Friday, September 4

Tag: Magnus Kelly

Glenn & Flenn – Paradise in the Vault
Scotland

Glenn & Flenn – Paradise in the Vault

Glenn & Flenn were the stars of a kid’s TV puppet show that has unfortunately fallen into obscurity. Both puppets and actors have been trapped in the studio and time has not been kind to them. Years of disuse made the puppets moldy and rotten, and the puppeteers might just be going insane. It’s a wonderfully strange idea and writer and director Frederick Bang’s script has a good build up to the finale and lots of hilarious and lovelifying humour. The Glenn & Flenn jingle and fun little songs particularly stand out and really pull the audience into this world, keeping everyone engaged throughout the show. The puppetry unfortunately did not work. Eyelines are not working on the construction side, there’ some odd choices like hiding the puppet being one’s back although the audi...
Dracula’s Guest – Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh
Scotland

Dracula’s Guest – Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh

The rock carved chambers at Banshee Labyrinth are highly appropriate for the annual horror festival but are also arguably among the most testing in Edinburgh for performers, where the combination of (extreme!) background pub noise, very late audience arrivals and tiny cave-like spaces, with minimal tech and set, provide a stern test for their theatrical efforts. However, I’m pleased to report that tonight, Frederick Bang’s sensitively played Jonathan Harker and Magnus Kelly’s towering Dracula manage to pull off an unlikely triumph in the face of such minor issues. Indeed, by the end of the climactic and bloody performance, there seemed to be as many peering in (and cheering!) from the labyrinth corridor beyond as in the room itself! Produced by Martyr, a Glasgow based theatre compan...