It's so nice to be back in Edinburgh again. This year, due to working continuously on the London comedy circuit, I'm somewhat more savvy when it comes to who I should see. I've been thoroughly abusing my Pleasance company pass seeing some lovely shows.
First Day:
8:15pm - James Acaster (Pleasance Baby Grand)
A fantastic hour of stand up from Mr Acaster. Having seen most of his material at Schadenfreude did not diminish my enjoyment of this show. The observations are hilarious, with call backs and referencing intricately woven throughout his set. Acaster's laid back style of performance is almost low energy but the audience willingly bridges that gap. Featuring the brilliant Kettering Town chant - full commitment to the entire song! Simply hilarious!
9:45pm - Pretending Things Are A Cock (Pleasance Below)
One man and a power point presentation of a four year trip to photograph strategically positioned landmarks to form his cock. As silly as it sounds but fantastically funny with some lovely story telling sections to balance out the childish premise of te show. Lovely show!
11pm - Boris and Sergey (Pleasance Below)
Saw these guys at Wilton's Music Hall when I was doing Britannicus. Loved it in November, loved it now! The show has tightened up (though the ending was still a touch too long for my taste - and the show takes an energy slump towards its supposed climax - despite fully reclaiming it with a chilling final moment). The puppetry is flawless. Three people per character work beautifully together. I love to watch Boris and Sergey as figures and then let my attention wander to the performers themselves. A lovely, rowdy late night show.
Second Day:
7:05 - The Intervention (Assembly Rooms)
My ex-colleague Michael Malarkey (of Great Gatsby fame) plays a councillor in this new comedy play. Fast paced and funny to start, the action takes a darker turn (which I wasn't anticipating and so it felt like too much of a gear change to begin with). Highly recommend this one for a bit of early evening theatre.
9:10pm - Luke Toulson (Underbelly)
Had this guy in my venue in 2010 (in double act Toulson ad Harvey). He did a stand up hour that year too so I was excited to see it after 2 years' development. I wasn't disappointed. I saw first night and loved it, so this can only continue to improve - go see him!!
Third Day:
8:10pm - Thom Tuck Flips Out (Pleasance Jack Dome)
Loved 'Straight to DVD' last year. I saw his preview which was a little haphazard but charming and hilariously funny. There was a moment where my friend Fennel had to check I was ok, I was laughing so hard no noise was coming out! I recommend this too.
9:40pm - The Boy With Tape On His Face (Pleasance Grand)
Snagged a last minute £6 ticket for this beauty and got front row seats (get in!!)
Really enjoyed myself, despite having seen a large section of the material during his tv pilot filming in March. But new stuff is fantastic - the ending is euphoric! Shan't say any more as my mother has excitedly pre-booked tickets (and to be fair she's probably the only one to read this blog!) But go see it!
Fourth Day:
Hourly 12pm - 7pm - PEEP (Pleasance Courtyard)
(*Mum, if you could skip this following review that would be grand - I'm about to critique a sexually explicit play. Thanks!)
I love the premise of this. Three twenty minute plays (in rotation throughout the day) about sex. The venue is a pop-up black plastic peep show booth, where you enter a cubicle alone, place a pair of earphones on and await the beginning of the play, staged in the round on the opposite side of a two way mirror. I saw the 5pm offering, 'MEAT', about a couple discussing watching pornography. While I loved the venue design, premise and objective of staging new writing exclusively on the subject of sex, I was highly disappointed by the short. The characterisation was wooden and unconvincing. The staging was unnatural and awkward. The script was truly dire. I have rather strong views on staging sexually explicit work - anyone who saw Old Rabbis in the Sky can testify to that - and this piece was drastically outdated and unrealistic. The 34 year old woman had never seen pornography (fair enough) but was ignorant of the most commonplace of terms - which led to cringeworthy explanations from her partner. The modern dress placed it as a contemporary piece but this woman (who was in a committed sexual relationship) was distressingly ignorant of any sexual expression - or indeed basic social norms as she confessed to watching a "porno" (is that the right word? She vapidly enquired) at work. Never mind her subsequent (and surprisingly swift apparently) masturbation to said film (at her desk one is left to deduce -wtf?!???)
Despite her discomfort and naivety as a character, the director had seen fit to stage her narration in a mild re-enactment as she proceeded to suck on her fingers and twirl on the spot.
Truly awful. I fought shouting angrily through the two-way mirror
I will check out the other two for fairness' sake. But I was highly disappointed by this promising concept.
10pm - Late Night Gimp Fight (Pleasance Forth)
(*you can start reading again Mum. Gimps are fine.)
The boys' fourth year on the Fringe is satisfyingly dark and funny. I would argue that previous years' offerings have been more enjoyable but maybe I'm just mourning the loss of Face Gimp Richard Campbell (who has taken this years Fringe off) or even mourning the lack of colour coding (I loved the colour coding). Nevertheless a highly enjoyable hour of dark and silly sketches rattled through at breakneck speed. Well done boys.
Not a bad first week for a girl with a five show schedule....
Amy
No comments:
Post a Comment