Category Archives: EdFestivals 2019

All our coverage from the 2019 festivals.

“Clive Anderson: Me, Macbeth and I” (Assembly George Square Studios, AUG 13-25 : 21:30 : 60mins)

Posted in EdFestivals 2019, EdFestivals 2019 – Reviews by

“If Prime Minister* Ken Clarke’s Hushpuppies were an EdFringe act, this might be it. Stylish, comfortable, unthreatening, finely-crafted, and ex-barristery.”

Editorial Rating: 3 Stars: Outstanding

“So who is Clive Anderson?” my companion drawls Mid-Westernly. “He’s a pretty big deal,” I reply. “Ex-Footlights. Ex-Barrister. He interviewed Gorbachev. Not exactly a national-treasure, but definitely a favourite national tea-mug that’s been in use down the ages.” My companion looks blank and I recall the look on the guard’s face at the National Portrait Gallery when she asked him, “Sir, where are the famous people?”

My own personal favourite tea mug had been purchased from the EUSA shop, not a stone’s throw from where we stood behind a long queue of expectant punters. Said mug, which advertised that the Guardian newspaper could be purchased by students for 20p, saw service in both the undergrad and postgrad campaigns, toured the provinces during the lean years, and saw service in every rented cupboard and shabby (but not chic) dresser, right up to the forever house, with it’s surprisingly grabby preschoolers and less surprisingly unbouncy kitchen floor tiles. It’s currently helping to drain the soil for a scented geranium. It’s fair to say that my cherished mug has seen better days.

So what of the nation’s favourite tea mug, Clive Anderson? In what state will we find him? Faded? Chipped? Bitter from some sod putting making instant coffee in him and not washing him out properly?

The former chat show host and chair of Whose Line is it Anyway? arrives on stage dressed like what Henry Irving thought Macbeth dressed like. Pause for breath and… vroom! he’s off with the same stately, but dynamic energy as one of those Bentley motorcars he tongue-in-cheekedly plugged in a Christmas episode of HIGNFY. A lifetime on the after-dinner circuit and he’s cornering with precision, racing down the straights with material that is well-worn without being tired, homely without being plain. If Prime Minister* Ken Clarke’s Hushpuppies were an EdFringe act, this might be it. Stylish, comfortable, unthreatening, finely-crafted, and ex-barristery.

*apologies I watched the next episode from the Brexit box set while you were out.

Anderson opens with a learned essay on his favourite Shakespeare play, Macbeth. Not super researched, the historical Macbeth went to Rome and not the Holy Land, but sufficiently well remembered to open onto a scenic landscape of showbiz reminiscences and anecdotes. It is a very pleasant hour and we all leave pleasantly pleased… with one exception.

“This is just like that time you took me to see that Gyles Brandreth dude!” complains my companion. “This guy was good, and I get that he’s a big deal on your side of the pond, but did no one remind him that the people sitting stage right also paid for their seats?” Her case for the prosecution presents a litany of minor (and not so minor) staging errors, her criticism of Anderson’s admittedly frantic pacing is crushing, and her insinuation that the fowl specimen of wretched humanity in the dock has been driving without due care and attention of his director may stick in the jury room.

This is not objectively a *5 show from her technical perspective. Subjectively, however, if you are in the market for a Clive Anderson product this EdFringe, this is an excellent vintage. If Jack Pomeroy were selling it in his wine bar, it would deliver considerably more than his regular Chateau Thames Embankment. Chateau Clive Anderson has many finer seasons in store and I can’t wait to try them.

outstanding

StarStarStar

—

Reviewer: Dan Lentell (Seen 11 August)

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THIS REVIEW HAS NOT BEEN SUBEDITED

+3 Interview: Hyper-Nice

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2019, Plus 3 2019 – Features by

“I had just started chemotherapy during last year’s fringe – I thought at the time I looked great. Having reviewed the photographic records turned out I looked like a duck egg wearing spectacles.”

WHO: David Watson: Solo Performer

WHAT: “Aspiring to be more vacuous? Thanking strangers for no reason? Hyper-Nice is a new, original, one person stand-up show in which David Watson mostly apologises for breathing and tries to be “nice”. It seems sorry is not the hardest word. Incisive social comedy.”

WHERE: theSpace @ Surgeons Hall – Haldane Theatre (Venue 53) 

WHEN: 17:20 (50 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

I’ve been to the festival 5 or 6 times, as a punter and as a writer and director, but I’ve Never performed before. I’m doing a 1 man show, having done a bit of stand up in the past, mostly at home in Liverpool. What am I expecting? The ticket sales for my week look ok, but I’m all over the 2 audience members on a wet Tuesday situation and expecting it again. Doesn’t bother me one bit (he says now). I remember late-night drinking and possibly the best funk disco I ever attended in my life with cans of red stripe being distributed from dustbins – different times. I remember the faces of the poor residents marching past curiously dressed promotors with looks of disdain.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’18?

This answer was going to be straightforward until I read the stipulation “try and make the reader smile”. I had just started chemotherapy during last year’s fringe – I thought at the time I looked great. Having reviewed the photographic records turned out I looked like a duck egg wearing spectacles … and the weight loss was nowhere near sufficient for my purposes either. Anyway, much better now and I guess this 45-minute show (WHICH CONTAINS NO MENTION OF CANCER) is a reaction to that, I may as well just as well be jumping out of a plane or seeking to ride a bull…

Tell us about your show.

It’s a one-man stand-up show written and performed by me, and it contains, I would say, moments of genius, and, it will probably transpire some filler. It’s about being gauche and English and apologising too much, and getting off on the gratitude of others.

I did a free Liverpool show two weeks ago to about 90 mates and mates of mates. It was fun and chaotic, and I’ve toned down the swearing. No plans for after the fringe yet Burt probably a London show at some stage … and a lot of radio work (that was a joke).

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

Jonny Pelham: Off Limits – amazing subject matter, which doesn’t sound like it should ever be the subject of comedy, which is why it should.

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+3 Interview: Cathy: A Retelling of Wuthering Heights

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2019, Plus 3 2019 – Features by

“I also was on a popular Channel 4 reality tv show, although since it hasn’t aired yet, I’m unsure if I’m allowed to say which one!”

WHO: Michael Bascom: Composer

WHAT: “This new musical by Michael Bascom retells the story of Heathcliff and Cathy, two soul-bound lovers thwarted by family, society and God. The sun shines over the moors, but a storm of vengeance is brewing in this story of a passionate romance which transcends life – and death – itself. Described as ‘a highly moving production, brilliantly depicting the tragedy and passion of Bronte’s novel’ (TCS), the show sees its Fringe debut after premiering last November to a critically acclaimed, sold-out run at the University of Cambridge.”

WHERE: theSpace @ Niddry St – Upper Theatre (Thrust) (Venue 9) 

WHEN: 22:20 (75 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

I visited Edinburgh briefly last autumn, but this is my first time to the Fringe festival! I was warned that it was ‘a lot’ and I have to say that it’s taken a little while to adjust to the perpetual exhaustion of putting on a show, flyering for a show, and then actually seeing shows, and so on. I arrived with high hopes, having had a surprise mention on Elaine Paige’s show on BBC Radio 2 the Sunday before the festival, although I’ve realised more fully since being here what a slog the Fringe is meant to be. I love a challenge, however, and I’m starting to find myself in my element amidst the madness of it all!

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’18?

The biggest thing to have happened to me since last year’s festival was probably graduating, finally! I started my undergraduate degree a tad later than usual, at 24, and it was something I’ve always known I wanted to do before starting my career. So it’s a bit weird adjusting to ‘real-life’ after feeling a bit on hold for the past 10 years! I studied music at Cambridge, but being a mature undergrad I got to study at St Edmund’s college with other ‘mature’ (aka over 21) students, where I met some truly incredible people. I also was on a popular Channel 4 reality tv show, although since it hasn’t aired yet, I’m unsure if I’m allowed to say which one!

Tell us about your show.

The show is a ‘retelling’ of Wuthering Heights; I wrote the music/lyrics and adapted the original novel into a script (who am I to change Emily Brontë’s own words?). It closely follows much of the original story, but I’ve altered the second half somewhat significantly to make it a bit more Shakespearean in its gesture, with the real-time events of the tragedy occurring all within a 24-hour period rather than over the course of 30-40 years. I first conceived the musical about 10 years ago when I was 17, being a young, closeted Mormon gay boy, and totally inspired by Heathcliff and Cathy’s tumultuous, passionate romance – putting each other above their own family, society, and even God – I knew I had to set it to music.

I also knew I had neither the talent nor means to pull off a musical at that time, so whenever a song would come to me (usually in its entirety, almost like a ‘download’, on random afternoons) I would just archive it until the time felt right. Finally (having since ‘come out’ and leaving Mormonism), last year seemed to be that time and so I put on ‘Cathy’ at one of the university theatres in Cambridge. It had phenomenal success, so I decided to take it to Edinburgh, although really I still consider it a bit of a showcase for a bigger, full-length musical (and I’m looking for a scriptwriter!). Hopefully, I’ll take it to London after, depending on what happens here in Edinburgh!

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

A friend of mine has written a show based on Northanger Abbey (called – surprise – Northanger Abbey), which will be on at the French Institute on the 12-13 and 16-24. She’s incredibly talented and the whole team are great – it also received a 5-star review in Cambridge last year! So I would 100% recommend catching that while you can, and it will probably help lift the spirits slightly after Wuthering Heights!

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+3 Interview: F. Off

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2019, Plus 3 2019 – Features by

“The company came together after our membership auditioned via mobile phone self-tapes telling us what they thought about social media and then we spent a month workshopping and scratched the show for one night only at The Criterion Theatre in the West End, when Ian McKellen said it was the best NYT show he’s seen his years.”

WHO: Paul Roseby: Director

WHAT: “F. Off. As the extremes of social media kick up an unsettling and unsavoury stink, Evening Standard ‘One to Watch’ writer Tatty Hennessy, National Youth Theatre Artistic Director Paul Roseby and Britain’s best young talent are kicking off in response in true interrogatory style to put Mark Zuckerberg and his social network colleagues on trial. The question is who really is to blame, and who is following who? So we ask you, the audience, to be the jury and the NYT company will be the disrupters. Served with a heavy helping of humour, some knitting and hardcore experts.”

WHERE: Underbelly, Cowgate – Belly Button (Venue 61) 

WHEN: 12:50 (75 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

My first ever Edinburgh was right next door to our venue this year on Cowgate actually, at the Grey Friar’s Kirkhouse. I was in a play called Respectable Wedding by Bertolt Brecht and we had to eat three courses of food each day whilst the furniture around us deliberately collapsed. There were some interesting actors in there as part of the Hoxton Players, at the time when Hoxton was somewhere you would very rarely go during the day, let alone at night. It was a mixed company [ages and abilities] with some fairly old actors at the time whose first jobs probably weren’t acting and quite possibly never their real jobs. Mixed with us first-timers, not least a wickedly cheeky actor called Neil Stuke who you’ll now recognise on many a TV series playing detectives and wearing raincoats. It was hard work but I loved it and it sold out. I also remember we played the track, ‘Perfect’ by Fairground Attraction every morning when we were getting ready in our bedsits. I don’t think it ever was [perfect] but we certainly tried to make it so. I’m looking forward to audiences getting up on stage and involved in our show, especially the magic trick. Oh, and I went on Christopher Biggins’ show this week, does that count as a namedrop?

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’18?

Long story, that starts with getting an OBE and ends with my husband of 10 years dumping me. In between, I’ve protested outside a Government ministers office in Lisbon to prevent our dream home being destroyed. The use of oversized beach balls featured heavily. Witnessed my Mum of 94 years die, and my Dad of 97 years not. Lose over a stone in weight and reconnect with my 30-inch waist. Sadly no one else has yet to reconnect with it. Crashed a hire car in Suffolk but learnt to meditate in a shed. All in all seems appropriate then to be directing a show entitled F.Off!

Tell us about your show.

It’s written by the brilliant Tatty Hennessy, dubbed ‘One to watch’ this year by the Evening Standard and as sharp and witty as they come. It’s produced by the National Youth Theatre, the world’s first and best. The company came together after our membership auditioned via mobile phone self-tapes telling us what they thought about social media and then we spent a month workshopping and scratched the show for one night only at The Criterion Theatre in the West End, when Ian McKellen said it was the best NYT show he’s seen his years. Where next, who knows, Broadway!?!

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

There’s some amazing young National Youth Theatre talent at the festival in other shows this year, here are just a few:

Katie Greenall fresh from working with us on Spoken World at Latitude is her with her hilarious show #FATTYFATFAT at The Pleasance AND she was on the Guilty Feminist Podcast this week too!

Alice Vilanculo is another one-to-watch from our 2019 REP company and is in E8 at The Pleasance directed by our talented Associate Artist Ria Parry. Our company show the show this week and loved it.

There was never a day without shrieks of laughter in the NYT office when the brilliant Ben Salmon was the assistant on our flagship social inclusion course Playing Up. Catch him in Miller and Salmon at Just the Tonic at The Charteris Centre at 16.40.

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+3 Interview: Piramania! The Swashbuckling Pirate Musical

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2019, Plus 3 2019 – Features by

“The whole experience proved to be a little disappointing and I distinctly remember saying to myself that it would be the last time I would do Edinburgh…. Whoops.”

WHO: David Massingham: Co-Writer / Producer

WHAT: “Ahoy! Join John Silverman and the crew of The Maiden’s Ruin on their quest for pirate booty in a bawdy tale of love, betrayal, murder and incest! This five-star adult musical-comedy returns to Edinburgh after its 2010 maiden voyage, bawdier, funnier, boozier, and pirate-ier than ever before. Chock-full of original songs, filthy wit and swashbuckling fun; climb aboard for a boat-rocking good time! ‘Full to the brim with creative genius’ ***** (TheReviewsHub.com). ‘Ingenious… Monty Python meets Pirates of the Caribbean’ **** (FringeGuru.com). ‘Utterly ridiculous in the best possible way’ (FringeReview.co.uk).”

WHERE: Underbelly, Bristo Square – Cowbarn (Venue 302) 

WHEN: 16:35 (75 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

I have personally been up to Edinburgh twice before. In 2008, I brought up Plague! The Musical. This was my first experience of the juggernaut of writing and producing at the Edinburgh Fringe. It was a rollercoaster of emotion: big audiences and great reviews followed by bizarrely empty theatres and brutal feedback. We took to wearing the latter as a badge of honour. Overall though, Plague did really well in 2008 and was named a Sell Out Show. Therefore, two years later, I returned to Edinburgh. Again I brought up Plague and this time I brought up my first production of Piramania! The Swashbuckling Pirate musical. This time, running two shows in rep (alternate nights) proved to be a bit of an error. Despite being happy with both shows, neither was able to gain a critical mass of audiences and reviews. The whole experience proved to be a little disappointing and I distinctly remember saying to myself that it would be the last time I would do Edinburgh…. Whoops.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’18?

The biggest thing that’s happened to me since last year is that I’ve moved to New York City with my day job. And, of course, I then decided that would be the perfect time to bring my musical back to Edinburgh after 8 years of actually being in the same country. As a result I’ve been producing remotely working with a fantastic team back in the UK. I’m now in Edinburgh helping get the show up and running before I return Stateside.

Tell us about your show.

The show is Piramania! The Swashbuckling Pirate Musical. It tells the story of a young man, John Silverman, who gives up his life to join a bunch of pirates but soon finds that pirates (and family members) are not to be meddled with. I initially co-wrote it with Tim Frost back in 2009-2010 and, as I mentioned above, we performed it at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe alongside my other musical, Plague! The Musical. Despite getting a great response we never felt it had enough of an opportunity to spread its own wings so have long wanted to bring it back. In 2015, Tim and I started working with director Alex Howarth and orchestrator Mark Aspinall on a new, longer production for London. This took a few years to complete and, last year, we decided it had been so long that we should give the show another shot in Edinburgh first. What we are presenting is now a fully orchestrated version of the show performed by 10 incredible actor-musicians.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

The Fat Rascal musicals – Unfortunate and Vulvarine – are absolutely hilarious and silly and fun and would definitely appeal to our audience. We also really loved the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland production of Legally Blonde.

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Edward Aczel: Artificial Intellect (Heroes @ Boteco, Aug 10-12, 14-25, 13:20: 1hr)

Posted in 4*, Comedy, EdFestivals, EdFestivals 2019, EdFestivals 2019 – Reviews, Other, Rated: Nae Bad, Stand-Up by

“A damn good time.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars: Nae Bad

If you’ve ever played Pac-Man, you’ll know that when you reach one extreme end of the maze, you come out the opposite side. I like that fact. It’s a useful metaphor for when something goes so far in one direction, it reverts back to its opposite starting point again. Jeff Goldblum is a good example of the Pac-Man effect: an actor who started out sexy, got weirder and weirder as time went on, then became so weird that he swung all the way back to sexy again.

Deadpan “anti-comedy” is very much the same thing. There is something so unspeakably absurd about good deadpan. When it’s done well, it’s the mark of a performer who understands mirth so well, they can appear utterly mirthless; or when the structure of a good joke is grasped well enough that it can be made to look like a bad joke. In that regard, Edward Aczel demonstrates the Pac-Man effect in spades.

There are many things to love about Artificial Intellect. If the high-energy atmosphere of Fringe is proving too much, Aczel may as well be a shot of Vicodin straight to the neck. Even audience participation seemed completely without pressure, because as Aczel reminds the crowd early and often: it doesn’t matter. There’s an almost calming nihilism to the whole prospect – Aczel appears as a man who is so given over to the dull reality of things, he’s like a Greggs-themed Siddhartha.

Aczel himself is compelling as a stage personality. His persona is somewhere between drunk librarian and divorced uncle, a combination which proves not only pleasing to watch, but unexpectedly charismatic. He when not leaning joylessly against the mic stand, he lazily floats around the stage like a stay dandelion seed, completely directionless inside and out. Better still, though, are brief moments in which he breaks character to laugh at an unexpected answer, and becomes the picture of mirth. There is something very rewarding about watching a performer whose love of their profession shines through, and even moreso if they can express it mostly through shrugging and talking about Dulux.

And the jokes – the jokes! Hard to talk about, even harder to pin down. Aczel is the Winchester Mystery House of comedy performers: there’s no telling whether you’re going to get a punchline or just fall off the face of the earth, and into another joke somewhere else. Deadpan comedy is a test of delivery and timing over pure content, and Aczel has it down to a tee. no hanging punchline ends with yearning or disappointment, because hey – nothing matters.

The usual defects with this species of set also apply here, though small in number: the laid back nature of audience participation meant that in certain sequences, Aczel almost got stuck into an infinite loop with unwitting members of the public, or jokes would trail ever so slightly over the line of outstaying their welcome. Though these moments of slowdown were easily accommodated into tone of the performance, but were nevertheless noticeable.

Artificial Intellect (which, at this late stage in the review, I must point out has literally nothing to do with AI or computers) is exactly what you need in the middle of the day. There is something freeing about Aczel’s approach to comedy, and when combined with his mastery of deadpan, it makes for a damn good time. Spectacle and high stakes are wonderful things, but sometimes all you need is a man slowly talking about nothing at all.

nae bad_blue

Star (blue)Star (blue)Star (blue)Star (blue)

—

Reviewer: Jacob Close  (Seen 7 August)

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+3 Interview: Neon Hangover

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2019, Plus 3 2019 – Features by

“I was just sitting down to sunbathe when this guy jogged past and something happened that I found really challenging… he complimented me.”

WHO: Kimberley Datnow: Stand Up Comic

WHAT: “A fast-paced hour of the cream of the up-and-coming crop! Sean Lynch (MTV’s Death Match), Ben Keenan (Amused Moose semi-finalist), Adam Elmi (SYTYF semi-finalist) and Kimberley Datnow (Warner Brothers Young Talent finalist, Bridget Jones for the modern millennial). Bringing you an hour of joyous silliness to kick-start your day! Best show you’ll see on the Fringe! See the show, get the glow. Free glow sticks to kick-start your morning! ‘Promising newcomers’ (Buzzfeed.com).”

WHERE: Just the Tonic at The Caves – Just the Spare Room (Venue 88) 

WHEN: 11:35 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

The first time I ever came up my friend emailed me and said do I want to come up to the Edinbrough fringe I genuinely thought it said Edinburgh Fridge. And she was like, “Kimberley what would be in an Edinbrough fridge? Haggis and Heroin!” I’m sorry it’s cause I’m dyslexic I have a problem with the written word.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’18?

I was hoping to catch some rays in the park the other day… Ray Liotta, Ray Romano and Ray Mears… No, that’s a joke guys. I’d never sleep with a guy named Raymond.

I was just sitting down to sunbathe when this guy jogged past and something happened that I found really challenging… he complimented me. I have the hardest time taking compliments! Whenever someone compliments me… I GO THROUGH THE 5 STAGES OF GRIEF…

So this hot guy jogs past and he goes, “nice top.”  Straight away I’m into the first stage of grief. Denial: Surely he wasn’t talking to me? A moment later it’s stage 2 Anger. How dare he only care about my looks, I not some piece of meat, Then Stage 3 bargaining. Please, God. If he runs through this park again I’ll be nicer. Followed by Stage 4 depression, oh now what do I do, he might have been The ONE! My life is meaningless without him. And finally Stage 5 acceptance, yes, it is a nice top.

And that’s how I handle every single compliment. Maybe it’s just a side effect of having boobs. Lucky I hardly ever got any, otherwise, I couldn’t function.

Tell us about your show.

It’s a 4 person stand up compilation show, it’s our first time at Edinbrough, and first time doing a show together. One of the first stand-up shows in Edinburgh setting the tone for the day. 11.35am.  The comics are from around the world. English woman, Irish man, American man, and a guy from Birmingham and an mc from Texas! We all met on social media and decided to do a show together! “Risky!” After putting out a post and after a lengthy selection process we chose the best 4 based on wit, comic abilities and sex appeal! And one can be seen on MTV and Amazon Prime too!

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

Monsoon season it’s a tragicomedy it’s at 2.25 Underbelly! Unique and gripping.

Rob Mulholland; great stage presence, great timing, well-written jokes, brilliant!

I would recommend A friend’s show called Disabled Coconut, he is a disabled comic, very funny and his show has been sold out every night!

Also, go and see Mother, it’s a 2 person sketch show in the vein of news review, very funny, also go and see news review!

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+3 Interview: Children of the Quorn™

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2019, Plus 3 2019 – Features by

“This year is our first time going up as a duo/Megan from HR. which we’re really excited about though of course, it’s equally terrifying because we’re almost starting from scratch.”

WHO: Ambika Mod: Co-writer/performer

WHAT: “Former stars of the multi award-winning Durham Revue, ‘comedy geniuses’ (Jeremy Vine), and future Fringe legends Andrew and Ambika present a new sketch show, complete with séance. From dying onstage to straight-up dying, this is how two friends fill their time whilst waiting for the dead to arrive. From winners of the Derek Award for Best Sketch Show at the Edinburgh Fringe 2016 and 2017, Children of the Quorn™ is an hour of intelligent, original, high-energy comedy that will raise the roof and raise the dead. ‘Gonna be huge unless they get real jobs’ (Stevie Martin).”

WHERE: Just the Tonic at La Belle Angele – La Belle Angele (Venue 301) 

WHEN: 15:30 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

We performed at the Fringe for three years from 2015-17 as students with the Durham Revue at Underbelly, and we were fortunate enough to experience great success each year, including sell-out audiences, 5-star reviews, and a couple of awards. This year is our first time going up as a duo/Megan from HR. which we’re really excited about though of course, it’s equally terrifying because we’re almost starting from scratch. But we’re thrilled to bring Children of the QuornTM to Just the Tonic and if people liked our work in the Revue, then they’ll definitely enjoy this show too.

What’s the biggest thing to have happened to you since Festivals ’18?

It’s been eventful: Andrew moved down to London, I quit my job and shortly after, Megan from HR. was born. We only started writing Children of the QuornTM in January with no major plans for development (and certainly not the Fringe) so everything’s evolved super quickly but we’re so proud of the progress we’ve made. The show’s reception has also been exceedingly positive: two sell-out London performances, two 5-star reviews, and ThreeWeeks naming the show as one of their “Three to See” most promising sketch shows at the Fringe this year. Also the Jonas Brothers got back together. Huge.

Tell us about your show.

The show was written by me and the other half of Megan from HR., Andrew Shires. We decided to work together not only because we’re best friends but because we complement each other so well which is one of the reasons our partnership is unique. Andrew is constantly upbeat and quirky, whilst my forte is deadpan, dry and witty humour. We are almost polar opposites which creates an interesting dynamic for our comedy and friendship. Andrew will often make big gestures about how much I mean to him whereas I often stop taking his calls, refusing to see him for weeks at a time. Despite this, we have been working together for nearly 5 years and earlier this year, we wanted to create a brand new sketch show with a difference.

We decided to weave in our shared love of horror and that’s how we came up with the idea of us trying to conduct a séance as the main thread of the show. Within this, we’ve incorporated our tight, witty sketches that really traverse a range of premises and styles, and we strongly believe they have a broad appeal. On the whole, the show is high-energy and fun and the writing is snappy and clever. We’ve thought a lot about the narrative and how to create a story for the audience, especially how everything ties together by the show’s conclusion where there’s a major plot twist (#nospoilers). We debuted the first incarnation in February and have gone on to perform it twice more as well as taking smaller chunks of our material around the London comedy circuit. We had our final London preview on July 18th and we definitely have plans to bring it back to London after the Fringe (follow us on social media for updates on this).

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

House of Influenza – this is a play that Andrew wrote which parodies a lot of the tropes you see in horror movies (a theme?) and is equally funny and moving. It’s being performed by our super talented friend and fellow Revue alum, Lily Edwards.

Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang – not that he needs my or anyone else’s recommendation but Phil is one of my favourite comedians (maybe, ever?) and never fails to make me laugh. He’s also a super, super nice guy.
Police Cops – The original Police Cops was perhaps the best show I have ever seen at the Fringe; combining physical theatre with parody, it was insanely funny and impressive. Their follow up Police Cops in Space was also really enjoyable so I will definitely be seeing their new show Badass Be Thy Name.

Lily Hyde & Alissa Anne Jeun Yi: Gentleman Please – our friend Alissa made her Fringe debut with the awesome Love Songs at last year’s Fringe and the show did insanely well (becoming Guardian and TIME’s Pick of the Fringe). She’s now turning her talents to stand-up and I think she and Lily will be a really refreshing combo.

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Lucille and Cecilia (Assembly Powder Room, Aug 2-24, 13:25: 1hr)

Posted in 4*, Assembly Hall, Comedy, EdFestivals, EdFestivals 2019, EdFestivals 2019 – Reviews, Other, Theatre by

“A successful hour of charming jokes and energetic tricks.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars

Lucille and Cecilia is a show about two sea lions whose names have the word ‘seal’ in them. Though of course this joke might make an ounce more sense if they were actually seals, the charming simplicity of the gag is still a tickler. So, thankfully, is the rest of this thoroughly amusing and enjoyably bonkers hour of high-energy clowning by Chloe Darke and Susanna Scott of Bang Average Theatre. 

The show takes a playfully scattershot approach to exploring Lucille and Cecilia’s lives and personalities. They perform circus tricks, describe their deep love of fish, and debate what could possibly lie beyond their watery home. Director Steve Brownlie does well to keep the action tightly blocked and includes a well-measured array of props and alternate costumes for the sea lions to bat around for the audience and wield at each other, while Darke and Scott are both charming and affective leading mammals. The only element of the show that resembles a narrative revolves around the two sea lions’ interactions with ‘Trevor the trainer,’ the amusingly-depicted custodian in charge of cleaning and preening the animals. One hates his touch, the other finds it sensuous and exciting, making for some very funny extended sequences where the two show Trevor how they feel, set to a perfectly-chosen rendition of “Ave Maria.” (Both this choice and the use of Air’s “Sexy Boy” show that Bang Average have splendid taste for musical accompaniment.) This and other chapters in the show are performed with pleasant verve and creativity, and both Darke and Scott prove wholeheartedly that they are more than capable clown performers. 

The potential drawbacks to their hour come mainly during the somewhat overlong bouts of character comedy that mainly strike repetitive notes, and do not quite match the showmanship or cleverness of their physical gags. Most of these physical feats are not only very amusing but rather impressive, and leave one wishing Darke and Scott had included a few more of these sharply executed sequences and toned down the Laurel and Hardy slapstick a tad, as these performers could certainly show off their talent for choreography quite a lot more. Thankfully, however, enough of the comedy strikes the right tone to make Lucille and Cecilia a successful hour of charming jokes and energetic tricks that leans right into the refreshingly pure entertainment of watching two human beings put their all into acting like sea lions.

For a uniquely weird, pleasantly escapist escapade, take the splash and see this show. 

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Star (blue)Star (blue)Star (blue)Star (blue)

Reviewer: Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller

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Guitar: Postcards from Spain: Stephen Morrison: St Andrew’s and St George’s West August 8 and 11 (60 minutes)

Posted in EdFestivals 2019, EdFestivals 2019 – Reviews, Music, St Andrew's and St George's West by

“He let the music speak for him, and as a teacher, he was able to establish a quiet, understated rapport entirely appropriate for the appreciative audience in front of him.”

Editorial Rating:3 Stars

A summer Fringe Thursday afternoon was deceptively sunny and warm, so I was pleased to see a good crowd in the cool of the church.

The guitar is an easy musical instrument to play badly and a fiendishly difficult one to play well.  With frets clearly marked and six strings positioned level (as opposed to arched as on the violin family) it is easy to strum, and the vast panoply of pop music is based on just three chords.  Easy, especially if a pickup is doing the amplification for you.  But when it comes to something more sophisticated, whether it be the complex rhythms of the Bossa Nova or the plaintive wail of the Flamenco, we are in different, dangerous and exposed territory.  The guitar gives off surprisingly little sound; the left hand requires the iron application of finger tips, the right the looseness of a painter’s brush yet with thumb and three fingers all operating independently. That’s why I took it up late in life partially to ward off Alzheimer’s, for it is a real brain stretcher. And it looks so easy…….

On Thursday we were in the company of one man and his guitar, an American born, Scotland domiciled since 1989 Stephen Morrison who took us through a catalogue of music that ranged from the Renaissance to the twentieth century including such greats as Fernando Sor and Joaquin Rodrigo (yes, the one who wrote that concerto) in an hour long afternoon of entertainment.  Stephen Morrison is an accomplished, modest guitarist who said not a word during his recital.  It wasn’t necessary for, of course, he let the music speak for him, and as a teacher, he was able to establish a quiet, understated rapport entirely appropriate for the appreciative audience in front of him.

Three Pavans by Luys Milan (1500-1561) played in the lutenist style (and originally written for a vihuela, a guitar like instrument of six double course strings that were apparently tuned in unison) took us back immediately to the sixteenth century, followed by Les Folies d’Espagne & Menuet Op 15a by Fernando Sor (1778-1839) albeit written over 250 years later, demonstrated again the plucked chord style of writing and playing as Sor set out his stall as the one of the great composers of classical guitar as we have come to know it.

We then firmly entered the late nineteenth century of guitar composition and heard two pieces by Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909), Danza Mora and Recuerdos de la Alhambra, interspersed with Aranjuez, ma pensée by Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999).  The Rodrigo was arranged by the composer in a monophonic setting with very occasional chording.  Meant to show off one of the most heartfelt melodies of all time and pleasingly familiar, it did not work, partly because of the deeply restrained, unflashy nature of the guitarist’s style. Alhambra, also deeply familiar, somehow worked better.

Centrepiece of the Recital was a break from the Spanish composers, Scottish composer Thea Musgrave’s (b. 1928) Postcards from Spain (Five Serenades).   The work, written in 1995, seeks to conjure a mood of impressionism but with the exception of the second movement Molto Espressivo came across as largely abstract in style.

Stephen Morrison concluded the recital with Sonata Op.61 by Joaquin Turina (1882-1949), a pleasant piece in three movements where the impressionistic reflections of Paris were effective, and Preludio Y Danza by Julian Orbon (1925-1991).  An Asturian who moved to Cuba and then New York this was his only composition for guitar, and like all good things, left one wishing he had written more.

So, overall our hour long recital was an interesting musical journey through the musical history of the classical guitar, amply demonstrating its potential for technique, notwithstanding its limitations in dynamics.

 

Star (blue)Star (blue)Star (blue)

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Reviewer: Charles Stokes (Seen 8 August)

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THIS REVIEW HAS NOT BEEN SUBEDITED