Category Archives: EdFestivals 2023

‘Kravitz, Cohen, Bernstein and Me’ (Venue 20, until AUG 27th)

Posted in 4*, Cabaret, Comedy, EdFestivals 2023 by

“Drawing heavily on her Jewish ancestry and culture, this is a witty, humour-laden cabaret that had an engaged audience singing along to Deb’s guitar and then cackling at her often highly risqué jokes. “

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad)

In this one-woman comic storytelling show, the multi award-winning Kiwi/Canadian/Jewish comedienne Deb Filler takes us on a musical journey through her eventful life. Using the three Leonards of the title as a theme, we follow her from her showbiz beginnings as a child prodigy in New Zealand through many a chance encounter with her eponymous heroes.

Drawing heavily on her Jewish ancestry and culture, this is a witty, humour-laden cabaret that had an engaged audience singing along to Deb’s guitar and then cackling at her often highly risqué jokes. Her often self-deprecating humour reveals a musical upbringing in the midst of a close immigrant family in Auckland, New Zealand. Very early success in talent contests set her on the pathway that has brought her to the fringe as a consummate and experienced entertainer. Filler throws her net wide in reminiscing about her musical influences: Judy Garland in the 1950s gives way to the Beatles and the Stones in the 60s – a highlight of which is the unforgettable experience of hearing her sing Hard Day’s Night and Satisfaction in Yiddish. Long before she met the three Lennies, her first musical celebrity encounter was with the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, who toured New Zealand in the early 60s. No spoilers here, but the tale of her experience of meeting them as a starry-eyed adolescent is a funny tale well told. We stay in the southern hemisphere for the remarkable story of a truly magical encounter with the legendary conductor, composer, and pianist, Leonard Bernstein. Later on in life, it is an adult Deb in America who meets Cohen and then Kravitz, both times with rather more chaotic results than happened with the debonair Mr Bernstein.

A skilled instrumentalist and singer, Filler plays the musical interludes on her guitar. From time to time throughout the show, her story is illustrated by screen projection: sometimes with colour photos of celebrities she has met; other, more poignant photos in grainy monochrome are family snaps from earlier times, including one of her grandmother, who got the family out of Germany in 1938 – the nick of time before the nazis slammed the door shut. For those who like a singalong, the lyrics to a well-known Cohen song were projected for the audience to join in as Deb Played it.
This 1hr 10min show gives you a little more for your money than the usual hour here at the Fringe and runs until 27th August. So, whether you like jokes or singing, get your coats on and go see it. Go to hear a fascinating life story set to music. Stay for Hard day’s Night sung in Yiddish. Leave with the thought that life can be full of strange and coincidental encounters.

 

EdFringe Talk: The Last of the Soviets

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2023 by

“Some time ago I went through a surgery and learned how simply great and fantastic is to have a healthy body.”

WHO: Roman Zotov-Mikshin

WHAT: “Two Russian artists in exile reveal the cruelty of Soviet life with a good dose of dark humour. The award-winning Spitfire return to Edinburgh with a project influenced by the books of Nobel Prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich. Chilling jokes, the absurdity of the situation, and efforts at trivialisation are the key features of a production built on the testimonies of witnesses of wars, the Chernobyl disaster and the collapse of the USSR. Live cinema employing puppet animation and starring food, inspired by works of Jan Švankmajer, provides fitting stylisation.”

WHERE: ZOO Playground – Playground 1 (Venue 186) 

WHEN: 17:45 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

Me as a performer here for the 1st time – 1st time ever in Scotland, but it is a 4th time for the Spitfire Company though. The company’s very first show at the Fringe, One Step Before the Fall, picked up a Herald Angel Award in 2013. The multi-genre project explored the motifs of struggle, exhaustion, signs of Parkinson’s and collapse. Two years later Spitfire earned a Total Theatre Award nomination for Antiwords, inspired by the works of Václav Havel. The company received the same nomination in 2017 for The Narrator, a delicate piece centred on the subject of the loss of a child. For their most recent Fringe appearance in 2019, Spitfire brought the rap musical Miss America, about a woman who falls in love with a city where she is an alien, namely the Scottish capital.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

How fragile the human body is. In this case my body. Some time ago I went through a surgery and learned how simply great and fantastic is to have a healthy body. I really felt that I can’t take it for granted. As well as anything else which is considered “casual”. I have always realised it, but only now I truly feel it with my whole body.

Tell us about your show.

The piece is produced by us, Spitfire Company.

Petr Bohac (an artistic director of the company) came with an idea to put the text of Svetlana Alexievich (Nobel price winner for literature) into specific setting – the kitchen. The place, where people meet and share the food, ideas, thoughts which are pitifully not often heard by many. In the Svankmajer’s poetic.

The piece was premiered in Prague 2019.

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

Shows in ZOO venues and Summerhall definitely. Their poetics and interpretation is very close to what we like and doing in The Last of the Soviets. Namely: Funeral by Ontroerend Goed, Fool’s Gold by Saskia Solomons or Elvis Died of Burgers by Blink Dance Theatre.

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EdFringe Talk: 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2023 by

“Laurie has learned to glue down a nail, and we think this is a life skill.”

WHO: Bronagh Leneghan

WHAT: “‘What’s the worst thing that’s ever made you feel like a woman?’ Nothing More to Say’s award-nominated debut is an ‘experimental’ and ‘audacious’ **** (BroadwayWorld.com) hour of verbatim and cabaret theatre. We sat down with other trans women to get sleepover-honest about bodies, sex, and love. Now, armed with killer dance moves and lots of baby oil, we’re leading you through a fever dream of hilarious and gut-wrenching confession. We’re going from pleasure to pagan ritual, from Barbara Streisand to BDSM. And no – there are no actual monologues…”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – The Attic (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 15:20 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

The two of us first came up to Edinburgh – unwittingly – as a duo. It wasn’t until we met and started devising together four years later that we were like – oh, you saw that show too? It turned out we basically had the exact same reference points for what we wanted 52 Monologues to be. It was kind of creepy, actually! We’ve all taken up different shows to Edinburgh before, but this is our first time coming up as a whole company to the Fringe.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

Charli has learned to dance! Laurie is a really sickening dancer, and since we premiered the show last year Charli has been desperately trying to catch up. One year on, and Charli is finally learning to truly pop her pussy out, too. Laurie has learned to glue down a nail, and we think this is a life skill. We’ve also learned the power of like – self love? And like – feminism, maybe?

Tell us about your show.

Usually when people hear the title 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals they usually go – oh, like The Vagina Monologues? And we have to be like – well, not quite. It actually isn’t a piece of monologue theatre at all. We took the name from those tedious monologue books you read when you’re applying to drama school, which are always titled like ’52 Monologues for Young Men’ and ’52 Monologues for Young Women’. We both had this memory of reading them at age sixteen and being like – f*ck, I can’t do either!

We do this whole bit in the show about how we met on this awful double date. Both of us were writing failing one-woman shows and finally were like – well, why don’t we just do a two-woman show? Somehow, it actually worked.

At the time, we were both trying to exorcise a certain grief. So we did this the only way we knew how – through a bubblegum pink extravaganza. We conducted interviews with trans women in the London and Cambridge area, and that formed the foundation of the show. 52 Monologues is still dedicated to them.

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

We’re sharing the Pleasance Attic with the delightful Trash Salad – who we are gagging to see. Trash Salad (@trash_salad_) was at VAULT Festival with us this year, but we didn’t get time to see them because we were performing! It is basically a campy queer cabaret, and we just love that. There is lettuce everywhere. We gag for like – an abundance of food items and a pink colour scheme.

Liv Ello (of SWARM) is also doing a show with Frankie Thompson (of Catz) (@liv_ello, @FrankieThomp1). They’re both so epic. Liv Ello does a really hot kind of queer anarchist theatre – SWARM was this incredibly scathing satire of conservative Britain as a swarm of flies. Catz – well we didn’t get to see Catz, but we heard it was crazy. We gag for crazy. To see them team up and do a show together just sounds inimitably exciting.

On the queer theme – Cowboys and Lesbians (@cowboysplay) are at Pleasance with us too, and we’re excited to see them. It’s a show about Sapphic angst – so, honestly, what’s new? But we love a little angst.
We are also desperate and shameless fans of Lucy McCormick (@lucy_muck). We saw her do a work in progress of her upcoming Mystery Plays, where she did the story of Salomé and John the Baptist. When it came to the Salomé dance – the like, world-famous historical dance of inimitable beauty – we all did this absolutely brilliantly passé dance number to Britney Spears’ ‘Gimme More’.

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EdFringe Talk: Amusements by Ikechukwu Ufomadu

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2023 by

“I haven’t before or since been in an environment where so many different styles of live performance could all be found in the same city and at the same time.”

WHO: Ikechukwu Ufomadu

WHAT: “Winner: Vulture’s Comedians You Should Know (2022). Winner: Drama Desk Award (2018). The Emmy-nominated actor and ‘gentleman-scholar of alt-comedy’ (Vulture, New York Magazine) makes his Edinburgh debut with a waggishly absurd exploration of such vital topics as ‘The Alphabet’ and ‘Counting’. He can be seen in the Oscar-nominated film, Judas and the Black Messiah, Los Espookys (HBO), Three Busy Debras, Joe Pera Talks To You (Adult Swim) and has written for Ziwe (Showtime). ‘You don’t want to miss him before he becomes a household name’ (Time Out New York).”

WHERE: Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Two (Venue 33) 

WHEN: 17:40 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

In 2015, I was cast in this very trippy, work-in-progress, comedy-variety show that did a run in Edinburgh as part of its development. The city and the festival made such an impression on me that I’ve always wanted to return with a show of my own. Now, eight years later, I’m thrilled to be able to check that off my life’s to-do list. I haven’t before or since been in an environment where so many different styles of live performance could all be found in the same city and at the same time. While I’m very much looking forward to doing my show, I’m just as excited to see and be inspired by projects I wouldn’t normally come across in my corner of the comedy world in New York.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that my brain is like a sieve, unable to hold onto lessons I’ve learned for any significant amount of time. To work around this, I must constantly put myself in situations that force me to re-learn the lessons I swore I’d never forget. This is a lesson I learned in the course of answering this very question, as my first pass at it consisted of a list of lessons that were technically learned in 2022, but only because I had forgotten them at some point prior to 2022.

Tell us about your show.

“Amusements by Ikechukwu Ufomadu” is crafted from bits and material I’ve been working on at comedy shows over the past several years. This run in Edinburgh is being produced by Stamptown, helmed by Zach Zucker, and I couldn’t be more excited to be working with them. Since venues began opening up post-quarantine, Stamptown’s variety show has been one of the more consistent shows I’ve performed on, both in New York and LA, and it’s what’s colloquially referred to as “a blast”. I can always count on being completely surprised (in a good way) by some act or bit at some point during the show. Post-Fringe,

“Amusements” will have an off-Broadway run at Playwrights Horizons that kicks off in November.

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

I heartily recommend seeing Larry Owens in Larry Owens Live. His vocal chops combined with his comic sensibilities will leave you both in awe and in stitches, which is a rare combination of feelings to feel at one show. I can’t even fully pin down what makes Ruby McCollister so entertaining to watch, but I always find myself in a haze of delight after seeing her perform, so I’d advise the reader to see her show Tragedy. Martin Urbano’s Apology Comeback Show is another must-see. Such a razor sharp comic mind that’s able to make jokes in territory that would eat other comics alive. I always bust a gut when I see Patti Harrison work, so if you need a guaranteed gut-busting, make your way there. I’m also quite intrigued by Moses Storm’s Perfect Cult which promises to create, with the audience, a new cult nightly. I’m always a fan of projects that feel like a high-concept gambit.

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EdFringe Talk: June

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2023 by

“Seeing everyone on their A game promoting and performing their shows last year was a joy and we can’t wait to see what comes this year!”

WHO: Maddie Hurley

WHAT: “Billy is an ex-drag queen trying to reclaim past glory. He launches a desperate attempt to do one final performance and connect to his past, even as it tests his relationships and makes him question everything he believes in. This one-man show takes a deep dive into drag, platonic intimacy and disability. Nominated for Best Writing, Best Show, and Best Lead Actor at the Durham Drama Festival 2023.”

WHERE: Greenside @ Infirmary Street – Ivy Studio (Venue 236) 

WHEN: 12:30 (60 min)

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

It’s the first Edinburgh Fringe for our brilliant writer Shehrzadae, along with half of our prod team. However, our director, Maddie Hurley, and lead actor, Stephen Ledger, brought a show to our same venue (Greenside, Infirmary Street) last year. The show was called Cottage. That was our first taste of the festival and taught us a lot about the process of putting on a play in such a supportive, but also saturated environment.

We loved how alive the whole city felt, with theatre going on on practically every street and corner. However, that density of opportunities to see great theatre also taught us the importance of standing out as a show. Seeing everyone on their A game promoting and performing their shows last year was a joy and we can’t wait to see what comes this year!

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

To make sure you and your team are being kind to each other and yourselves. Especially for young creatives with less experience it is easy to set impossibly high expectations for Fringe, and get upset when they aren’t lived up to.

Tell us about your show.

June premiered during the Durham Drama Festival in February 2023, with reviews praising the show for its evocative writing. We were strongly encouraged by industry professionals to take the show beyond Durham to realise its full potential. This led to the creation of our company, Gen Z Gender Collective, with the intention of spotlighting radical queer stories. After our run in Edinburgh, we will be taking the show to Theatre503 in London for two performances on the 8th and the 9th of September.

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

We love Das Weben, who’s our sister show in a way since we share some members of our team! They perform 4-19th (not 13th), at Greenside Infirmary St as well! We also love Potty the Plant and its brilliant and original puppetry. Joe Leather’s WASTEMAN is another on our to-watch list, as a fellow show about drag, but also because he’s performing in spite of a herniated disc. Love Prod’s Sing, River has caught our eye as a queer folk musical. Last but not least, we’re also really excited to see Cowboys and Lesbians!

For those looking for comedy, Sascha Lo is an amazing young comic and she’s doing a FREE show!

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EdFringe Talk: Let the Bodies Pile by Henry Naylor

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2023 by

“2022 was a bit of an aberration. It was a very strange fringe.”

WHO: Henry Naylor

WHAT: “What connects two seemingly unrelated killings, 27 years apart? In 1993, Steve’s mother dies suddenly; can he trust GP Harold Shipman’s ‘Natural Causes’ diagnosis? And in 2020, when dozens die in a Yorkshire Care Home; is Covid responsible, or something more sinister? Three-time Fringe First winner Naylor has won over 45 major international fringe theatre awards, and currently holds the IFES World’s Best Fringe Theatre title. Bobby Award-winning, and Outstanding Theatre Award-winning (Brighton Fringe) actress Emily Carding stars, and it’s directed by the SoHo Playhouse (New York)’s Artistic Director, Darren Lee Cole.”

WHERE: Gilded Balloon Teviot – Dining Room (Venue 14) 

WHEN: 16:00 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

Wow. I think this is my 20th Edinburgh fringe, but I’ve really lost count.

The first production I ever did, was a school play called Aphrodite, written by our English teacher, back in the late eighties. Genuinely, it was one of the most fun things I’ve done in my life. There were nine of us in the cast, and for many it was the first time we’d ever been away from home. I remember drinking alcohol for the first time, getting drunk for the first time and losing my virginity… Beat that for a first Edinburgh fringe experience.

The show was less successful however. We were in a venue miles out of town, and one night we literally played to one man and his dog.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

Not sure I learned too much from 2022. 2022 was a bit of an aberration. It was a very strange fringe. Very post-pandemic. I think last year many punters were still reluctant to sit inside crowded, sweaty rooms watching Fringe shows. Still concerned about catching Covid. Perhaps we got so used to sitting on the sofa watching box sets during the pandemic, that we had to relearn how to go out and watch live shows.

Tell us about your show.

This year’s show is called Let The Bodies Pile. I wrote it after meeting a care home nurse who told me horrific stories of conditions in the home during the Pandemic.

It was in between the two lockdowns, and she had PTSD. She’d been used to preparing one body-bag every couple of months, but suddenly, she found herself preparing five a day..
She was very honest about the mismanagement of the crisis on a governmental, institutional and personal level.

I’d never read accounts like hers in the press. Most of most of the press stories about the care homes during the pandemic were told from the perspective of the relatives of residents who’d died. I’d seen very little about the carers’ experience.

She explained that she felt that she couldn’t go to the press because if she did – and she was found out – she would lose her job. She asked me if I’d write this, but change the details so that she was unrecognisable.

I’ve obviously changed it and fictionalised it. But because of her input, the play has an authenticity, I believe, and rings true.

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

I saw Jack Doherty’s show last night, and loved it. Fabulous storytelling. It’s called ‘Jack Docherty in David Bowie and Me.’

Michelle Brasier’s show ‘Reform’ was great, too, about her grapples with a conman. Has a great voice and band, and the story’s fun.

Liz Cotton’s ‘Last Stand on Honey Hill’ is charming, and potty-mouthed, and deals with global environmental concerns on a micro-level. Lovely.

And Tom Crosbie’s ‘Actions Speak Louder Than Nerds,’ is astonishing. Does excellent Rubik’s cube tricks.

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‘Dom – The Play’ (Venue 20, until AUG 27th)

Posted in 5*, EdFestivals 2023, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre by

“Fresh from a sell-out run in London, this Fringe transfer had the Assembly Ballroom on George Street packed out with an audience laughing from start to finish.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

If there’s one thing us Brits do well it’s political satire and this already critically acclaimed hit did not disappoint. Fresh from a sell-out run in London, this Fringe transfer had the Assembly Ballroom on George Street packed out with an audience laughing from start to finish. This slick production from Bill Kenwright and Turbine Creatives lifts the lid on the whirlwind political career of Dominic Cummings, leaving no stone unturned in the process.

Just for the record, the citizens of Barnard Castle and the employees at their local branch of Specsavers can rest easy; very early on in the show, Dom grudgingly acknowledges his infamous trip to the Teesdale town to get his eyes tested. With that safely out of the way, Dom narrates his rise to, and abrupt fall from, the Westminster merry-go-round. Chris Porter plays the title role with an assured, cynical ferocity. Cummings was never a likeable figure, but Porter raises laugh after laugh from the audience in the opening ten minutes as he reveals the dark arts of data-scraping that drove his campaigns for Vote Leave and the 2019 General Election. The scene well and truly set, there was soon a roar of recognition from the audience as Boris Johnson strode on in the shape of Tim Hudson – every inch the blustering nincompoop, from his mop of unkempt blonde hair to his flapping shirt tails. All other incidental roles were entertainingly played by Thom Tuck and Sarah Lawrie. Tuck’s mimicry of a moon-faced Michael Gove drew chuckles of recognition, whilst the mobile eyebrows of his John Prescott were an amusing reminder of what already seems like a prehistoric age in British politics. Lawrie was no less versatile, with her lightning vignettes as the late Queen and Theresa May, but the greatest howls of laughter from the Edinburgh audience came with her vivid evocation of a diminutive Nicola Sturgeon.

Over the next hour, the turbulent years of recent British political history are brilliantly portrayed as the Westminster farce they so often seemed back in the day. With a quickfire pasquinade of merciless caricatures, our political masters are lampooned and ridiculed. Like an oversized, Woosterish ringmaster, the buffoonish Johnson flails desperately to keep his government on track at the centre of things; whilst to one side of the stage, lurks Cummings, the Machiavellian puppet-master and the PM’s Svengali. It’s an amazing tradition in British political satire how much we can afterwards laugh at events that once seemed so traumatic. But laugh we did, though I can only agree with one lady behind me who chuckled to her partner over the rapturous applause at the end; “It didn’t seem quite as funny as that the time, did it?”

This show is running for the rest of the month, but I wouldn’t hang about if you want to go; I’d say it’s one of the hot tickets for this year’s Fringe. So, whether you’re from Barnard Castle or not, get your coats on and go see it! Go for the political satire. Stay to hear Cummings explain the dark arts of psephological data mining. Leave in the hope that the great British voting public will never allow itself to be fooled again.

 

‘Yoga with Jillian – A New Comedy’ (Venue 33, until AUG 28th Aug)

Posted in 4*, EdFestivals 2023, Pleasance, Rated: Nae Bad, Theatre by

“…a screwball comedy that feels more like sitting in as a visitor at the yoga class from hell rather than watching a play.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad)

Described by producers Project Y and Richard Jordan Productions as a screwball comedy, this drama feels more like sitting in as a visitor at the yoga class from hell rather than watching a play. As the title suggests, this is quite a physical drama, not only on the part of the eponymous protagonist, but also from the seven volunteer audience members who joined her on stage to do their stuff on mats.

But Jillian is no carrot juice-drinking guru; Michole Biancosino plays her as a feisty, neurotic ex-lawyer, who uses yoga to cope (not always successfully) with her chaotic urban life. Whilst celebrity yogis like Gwyneth Paltrow may exude glamorous woo-woo tranquillity, at one with the world around her, Jillian sometimes struggles to find enough inner peace to even get along with her rival yogis. As the show progresses, the ancient Hindu fitness philosophy is used as a framework and metaphor for the ups, downs, stretches, and fine balances of Jillian’s life story. Whilst a none too perfect practitioner herself, she is a less than fully sympathetic teacher, as her passive-aggressive relationship with her “class” often shows to hilarious effect.

The seven audience members (two men, five women) who joined the class onstage lend a weirdly voyeuristic vibe to watching the show that is quite different from a normal audience experience in a theatre. At several stages, we found ourselves facing a row of seven backsides presented to us as the class bent over to touch their toes. From my front row seat, at one point I had a man’s right foot only two feet from my face as, at Jillian’s bidding, they adopted the downward-facing three-legged dog position. At the other end of the stage, a middle-aged woman in a calf-length dress had perhaps wisely turned herself to face the audience into order to more modestly point her leg upstage. It must be said that these volunteers were able to do what was asked for them without too much stress or embarrassment. (Though, if you’re going along and plan to volunteer – maybe wear leggings and have a pedicure beforehand?)

Whilst yoga itself may not be a pursuit to everyone’s taste, this show is nonetheless a quirky, ironic take on its subject, rather as I’d hoped it would be. Lia Romeo’s writing comically explores the conflict between the outwardly calm philosophy of its subject and the angst-ridden lives of some of its devotees. So, get your coats on and go see it. Go whether or not you’ve been to a yoga class before. Stay for the mat-based philosophical humour. Leave thinking about how all of that stretching and balancing helps to soothe some screwed-up lives.

 

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‘…And This Is My Friend Mr Laurel’ (Venue 33, until AUG 28th)

Posted in 4*, EdFestivals 2023, Pleasance, Rated: Nae Bad, Theatre by

“There are laughs aplenty in this show, but the problems the two men faced in their personal and professional lives provide a strong undercurrent of tragedy and pathos. “

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad)

To draw a full house for a late morning show on the first Sunday of the Fringe bodes well for any show up here. Is it the pulling power of a performer with a successful TV career behind him, or the familiarity of the eponymous subject? Either way, ex-sitcom star Jeffrey Holland (Hi-De-Hi, You Rang, M’Lord) drew a round of applause upon his entrance as well as at the end of this entertaining one-man show in the Pleasance Courtyard Upstairs.

Set in the bedroom of a very ill and silent Oliver Hardy in the 1950s, this tragi-comic drama shows us Stan Laurel’s last visit to see his dying former screen partner. Perhaps wisely, Holland avoids a constant tribute-act impersonation of Laurel, preferring to rely for most of the performance on a more relaxed off-screen version of the legendary comedian’s persona. However, there are regular short episodes where, donning a bowler hat, Holland enacts memorable exchanges from their most successful films; and here we get a fine impression of Laurel’s absurd comic gravitas, along with Ollie’s frustratedly blustering replies.

There are laughs aplenty in this show, but the problems the two men faced in their personal and professional lives provide a strong undercurrent of tragedy and pathos. With Ollie struck dumb by a crippling stroke, it’s left to Stan to look back on the triumphs and frustrations of their Hollywood career. As anyone familiar with their work knows, those short films from their heyday in the 1930s usually portray the couple as a pair of bums down on their luck and trying to make a dime in the Depression-era USA. It’s sad to note that the reality of Hollywood at the time meant that, despite their huge success, the two actors received only comfortable salaries, rather than the mind-boggling fees that stars expect today. Laurel in particular should have been a millionaire as the scriptwriter of their immortal routines. At several points Holland breaks down to portray what must have been very a real frustration felt by Laurel upon realising how he’d been ruthlessly exploited and fleeced by the studio system of the day. As this play suggests, the familiar trope of the melancholy behind the comic mask is very real – Tears of a Clown, indeed.

As is also quite well known, both men had chequered personal lives involving multiple and often disastrous marriages. This introduces more light and shade, with Holland movingly contrasting happy memories of love and romance, soon clouded over by the dark shadows of some messy divorces. Was there even a hint of mutual resentment between the two? Though a passive stooge on screen, Laurel was the leader behind the scenes, slaving at his typewriter and thrashing out deals with the studios whilst “Babe” (Ollie) spent his days on the golf course.

This already popular how runs until the end of the month, so get your coats on and go see it! Go to see a telly star play a film star. Stay to laugh at the jokes then cry along with Stan’s tears. Leave with the thought that screen laughter is often dearly bought by those whose lives are devoted to entertaining us.