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A Highly Suspect Murder On The Disorient Express – the Space @ Surgeons Hall

17Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

A Highly Suspect Murder On The Disorient Express – the Space @ Surgeons Hall

A fan of puzzles? How about murders? Do you fancy yourself quite the detective? Well let’s hope so as the real detective has been murdered and it’s up to you the crack the case and find out who did it in this fun and challenging murder mystery brought to you be Highly Suspect UK. A journey on the Orient Express, what could possibly go wrong? Well another murder has occurred and this time it’s the detective that’s met his horrible end, but who could be responsible? Could it be Agar Thachristie (Michael Spencer) the dutch writer and former assistant to the late detective ,Ray Alwaycarriage (Joe Desborough) the lovable conductor, Dr Phil Steamahead (Seb Coombe) the doctor with a secret, the highly mysterious man from room 13 or Traynton Ells (Alice Woodsworth) the woman who owes the detect...

The Stand-Up Horror Show – Just the Tonic at The Caves

17Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Stand-Up Horror Show – Just the Tonic at The Caves

A cabaret of Horror goes horribly wrong when the intended act performing dies in a freak nail gun accident, with an eagerly awaiting audience the understudy is thrown on in a truly “the show must go on” moment of panic. Whilst this is the plot to the show it’s also very much how the show felt overall, under prepared and unrehearsed. Starting us off with a cheesy yet spooky voice over and an over dramatic mime on stage, one would think this show to be a silly: so bad it’s good performance, which I do think was the intention. For the first few moments of Tom Short’s set this idea is presented well, showing a nervous understudy who clearly is a little flustered and unprepared, played up for comedic value but unfortunately this one note is continued throughout. Whilst there are some funny m...

17Aug

By Anisha PucadyilNo Comments

London

The Vagina Monologues – Canal Cafe

Aurore Padenou's first production pulled together Director Lorna Dempsey, joined by Juliet Prew, Cara Kiri. Each of the actors gives an astounding performance. They carve out the diverse characters they alternatively play with conviction and tenderness. The Vagina Monologues was written twenty-seven years ago by Artist and activist V, formerly Eve Ensler. Based on interviews with more than 200 women, the play summarises different aspects of the participant's relationship with the vagina- the hair, the smell, the shame, the pleasure and the hate. An Obie Award-winning play has enjoyed a sold-out run on Broadway. V also initiated V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women. The vagina monologues have been rewritten, translated and adapted by various grassroots organi...

Julia Bullock & Bretton Brown – The Queens Hall

17Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Julia Bullock & Bretton Brown – The Queens Hall

Julia Bullock is an American Soprano, from Missouri, the New York Times have described as, ‘An impressive, fast-rising soprano…poised for a significant career’. This was a real concert of two halves, the first section being more classical and almost funereal in places, and the second after the interval, being much more lyrical and almost playful, albeit with a serious message. And perhaps pointing towards the dual personality of Bullock herself; extremely serious about her music, with many years of Classical training, on the one hand but clearly also very passionately involved with the plight of sisterhood and Black America. I particularly liked the tenderly sung, Billy Holliday number, ‘Our Love Is Different’, which also included some beautiful Jazz solos by pianist Bretto...

OSCAR at the Crown – Assembly George Square Gardens

17Aug

By Danielle FarrowNo Comments

Scotland

OSCAR at the Crown – Assembly George Square Gardens

Looking for a fun time, high energy performances, catchy music and something that might have an intriguing concept, but you’re not really invested in what it is? Then check out ‘OSCAR at the Crown’ and enjoy the party! There is plenty to dance along to, laugh along with and yes, there is some depth here to ponder should you so wish. Philosophically, this show touches on identity, presentation, life choices and truthful expression, with a lens of pop culture and party fever, culminating in a beautiful way of questioning its central icon. Oscar Wilde is suitably a flamboyant figure, full of wit and charm, but what we learn of him is given in potted history, and the show could easily be built on any number of iconic / celebrity figures who have met with tragedy after adulation. Ther...

17Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

For Better For Worse – C ARTS

This thought-provoking new drama by Edinburgh playwright Jill Franklin was inspired by the Independence Referendum of 2014. But although set in the heady days of that September nine years ago, it is not really about Scottish Independence which is a peripheral issue here. Diane, movingly played by Sheila Duncan, became a widow six months ago when her husband died. Now it’s her birthday and her son, Mark, arranges a surprise visit with her daughter, Natalie, to celebrate the occasion. Although Diane is pleased to see them, she gently castigates them for assuming she hadn’t made other arrangements. During the next few days there ensues a struggle by Diane to find her own voice. Her husband had made all the decisions in their marriage, and now her children seem to be trying to tell...

What Goes On Without Me – the Space On the Mile 2

16Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

What Goes On Without Me – the Space On the Mile 2

Nottingham New Theatre are an English student-run theatre producing over thirty shows a year, ranging from Elizabethan classics to contemporaries plays and original student-written pieces. Their Fringe show this year, What Goes On Without Me, is in the latter category and asks the question “what would you do if, after you died, you could have 10 extra minutes of life that had no impact on anything other than you?” That is the question facing Jude. She has woken up dead, in a waiting room located on the upper east side of the afterlife, and in the company of a slightly dotty omniscient being offering cups of tea, biscuits, some celebrity gossip and the above dilemma (with caveats). Interspersed with vox pops of interviewees trying to answer the same question, this is comedic yet s...

16Aug

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

The Garden of Words – Park Theatre

This an unusual production to be performed in the United Kingdom being a stage adaptation of the Japanese Anime film of the same name by Makoto Shinkai. It tells the story of seven people, all seeking happiness in relationships but having to confront the realities of life in an urban environment which makes such connections difficult. True to its animation origins it adopts a symbolic rather than realistic staging. It is performed on a largely bare stage with a raised platform at the back and only a few white blocks which the cast efficiently moved around provide the necessary set for the various scenes. At the back of the playing area of was a skeletal tree and a projection surface onto which beautiful images of Japan were played, including from time to time quotations in b...

16Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Mariza – Festival Theatre

Despite the language barrier there is no doubt at all that this is a heck of a show, and a display of superlative singing power and grace, from the statuesque Portuguese star Mariza returning to the Edinburgh International Festival in style after a ten year hiatus. At times dropping the mic and singing without amplification in the vast hall, shows the immense power of her voice, and her confidence in it. Singing songs in Portuguese, in the Fado (translated as destiny or fate in Portuguese) tradition, a style thought to have originated in Lisbon in the 1820s, often associated with pubs and cafes, and renowned for its expressive and profoundly melancholic character. Launching into Loucura, the first song from her first album all of 24 years ago, she reminisces that at that time the...

16Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Macbeth – Greenside @ Infirmary Street

Gosh! Where to start on this highly unpleasant Macbeth mash-up. This is my 3rd instalment of my Macbeth marathon of the Fringe and an undoubted low point. Comparison is a wonderful tool! But at least you got one star! That’s for your Macbeth, the undoubted star of this particular show, who shone with hope and ambition in a sea of troubles. Unfortunately, there is no possibility to name-check said star because you didn’t care enough to provide that information! A show which shows no hand of a director, and the barest story and which has actors crossing each other, talking in unintelligible whispers with their back to the audience, and generally running around like headless chickens. A show which shows scant respect for their paying audience or for the craft of acting. Adding to...