Gilded Balloon Archives - North West End UK

I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical – Gilded Balloon

26Aug

By Saira KunjuvalappilNo Comments

Scotland

I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical – Gilded Balloon

Alexander S. Bermange’s award-winning I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical, presented by the Seabright Live group, makes a triumphant return to the Fringe, featuring a cast of four actors and a pianist who deliver a spectacular blend of musical comedy and dance. This production is a delight from start to finish, with performers who sing and dance with exceptional skill. Their vibrant personalities, boundless comedic energy, and impressive ability to switch styles and moods seamlessly bring each number to life in a way that had the audience thoroughly engaged. The show cleverly dissects the world of musicals, exploring everything from the high expectations placed on opening numbers to the challenges performers face, like yet another failed audition or dealing with a diva co-star. Each ...

Mhairi Black: Politics Isn’t for Me – Gilded Ballon

16Aug

By Tom ScottNo Comments

Scotland

Mhairi Black: Politics Isn’t for Me – Gilded Ballon

This show is an absolute joy. Tumultuous applause greets Mhairi Black’s entrance. From then until the show ends 70 minutes later, she captivates the audience with her humour, insights and brilliant storytelling. Unsurprisingly the show’s sold out. Try very hard to get a return for one of the best shows at this year’s Fringe. It’s now nine years since Mhairi Black became an SNP MP, overturning a huge Labour majority. Black was part of the SNP landslide in 2015 when the party won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats at the General Election. Aged only 20, she became the youngest MP since the early 1800s. Still a student at Glasgow University, Black took her final exam after the election, gaining a first-class honours degree in Politics. An impressive speaker, she became deputy leader of the SNP at ...

Christopher Hall: Girl For All Seasons – Gilded Balloon

16Aug

By Gill LewisNo Comments

Scotland

Christopher Hall: Girl For All Seasons – Gilded Balloon

A celebration and salute to all the women who have made an impact on Christopher’s life, and no doubt, have helped shape his funny bones into the stellar comedian he is today. An hour just isn’t long enough to spend with Christopher, his natural warmth and cheeky quips are laugh out loud funny. Oozing natural charisma and charming flamboyance, he glides around the stage with vivaciousness, throwing in spunky one liners and cheeky observations. From navigating a ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ moment of soul searching with a potential sexual conquest, to his own ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ epiphany. Christopher takes us through his younger days and beyond with stories and recollections which are extremely funny and relatable. Reminding those of us over a certain age that the ability to measure someone’...

The Cambridge Impronauts – Gilded Balloon Patter House

5Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

The Cambridge Impronauts – Gilded Balloon Patter House

I cannot go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival without seeing improvisation, and as I have never seen the Cambridge Impronauts before, I thought I would pop along. The Cambridge Impronauts as a company were formed in 2003 and have been calling the Gilded Balloon home for the last seven years. In their home town of Cambridge, they run open workshops for students and locals, and show off their improv skills in local shows. Today at the Gilded Balloon, we saw the team using short-form improv in a ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway’ style. For those young ones who are too old to remember this show, there are short scenes improvised after taking suggestions from the studio audience. There is a director setting the scene for the audience, who encourages ideas that will help to...

1 Hour Of Insane Magic: After Dark – Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose: Big Yin

3Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

1 Hour Of Insane Magic: After Dark – Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose: Big Yin

Insane Productions brings a brand new show to the Edinburgh Fringe this year and this time it’s a little naughty, after all it’s taking place “after dark”. The adult nature of this show has definitely been embraced, with suggestive emojis lighting the back walls in neon lights, drinking games and even the flashing of a phallus and balls. It’s the magic element that the show seems to be lacking in. Headlining the show we have 3 energetic and charming magicians who work together incredibly well. Their chemistry is electric and if this was purely a comedy show it would be on its way to a five star review however other than an impressive entrance trick (I shall not spoil it for you), the real magic of the show is done by their guest acts. What is promised to be a magic show bec...

Yippe Ki Yay – Gilded Balloon at the Museum

28Aug

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Yippe Ki Yay – Gilded Balloon at the Museum

The phrase “Yippe Ki Yay” originated in the 19th-century Western United States, making its way into the 1988 film Die Hard entirely within the context of old Westerns: it closes a scene in which Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber accuses Bruce Willis's John McClane of having seen to many John Wayne films and the latter answers he always preferred Roy Rogers. Though the show adds the words “the Die Hard parody” in brackets at the end of its title just to be sure, I wouldn't imagine there is a soul on Earth that went into a show named Yippe Ki Yay looking for a musical about the Old West, such is the hold Die Hard now has over the phrase. It has since been said in every sequel (and a poster) without even an attempt at another cowboy reference, the franchise itself providing its context now. ...

Grown Up Orphan Annie – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

27Aug

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Grown Up Orphan Annie – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

Little Orphan Annie (Katherine Bourne-Taylor) has grown up into a lovable, but insecure, girl-woman with a serious Ovaltine habit. Her happy ending with Daddy Warbucks was a sham: he took all her money, he controls the rights to all her hit songs, and he even stole her dog. Life has been cruel to Annie, but she bustles on with her characteristic optimism infused with desperation. We like her, but she is hard work. This is a one-woman show, but Annie longs for connection and Bourne-Taylor interacts with the audience, and the tech guy, throughout. She asks us if she can go to our “hang” after the show, enlists an audience member to help her onstage, and calls us all her “Fannies”. (I am now the proud owner of a sticker that says “#1 Fannie”.) We catch up with Annie after the ...

The Improv Musical – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

20Aug

By Ben PearsonNo Comments

Scotland

The Improv Musical – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

Music Theatre Warwick, from the University of Warwick, have made the impossible look easy in this entirely improvised musical. The audience chose the two lead characters, Sherlock Holmes and SpongeBob SquarePants, and the location: the Titanic. The musical was named ‘who lives in a monocle under the sea’, by a particularly witty band member, and the performers got straight into it. What followed was hilarious, ridiculous, and highly entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the short mid-way break, in which the audience decided the next plot point. In this case, that John Watson, who had been thrown overboard, would arrive back on the Titanic to declare his love to SpongeBob through an opera song. It was just as crazy and hysterical as it sounds. Throughout the show, I was...

Tartan Table Top in a Dungeons and Dragon’s Comedy: The Never-Ending Quest – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

12Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Tartan Table Top in a Dungeons and Dragon’s Comedy: The Never-Ending Quest – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

Are you a fan of Dungeons and Dragons? Ever shown an interest in the game just never had a team to play with? Or just fancy a silly early evening show at the fringe that doesn’t require having to think too much? If so, this may just be the show for you. Tartan Table Top in a Dungeons and Dragon’s Comedy: The never-Ending Quest brings the beloved role-playing game of Dungeons and Dragons to this year’s fringe, playing a fringe long game in which, you can either come for one sitting or join them for the whole journey every day of the fringe (excluding 16th.) Josh Aitken takes the role of Dungeon Master being incredibly likeable and witty, controlling the session and interacting the most with the audience. Our team of adventurers is made up of: Borogorn who is a character based off of 2...

Don Biswas – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

12Aug

By Stephanie DunkNo Comments

Scotland

Don Biswas – Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose

Don Biswas embraced the audience with a relaxed attitude and demeanour, backed by revolution themed music. His knack for engaging with the crowd, put everyone at ease and created a relaxed atmosphere. He is extremely quick-witted firing back at the audience with one-liners throughout. He showed himself as a person with a considerate nature as he made sure every person in the audience had water; he was concerned we were all going to be too hot, a small gesture that speaks volumes. His comedic material spanned diverse and sometimes controversial topics such as COVID and protests, all from a left-wing perspective. His exploration of themes like gender-neutral toilets and LGBT rights combined humour with insightful political commentary on these issues. Audience involvement ran ...