Monday, August 31

Tag: Guilded Balloon

Top Gunchained – Guilded Balloon Teviot
Scotland

Top Gunchained – Guilded Balloon Teviot

It is not the most promising of starts. A double-height room, plastic seats laid out on the flat and an approximately 18-inch-high stage. On it, there is virtually nothing: black drapes, a solitary leather swivel chair and a Top Gun-esque flying jacket. Fortunately, Richard Marsh doesn't need much else. Top Gunchained retells Top Gun through beat poetry, physical comedy and Marsh's own relationship with his father. It is a clever conceit, but what elevates it beyond movie parody is the warmth of that father-son story. Marsh's portrayal of his dad, complete with a wonderfully characterful West Country accent, is particularly lovely. We see the young Marsh growing up on his father's knee with Top Gun becoming one of their favourite films and later r...
Boy In A Box – Guilded Balloon Patter House
Scotland

Boy In A Box – Guilded Balloon Patter House

There is something wonderfully unsettling about Paul Coates’ Boy in a Box. This is a single hander that treads a remarkably fine line between humour and some very dark places indeed, including suicide, while somehow finding room for what becomes a fascinating, if increasingly unhinged, lecture on American history. And the box is not theoretical. It is right there. Every now and again, a thump comes from inside it. Whatever, or whoever, is in there wants out: the disenfranchised, the silenced, the forgotten majority? We are told one thing with certainty, whatever is in the box is definitely not white. So, what is it? Black? Brown? Asian? Honduran? All of them? And, more importantly, who is willing to open the box and find out? Coates veers between appearing like a madma...
Midnight at the Palace – Guilded Balloon, Patter House
Scotland

Midnight at the Palace – Guilded Balloon, Patter House

My first show of the gauntlet, the scrum, the gladiatorial fight to the death that is the Edinburgh Fringe, kicks off with a world Premier, Midnight at the Palace. An energetic and at times engaging musical, a reimagining of the true story of The Cockettes, a posse of counter-culture glitter-bearded drag queens who took San Francisco by storm in the sixties. Rallying against discrimination at home and unwanted wars overseas, writers Brandon James Gwinnett and Rae Binstock set words to the flower power revolution powered by drugs and free love that drove The Cockettes all the way to the big apple where it all came to a messy end in the early seventies. The talented 8-strong cast from across the pond provide plenty to see and hear, with excellent live keyboard accompaniment, and some ...
Kevin Quantum: Anti-Gravity – Guilded Balloon, Patter House
Scotland

Kevin Quantum: Anti-Gravity – Guilded Balloon, Patter House

With a great time slot in a beautiful magical space (dark red walls and mythical themed golden plaques) in a very central location and a carefully curated child-friendly show, Kevin may have got everything just about perfect this year, particularly for the family market. Sold out and with a wide and varied demographic, the ever-likeable Kevin is on excellent form interacting to great effect with kids and adults alike in a show which is surprisingly high on humour as well as magic in what I see as a significant change for the better over previous years. High on audience participation and interaction right from the start, this show keeps you on your toes and scratching your head, the hour certainly flew by. Having spent half of his adult life studying physics and half studying magic, Magi...