Category Archives: *Ratings

‘Cecil Beaton’s Diaries’ (Greenside at Nicolson Square – Lime Studio, until AUG 27)

Posted in EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Nae Bad, Theatre by

“As we romp through the highlights and lowlights of a lively and eventful career, there is much Wodehousian whimsy and theatrical high camp to raise many a smile.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad )

Society and celebrity photographer Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) was something of a legend in his own lifetime. Also an award-winning designer in the world of fashion, theatre, and film, he was a lifelong diarist, and his journals read like a Who’s Who of the great and the good of the 20th century. His picture portraits of queens and commoners flattered his subjects, but after his death, the pen-pictures revealed in his unexpurgated diaries most certainly did not. These documents are very entertainingly adapted for the stage and performed in this one-man show by Richard Stirling (Bridgerton, The Crown, Jeeves and Wooster).

1930s Rolleiflex camera in hand, the Panama-hatted, linen-suited Stirling looks every inch the suave Beaton, his note-perfect dialogue engagingly capturing the aristocratic hauteur with which his subject viewed the world. As we romp through the highlights and lowlights of a lively and eventful career, there is much Wodehousian whimsy and theatrical high camp to raise many a smile. But in stark counterpoint, the less genial side of Beaton’s character often pokes through. His private thoughts about even royal clients could be mercilessly cruel: one laugh-out-loud moment came when Princess Margaret was referred to as looking like “a wealthy seaside landlady”. No punches are pulled here when it is also revealed that at one point in the 1930s, Beaton was suspected of holding – in common with many of his class at that time – anti-semitic views. He strenuously denied this, but for some time as a result he was blacklisted by several Hollywood studios. It is perhaps revealing that when Beaton himself became the subject of a portrait in oils by the artist Francis Bacon, he loathed the nightmarish Dorian Gray-like vision that Bacon created.

Whilst Beaton may not remain a household name these days, this mid-day show nonetheless attracted a quite sizeable and receptive audience who shared the roomy black-box auditorium with me. Stirling’s fine performance is well supported by a generous selection of Beaton’s most famous images, which are back-projected onto a large screen at the back of the sparsely-furnished set. But perhaps a little more in the way of scenery and a few smart decorative touches might visually improve this show about a man to whom style and appearances were everything? Nonetheless, the sustained applause at the end confirmed my impression of a worthwhile and entertaining piece of theatre.

So come for the photos. Stay for the pithy dialogue. Leave with a smile on your face. Get your smartest coats on and go see this.

 

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‘Bird with Kylie Vincent’ (Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until AUG 28)

Posted in 4*, Comedy, EdFestivals 2022, Gilded Balloon, Rated: Nae Bad, Stand-Up, Theatre by

“This is edgy and very funny stuff, delivered with self-deprecating wit that invites much laughter”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad)

There is no shortage of stand-up comedy at the Fringe these days, which is rather taking over from theatre. This production (and I think that’s the right word for it) comes somewhere between the two. Kylie Vincent takes the stage as a feisty in-your-face young comedian, opening with some funny if fairly conventional observation about being an American in Edinburgh.

But we quickly realise there’s going to be more to this act than meets the eye. The traditional relationship trope of performer and audience is exploded by her analysis of a heckle she received at a gig in New York – to which we listen on audiotape – before this leads her off into a revealing and confessional exploration of her self-image and personal life. The usual idea of a comic making wry observations about the world we all share is abandoned as we are drawn into the sometimes dysfunctional and abusive world of her “white trash” family upbringing. This is edgy and very funny stuff, delivered with self-deprecating wit that invites much laughter – but I noticed there were several highly introspective episodes when there was scarcely a giggle for some minutes as the audience were raptly absorbed in listening to stories that were a little too painful for amusement. Jerry Sadowitz this ain’t – and I mean that as a compliment.

The eponymous “Bird” is Kylie’s name for herself. She sees herself and others as metaphorical animals, with other friends and family referred to by names such as “the deer” or “the gazelle”. Tellingly, all of the males in her life are monkeys or apes, with her father being “the gorilla”. Although a fine emotional rollercoaster of a show, I felt that overall it fell a little too far down between the two stools of dramatic monologue and stand-up comedy to be an out-and-out success in its current form. But Kylie Vincent is someone to watch: this combination of misery memoir and wryly observational humour felt like a work in progress that has much potential and I suspect we’ll be hearing more from Ms Vincent in years to come.

So come for the laughs, stay for the heartbreak, and leave thinking a little more about the ups and downs of your own family life. Get your coats on and go see this emerging new genre of tragicomedy.

 

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‘Horse Country’ (Assembly George Square Studios, until AUG 29)

Posted in 5*, EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Outstanding by

“A dazzling series of verbal loops, covering fishing, trained seals and sea lions, the usefulness of horses and children (once both are broken in) and ‘freedom’.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

There’s a long and honourable tradition of shows with two protagonists (usually male) trapped together in an unusual situation. ‘The Dumb Waiter’, ‘The Zoo Story’, ‘Steptoe and Son’, most of Laurel and Hardy, ‘Waiting for Godot’ and Rick and Ade in ‘Bottom’ to name a few. To that list, we can now add Horse Country, CJ Hopkins’s just over 60-minute play, first seen at Edinburgh in 2002.

This time it’s Flying Bridge Theatre Company, based in Newport, to bring Sam and Bob to life. And in the form of Daniel Llewelyn-Williams and Michael Edwards, they are in very safe hands. As the audience enters, both actors are onstage, slippers on, seemingly channelling their inner Laurel and Hardy (also playing as the front of House music), in particular Edward’s nervous grinning and waving to members of the crowd embodying the spirit of Mr Laurel.

However, the cosiness does not last long as the play begins in a blizzard of words, images and ideas which shake us out of any complacency. Sam and Bob, our protagonists, take us through a dazzling series of verbal loops, covering fishing, trained seals and sea lions, the usefulness of horses and children (once both are broken in) and ‘freedom’. And here’s the nub, for all Sam and Bob’s talk and dreams of freedom, they are essentially trapped in a system they cannot control and from which they seemingly cannot escape. The search for the lost nine of diamonds from their deck of cards is as futile as their quest to go “out there”, we get an occasional glimpse and then it disappears.

I was reminded at times of watching Twin Peaks, accept everything you see and hear, then work out your own meaning later.

Both actors show superb verbal and physical dexterity throughout the performance and their onstage chemistry is perfectly aligned. They invite us into their world and we willingly take the trip, which makes the one moment of real violence all the more shocking.

It’s a strong performance for Flying Bridge Theatre and hopefully will have a life beyond Edinburgh.

Come for the slapstick. Stay for the verbal gymnastics. Leave with a free carrot (maybe). Get your riding coats on and go see this.

 

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‘Chris McGlade: Forgiveness’ (Frankenstein’s, until AUG 24)

Posted in 5*, Comedy, EdFestivals, EdFestivals 2022, Other, Rated: Outstanding, Venues by

“He is serious, powerful talent.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

Would you laugh at jokes about a pensioner being murdered?

Even when the pensioner in question is the comedian’s father?

I did. And you would.

In the basement of Frankenstein’s pub, we met Chris McGlade, the Smoggie James Nesbitt. From the off he was prowling the audience, slapping us on the back, getting in our faces, and joking about us all with a glint in the eye.

McGlade told us at the start it was a long show (2 hours) and we were to get comfy: go to the toilet, get a pint, come and go… ”you just aren’t allowed to leave’.

The first hour of the show has been called elsewhere a cri de cœur against the metropolitan liberal elite. It is in part.

It is more than that though and to view it as such misunderstands the show. The first hour is McGlade not only telling us about who his dad was but also explaining the culture that he, and his father, grew up in. A culture that shaped them. A culture that was rough but kind. A culture where you mocked others but with a smile.. and with the expectation you would be mocked back. The culture he feels his now ignored, belittled or denied. A culture that has roared both here and in the USA.

This show is an English ”Hillbilly Elegy”. To see it is to understand why so many Northern working-class voters voted Tory in 2019 and voted for Brexit a few years earlier.

There were a few folk younger in the crowd and whilst there are moments of genuine shock in that first hour the moment they bristled was when he announced he’d voted Tory. That interested me – some of the language and themes will likely offend some people but it was a working-class man who announced he’d voted Tory that brought silence. The use of racial language, the on the edge jokes… they got laughs.

Did I agree with everything McGlade said about working-class culture? No. There was plenty to challenge but I think he’d welcome that with a joke, a wink, and craic. There was plenty of truth there and plenty to think about. There were moments that made me think deeply and moments that made me laugh out loud. There were moments throughout where I swore out loud in shock only to find myself laughing.

This is a comedian who has been brought up in the tough world of working men’s clubs. There is much disdain of this. I’d guess many comedians on the circuit couldn’t shine there and at Edinburgh. McGlade does. He is a serious, powerful talent. He notes he is an outlier – a 50-something, white, working class, heavily accented guy who hasn’t been to University. It is a long way from the all too frequent liberal university grad tell a bunch of liberal university grad jokes that make them feel smug.

His skit of walking around the audience telling the sorts of jokes he’d tell there – all the expense of audience members – was very good. Whilst I am sure he shines in those venues he shone here because of his fleetness of foot – there are times when you think a joke is going one way and he totally wrongfoots you. His gag about middle-class people peppering their speech with French only to do so himself was very clever. Gags about heroin addiction and being a good Catholic were laugh-out-loud.

The first half is integral to the second. He wants you to understand his dad, and the world they lived in, and the second half focuses more on the relationship with his father, his family, and his now estranged wife and how those relationships (and their endings) have shaped him.

The second half just wouldn’t work without the first. There are jokes aplenty still but it is more thoughtful, more poignant, more beautiful. He tells us of his anger, his rage, his tears. He tells us of the jokes he told to the Police when they explained his father had been murdered. He tells us of the moments in court where people fell about laughing. He makes the audience laugh when he tells us of a bizarre suicide attempt where he is saved by a mobster’s daughter. His point throughout is what unites working class people is that they find humour everywhere.

There are moments of beauty here. I enjoyed his occasional diversions into poetry. His joking with the crowd was phenomenal (at one point it looked like he was going to do a Sadowitz by unbuttoning his trousers but stopped and laughed it off). The political message in the first half will make many uncomfortable but it will make more laugh.

Ultimately though it all builds to forgiveness. Here is a man who has forgiven the man who brutally murdered his father. A man who understands how the relationship with his father has shaped him. His language at points is astonishingly un-PC. If he can speak so eloquently about forgiving a man who strangled his father perhaps the Edinburgh Fringe crowd can forgive him that?

Come for the insight. Stay for the laugh-out-loud moments. Get your heavily accented coats on and go see this.

 

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‘Jack Docherty: Nothing But’ (Gilded Balloon at the Museum, until AUG 26)

Posted in 5*, EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Outstanding by

“Docherty leads us effortlessly through the story, with some nicely observed characters and an impressive bit of lip-syncing, plus a few Scottish references (a cheer for mention of The Blue Nile!).”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

Jack Docherty has always been a class act. From his early double act with Moray Hunter, through the years of Absolutely, through now to the self-aggrandising Chief Cameron Miekelson in Scot Squad, Docherty has been an engaging and fascinating performer.

I’m glad to say this trend continues with ‘Nothing But’, a time-shifting story of love, anticipation and disappointment, spread over 40 plus years but chiefly focused on a brief affair between two people at the Edinburgh Fringe in the late 80s that is rekindled many years later and how that relationship came to destroy a marriage and affect the subsequent relationship with his daughter. Docherty has an easy charm and is a natural storyteller, starting with his lifelong disappointment in the ‘clown’ at a friend’s fifth birthday party and running through his life. Although presented as a true story, how much of it actually happened is left to the audience to decide.

With a couple of poster-covered blocks and a few projections, Docherty leads us effortlessly through the story, with some nicely observed characters and an impressive bit of lip-syncing, plus a few Scottish references (a cheer for mention of The Blue Nile!). At no point does the story feel forced or staged although, at one point he notes,  the situation gets to a point of such clichéd romance where even Richard Curtis would say “hang on a minute…”

Having ‘retired’ from live performance for a few years, it’s very good to see such a wonderful performer back in front of an audience. There are only a couple of performances left, so don’t miss out, because as the man himself says “it’s the Edinburgh Fringe, and all bets are off.”

Come for a top professional at the top of his professional powers. Stay for the story well told. Leave knowing you got to see the unicorn before it vanished from the glade. Get your coats on (quickly) and go see this!

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‘Laurel and Chaplin: Before They Were Famous’ (theSpaceTriplex, until AUG 13)

Posted in 5*, EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Outstanding by

“One of the best examples of audience participation in the known universe.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

In his 300-page autobiography, Charlie Chaplin never mentions Stan Laurel. Why not? Both were Brits who built their careers up from vaudeville and into the early era of moving pictures thus achieving immortality. They are iconic figures about whom so much is known, except that they started their journies to the top together, in the same company. What went wrong? Why did they never speak again?

We enter to find ourselves greeted by the show’s author, THE Jon Conway, introducing his latest script which is born of his quest to chart the section of Chaplin’s biography marked “here there be dragons.” Jon is a legendary producer, a veteran of campaigns in the West End, the silver screen, and BIG arena shows such as ‘Elf’ the supersized Christmas spectacular based on the Will Ferrell movie. Jon has an instinctive, professional’s feel for the pioneering age of Holywood when everything was an innovation. What follows is 45mins of laugh-out-loud knockabout with just enough tragedy to tug the heartstrings and add a bittersweet note to the custard pie mix hurtling towards your face.

Two on-screen legends merit two legendary performances. As Stan Laurel, Matt Knight shows off some of the party tricks that wowed the judges on BBC TV’s ‘Let It Shine’ where if memory serves (or rather if The Current Mrs Dan’s memory serves) he reached the semi-finals. There’s a depth to his portrait work on Laurel, a melancholy and personal uncertainty, the shadows of the limelight. Matt is a physical wonderworker, but he’s also a chuffing good character actor and one to watch in the coming years.

Watching Jordan (son of Jon) Conway play Chaplin is like having high tea at the Ritz astride a Harley-Davidson FXDR 114 (0-60 in approximately 2.5 seconds). The first thing I do when I’m back outside is message Angela Pearson of the ‘Talking Bottom’ podcast to ask if anyone is filming a Rik Mayall biopic and in need of a star. Jordan shares Mayall’s timing, his precision, his manic determination simply to be as funny as he can possibly be – in fact, funnier than anyone else could possibly be. Jordan matches Matt’s physicality (although no one could equal it). Their on-stage chemistry is as lively as things would get if you were caught deliberately puncturing the bouncy castle at Vinny Jones’ kid’s birthday party.

As Chaplin’s troubled mother, Hannah, Kelly Banlaki brings the drama of alcohol dependency and incarceration. Kelly and Jordan share some really lovely moments as the proud mother gazing with a broken heart at the superstar apple of her eye. Hannah the most complex and contradictory of the several roles Kelly plays. As the nurse – I dread to think where they bought that THAT costume – as the nurse she is [For your own protection, the remainder of this sentence has been automatically deleted by a woke algorithm.]

The supporting cast of Joel Hatton as, among others, musical hall impresario Fred Karno as well as Joe Speare as our narrator, Wilbur, provide more flying buttressing than is to be found on a medieval cathedral. It’s essential because this is a jack-in-the-box script ready to jump out of its tiny time slot and make some serious mischief. There’s a bit with a cucumber, Joel and Jordan that doesn’t leave a dry seat in the house. For me, and for everyone else, the absolute highlight of the night’s madcappery was the demonstration of how simplistic was the process of making movies back in the day – when pictures were shot in less time than it takes Howard Berg to get through Terry Pratchett’s ‘Moving Pictures’ cover to cover. This was done via one of the best examples of audience participation in the known universe.

This little run in theSpaceTriplex – Big is obviously a teaser for the full-length mega hit coming our way. It leaves us wanting more and asking a fair few questions like why Joe isn’t also appearing in an EdFringe showcase of Nat King Cole classics doing duets with Richard Shelton as Sinatra. BTW Joe’s got a chuffing superb singing voice, did I not mention that already?

Come for the names you know. Stay for brilliant performances by names you’re about to know. Leave wanting more. Get your Bermans and Nathans tailcoats on and go see this.

 

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‘Smashing Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet’ (Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Two, until AUG 14)

Posted in 5*, EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Outstanding by

“Penelope has told the story to everyone and there’s a lot of everyone – children, parents, and parents of parents – in the packed-out auld cellar that is Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Two.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

I’m wandering around the house, post-EdFringe, trying to find a way to play Penelope Solomon’s compact disk, the one she gave us after the show. The only laptop we have with the means to play a CD is lacking the inclination. As I consider going up to the loft to ask the starlings if they have a Discman I could borrow, it strikes me that I was only 5 years aulder than Daughter 1.0 is now when I was watching Penelope on some of my absolute TV favourites ‘Fist of Fun’ and ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ which I had recorded on VHS and watched till the tapes wore thin. I’m glad she’s signposting her role in the classics in her promo materials. A few years back, it took me an age to figure out where I know Tim Marriott from. I grew up on 90s TV. I am as roundly educated as I am because 90s TV was different.

I’ve given up trying to find a CD player and have put on Dvorak’s New World Symphony. Slice of Hovis anyone? Now TV in the 90s – that lad, that were proper telly. Oh aye, we had cultural influences from t’ big US sitcoms, but none of these formulaic Viking detective shows or paint-by-numbers ‘Dallas’ reboots. Sure, you had fly-on-the-wall muck, but ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Celebrity Shag Island’ were tomorrow’s nightmares. TV in my day were clever. It were unique. TV in my day were as British as fish and chips and chicken tika masala. Coz you see lad, here’s what they don’t teach you post-B-word, British is a tapestry woven of many exotic threads on a comforting base of hempen homespun. Shakespeare and company would have undoubtedly toured about in Europe, picking up this and picking up that. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is set in Verona not Vale of Pickering. So if you’re going to do the play, especially for kids, you need a broad cultural vision to encompass the elegance and the artistry. You have to know stuff. Frankly, you have to have been on Telly back in ‘90s.

We enter to find a barrow, Hackney chic rather than Billingsgate pong. It’s got the same plastic ivy as Daughter 2.0 (4yrs) keeps pulling off the girls’ Step2 play taberna. Like the production to follow, the cart is light enough to capture and keep the imagination, breezy enough to suffer the slings and arrows of the outrageous fortune of live performance to a younger audience, yet robust enough to carry the monumentally heavy drama. It softly whispers, “strolling players, Renaissance marketplace, twelfth night in my lord’s great hall.” This is a show that makes a small but deep impression, like reindeer prints in the snow. A lot of Shakespeare for kids, and Mike McEvoy was a friend of mine, is aimed at schools. The productions are loud, a bit in your face, as much about crowd control as forging a personal connection. ‘Smashing Shakespeare’ – and I’m sorry, the word ‘smashing’ should not be used unless Rik Mayall is describing someone’s blouse – ‘Smashing Shakespeare’ is a breath of fresh air. It’s The Bard for bairns of the ‘Cbeebies Bedtime Stories’ generation. A generation of homeschooled and forest schooled minds who know that every snowflake is unique.

Daughter 1.0 (7yrs) wrote the following in her EdFringe journal, the one with the purple fluffy cover that keeps malting in my laptop bag:

“When we walked in We saw a cart wich was used for lots of things like places to keep the spoons because they were used for people. There was only one person in the show. There were three ways to do it. One she use the decorated spoons. Two she put hats and cloukes on. And three she used puppets and had difarat voises. She played some songs that was not recanisable but pretty. The story was a tragedy. I felt intarested and exited. She was realy good at it. I loved it.”

Penelope Solomon has scored a hattrick, three goals in one game. First, she’s told an auld story brilliantly and innovatively. Second, she’s told a heavy story candidly yet sensitively. Not using puppets for Romeo or Juliet that the little ones are likely to strongly identify with – unless they identify as a small garden gnome or a cat. This simple good choice softens the play’s final blow and far more subtly so than those pre-Garrick types who said “feck it”, and replaced the last scene with the words, “and they all lived happily ever after.” Third, Penelope has told the story to everyone and there’s a lot of everyone – children, parents, and parents of parents – in the packed-out auld cellar that is Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Two. Our man of the match is a lioness of grace and power. I can’t wait to see her next project come alive.

Come for the middle-class thrill of olive wood spoons and Shakespeare. Stay for storytelling done proper, like it was back my day. Leave knowing your little one has just broadened their cultural horizon by a country mile or three. Get your cloukes on and go see this!

 

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‘Fashion Spies’ (Assembly George Square – The Box, until AUG 29)

Posted in 4*, Comedy, EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Outstanding by

“My 8-year-old said it was ‘the funniest thing on Earth’. I’m not sure I would go quite that far but it was good fun and ultimately she was the target market.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Outstanding)

Trotting around George Square last weekend we were accosted by a hugely glamorous man. He looked my daughters in the eye and said: “The world’s finest fashion is being stolen all over the world! We need new fashion spies to help us recover them!” The girls gawped as they were handed a leaflet, “do you think you could help us?” Asked this vision in glitter. They nodded solemnly.

And – for a week now – they have said: “Can we go to ‘Fashion Spies’, Dad?”

It should be no surprise that we found ourselves outside the Box on George Square waiting to get in. The staff handed us some bits and bobs that we needed for the show and gave us our spy names. I was ‘Britney’. An early win.

In the shipping container, we were seated in the front row. Madonna was blaring out. The three stars worked the room, laughing and joking with us. It turned out the vision in glitter was Jack Davies: one of the stars of the show.

Over the course of the next hour, a madcap romp ensues. The three stars play multiple characters as they train the audience in spy techniques to help track down some missing clothes.

The story rattled along: songs, gags, audience interaction involving fabric and tubes. My youngest loved the tubes and the creation around them. One scene with a fox had me guffawing heartily and though primarily a kids’ show there were a few gags aimed at the adults. It all came together with a grand, silly reveal which went down well in our house (I saw some of it coming but not all of it).

My 8-year-old said it was ‘the funniest thing on Earth’. I’m not sure I would go quite that far but it was good fun and ultimately she was the target market. My youngest (6) really enjoyed the props, getting involved in the show and helping choose the direction of the play.

The eldest got a decent laugh herself. When the lights went out for a second time to aid costume changes she loudly said: ‘’oh no not this again’. Cue everyone – including the cast – laughing. To his eternal credit, the stars nicked the line later on when they did it again.

This is what EdFringe should be about: taking a punt on a new show in a small venue. A young, talented group putting on a fun show trying to make a name for themselves. All three – Jack Davies, Eleanor Rattenbury, and Abbi Greenwood – put everything into the show. They worked relentlessly, singing, dancing, over-acting, camping it up and working the audiences.

It was well put together although A few bits didn’t quite land as well as they might but those are forgiven easily enough. This trio deserve a bigger audience and kids who are into spy thrillers and getting into glamour will love it.

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‘The Ghosting of Rabbie Burns’ (Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until AUG 28)

Posted in Rated: Outstanding, 5*, EdFestivals 2022 by

“60 minutes of always brilliant, occasionally flirtatious badinage.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

Back home on the edge of Cambridgeshire’s Fenland, I’m listening to the ringing of the nine tailors from the church tower at the other end of our village. I am struck by how unique the concept of a Burns Supper is. Fenland’s own native bard, John Clare (1793-1864), wrote mighty beautiful words in mighty beautiful ways and lived a life both tragic and interesting. Yet Clare is as obscure as the snipe sitting at his rest in safety ‘neath the clump of hugh flag forrest. Scotland – and is Scotland a people, a place, a way of being, or all three? – Scotland owes an unpayable debt to Robert Burns (1759-96) for expressing all that makes Scotland Scotland in a uniquely sensitive, sensual, and simple voice. That debt is honoured by all right-thinking people annually. There are more statues of Burns on planet Earth than of any other writer. The homages will no doubt continue until the rocks melt with the sun.

We enter slightly before a lady writer of a certain age. She has come in hopes of mending a broken heart. She caught her life’s partner of these past 10 years, making the beast with two backs with another woman – and in her bed no less. Now he’s ghosting her. He has disappeared from her life. Her literary agent, who is also her friend (sure, sure), is pressing her to complete her latest manuscript. She proceeds to arrange her holiday cottage, moving ornaments, turning on the wireless, turning it straight back off again, flicking through her glossy magazine with a wee drop of wine to defecate the standing pool of thought. No joy, she’s still got writers’ block, a bruised ego, and no one to share Burns Night with – or so she thinks. If you’ve ever seen the ‘Star Trek’ TNG episode ‘Sub Rosa’ you know that auld Scottish cottages, recently deceased aulder relatives, and lovelorn ladies attract a certain type of unquiet spirit.

As the ghost of Robbie Burns, Colin McGowan comes on waaaay too strong (at first) which is genius on the part of the author, Gillian Duffy, because it gives this lively portrait plenty of time to soften into focus. As the onstage author, Gill McGowan starts out softer and gets stronger. At the conclusion of 60 minutes of always brilliant, occasionally flirtatious badinage the two characters are, as they say in Lodge No.133, ready to part upon the square. Both have fine voices, well suited to Burns’ classic lyrics. The spine-tingling effect will instantly have your heart in the highlands chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe. This is easily the best double act for your money this EdFringe and with a script that gets you wondering if Gillian Duffy has also encountered the shade of Bro. Burns, perhaps on that stone bridge Eddi Reader says she saw him on.

Come for the immortal memory. Stay for the lively and perfectly balanced performances. Leave with a new and/or renewed appreciation for the man, the work, the legend. Get your tartan-tastic coats on and go see this.

 

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‘Josh Glanc: Vrooom Vrooom’ (Monkey Barrel Comedy- The Hive, until AUG 28)

Posted in 5*, EdFestivals 2022, Rated: Outstanding by

“A top set, delivered faster, with more power and precisions than Djokovic on Centre Court.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

I absolutely 100% did not piss myself laughing watching Josh Glanc just now. There was already piss in there, mostly my own, but there was not a dry seat in the (very full) house. After 55mins of spot-on gags, one-liners, musical numbers, prop comedy, and unbounded silliness even the sky has started pissing itself. Edinburgh’s ultra hot summer is done, it’s over, and Josh Glanc is the reason why.

There’s stand-up comedy and there’s stand-out comedy. Often personal, with occasional flashes of genius, with never a slip, hesitation, or moment of let up – what we just saw was a top set, delivered faster, with more power and precisions than Djokovic on Centre Court. I could try to describe the various bits and pieces but it would be like trying to describe an especially surreal painting by Salvador Dali to a cave fish.

The audience participation works because it empowers the punter while continuing the theme of gentle self-mockery. That’s been one of the steady drum beats throughout this uptempo, music-rich set. The little Melbourne lawyer who packed it all in to join the stand-up circus. Cheer up Josh, if your parents were here instead of writing about how disappointed they are in your career choices on MomsNet, I’m sure they would tell you how fecking funny you are. The world needs more joyous, joy-fuelled art and fewer people retaking the entrance exams for the Broadmeadows Bar Association for the 8th time.

Come for the hot chips, potato cakes, dim sum, and sausage rolls. Stay for the best set you’ll see in this particular room at this particular time, leave with the auld lady in the seat next to you’s umbrella. You’ll need it because, like I said, the Gods in Comedy Heaven are pissing themselves with laughter.

 

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