something altogether more theatrical, personal and peculiar. The album at the heart of this one is Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, released in 1998, a record whose strangeness and relative unfamiliarity turn out to be one of the show’s great strengths. Unless you are already a...

13Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

JLCO Plays Duke Ellington – Usher Hall

The Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra Residency brought us a night of Duke Ellington’s greatest compositions, directed by esteemed trumpeter and founder of JLCO, Wynton Marsalis. Seeing as the theme of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival is ‘All Rise’ – tied to the 250th anniversary of America’s independence – an American ensemble playing the works of one of the most prolific American composers seems only fitting. Especially when we get to the second act of the performance where the sole focus is on Ellington’s Black, Brown, and Beige, conducted by Chris Crenshaw. This suite tells the story of the hardships of the Black American, from slavery to segregation, and eventually emancipation. Alongside the JLCO, musical guests were invited to perform, including EIF’s dire...

House of Life – Underbelly, George Square

13Aug

By Torya HughesNo Comments

Scotland

House of Life – Underbelly, George Square

Billed as “one part sermon, one part purge, three parts party”, House of Life delivers a joyous immersive experience with plenty of glitter. Led by the RaveRend and his straight-faced sidekick Trev, the audience are encouraged to participate in a multi-level guide to ascension. The experience starts in the queue outside, where Ben Welch’s RaveRend anoints the waiting audience with glitter. Once in the venue, he hurls multi-coloured egg shakers into the crowd, while Trev (played by Lawrence Cole) awkwardly checks the loop machine and sound equipment in the corner. The two characters are direct opposites, RaveRend clad from head to toe in sparkly vestments, while Trev sports a grey suit and tie. This makes for quite a few comedy moments, and allows Trev to go on the journey of ascen...