Scotland Archives - Page 74 of 93

21Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Muse by FLIP Fabrique – Assembly Hall

Muse is an empowering, magical and witty show like no other that explores gender and social pressures in which we put on ourselves and others. Football or Ballet? Two sport industries designed for all, but gender assigned by the masses. What happens when a girl wants to play football? A man wants to be a ballerina? Or neither fancy either path? Delve into these topics with the use of acrobatics, circus skills and song (although for the most part the music is in French). The show carries throughout the symbol of the apple, the first sin. But to look in to the first sin is to decide if it was indeed a sin or just a woman making a choice. Muse urges you to take the apple like eve, break the rules and be who you really are. Despite little speech the whole performance is innovative and mo...

The Failure Cabaret – Underbelly, Cowgate

20Aug

By Natalie LewisNo Comments

Scotland

The Failure Cabaret – Underbelly, Cowgate

Stephanie Dodd and Justin Badger’s ‘Failure Cabaret’ was a misguided attempt at comedy which indulged in the standard of American humour with a non-American audience. The pair discuss their life together from meeting in New York to accidentally moving to a middle-class white haven to somewhat turbulent and abusive fights they’ve been having (unclear whether this is said in jest or in sincerity). The music was lively and well written. Their voices: very pleasant to listen to, making it certainly a feel-good show and very easily listening. However, this was subverted by the inelegant humor surrounding abusive within the relationship of the characters, ultimately put down to bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, ultimately leading to deep depressive episodes ap...

Bareback: Horseplay – Underbelly, Cowgate

20Aug

By Natalie LewisNo Comments

Scotland

Bareback: Horseplay – Underbelly, Cowgate

PBJ’s ‘Bareback: Horseplay” was a torrent and a torment of absurdity lacking any semblance of grounding or substance which would facilitate such an outlandish production, resulting in an unmelodic raucous of a sketch show and wasting the extraordinary talent of the actors involved. The premise itself is turbulent: sketch comedy show bouncing from social satire to philosophical inanity, resulting in an audience exhaustingly attempting to keep up with a fast moving, unexplained (unexplainable?) parade of celebrity caricatures, genitalia, aged talk show hosts, homosexual Irish children and slam poetry. The duo were dressed in nude bodysuits which did facilitate fast movements from one character to the next, impressively taking on the roles. The actors’ ranges of accents and characte...

The Lovely Boys – Just The Tonic at The Caves

20Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Lovely Boys – Just The Tonic at The Caves

It’s very rare that a reviewer is left speechless after a comedy show but hours later, I’m still not sure what I had actually watched. The lovely boys are not your average stand-up comedy duo, in fact the show could better be described as a strange psychedelic dream crammed into a nightmare-ish underground vault. This is not a comedy style that would fit the masses, but then Mr Bean became famous because of his clowning antics, why couldn’t these two. The show is described by the duo as “one big hour of chaos glory” and they certainly aren’t wrong on the chaos part. Strange and disturbing character sketches had the audience wildly laughing almost as much as the two men had been laughing at themselves. Our primary characters “our two lovely boys” were the funniest part of the show...

Stop The World We’re Getting Off – The Space, Venue 45

20Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Stop The World We’re Getting Off – The Space, Venue 45

Stop The World We’re Getting Off takes a different approach to the concept of “the apocalypse”, no zombies, no nuke war, just the results of the damage that we the human race are currently doing to the world. The play takes place in a not-so-distant future when the world is no longer inhabitable due to a thick smog that has taken over as a result of the human races’ lack of care for the planet. 5 Survivors find themselves living their day to day lives hiding away in a bunker, however 5 is soon to become 6 when Ava (Georgie Cunningham) falls pregnant and dark secrets are revealed. With oxygen running low and so little time before the baby can arrive, it’s up to the team to work together to find an improbable solution. Tenderfoot Theatre Company are a global activist group specializing...

20Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Intelligence – Assembly Roxy

Inside the basement of the US State Department, two young Foreign Officers Paige (Sarah Street) and Lee (Joy Sunday) are reluctantly assisting Special Envoy Sarah MacIntyre (Laura Jordan), recently returned from a top-secret and personal mission to a volatile foreign country. MacIntyre needs to prepare a report to convince the president, or the repercussions could mean death for many… if she’s right. But is she? The exact region the situation is happening in is kept purposefully vague, the reason given being that the junior officials Paige and Lee aren't cleared for the specifics of this operation, which is itself tied into an attempt by their superiors and other departments to ensure MacIntyre's initiative fails. This haziness works, mostly, as it doesn't tie the show down to a specifi...

The Diary of a Nobody – The Space on The Mile

20Aug

By Melissa JonesNo Comments

Scotland

The Diary of a Nobody – The Space on The Mile

This production is perfect for a die-hard fan of the novel that has never been out of print despite its humble beginnings. It’s interesting to note that while this novel has been adapted for stage and screen, it’s most well-known adaptions have been for radio with previous portrayals performed by Stephen Tomkinson and Johnny Vegas- and in these productions Mrs Pooter was present. These names were also mentioned in the programme I was handed and seemed like rather bad practice because I couldn’t help but bring these professionals to light while watching the production. Blue Fire Productions should revel in their individuality and embrace their own approach. This evening’s slim line production stars Andy Smith as Mr Pooter, the nobody of the title, firmly situated in the 1892 of its or...

Max Fosh: Zocial Butterfly – Underbelly Bristo Square

20Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Max Fosh: Zocial Butterfly – Underbelly Bristo Square

Ah, so that’s why he spells it with a ‘Z’… The other half of the title is no mystery at all as Max flits and flutters about the stage, cramming in a baker’s dozen’s-worth of material on top of what he borrows from his considerable canon of YouTube adventures. Lazy, he isn’t, and his genuine enthusiasm heads off a certain strain of criticism at the pass. It’s apt to hear many teenagers these days refer uncharitably to Radio’s Three and/or Four as ‘Radio Tory’, and yet they (1.34 million subscribers) love Harrow-educated Max and it’s probably because in the first place he doesn’t try to hide his background and second, he’s authentically interested in what he’s doing. Which means not everything he does is interesting or amusing to everybody, but his hit-versus-miss ratio is pretty decent, ...

Cicada’s Children – theSpace on North Bridge

19Aug

By Melissa JonesNo Comments

Scotland

Cicada’s Children – theSpace on North Bridge

Anna Freeman’s black comedy drama Cicarda’s Children stars Mark Jones as footloose and fancy free Danny who’s unwittingly fallen for a surviving member of a now defunct cult, Cicarda’s Children, Bella (Anna Freeman). Duped into believing Bella into launching a coffee shop, Danny spirals into a descent that involves relinquishing every aspect of his 2022 identity. At only 50 minutes long, this short production is a mere taster or perhaps even portfolio of what Freeman as actor and writer are capable as writer and actors. Or perhaps a vignette of a wider on-going story. So, the Fringe is the perfect frame to perform this short one act play that has ‘A Play, A Pie and A Pint’ quality to it. At the centre of this weirdly charming piece are Jones and Freeman, whose consummate unforced nat...

The Twenty Sided Tavern – Pleasance Dome

19Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Twenty Sided Tavern – Pleasance Dome

There are very few shows quite like the Twenty Sided Tavern, a choose your own adventure for theatre goers and dungeons and dragons fans alike. Step into the game with your own selected dice picked blindly from a bag determining your designated player. Are you a Fighter, a sorcerer or a Rogue? Either way you are in for a treat. Three professional improvisation artists take to the stage bringing the crazy world of Dungeons and Dragons to a live audience, determining their character’s movements with a combination of audience choice and the spin of the twenty sided dice. They are silly, bold and utterly hilarious. Guiding the gang is the “Game Master”, the dungeon master of the game. If you choose to embark on this quest adventurer, be prepared to use your mobile phone. Upon arrival...