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The Edinburgh Review
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Aug. 11th, 2008 | 11:00 am
Right! Here are the reviews of the shows I saw when in Edinburgh. As the years wear on we have become far more adept at filtering the shows we see, so that nowadays most of our selection is brilliant and the amount that is dross gets ever closer to being non-existant. The dross that I did see was free and therefore I can't bring myself to bear a grudge.
Edinburgh, as always, points out to me how fun life can be and how great theatre/comedy/entertainment can make you feel. It reminds me that I have a creative/artistic streak and that one day it will have to be fed lest I end up a bitter old man dreaming of what could have been. I have no illusions about ever being 'big' at anything in the entertainment field (quite frankly I don't really want to be), but I'd like to write stuff and maybe take a show up just so I can look the Fringe in the eye and say I did it.
Onward to the reviews!
Aeneaus Faversham Forever
This was the offering from the Penny Dreadfuls - a group we saw last year and the year before at the Fringe. They specialise in semi-surreal humour in a Victorian period setting and for the past two years they have done sketch shows. This year they opted for a comedic play, though the story was very much a backdrop for the humour which had a sketch-like structure to it. As with the last two years they were brilliantly funny with a great script, good timing and excellent acting. The show is regarded as one of the highlights of the Fringe and has received a number of 5 star reviews. It really is one of the best examples of its type and a perfect start to the Edinburgh holiday.
Sketchatron
A sketch-showcase where several acts come and perform a few example sketches so if audience members like what they see they can go to the full shows. Dmitri and Vassily, two characters created and acted by two of the Penny Dreadfuls, consisted of the two Russain characters pretending to do an interview with Sean Connery with one of them as the host and one of them as Sean. Though they never stated it, it appeared that much of it was ad libbed with each trying to out-funny the other. It worked much better than any description on paper would otherwise suggest and ended up being the highlight of the whole thing. The rest of the acts were a mixed bag - sketch shows are very difficult to and some of the sketches did just fall flat with the audience laughing out of politeness. Having said that, there were also one or two genuinely funny moments and at least one of our party was tempted to the full show of one of the acts.
Otis Lee Crenshaw
Amazing. Brilliant. Rich Hall as his alter ego. I first saw him in Nottingham Playhouse about 6-7 years ago where he almost made me rupture a lung through laughing. I almost couldn't believe a famous comedian such as he was playing the small, intimate venue at the Pleasance Courtyard where the audience is practically on his lap. Since it's been a while since I saw Otis I didn't know if he would still be funny and I had some pretty big expectations. He instantly laid my fears to rest with an unrelentingly excellent performance of musical comedy. A highlight was where he improvised a song about a friend of mine - something that I will always remember when watching QI.
Shakespeare for Breakfast
We see this every year. The premise is reworking Shakespeare into different scenarios. This year's offering was Shakespeare characters being banished from the world they inhabit when not in their respective stories to the world of television. It was done well and there were many funny moments, though last year's show was significantly better. This is one of my constants at the Fringe and I will, everything else permitting, see them again next year.
Ginger and Black
Daniel Taylor and Eri Jackson are Ginger and Black because...well, go and see them. They pretend to be miserable and sing lots of funny songs in character on subjects ranging from S&M to Daniel's dreams of being a gymnast. They are POLISHED - anyone wanting to see how well two comedians can tune their act to a smooth, seamless performance should go and watch these two. They work off each other with incredible timing and make it look like it's the easiest thing in the world. They are also laugh-out-loud funny. Go and see them.
Dirt
Apparently 'the most powerful play about racism currently on stage', this is about an Iraqi Immigrant called Sad. I think I must have missed the point on this one. It's a guy standing on stage talking about...well, that's the problem really, I'm not sure. He starts off by saying that his name is "Sad" and pronounces it more like sud, then says that "Sad" in English means sad but he is not sad. At various points he tells us that Kodak was the first English word he knew, and that he loves the English and is a piece of shit and does not deserve to be here. He goes on about how pale skin has been proved to be better than his dark skin with its big pores (to an audience which has a fair amount of black, asian etc...) and makes allusions to his life being awful. The guy himself is good-looking, well built and would not look out of place anywhere in England. The person in the 'story' has a pretty awful life, but it's never really explained why he has such a hard time. I get the impression that this is ART and that it's the sort of thing that a liberal aesthete would emerge from, hand on his brow, and talking about the power of the piece. Personally I would have been much more educated by straightforward descriptions of the plight of asylum seekers which is what I thought it was when I got my (free) ticket. But then the ticket was free - don't see it if you have to pay. Just stay home and read up on asylum seekers and political oppression yourself.
Tim Minchin
This was a real Find. Recommended by a friend with questionable taste we were all a bit skeptical about this one, but it turned out to be one of the best shows I saw. When someone tells you they are going to do a nine minute spoken word piece you groan a little inwardly and hope that the next bit it funny to make up for it - about two minutes in you realise it's brilliant and you hope it really is nine minutes long. After about five minutes it ends are you're dissapointed. He made everything funny, likeable and interesting. The thing about this guy is that he isn't just funny, he also likes to talk about topics like science versus religion - but not in a preachy boring way, he genuinely makes it entertaining. He is also very musically talented and in parts of his show the ever-present comedic element is pushed to the side and he entertains by being a good musician. He also has just the right amount of surrealism and visual entertainment to make you feel like you've had entertainment equivalent of a three course meal with coffee and selection of cheese.
Spank
A comedy showcase night where a selection of stand-up acts show you what they've got. It starts at midnight and goes on for about three hours. I left after one and a half hours because I was tired, but all the acts I saw were first rate and there was a good selection of straight stand-up mixed with a comedy magic act and comedy music. The problem with this show is there is something about it that either attracts compete dicks or brings out the inner dick in otherwise perfectly pleasant audience members. It's partly the nature of the show in which they shout out Spank! and the audience shouts out 'we love it'. It gets the audience excited and makes them think they are supposed to stick their metaphorically nobs onto the stage at evert opportunity. Having said that the comedy was good and while the heckling was irritating it wasn't aggressive - in short, good comedy but not in the best atmosphere.
Involution
I'm not going to lie. I went to see this because Sara Pascoe is in it and I have had an interest in what she's going to do next ever since I saw her as Hamlet in Shakespeare for Breakfast. Involution is also about genetic determinism and use thereof by a religious government in the future, which appeals PhD geneticist in me. The show manages to be about genetics whilst also being about the characters and their stories - in other words the theme doesn't steal the show. There's a surprising amount of people in underwear in it and also a sexbot who hangs around in skimpy dresses showing a lot of thigh which is either very good or gratuitous, I haven't decided which yet. Sara plays a dowdy God-botherer and is dressed up frumpy like someone's grandmother, but she plays her part very well. It was well acted and well done - shows like this are very hard to do and very easy to get wrong so I was very impressed by the overall result.
Assassins
Thanks to James I've gotten into Sondheim. Not literally you understand, but into his shows. This is one of them and is about all the people who have tried (and sometimes succeeded) to assassinate American Presidents. Being a macabre individual I already knew quite a lot about the assassins before the show, but enjoyed the re-telling of the stories of each. Whilst it was well performed I think that Assassins as a show just isn't top-draw, and it wasn't helped by a terrible sound set up so that the fast-spoken songs were incomprehensible and some singers could not be heard at all. Well acted, well sung and well done - I enjoyed it but it wasn't in my top ten.
Sammy J Forest of Dreams
Naughty puppet shows with swearing and sex are back thanks to Avenue Q. Sammy J ends up (for no apparent reason, but then it's not the sort of show where that matters) in the Forest of Dreams where he meets a bunch of puppets, has a bunch of adventures and learns how to be less of a dick. It's funny, it's silly and it's very well done. Hats off to you Mr. Sammy J.
Clever Peter
The guys that did this are such talented actors it almost makes you sick. Combine their excellent character acting with geuinely funny sketches and you have a winner. I did find myself laughing at things that I thought I'd never laugh at - shocking things involving men dressed as gorillas, and the amount of homoerotic content for a non-gay theme sketch show is simply staggering, but you can't argue with the belly laugh, and I laughed throughout whether or not I wanted to. Overall it's brilliant and I will be on the lookout for these chaps next year.
Fooligan
Why did no-one tell me that a man dressed as a big, fat clown dancing about and telling a story interspersed with physical theatrics could be so amazing? The adverts describe this as a village idiot's confrontation with death - it isn't. It's principally about a story teller (possibly the same one) in different situations and different guises. It's a one man show so all the participants are acted out by one man who does so flawlessly with a grace and polish that it quite extraordinary to witness.
The Tartuffe
Take a play by Molière from 1664 and re-work so it includes Lord of the Rings references and the nude scene from American Beauty - but also make it so that the show is brilliant and not at all stupid. Buff it and refine it so that the actors have it down perfect, then play to an audience in a Bohemian style room with cushions and curtains where the audience lounges on the floor except where they are dragged up to participate (usually reluctantly). It's not really the Tartuffe, it's a show inspired by the Tartuffe and could really have been called almost anything else. What it is is fun and very well performed and different - I do like things that are different.
Simply Fancy
I don't really know how to explain this one. Three Australians playing a father and his two children (as well as a winter witch, a ghoul and a magic stag) tell a surreal story about getting fruit for a fruit salad for their grandmother's/mother-in-law's birthday. It's surreal but still works wonderfully and you find yourself enjoying every moment and - here's the interesting bit - despite the surreality you still find yourself following the story and wondering what will happen next.
The Straight Man
I have to assume that at least one member of the cast is Jewish otherwise it might be a bit, um...inappropriate. But this was another fine example of good theatre comedy. The story is of a Jewish man who wants to marry a non-Jew but fears his mother's wrath as she considerd marying out to be 'letting the Nazis win'. He uses the old strategy of pretending to do something much worse (pretending to be gay) to make his non-Jewish engagement seem more reasonable. The play manages to be neither homophobic (being gay is only considered bad from his mother's point of view which the play does not give much seriousness to) nor anti-semetic - though some fun is poked at the Jewish culture. This was another lucky find.
Learn to play the Ukulele in under an hour
George Formby enthusiasts tell the story of how they overcame depression through the ukulele and randomly diverge to tell the story of how they infiltrated the George Formby society convention to find out if it really was the nest of homophobic peadophiles as claimed by one David Bret (according to information presented in the show - I have done no independent research to substantiate). It isn't. They have a great time at the convention and made lots of friends. David Bret is a nut apparently. Each audience member had a ukulele and we learned a few chords - this was fun and different and it's sometimes just great to hear about other people's passions.
Josie Long
And if you like to hear about other people's passions then you can't go wrong with the loveable Josie Long. Josie is very well suited to the Fringe as she is an entertainment rather than straight stand-up and her lack of nob-jokes and observation humour makes her less fitting to, say, a Jongleurs. She talks about stuff she finds interesting in a likeable and entertaining way that captures the audience and makes you want to join in. This was a more polished show than last year and had more elements of a 'traditional' stand-up act, but it was still very Josie Long and very good indeed.
Alex Horn - wordwatching
Like Josie Long, Alex has a passion he wants to share. Unlike Josie Long his passion is consistent from year to year and revolves around trying to get ten new words into the English language by using them in every medium he can from magazine interviews, television interviews and even COUNTDOWN!! That's right, this man has been on Countdown and used one of his made-up words. OK, the word was honk (he is trying to get people to use honk to mean cash) and yes that would have been accepted on Countdown as it has several real meanings, but still... The problem is I don't think he's picked very good words - he cites chillax and bootylicious as words that have made it into the Oxford dictionary but they are catchy and speak to today's society in a way that 'honk' doesn't. His show was more entertaining than funny but perfect for the Fringe and I'd go and see him again.
Company
This Sondheim show was performed to virtual perfection by EUSOG. At time it was hard to believe that this wasn't a professional production, and I was simply amazed at how well the difficult music was performed by the singers. Strangely enough this show has received mixed reviews on the Edinburgh Fringe website as members of the theatre going audience seemed to either love or hate it. I suspect that in some cases the cast was too young for the reviewers liking (EUSOG are a student group), but otherwise find it very difficult to see what they found fault with. This show was about as seamless as I have ever seen, and certainly much better than anything I have been in. This quality of production in an amateur group is extremely rare.
Tea Dance
I really made an effort to see and do different things this time around, and I think that with the Fooligan, Tartuffe, Ukulele and perhaps Dirt, I did veer away from my usual comedy/musical theatre diet. Tea Dance was another example of my effort to do something different - basically it was learning to dance with cocktails and refreshments. It wasn't what I expected though. Picture this: there's a space in the middle of the Pleasance Dome surrounded by theatre goers, people relaxing with a cup of coffee etc... in which a couple dressed in ballroom atire teach a total of TWO couples (including me and Anna) the foxtrot. Odd huh? Dancing Fred Astaire style (perhaps Fred Astaire after a car accident) in the middle of a Fringe venue. Anyway, it was different.
Miles Jupp
Apparently the voice of Archy the inventor in something called 'Balamory' this comedian was pretty funny. He did the old trick of never pausing for breath which means that the audience didn't have time to laugh but nor did they have time to not laugh. It's something comedians often do if they sense the audience isn't with them. Miles didn't really need to worry, he was well received. He's not the funniest stand-up I've seen, but he was entertaining.
Elizabeth and Raleigh: late but live
Written by Stuart Lee this surreal piece of comedy had only two actors, both male, one playing Queen Elizabeth and one Sir Walter Raleigh. After a shakey start which included a slide show with pictures of Jimmy Carr that was just strange, the show warmed up into a kind of visually engaging, nonsensical dialogue between Elizabeth and Raleigh with strangely haunting music from a small woman dressed as an Native American with a surprisingly large array of musical instruments. She even played the organ at one point. Key moments include the Queen bouncing on a mini trampoline to express her anger, Raleigh on an execution block singing 'you don't bring me flowers' while being fed mash potato by the queen, and a re-enactment of Drake's victory over the Spanish Armada by the actors with giant model ships on their heads. The audience was small and mostly confused. Though I can't really say why, I did end up enjoying this quite a lot.
Edinburgh, as always, points out to me how fun life can be and how great theatre/comedy/entertainment can make you feel. It reminds me that I have a creative/artistic streak and that one day it will have to be fed lest I end up a bitter old man dreaming of what could have been. I have no illusions about ever being 'big' at anything in the entertainment field (quite frankly I don't really want to be), but I'd like to write stuff and maybe take a show up just so I can look the Fringe in the eye and say I did it.
Onward to the reviews!
Aeneaus Faversham Forever
This was the offering from the Penny Dreadfuls - a group we saw last year and the year before at the Fringe. They specialise in semi-surreal humour in a Victorian period setting and for the past two years they have done sketch shows. This year they opted for a comedic play, though the story was very much a backdrop for the humour which had a sketch-like structure to it. As with the last two years they were brilliantly funny with a great script, good timing and excellent acting. The show is regarded as one of the highlights of the Fringe and has received a number of 5 star reviews. It really is one of the best examples of its type and a perfect start to the Edinburgh holiday.
Sketchatron
A sketch-showcase where several acts come and perform a few example sketches so if audience members like what they see they can go to the full shows. Dmitri and Vassily, two characters created and acted by two of the Penny Dreadfuls, consisted of the two Russain characters pretending to do an interview with Sean Connery with one of them as the host and one of them as Sean. Though they never stated it, it appeared that much of it was ad libbed with each trying to out-funny the other. It worked much better than any description on paper would otherwise suggest and ended up being the highlight of the whole thing. The rest of the acts were a mixed bag - sketch shows are very difficult to and some of the sketches did just fall flat with the audience laughing out of politeness. Having said that, there were also one or two genuinely funny moments and at least one of our party was tempted to the full show of one of the acts.
Otis Lee Crenshaw
Amazing. Brilliant. Rich Hall as his alter ego. I first saw him in Nottingham Playhouse about 6-7 years ago where he almost made me rupture a lung through laughing. I almost couldn't believe a famous comedian such as he was playing the small, intimate venue at the Pleasance Courtyard where the audience is practically on his lap. Since it's been a while since I saw Otis I didn't know if he would still be funny and I had some pretty big expectations. He instantly laid my fears to rest with an unrelentingly excellent performance of musical comedy. A highlight was where he improvised a song about a friend of mine - something that I will always remember when watching QI.
Shakespeare for Breakfast
We see this every year. The premise is reworking Shakespeare into different scenarios. This year's offering was Shakespeare characters being banished from the world they inhabit when not in their respective stories to the world of television. It was done well and there were many funny moments, though last year's show was significantly better. This is one of my constants at the Fringe and I will, everything else permitting, see them again next year.
Ginger and Black
Daniel Taylor and Eri Jackson are Ginger and Black because...well, go and see them. They pretend to be miserable and sing lots of funny songs in character on subjects ranging from S&M to Daniel's dreams of being a gymnast. They are POLISHED - anyone wanting to see how well two comedians can tune their act to a smooth, seamless performance should go and watch these two. They work off each other with incredible timing and make it look like it's the easiest thing in the world. They are also laugh-out-loud funny. Go and see them.
Dirt
Apparently 'the most powerful play about racism currently on stage', this is about an Iraqi Immigrant called Sad. I think I must have missed the point on this one. It's a guy standing on stage talking about...well, that's the problem really, I'm not sure. He starts off by saying that his name is "Sad" and pronounces it more like sud, then says that "Sad" in English means sad but he is not sad. At various points he tells us that Kodak was the first English word he knew, and that he loves the English and is a piece of shit and does not deserve to be here. He goes on about how pale skin has been proved to be better than his dark skin with its big pores (to an audience which has a fair amount of black, asian etc...) and makes allusions to his life being awful. The guy himself is good-looking, well built and would not look out of place anywhere in England. The person in the 'story' has a pretty awful life, but it's never really explained why he has such a hard time. I get the impression that this is ART and that it's the sort of thing that a liberal aesthete would emerge from, hand on his brow, and talking about the power of the piece. Personally I would have been much more educated by straightforward descriptions of the plight of asylum seekers which is what I thought it was when I got my (free) ticket. But then the ticket was free - don't see it if you have to pay. Just stay home and read up on asylum seekers and political oppression yourself.
Tim Minchin
This was a real Find. Recommended by a friend with questionable taste we were all a bit skeptical about this one, but it turned out to be one of the best shows I saw. When someone tells you they are going to do a nine minute spoken word piece you groan a little inwardly and hope that the next bit it funny to make up for it - about two minutes in you realise it's brilliant and you hope it really is nine minutes long. After about five minutes it ends are you're dissapointed. He made everything funny, likeable and interesting. The thing about this guy is that he isn't just funny, he also likes to talk about topics like science versus religion - but not in a preachy boring way, he genuinely makes it entertaining. He is also very musically talented and in parts of his show the ever-present comedic element is pushed to the side and he entertains by being a good musician. He also has just the right amount of surrealism and visual entertainment to make you feel like you've had entertainment equivalent of a three course meal with coffee and selection of cheese.
Spank
A comedy showcase night where a selection of stand-up acts show you what they've got. It starts at midnight and goes on for about three hours. I left after one and a half hours because I was tired, but all the acts I saw were first rate and there was a good selection of straight stand-up mixed with a comedy magic act and comedy music. The problem with this show is there is something about it that either attracts compete dicks or brings out the inner dick in otherwise perfectly pleasant audience members. It's partly the nature of the show in which they shout out Spank! and the audience shouts out 'we love it'. It gets the audience excited and makes them think they are supposed to stick their metaphorically nobs onto the stage at evert opportunity. Having said that the comedy was good and while the heckling was irritating it wasn't aggressive - in short, good comedy but not in the best atmosphere.
Involution
I'm not going to lie. I went to see this because Sara Pascoe is in it and I have had an interest in what she's going to do next ever since I saw her as Hamlet in Shakespeare for Breakfast. Involution is also about genetic determinism and use thereof by a religious government in the future, which appeals PhD geneticist in me. The show manages to be about genetics whilst also being about the characters and their stories - in other words the theme doesn't steal the show. There's a surprising amount of people in underwear in it and also a sexbot who hangs around in skimpy dresses showing a lot of thigh which is either very good or gratuitous, I haven't decided which yet. Sara plays a dowdy God-botherer and is dressed up frumpy like someone's grandmother, but she plays her part very well. It was well acted and well done - shows like this are very hard to do and very easy to get wrong so I was very impressed by the overall result.
Assassins
Thanks to James I've gotten into Sondheim. Not literally you understand, but into his shows. This is one of them and is about all the people who have tried (and sometimes succeeded) to assassinate American Presidents. Being a macabre individual I already knew quite a lot about the assassins before the show, but enjoyed the re-telling of the stories of each. Whilst it was well performed I think that Assassins as a show just isn't top-draw, and it wasn't helped by a terrible sound set up so that the fast-spoken songs were incomprehensible and some singers could not be heard at all. Well acted, well sung and well done - I enjoyed it but it wasn't in my top ten.
Sammy J Forest of Dreams
Naughty puppet shows with swearing and sex are back thanks to Avenue Q. Sammy J ends up (for no apparent reason, but then it's not the sort of show where that matters) in the Forest of Dreams where he meets a bunch of puppets, has a bunch of adventures and learns how to be less of a dick. It's funny, it's silly and it's very well done. Hats off to you Mr. Sammy J.
Clever Peter
The guys that did this are such talented actors it almost makes you sick. Combine their excellent character acting with geuinely funny sketches and you have a winner. I did find myself laughing at things that I thought I'd never laugh at - shocking things involving men dressed as gorillas, and the amount of homoerotic content for a non-gay theme sketch show is simply staggering, but you can't argue with the belly laugh, and I laughed throughout whether or not I wanted to. Overall it's brilliant and I will be on the lookout for these chaps next year.
Fooligan
Why did no-one tell me that a man dressed as a big, fat clown dancing about and telling a story interspersed with physical theatrics could be so amazing? The adverts describe this as a village idiot's confrontation with death - it isn't. It's principally about a story teller (possibly the same one) in different situations and different guises. It's a one man show so all the participants are acted out by one man who does so flawlessly with a grace and polish that it quite extraordinary to witness.
The Tartuffe
Take a play by Molière from 1664 and re-work so it includes Lord of the Rings references and the nude scene from American Beauty - but also make it so that the show is brilliant and not at all stupid. Buff it and refine it so that the actors have it down perfect, then play to an audience in a Bohemian style room with cushions and curtains where the audience lounges on the floor except where they are dragged up to participate (usually reluctantly). It's not really the Tartuffe, it's a show inspired by the Tartuffe and could really have been called almost anything else. What it is is fun and very well performed and different - I do like things that are different.
Simply Fancy
I don't really know how to explain this one. Three Australians playing a father and his two children (as well as a winter witch, a ghoul and a magic stag) tell a surreal story about getting fruit for a fruit salad for their grandmother's/mother-in-law's birthday. It's surreal but still works wonderfully and you find yourself enjoying every moment and - here's the interesting bit - despite the surreality you still find yourself following the story and wondering what will happen next.
The Straight Man
I have to assume that at least one member of the cast is Jewish otherwise it might be a bit, um...inappropriate. But this was another fine example of good theatre comedy. The story is of a Jewish man who wants to marry a non-Jew but fears his mother's wrath as she considerd marying out to be 'letting the Nazis win'. He uses the old strategy of pretending to do something much worse (pretending to be gay) to make his non-Jewish engagement seem more reasonable. The play manages to be neither homophobic (being gay is only considered bad from his mother's point of view which the play does not give much seriousness to) nor anti-semetic - though some fun is poked at the Jewish culture. This was another lucky find.
Learn to play the Ukulele in under an hour
George Formby enthusiasts tell the story of how they overcame depression through the ukulele and randomly diverge to tell the story of how they infiltrated the George Formby society convention to find out if it really was the nest of homophobic peadophiles as claimed by one David Bret (according to information presented in the show - I have done no independent research to substantiate). It isn't. They have a great time at the convention and made lots of friends. David Bret is a nut apparently. Each audience member had a ukulele and we learned a few chords - this was fun and different and it's sometimes just great to hear about other people's passions.
Josie Long
And if you like to hear about other people's passions then you can't go wrong with the loveable Josie Long. Josie is very well suited to the Fringe as she is an entertainment rather than straight stand-up and her lack of nob-jokes and observation humour makes her less fitting to, say, a Jongleurs. She talks about stuff she finds interesting in a likeable and entertaining way that captures the audience and makes you want to join in. This was a more polished show than last year and had more elements of a 'traditional' stand-up act, but it was still very Josie Long and very good indeed.
Alex Horn - wordwatching
Like Josie Long, Alex has a passion he wants to share. Unlike Josie Long his passion is consistent from year to year and revolves around trying to get ten new words into the English language by using them in every medium he can from magazine interviews, television interviews and even COUNTDOWN!! That's right, this man has been on Countdown and used one of his made-up words. OK, the word was honk (he is trying to get people to use honk to mean cash) and yes that would have been accepted on Countdown as it has several real meanings, but still... The problem is I don't think he's picked very good words - he cites chillax and bootylicious as words that have made it into the Oxford dictionary but they are catchy and speak to today's society in a way that 'honk' doesn't. His show was more entertaining than funny but perfect for the Fringe and I'd go and see him again.
Company
This Sondheim show was performed to virtual perfection by EUSOG. At time it was hard to believe that this wasn't a professional production, and I was simply amazed at how well the difficult music was performed by the singers. Strangely enough this show has received mixed reviews on the Edinburgh Fringe website as members of the theatre going audience seemed to either love or hate it. I suspect that in some cases the cast was too young for the reviewers liking (EUSOG are a student group), but otherwise find it very difficult to see what they found fault with. This show was about as seamless as I have ever seen, and certainly much better than anything I have been in. This quality of production in an amateur group is extremely rare.
Tea Dance
I really made an effort to see and do different things this time around, and I think that with the Fooligan, Tartuffe, Ukulele and perhaps Dirt, I did veer away from my usual comedy/musical theatre diet. Tea Dance was another example of my effort to do something different - basically it was learning to dance with cocktails and refreshments. It wasn't what I expected though. Picture this: there's a space in the middle of the Pleasance Dome surrounded by theatre goers, people relaxing with a cup of coffee etc... in which a couple dressed in ballroom atire teach a total of TWO couples (including me and Anna) the foxtrot. Odd huh? Dancing Fred Astaire style (perhaps Fred Astaire after a car accident) in the middle of a Fringe venue. Anyway, it was different.
Miles Jupp
Apparently the voice of Archy the inventor in something called 'Balamory' this comedian was pretty funny. He did the old trick of never pausing for breath which means that the audience didn't have time to laugh but nor did they have time to not laugh. It's something comedians often do if they sense the audience isn't with them. Miles didn't really need to worry, he was well received. He's not the funniest stand-up I've seen, but he was entertaining.
Elizabeth and Raleigh: late but live
Written by Stuart Lee this surreal piece of comedy had only two actors, both male, one playing Queen Elizabeth and one Sir Walter Raleigh. After a shakey start which included a slide show with pictures of Jimmy Carr that was just strange, the show warmed up into a kind of visually engaging, nonsensical dialogue between Elizabeth and Raleigh with strangely haunting music from a small woman dressed as an Native American with a surprisingly large array of musical instruments. She even played the organ at one point. Key moments include the Queen bouncing on a mini trampoline to express her anger, Raleigh on an execution block singing 'you don't bring me flowers' while being fed mash potato by the queen, and a re-enactment of Drake's victory over the Spanish Armada by the actors with giant model ships on their heads. The audience was small and mostly confused. Though I can't really say why, I did end up enjoying this quite a lot.
