Wednesday, April 24

REVIEWS

I Was on a Sitcom – The Gilded Balloon, Teviot – Turret
6Aug By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments
Scotland

I Was on a Sitcom – The Gilded Balloon, Teviot – Turret

Eden Sher’s show, I Was on A Sitcom, is situated in The Turret at The Gilded Balloon Teviot. It is not easily accessible. The room is hot and Sher sweats her way through the act. It’s perfect … because the subject matter isn’t easily accessible and could bring on a sweat of embarrassment in less capable hands. But not in Sher’s hands. She is a raconteur who can turn anything to gold. Sher jokes, both verbally and physically, about the excruciating pain of giving birth to premature twins. Carrying her babies was an uphill struggle and the pregnancy culminated in a sweaty urgency. She cleverly links this life episode to her ten-year residency on the American sitcom, The Middle, explaining how she became, over time, half her character, Sue, and half herself, split from one egg, like h...
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Gone to the Dogs – Gilded Balloon Teviot – Wine Bar
6Aug By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments
Scotland

Gone to the Dogs – Gilded Balloon Teviot – Wine Bar

Conceptually, I was intrigued by this piece. Britannia, written and played by Tsarzi, cut an attractive figure with her cheeky grin and mischievous eyes. The set was messy, stuff all over the place, and Britannia was dozing over her piano as the parody of a Radio 4 broadcast opened the show. The play explores the decay of the British Empire: the intransigence of the establishment and the older generation to let it go. A pertinent idea for the times. It is for this reason that the stage is scattered with remnants of a former glory. Even the sash worn by royalty on formal occasions is put on, taken off, held up instead of worn - it is an afterthought. Tsarzi sings us through a host of representations of our fading cultural heritage, mostly in refrains on repeat, including the church,...
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Ants – The Space On The Mile
5Aug By Roger JacobsNo Comments
Scotland

Ants – The Space On The Mile

If you’re a fan of The Apprentice you’ll love this. If you hate The Apprentice, you’ll love this. Three jargon-peddling suit-types, straight from Alan Sugar central casting, within a faceless company where no-one seems to know what it does, makes or sells are given the task, sorry, ‘brief’ of maximising profits over the next year. In a matter of hours. In a typically febrile atmosphere recognizable to anyone who’s ever worked for a large corporation, the threat of job losses and cost-cutting hovers. We’ve a statuesque terribly well-spoken HR officer, a diligent, meticulous worker from the Research department and an earthy, frequently insensitive Accounts personality direct from the locker room, trying to mansplain his way through their dilemma. They all talk a lot. They all talk even more...
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Mull Historical Society – Edinburgh Summerhall Dissection Room
5Aug By Roger JacobsNo Comments
Scotland

Mull Historical Society – Edinburgh Summerhall Dissection Room

In a record company promotions office, London town, late 2000 or early 2001, a track came on provoking one of those joyous ‘what’s this?’ moments. The song was ‘Barcode Bypass’. Mull Historical Society’s debut album ‘Loss’ appeared in October 2001 and eight albums later (two released under Colin MacIntyre’s own name) there’s ‘In My Mind There’s A Room’. It’s available via the usual modern channels but for those who care, also on double pink vinyl. A stellar literary cast too long to mention here assisted in its creation including locals Ian Rankin, Jackie Kay and Alan Warner. It’s an emotional listen. More so when one discovers it was recorded in a studio… apologies, a room… in Tobermory, once inhabited by his Grandfather Angus, none too shabby a poet himself. So it is that folks beat ...
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Topless: The One Woman Musical – Open Top Deck at Big Bus Betty
5Aug By Beth EltringhamNo Comments
Scotland

Topless: The One Woman Musical – Open Top Deck at Big Bus Betty

Who doesn’t love an open top bus tour? Maybe not of the wrong city (yes, this bus tour is of London from the comfort of Edinburgh!), but for this show it’s not the site seeing that takes precedent rather the emotional roller coaster in which your guide is going to take you on. Your tour guide Sandie is sure to show you why it’s best not to mix business with your personal life in this one woman musical. Based off the original play Topless by Miles Trednnick (my favourite play and worth a read alone) this dark comedy shows Sandie a tour guide with a messy relationship history as she tells her unsuspecting tourists just how she dealt with her cheating husband, but unlike the previous play back in 1999 she does some of it through song. Set in the very intimate setting of an old open...
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Drop Dead – theSpace @ Niddry Street
5Aug By Euan HuthNo Comments
Scotland

Drop Dead – theSpace @ Niddry Street

Everyone has heard of people doing rehearsals for their wedding, so their big day goes all according to plan and it’s the best day of your whole life. But what about a rehearsal for your funeral? Bit of a weird one, isn't it? Rehearsing for the most important day of your life that you never get to see? Drop Dead takes this idea and runs with it to tell a classic story of a group of oddballs fighting over who gets the inheritance, with an abundance of farcical devised comedy. The moment the show began I was immediately struck with how much fun the actors seemed to be having playing off each other, you can tell these are a group of people that really enjoy their work. Every actor brought their character to life in an energetic and wonderfully entertaining way that made all the inter...
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Tales of a Jane Austen Spinster – Greenside at Nicholson Square
5Aug By Caroline WorswickNo Comments
Scotland

Tales of a Jane Austen Spinster – Greenside at Nicholson Square

Finding love always seemed to work out well in the end for Jane Austen’s heroines, Austen’s books were filled with honourable gentleman such as Mr Darcy, Henry Tilney and Captain Wentworth, but Lilliana (Alexandra Jorgensen) hasn’t yet found her beau and wonder’s how she can do this.  Maybe, a wander into the modern world of dating may help!  Jorgensen (also the writer), plays Lilliana, a young lady who seems to have been passed over by men, whilst her friends and family receive plenty of attention.  Beginning the tale in Austen era costume, Jorgensen’s character compares the world of dating in Austen’s period, to how we date today. It is an interesting comparison, and leads us into the world of dating apps, and consent.  Who would not be charmed by a story incl...
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Better Days – Just The Tonic at La Belle Angele
5Aug By Greg HolsteadNo Comments
Scotland

Better Days – Just The Tonic at La Belle Angele

A small tired-looking man pushes a brightly coloured piano down the street. A giant with the mean-eyed look of a pro linebacker dressed all in white with enormous fluffy angle wings negotiates his way carefully past a bus stop. It’s raining. Fish and chip from a posh van costs £15 and a small cup of watery cider £8. Yes folks its Fringe time again in Edinburgh. And kicking it off (for me) is this hedonistic fever dream lyric poem of the early nineties. This is Dylan Thomas, meets Trainspotting set in The Hacienda. Where ‘Better Days’ is actually set is a subterranean nightclub in the depths of Edinburgh’s Cowgate, at the slightly odd showtime of 13:30. It’s an interesting venue, maze-like and vast. Note to self to come back at 01.30! Ben Tagoe’s poetic story introduces us to Dann...
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The Fleetwood Mac Story – The Space @ Symposium Hall
5Aug By Greg HolsteadNo Comments
Scotland

The Fleetwood Mac Story – The Space @ Symposium Hall

This was – A stunning and emotional performance. Welcome to this beautiful little intimate theatre, clean leather seats nicely spaced and on a steep rake, and with a brilliant acoustic, probably the comfiest music venue in all of Edinburgh - and not a bad seat in the house! An expectant and responsive full house attended this first performance and were certainly not disappointed. The standing ovation that ended this show was never in doubt. Hosted by the enormously talented Night Owl Shows duo of Hannah Richard’s and Alex Beharell, performing alongside the brilliant Night Owl Band who gave it their all this afternoon. Only their fifth gig of the day! There is a clever use of different band members to talk about the brief history of the band, which makes you feel really connec...
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The Drowsy Chaperone – The Space @ Venue 45
5Aug By Greg HolsteadNo Comments
Scotland

The Drowsy Chaperone – The Space @ Venue 45

This is – Way better than you might expect from a school production – a hidden gem. I had to see this. Given that this is one of my all-time favourite musicals, and this is the only Chaperone on the Fringe this year, I had little choice! However, I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer quality of this American schools production, by Charter Oak High School, supported by AHSTF, WorldStrides The show's own history is more recent than you might imagine. It started as a small sketch format comedy in 1998 before emerging as a more starry and elegant Los Angeles production a year later. The buzz stirred up by that production immediately set the wheels in motion for its transfer to Broadway, and the rest as they say is history. We view each scene through the eyes of the narrator (t...
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