Tuesday, September 8

Scotland

Sam Morrison: DUCK – Gilded Balloon Teviot
Scotland

Sam Morrison: DUCK – Gilded Balloon Teviot

Written and performed by Sam Morrison   Sam Morrison kicked off his fourth solo performance at the Edinburgh Fringe with his uniquely titled show DUCK. Sam is an acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe American comedian who featured on Late Night with Seth Meyers Comedy Central. He is the Named Just for Laughs New Face and his show “Sugar Daddy presented by Billy Porter and Alan Cummings, extended its run off Broadway four times and transferred to off West End in London”.   DUCK the feathered winged and web feet variety have unusual spiral vaginas and given that their main purpose biologically is to survive, reproduce and pass on their genes. It seems a perfect comedic launchpad to explore the evolutionary science of reproductive practice of other animal species, including humans. D...
Double Take – Underbelly Bristo Square
Scotland

Double Take – Underbelly Bristo Square

After watching Peregrinations, Dutch Kills Theatre’s other show, Double Take, unfortunately did not meet expectations. As a silent mime show, the movements should be incredibly precise whilst also conveying emotion and creating characters. Instead, it often felt like the actors focused so much on technique (which was still sloppy at times) that the characters felt superficial. They eased more into it towards the end of the show, and we got moments of clowning and some very funny bits, but most of the time both movements and transitions were not refined enough. The concept is nice: eight little stories told entirely through mime. Some of them were definitely more interesting than others, The Whole Shebang in particular gave included some interesting images and hand puppetry. But many...
Bliss – Grand Theatre: The Pleasance Courtyard
Scotland

Bliss – Grand Theatre: The Pleasance Courtyard

From the Olivier Award - winning producers of Cabaret and Benjamin Button, BLISS a musical fantasy story which follows four sister princesses who are locked up in a Tower under the caring protection of their father. Time spent studying and their desire to experience the world outside the castle, overwhelms them and they embark on a scheme to leave. Chasing Comets and encounters with a fairy Godfather, Prince. Piper, Carmella, Faye and Holly soon discover that life on the outside is not exactly kind.     At its heart, the musical explores the fragile collision between innocence and adversity, placing its characters in a world where anything less than perfection can feel like failure. What begins with hope, naivety and the belief that achievement is simply a matter o...
Verdi’s A Masked Ball – Festival Theatre
Scotland

Verdi’s A Masked Ball – Festival Theatre

As the Edinburgh International Festival draws to a close, Zurich Opera has their final performance of Verdi’s A Masked Ball at the Festival Theatre.  Based on preexisting libretto, Giuseppe Verdi adapted and added the love triangle aspect we see in this production.  Given the assassination in the opera (originally written as the murder of a King) Verdi had to combat numerous censorship attempts.  Despite several setting changes, with Verdi eventually settling on 17th century Boston as the location, each adaptation was followed by real-life assassination attempts and political unrest which called for Verdi to keep adjusting details of the opera so it would seem a little less close to reality. Director Adele Thomas has kept the Boston setting but moved the timeline sligh...
Sam Eley is Basil Crumbwick: Soul Sewage – Monkey Barrel Comedy
Scotland

Sam Eley is Basil Crumbwick: Soul Sewage – Monkey Barrel Comedy

Soul Sewage is one accurate way to describe a character comedy which takes the piss out of the sad reality of today’s politics. Sam Eley takes on the persona of Basil Crumbwick, dressed in grey tracksuits and wife-beater, with an impressive papier-mache head the size of a suitcase. His mouth wide open in a perpetual state of paranoia and blood shot eyes popping out his face, Basil is a caricature of your reform voting 50-year-old neighbour who’s got nobody to love and everything to complain about. In his own words: Basil’s impressed by the quality of his work, he’s got the peripheral vision of a scallop, he’s banned from pubs, he catches dogs in butterfly nets, and we’re lucky to have him. He stands spotlit in a tightly crammed basement which spends 11 months of the year an unlicenced H...
Pilgrims – Greenside @ Georges Street   
Scotland

Pilgrims – Greenside @ Georges Street   

Pilgrims has received good reviews from their performances in London and they’ve now arrived at the Edinburgh Fringe. A tale of two mountaineer ‘buddies’’ Dan played by Robert Thomas, and Will Adam Radford who casually meet Rachel Rebecca Barbossa a strong willed, and forthright woman in a bar. Rachel recounts a story of an innocent girl Janet who is entrapped by a wicked queen, raped by a Knight and forced to have the child to save him from the curse betrothed upon him. Bewildered by this encounter Will seductively teases Rachel to get her attention and from here the fable collides with reality. Dan and Will have been friends for years and have conquered Everest together. Whilst the two mountaineers plan and dream of their next summit climb Rachel is busy planning for her PHD. She ...
Glob – Underbelly McEwan Hall
Scotland

Glob – Underbelly McEwan Hall

Let two lovable creatures take you into an enchanted world of glowing orbs, sounds, and movement. With Glob, Les Foutoukours created a wonderfully fantastical show for the entire family. Two wordless clowns find themselves in an unknown place and explore it with a childlike curiosity. The space around them keeps changing – lamps turn on and off, new objects they can play with are revealed and they get to know and tease each other. Blending Acrobatics, Music, Juggling, Diabolo and Tap dance, this is a circus adventure for anyone looking to get out of the Fringe chaos and just breathe for a moment. The Acrobatic moments are very impressive and it left us wanting more.  With precise movement and lots of physical comedy, the performers Rémi Jaques and Jean-Félix Bélanger create a whole...
Giraffe – Cellar at Pleasance Courtyard
Scotland

Giraffe – Cellar at Pleasance Courtyard

A neurodivergent, queer Fleabag; Abigail Weinstock’s one-woman show Giraffe is the hilarious tale of the tribulations of a woman who has always felt like an outsider. The play follows protagonist Eliana as she navigates a world that she cannot understand nor bring herself to conform with. Tall with unusually long limbs, she sticks out like a giraffe in a world of zebras, which as she acutely points out, is of course a simile, not a metaphor.                                                             ...
When Prophecy Fails – Studio Theatre
Scotland

When Prophecy Fails – Studio Theatre

In a small Midwest American town there is a strange phenomenon happening. Researchers have arrived to observe a group of people transfixed on a prophecy “that the world is ending and that they alone know the truth” on how to save humanity. This story is based on a 1956 book by social psychologists Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken and Stanley Schachter. In ‘their’ world of UFO’s sightings and religious belief systems their leader Marian convinces the group that the world would be destroyed by a catastrophic flood in December. When this prediction did not happen instead of believing the failure the opposing view grew into a committed sense of greater belief. A true concept of cognitive dissonance when a group of people’s beliefs conflict with reality. You would not be wrong in thinkin...
Moving On – Paradise in Augustines
Scotland

Moving On – Paradise in Augustines

There is something wonderfully Fringe-like about Moving On. An Edinburgh company writes an entirely original musical, assembles seven actors and a three-piece live band, fills a stage with removal boxes and ghosts, and gives us two hours of spooky, silly and surprisingly touching musical theatre. I admire the ambition before we even get started, and happily, much of that ambition pays off. Happy Sad Productions’ show is written by Amber Docherty, Roza Stevenson and Josh Wood, with music by Wood. Stevenson directs, Docherty is assistant director, Murron Goodall provides costumes and Cormac Cameron-Finn designs sound. Wood also leads the excellent live band on keys, alongside Abby Bailey on trumpet and keys and Alistair Sealy on trombone. Paradise in Augustines’ main hall is a...