Warhol: Bullet Karma – Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Garry Roost’s one-man performance of Andy Warhol starts at the point where he survived a murderous attempt on his life by Valerie Solanas, who was convinced that he wanted to steal her script. From there on Roost gives a breathless and sometimes overly hectic account of Warhol’s creative and emotional life.

The screen is split into four smaller screens all in day glow primary colours to give the effect of Warhol’s iconic pop art structure and I must say it actually works very well indeed. The set is minimal and keeps to the pop art theme

Warhol: Bullet Karma is so well written and researched throughout and Roost’s outstanding impersonations of that Warhol era are quite remarkable but on reflection I did feel it was a touch rambling in some parts and although it would definitely appeal to fans of Warhol and the whole pop art culture of the time, it might leave some non- aficionados slightly more detached.

Roost (under the direction of Kenneth Hadley) nevertheless gives a faultless performance as the idiosyncratic American artist whose notoriety and talent lasted a whole lot longer than his famous “15 minutes of fame” quote. 

Reviewer: Kiefer Williams

Reviewed: 15th August 2021

North West End UK Rating: ★★★