‘The Last Straw’ (Bedlam: 21 – 25 October ’14)

Posted in 3*, Bedlam, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre by Alan Brown

Photos: Ummatiddle

“… impro cuts loose, and cries of ‘F –ing awesome’ applaud play and cast.”

A tale of two exclamations from ole stage coach territory. There’s “Whoa!” (Slow down) or “Wow!” (Stop right there. That’s too much). Either way, forget it. The foot brake’s worn, the wheel brake’s a joke, and you’re gonna get hurt, lady, if you stay up top. Best ride is in here, in Bedlam, with us. It’s a long journey of near on two and a half hours but it’s fun.

Director and writer Eric Geistfeld is from somewhere in Minnesota. Home is unlikely to be Bemidji but what the heck, The Last Straw is tv’s Fargo in a gothic farce. It’s intrepid. No quavering, gathered strings here; no hole in the ice but a useful trapdoor. There is breakneck writing, lunatic action, a menagerie of oddball characters, a yellow sex doll, and a lot of laughs.

Upright, young Edward, true-buttoned Brit and in financial services, is just married to Judy, all-American sweetheart, ‘pajamaed’ and with her teddy. They are to live with Violet, Judy’s mother, in Terror Towers. It might as well be Marine Corps ville. Ronald Reagan is venerated and there is a dead butler, resident throughout the first half, who wears aviators and is fed cake, but it’s gum-chewing, pistol packing Violet (Isobel Moulder) who calls the shots, literally. There will be no kids until she’s ashes and she’d be much obliged if her son in law would smoke them after she’s gone. Not that she plans to let him live long. Edward (Macleod Stephen) is a good sort, articulates so well, but realises that his body bag is being prepared. Ma has to go so he puts out a contract on her life, as she has on his.

There is live keyboard but you hang onto the soundtrack. The Magnificent Seven sets us off and then it’s a trip through The First Cut is the Deepest, Our House, The House of the Rising Sun and, of course, Sweet Dreams are Made of This. By this point Edward has taken a slice of sponged cocaine cake and is away, tally-ho, with his toilet plunger and the weird fairies from the basement. The fourth wall crumbled a while back, impro cuts loose, and cries of ‘F –ing awesome’ applaud play and cast.

The Last Straw goes out to glad-hand its audience. Is it like the Lothian state fair on the Meadows? Kind of. Scenes are gaudy, wisecracking sideshows, neatly divided by a door on wheels. They put their trust in ‘Together we’ll go far’, which just happens to be the slogan of the Wells Fargo bank. Especially successful are ‘The Murderelli Brothers’, possibly from Brooklyn, whose take on Alan Rickman is actually to die for; ‘The Existential Hecklers’ from outta Sartre and ‘The Sad Killer’. What of the main act in amongst these diversions? Beyond the closing cheer of ‘Happy Families’, there needn’t be one. For the best of reasons The Last Straw is a fearless, crowded, tiring, play.

And so to our adventurous rating and ranking of 3* OUTSTANDING. Three stars (safe) because you won’t be disappointed by such a full-on, have-a go, production. Colour coded red – Outstanding – because The Last Straw is remarkable rather than unbearable. I thought so, anyway.

outstanding

—

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 22 October)

Visit Bedlam Homepage here

Visit our Assembly Roxy Bedlam Church Hill Theatre Festival Theatre King’s Theatre Other Pleasance, Potterrow & Teviot Summerhall The Lyceum The Stand Traverse archive.

THIS REVIEW HAS NOT BEEN SUBEDITED

9Oct2014

‘Top Hat’ (Festival Theatre: 7 – 18 October ’14)

Posted in 5*, Dance, Festival Theatre, Music, Theatre by Dan Lentell

“Hayward is Wodehousian perfection – the only actor who might do justice as Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars: Nae Bad

Michael Clarke Duncan, as death row inmate John Coffey in The Green Mile (1999), got it about right. The night before he becomes a dead man walking, Coffey is granted a clandestine glimpse of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire dancing cheek to cheek in Irving Berlin’s Hollywood classic Top Hat (1935). “They’s just like angels” he declares, utterly awestruck.

Expectations couldn’t be higher as we take our seats for the stage adaptation. “I wish Monty was here!” laments Companion A to Companion B, “he loves Strictly.” Monty-The-Dog’s inclusion in the lasses’ Saturday night ritual might suggest he’s more Withnail and I than WWII general. But like millions of contemporary Brits, Monty is a sucker for a sequin dress spinning at a bajillion miles an hour. If he were here, he’d be wanting dance, laughs, toe-tappin’, and above all, glamour… with a capital BLING! He would not be disappointed.

The plot is as subtle as a Shakespeare comedy, mistaken identity taking true love on a harebrained, helter-skelter ride. Boy annoys girl by dancing night and day in the hotel room above hers at an hour when even the coal porter is asleep. When she complains, he falls in love. She doesn’t and, much to the vexation of the theatrical producer of the West End show this boy is meant to be focused on, boy pursues girl from Hyde Park to Lido di Venezia.

Hildegard Bechtler’s set is a triumph, it’s how you want the 1930s to look. Art Deco, modernist, functional, and not a hint of a black shirt sneaking across il Ponte della Libertà. It’s not flawless – how come the parkscape scenery doesn’t move when the carriage does, and why is there a gap above the dressing table? But if you measure a set by how much you want to sit down in it- maybe sipping a Jack Rose while watching Katherine Hepburn mud wrestle Lucy Mercer – then Bechtler’s done alright.

The chemistry between Alan Burkitt (Jerry Travers) and Charlotte Gooch (Dale Tremont), never entirely ignites. Burkitt, former All England Tap Dancer of the Year and a Strictly Come Dancing favourite is superb, interstellar even. Gooch is both sultry and supercharged, staying cheek to cheek and toe to toe with Burkitt. They’re individually strong performances, worth the entry price alone, however they don’t seem to mesh. The double-edged lyrics of Wild About You fall disappointingly flat, while the inclusion of Rogers’ oft-quoted trusim, “I did everything he did, backwards … and in high heels,” is delivered more like a professional rebuke than a playful remark.

In contrast, the magnetic attraction of Clive Hayward (as producer Horace Hardwick) and Rebecca Thornhill (Madge, his socialite spouse) provides a true dose of human interest and drama. Hayward is Wodehousian perfection. He’s so good in fact that he may be the only actor who could do justice as Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge.

Sebastien Torkia, as Tremont’s flamboyant BFF, and John Conroy, as Hardwick’s laconic gentleman’s personal gentleman, tap out Top Hat’s theatrical high notes. Torkia takes it to the edge and over, defying gravity to reach a level of lunacy that must be seen to be believed. Conroy is no less ambitious and equally brilliant, delivering each put down, as well as the story’s clever resolution, with a knowing confidence that never slips into arrogance.

Accompanying vignettes by the cast add to the seamless sparkle. I especially like the interplay between Lucy Ashenden and Edinburgh’s own John McManus in the hotel scenes which add depth and contrast. The great success of this great production is that amid all the careful choreography is a joyous piece of live theatre that will score with huffy hubby as assuredly as any bevy of sassy Strictly seekers.

Come for the dancing but stay for the theatricals. Bravo!

—

Reviewer: Dan Lentell (Seen 9 October)

Visit our Festival Theatre archive.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN SUBEDITED

3Oct2014

‘Outlying Islands’ (Traverse: 1 – 4 October ’14)

Posted in 4*, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre, Traverse by Alan Brown

Martin Richardson.
Photo: Graham Riddell

“Wide, invigorating views in a small space”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars: Outstanding

“‘Scuse my French,” says birdwatcher John – repeatedly. This thoroughly decent young man, BA. Cantab., has had enough – again! The year is 1939 and John is on the remotest of the Western Isles with stinking socks and his gimlet-eyed pal, Robert, who is bound to get the sweet girl first. You might hear the romantic airs of Local Hero within Outlying Islands, for the Celtic soundscape is lovely, but instead I see a fab, screwed up Tintin-esque adventure amongst the fork tailed petrels.

I reckon playwright David Greig likes Hergé’s impeccable line, after all, he did adapt Tintin in Tibet for a Christmas show at the Barbican in 2005. Outlying Islands has the same startling and redemptive quality of that blameless story. However, the play’s audience also sees scary biological warfare and delightful sex.

It is the sharp clarity of the piece that impresses most. The first lines open with “I have noticed,” and it as if the audience are the ones with the binoculars, watching intently and enjoying what they discover. A bright and acute script paired with alert, insightful direction by Richard Baron is as effective as fixer in old style photographic processing, which you’ll be reminded of. We get focus and definition all throughout, with flashbulbs and nae pixels.

James Rottger and Helen Mackay.
Photo: Graham Riddell

We are way out west, literally in a rock burrow, and cinematically in Laurel and Hardy territory. Their 1937 film is Ellen’s favourite but for her ‘Free’ church uncle, Kirk (!), the cinema is a place of darkness where only the Fallen gather. London, by way of the same Calvinist conviction, is a ‘gannetry of random defecation’. What’s a young woman to do – apart from prepare puffin stew? Ellen’s happiness at finding an answer in unforeseen liberty is wonderful, and Helen MacKay is jubilant in the role. Nice John or Johnny, played straight and true by James Rotger, is not a happy chappie when confronted by deep feelings – arguably like Tintin – therefore his discomfort, naked on the kitchen table, is understandable. Martin Richardson is utterly convincing as Robert. Probably amoral, certainly sensitive, fiercely rational, and undoubtedly bad for Kirk’s health, he has the dash of the pagan about him. Crawford Logan has the unsympathetic (adult) roles, playing Kirk, who is mean in spirit, calculating, a relic to be parodied, and, very briefly, the Captain of the ship that returns to take them off the island and back to …. Ullapool?

During the referendum campaign David Greig spoke of Scotland and a Scottish population that had been wearing UK goggles for long enough: ‘goggles which say you never ask questions’. ‘Outlying Islands’ has come back, post Yes/No, and offers wide, invigorating views in a small space. You might pick holes at some cartoonish excess or at the fly-away innocence of the plot or even at some speech bubble dialogue, but I saw an excellent production from Firebrand Theatre; the same company that brought ‘Blackbird’ (not Leach’s petrel) to Summerhall in February. That was outstanding too.

—

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 1 October)

Visit Outlying Islands homepage here.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN SUBEDITED

2Oct2014

‘Regeneration’ (King’s: 30 September – 4 October ’14)

Posted in 3*, King's Theatre, Theatre by Alan Brown

Jack Monaghan (Prior) & Garmon Rhys (Owen).
Photo: Manuel Harlan

“‘Anthem for Dead Youth’”

Editorial Rating: 3 Stars

By 1917, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder’s designation in army speak is ‘Not Yet Diagnosed (Nervous),’ which then becomes ‘Shell Shock (wound)’ or ‘Shell Shock (sick)’. You could suffer both. Either way, it was identified as a ‘disability … caused by military service’. Watch this eager, opportune, play and you can add ‘unspeakable,’ ‘crippling’ or ‘shocking’ to the official terms.

Furthermore, pull open one of the gun metal drawers in the War Poets Collection at Craiglockhart and you’ll see an open medical register with ‘Neurasthenia’ entered alongside every one of the thirty plus names down the page. The ledger is matter-of-fact, inoffensive, prosaic for its time. However, writer Pat Barker turned that upside down in the terrific pages of ‘Regeneration,’ and Gillies MacKinnon took that book and made an excellent film of it. Now, Nicholas Wright’s adaptation tries it out on stage, with Simon Godwin directing and aiming high.

It is a fascinating, half-true story. Mutinous ‘Mad Jack’ Siegfried Sassoon (31) did meet Wilfred Owen (24) in Craiglockhart hospital during the summer of 1917. Sassoon did encourage Owen to write about the war. His pencilled revisions are all over a draft of ‘Anthem for Dead Youth’, along the lines of “No, make that… Doomed Youth’. Good man!” Sassoon’s doctor was William Rivers, anthropologist and pioneering psychiatrist. Owen recovers his health, Sassoon accepts counseling. Both officers choose to be ‘discharged to duty’. Both will return to the front line.

Stephen Boxer (Rivers).
Photo: Manuel Harlan

Rivers also has another patient, Billy Prior, a boy from Bradford who knows all too well that he’s only made it to 2nd Lieutenant because the army is fast running out of the privately educated, well spoken type. The exchanges between Rivers – in a fine undemonstrative performance by Stephen Boxer – and the chippy but likeable Prior (Jack Monaghan) are the most forward and challenging in the play. Questions of class, upbringing and sex are insistently between them.

However, the relationship is less spiky between Owen and Sassoon. Garmon Rhys plays the younger man, gauche and pliable, who gains confidence and dignity by the close. Tim Delap is a debonair Sassoon, who has his own terrors in the night but whose brocade dressing gown stands them down. Between the two of them, the love that dare not speak it’s name gets treacherously close.

This production is ambitious, brisk, and inventive, but its pace reinforces an episodic, fleeting quality. Reflective moments – Rivers dictating case notes, Mr Prior under hypnosis – are precious, but soon give way to the next happening. A burst of machine gun fire or a flash of howitzer blast are like fugitive subtitles, and the compressed script begins to sound sententious, light remarks diverting attention from tough themes. The stark set is washed out, bleached almost, and in need of some gloomy Edwardian mahogany. Additionally, the small marble of Laocoön on Rivers’ desk is a weighty feature that does its job, but otherwise, the fact that the Conservative Club on Princes Street, where Sassoon entertained, is now a Debenhams is indicative of a play piling literary stock and selling low. ‘The Parable of the Old Man and the Young’ it cannot be, although Capt. Rivers remains a merciful saint.

—

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 30 September)

Visit Regeneration‘s homepage here.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN SUBEDITED

24Sep2014

‘Kill Johnny Glendenning’ (Lyceum: 17 September – 11 October ’14)

Posted in 4*, The Lyceum, Theatre by Alan Brown

“A Lock and Load comedy with the safety Off”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars

How mental do you like your Glasgow? I say ‘your’ advisedly, as this play has barreled its way down the M8 in that distinct, uncompromising “Up yours!” way that makes Edinburgh appear po-faced. D C Jackson has written a lock and load comedy with the safety off. ‘Kill Johnny Glendenning’ is fast, almost ludicrous, and not a little gross.

Droll Weegie humour is too dark for Strathclyde noir. This explosive plot begins with a bang as Bruce Wilson, the crime writer of Glasgow’s ‘Daily Reporter’, is to be taken out of harm’s way before his scurrilous biography of loyalist para-military Johnny Glendenning catches up with him. However, Johnny’s solid and inescapable desire for revenge makes Bruce Wilson’s survival somewhat unlikely. In fact, Johnny G. has set his sights on more than one unlucky victim, as he also goes after Andrew MacPherson, a ‘businessman’, who has cocaine deals to finance. Unfortunately, MacPherson’s laddies, sheepish Dominic (Philip Cairns) and numpty dumpty Skootch (Josh Whitelaw), mess up from accidental start to blood soaked finish. Dominic’s wife, Kimberly (Joanne Thomson), is the surprising Lady Macbeth of the piece, albiet very pregnant one, and one well in tune with Leona Lewis’s ‘Bleeding Love’.

Paul Samson (l) and David Ireland (r)

The action is as lurid as Skootch’s cream suit, modelled – of course – after Pacino’s in ‘Scarface’. Johnny is a dab hand at pulling teeth and at castration by combat knife. There is lots of gunfire and a maniacal stabbing. The first act, down on Auld John’s farm, ends with bodies being soaked in petrol. Normally in Ayrshire these poor souls would be fed to the pigs, but it is onto douce Hyndland, in Glasgow’s West End, for the second act and a marginally tidier, intelligent backstory.

David Ireland’s Johnny might be a headcase but he remains a neat act. His easy movement, trim beard, and smart banter make the killer look and sound almost companionable, but the mild Ulster accent is as unnerving as the tattoos. Paul Samson as MacPherson, whose respectability is a vicious lie, keeps his character closer to the edge. Bruce (Steven McNicoll) is the journalist with no conscience who suffers that nice, well-bred, immunity from actual violence until it happens to him. He wears carpet slippers to his sorry end. Kern Falconer as scarecrow Auld John is frighteningly at one with his pigs, as well as his scary mither up the ladder.

(l to r) Philip Cairns, Steve McNicol, Josh Whitelaw

However, ‘Kill Johnny Glendenning’ is more than an unhinged caper. One read of the imaginative programme and a glance at the stage curtain for a lookalike Amazon listing of tales from Bar-L will tell you that Jackson and director Mark Thomson are firing off some cultural bullet points. Hard men and hard boys are the obvious target but you could easily add sectarian shite, corruption of the press, Glasgow itself and mobile phone apps to that list. An entertaining, close-range blast from ‘Yes’ land.

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 20 September)

Visit Kill Johnny Glendenning’s homepage here.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN SUBEDITED

24Sep2014

Star Ratings Announcement

Posted in Theatre by Dan Lentell

Edinburgh49 is dedicated to supporting creative work and those who make it happen. Our purpose is to write dependable reviews and interesting features and to provide producers with some useful and knowledgeable comment. Edinburgh49 addresses all aspects of the work seen – not the work as it might, should or could have been.

**As of September 2014 Edinburgh49 will be using star ratings!**

Like some other review titles Edinburgh49 has been wary of star ratings. A show rated 3 stars or less might not attract the audiences that solid work, done well, deserves. Additionally, perceived ‘star inflation’, especially at the Fringe, has seemed to devalue the endorsement of a high star rating.

However, after our first year we’ve determined that the positives outweigh the negatives. Star ratings are helpful indicators. So long as readers are reasonably clear how a title awards its stars, and so long as producers continue to use pull-quotes to support the endorsement, star ratings serve as reliable shortcuts to the best reviews and to the best productions.

We’ll still be using ‘Nae Bad’ & ‘Outstanding’

A good review should be able to take subjective views into account while still presenting a balanced and informed opinion.

The Edinburgh49 team will retain our cherished ‘Nae Bad’ & ‘Outstanding’ labels as a means of articulating their personal reaction to the show. Thus a 3 star show might still be thought ‘Outstanding’ if our writer thinks something truly memorable has been achieved.

Trying new things is what the arts are all about. Sometime we succeed. Sometimes we fail. It’s not the falling down, it’s the getting up that matters. Creative endeavor deserves talented cheer-leading. Grab your pom-poms folks! There’s 49 weeks of capital artistry ahead!

Want to join our review team and support the art you care about? Get in touch via e-mail or Twitter.

27Jul2014

49 Things You Should Know About The Fringe 2014 pt.3 (38-49)

Posted in Features, Previews, Theatre by Dan Lentell

The Edinburgh Fringe is unique. Uniquely big as well as uniquely varied, and therefore, uniquely competitive.

52 weeks in a year minus 3 weeks of the Fringe = Edinburgh49

Edinburgh49 is a collaboration between Edinburgh-based writers from some of the most respected Fringe Theatre review titles. Their insights combine detailed local knowledge with a comprehensive overview of the Fringe.

49 Things You Should Know About The Fringe will help you get the most out of your experience this August. In Part One we examined how shows get noticed and what to do when you are. In Part 2 we met the various media titles whose reviewers you’ll be courting. Now, as the clock ticks down towards the launch of Fringe ’14, we offer some more esoteric thoughts which, we hope, will help you squeeze every drop of juice from the extraordinary month ahead.

COUNTING DOWN TO FRINGE 2014!

Each venue will have its own Press Office. Some are better than others. Even the largest press office staff don’t have time to do your stapling for you. However, if they do display reviews or attach ratings to posters shown in house, make sure they’re doing it promptly. You’re the customer. You paid to use this venue. Demand a quality after-sales service.

The Fringe is home to some really great chat & revue shows where punters can hear directly from participants. The legendary Merv Stutter is among the best established. Don’t be shy in approaching producers and asking to feature on their sofa in front of an audience. New acts especially need content.

There’s a whole article to be written about Twitter and the Fringe. It ought to start with the obvious warning that not every Fringe-goer is on social media. Our 5 golden rules for Twitter: don’t pester; don’t churn; don’t quarrel; don’t insult and don’t forget to retweet, follow & favourite beyond the usual suspects.

Read Broadway Baby’s How to write a press release journalists will want to read. Then re-read it and pass it on to every public relations professional you know. Then read it again.

Even if it’s just a single side of black and white A5, consider providing your audience with a programme. There are sound audience engagement reasons for doing so (introducing your company, script, vision etc.) Besides, reviewers can’t name names if they don’t know who anyone is. If you have, or are in, other shows, it’s a good place to mention it. Don’t forget to include your social media contact details.

Always use a local printer to avoid disappointment. If you need something fast, try talking to Paul at Pace Print and tell him we sent you. [NB. They didn’t pay us, or even ask us to write this. We’ve used Pace Print for a long time and they consistently impress us.]

The Free Fringe is among the most interesting developments within the Fringe for some time. For established theatre companies the Fringe is a trade show. Their priority is as much to sell shows (to national venue managers) as it is to sell tickets. The costs/benefits involved in setting out their stalls at the #Freestival may one day be in competition with traditional big venues…perhaps. Less in doubt are the huge advantages the Free Fringe offers to new players.

Free Fringe audiences exist on a spectrum running from folk who won’t stay past 5 lines of bad dialogue; to those who stay rooted in a venue from dawn till dusk seeing everything in the lineup.

Late to the party? If you arrive in Edinburgh after the start of the Fringe, don’t despair. You’re fresh and eager. Lamentably, few Fringe-goers abandon hearth and home for the full run, so there is always a steady stream of audiences. Still, take nothing for granted.

See Edinburgh! It’s a great city and there are plenty of low and no-cost ways to see it, from the Radical Road to the Walter Scott Monument. The sunsets over the Firth of Forth this time of year are gorgeous, especially when viewed from the Starbank Inn. On the far side of town, the Sheeps Heid in picturesque Duddingston village offers traditional fare on a site which has been continuously occupied by a pub since 1360.

Say goodbye to your money. For many coming to the Fringe is a once in a lifetime experience. For others it’s the start or end of a continuing tour. For everyone it’s a place to workshop ideas in front of an actual audience, night after night. That doesn’t come cheap, so make sure it stays cheerful.

Don’t Panic!

Good luck to everyone participating in The Edinburgh Festivals of 2014! Edinburgh49 will return in September!

15Jul2014

49 Things You Should Know About The Fringe 2015 pt.2 (17-37)

Posted in Features, Previews, Stand-Up, Theatre by Dan Lentell

The Edinburgh Fringe is unique. Uniquely big as well as uniquely varied, and therefore uniquely competitive.

52 weeks in a year minus 3 weeks of the Fringe = Edinburgh49

THE ONE EVENT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS

‘Meet the Media’ is organised by the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. It’s an event unlike any other where you can spend face-to-face time with media representatives from the various titles. Remember to bring hard copies of your marketing materials and be prepared to queue! Meet the Media 2014: Aug 3: 14:00 (4h): Fringe Central: Free & Non-ticketed.

PULL-OUT QUOTES & STAR RATINGS

The use, usefulness and misuse of star ratings remains a hot discussion topic among producers and pundits. Are stars the best shorthand for what a reviewer thinks, or do they obscure the overall impression? Is a three star show worth seeing? If not why not? Are some titles offering too many stars for too little? How do 5 stars for stand-up equate to 5 stars in traditional theatre?

Include pull-quotes from each review to sit alongside the star rating. Pick quotes that express some insight into your work, rather than just selecting the most favorable single adjectives. If you’re not confident in the number of stars, just include a pull-quote.

Pull-quotes make for reliable daily Twitter content. You should try and draw multiple quotes from one review (so long as you properly reference each).

When tweeting pull-quotes, include the reviewer’s & title’s account to encourage retweets.

TRADITIONAL PRINT MEDIA

Don’t rely too much on the traditional print and broadcast outlets. Budgets are like tyres, if you slash them you won’t get far. The big titles have fewer resources to cover the Fringe than ever. If you concentrate exclusively on household-name brands you may find you end up with no coverage at all.

Not all reviewers are the same. Some are experienced arts writers with production pedigrees of their own, while others are enthusiastic amateurs starting out their careers through practical training schemes. Some are writing for highly commercial operations, others are taking time out from their paid engagements to pursue their passion for the arts.

A good review from The Scotsman remains the most valued endorsement at the Fringe. But with its last reported daily circulation figures dipping below 30,000, you will still need to make a lot of noise in your own marketing to feel the full benefit.

The Herald is dangerously easy to overlook; it’s The Scotsman’s big local rival and an increasingly important voice at the Fringe. Their highly prestigious awards, Herald Angels, are almost unique in the fact that absolutely any show is eligible to win one – but you’re only in with a chance if you manage to get one of their reviewers in.

The Edinburgh Evening News is from the same stable as The Scotsman, but it’s editorially independent. It has a quite different readership too, so it’s well worth approaching both. Controversially, they rate out of 7 stars rather than the conventional 5.

Don’t discount the free paper Metro – it has relatively extensive Fringe coverage and a large circulation. A good review in Metro isn’t (yet) a badge of pride, but we’ve heard anecdotally that it does great things for ticket sales.

UK national newspapers also have a presence in Edinburgh, though they’re not the force they once were. If you manage to get coverage, enjoy your good fortune. The Guardian, Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail are among the most visible, while a review in the Financial Times is one of the most prestigious.

Founded in 2002, Fest Magazine has grown to produce 125,000 free copies in six issues during the Fringe. Published every Tuesday and Friday, including a July preview guide. Fest’s online archive is impressively comprehensive but rather old skool to navigate. Fest is notoriously (and proudly) stingy with its star ratings.

NEW MEDIA

The Festival Media Network strives to improve the coverage of arts festivals and promote collaboration between member media. FMN’s members are Broadway Baby, Edinburgh Nights, Fringe Guru, FringeReview, Hairline and ThreeWeeks.

All Edinburgh Theatre is run by Thom Dibdin, freelance journalist and Scotland Correspondent of The Stage newspaper. The website started out as the Annals of the Edinburgh Stage in 2009, before transforming into All Edinburgh Theatre in 2013.

Broadway Baby has existed since 1996 when it launched as a free resource for actors to publish their CVs. In 2004 publisher Pete Shaw started adding reviews, since when Broadway Baby has become a major new force with over 6,000 reviews published of work staged at Edinburgh, Brighton, New York and London. As well as sourcing articulate and lively writers Broadway Baby copy edits everything that it publishes and boasts cutting-edge behind the scenes IT wizardry.

Edinburgh49 DOES NOT OPERATE DURING THE FRINGE but our writers do. We’ll be back in September committed to supporting punters and producers through the other 49 weeks of the city’s arts calendar.

Edinburgh Nights is a weekly show for Scotland’s Capital City promoting shows, events, and music that will be taking place that weekend across Edinburgh. Rooted in the Fringe the show is available online and as a podcast. Edinburgh Nights is produced and hosted by the BAFTA nominated broadcaster, and occasional Edinburgh49er, Ewan Spence.

Fringe Guru, co-founded by Edinburgh49er Richard Stamp, aims for selective quality coverage, in preference to ‘completism’ or rapid growth. Fringe Guru is about trust over size. In contrast to most independent media, Fringe Guru’s reviewers are generally professional writers rather than active arts practitioners.

FringeReview, covers Fringe Festivals from Adelaide to Edinburgh and is edited in August by Edinburgh49er Dan Lentell. A passion-project by founder Paul Levy, FringeReview seeks out innovation, challenge, competence and creativity putting an emphasis on supporting producers with peer-review style insight. Billed as ‘The Good Fringe Guide’ FringeReview does not offer star ratings, or publish reviews falling below minimum standards.

ThreeWeeks is the longest established magazine at the Edinburgh Festival. The stable includes not only a free weekly magazine but also a daily update, website and podcast with coverage of all that goes on in Edinburgh during August, including the International, Book, Art and Politics festivals as well as the Fringe. Since 1996 ThreeWeeks has run a media-skills training programme, providing formal on-the-ground arts journalism training to hundreds of young writers.

Coming up in part 3 of our 49 Things You Should Know About The Fringe: The absolutely essential stuff.

13Jul2014

The Edinburgh49 Prize: for distinctive and memorable theatre (2014). Winners!

Posted in *Ratings, Features, Rated: Nae Bad, Rated: Outstanding, Rated: Unrated, The End of Normality 2014, Theatre by Alan Brown

“CONGRATULATIONS!”

Editorial Rating: Outstanding

The winners of the first ever Edinburgh49 Prize: for distinctive & memorable theatre (sponsored by Alechemy Brewing) were announced on 10 July at our ‘End of Normality’ party held at Assembly Roxy.

The event marked the city’s transition into full-on Festivals mode and was a chance to celebrate all that’s weird and wonderful about the other 49 weeks in the arts calendar.

Not only did our sponsor, Alechemy Brewing of Livingstone, ensure that everyone was well watered throughout the night, they also provided the star prize for our winning pub quiz team, a powerful combination of Royal Lyceum’s marketing team and NTS producers, who received a chance to sample 11 bottles from across Alechemy’s range.

Despite on-going tours and pre-Fringe commitments, we were delighted to welcome so many friends old and new to join us for the official announcement of the 6 winning productions, chosen from the more than 75 shows reviewed by us since last September.

In date order, the winning shows are:

With special mention of The #1 Loch Ness Monster Experience performed by Bruce Morton and Karen Fraser Docherty at Edinburgh College, 24 June, 2014 as part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s The Great, Yes, No, 5 Minute Theatre Show.

Charlotte Productions celebrate the sucess of Goblin’s Story in style.

Many congratulations again to all the winners and many, many thanks again to all the companies, participants and venues who have made 2013-14 such a wonderful year with which to begin Edinburgh49. Our job for 2013-14 was to establish the title and prove it could endure from one Fringe to another. We’ve done that. Next year we’d like to expand our coverage into new genres – can you help us?

There are some incredibly talented individuals operating across the genres in this city. If you think you can help amplify word-of-mouth with passionate, peer-review style reviews which help producers and punters alike – please get in touch!

No more reviews for now, as we circle around the Fringe and live up to our name, but we will be back in September.

See you on the far side!

Alan, Richard & Dan

27Jun2014

‘The Great Yes, No, Don’t Know 5 Minute Theatre Show (Edinburgh Coll’ege: 24 June ’14)

Posted in Theatre by Alan Brown

Karen Fraser Docherty & Bruce Morton in Andrew Learmonth’s The #1 Loch Ness Monster Experience

“We’re waiting for applause from Dumfries.”

Editorial Rating: Nae Bad

“We’re waiting for applause from Dumfries” the words tumble down into the performance space from the AV desk, located up behind the cheap seats. These are the kind of words you should expect to hear, waiting for the next show to take to the virtual stage. Live performances are being streamed from seven live hubs across Scotland. The one we’re at is in the smart environs of Edinburgh College – the FE entity spliced from Stevenson, Jewel and Esk as well as Telford Colleges.

The long intervals between performances provides plenty of time for gazing, espresso in hand, at the car park. Look right and you see Granton Gasholder No. 1, still there, listed and historic. The Great Yes, No, Don’t Know 5 minute Theatre Show was the espressos, punchy flavours packed tightly into tiny wee cups. The intervals were the view, the neutral palate-cleansing glass of tap water with which to prepare for the next full taste.

We saw only five mini shows from the over 180 scheduled. We look forward to seeing how the National Theatre of Scotland intends to save and make available this ‘democratic, dramatic, response to the theme of independence’.

Vote with your Feet by Anita John moved its audience left/YES to right/NO across the stage, with the helpful Don’t Know white line down the middle. 39 questions or statements sorted the adventurous from the careful: ie. “Will you go to bed on the night of September 18th?”; “Will you pay for the removal of nuclear weapons from Scotland?”; “Should Alex Salmond receive a knighthood?” In other words, The Thirty Nine Steps … on the run to independence or no. Three seconds to decide.

The format was reminiscent of those Facebook memes which determine which George Orwell book you are (Burmese Days and Homage To Catalonia in our respective cases). If the hurried pace was intended to encourage conversation it failed. The only one of us who voted ‘no’ to the question “Will you vote on September 18th” would have liked to have explained that they have a postal vote.

Democracy, produced by John Naples-Campbell, narrated the recent rioting in Venezuela from the perspective of an expat Scot out there teaching. 3 student actors covered a nuanced spectrum ranging through concern, bewilderment, constant fear and immediate alarm. Technical difficulties meant that we saw the performance 3 times. It lost nothing in the retelling. In fact, rather like a John Constable landscape, new features emerged with each review.

Ade Oshineye stood still and told the desperate story of Ruby, fighting for her own survival (call it anguished independence at a stretch) and that of baby Pearl in The House Next Door. You have to wonder what the neighbours were doing. Part angry rap at incestuous violence, part offended lament that this could happen, its intensity was in Oshineye’s quiet telling. Clearly one to watch, Oshineye moved like a butterfly under his heavy load, delivering the drama with gracious gravity.

Student theatre is many things. Most often it’s anxious: body image, pollution, the bestial nature of beastliness. Free Wifi Available took on the ultra-contemporary concern that social media isolates. Is constant connectivity really permanent disconnection? No. Clearly a medium that allows friends and families, oceans and continents apart, to communicate freely, intimately and daily is no bad thing. But for the sake of the old skool mediums who have a commercial interest in bashing open access formats let’s pretend it is.

The movement and staging were bright, bold and effective. Square red tape boxes on the floor (a stage hand’s wet dream – perform in there and no where else) supercharged an atmosphere already made moody by traverse staging.

The #1 Loch Ness Monster Experience by Andrew Learmonth is in Drumnadrochit after ‘Nessie’ has stomped it to pieces. The cuddly toy of the parcel shelf is nae mair. The tourist economy is wrecked or at least is looking for redefinition via Godzilla. Hamish and Agnes stand in what is left of their shop and dispute the consequences. It is very funny, wickedly canny, and brilliantly Scottish. The BBC should take it nationwide – that’s UK wide – late on the evening of September 17th.

We watched these few pieces in PASS (Edinburgh College’s Performing Arts Studio) and they demonstrated all the character and enthusiasm that an educational setting should provide and that the producers of The Great Yes, No, Don’t Know 5 minute Theatre Show could have wished for. Hopefully the full event realised their ambitious purpose.

The proof will be in how the material collected will be distributed. Will we be able to see each play online separately? Will we be able to see a profile of each participant? Yes, this was live theatre on a virtual stage, but no, that does not mean it cannot be revisited.

—

Reviewers: Alan Brown & Dan Lentell (Seen 24 June)

Visit National Theatre of Scotland Yes, No, Don’t Know homepage here.

Get Your Coats On

and go see this!

Category Archives: Theatre

‘The Last Straw’ (Bedlam: 21 – 25 October ’14)

“… impro cuts loose, and cries of ‘F –ing awesome’ applaud play and cast.”

‘Top Hat’ (Festival Theatre: 7 – 18 October ’14)

“Hayward is Wodehousian perfection – the only actor who might do justice as Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge.”

‘Outlying Islands’ (Traverse: 1 – 4 October ’14)

“Wide, invigorating views in a small space”

‘Regeneration’ (King’s: 30 September – 4 October ’14)

“‘Anthem for Dead Youth’”

‘Kill Johnny Glendenning’ (Lyceum: 17 September – 11 October ’14)

“A Lock and Load comedy with the safety Off”

Star Ratings Announcement

**As of September 2014 Edinburgh49 will be using star ratings!**

We’ll still be using ‘Nae Bad’ & ‘Outstanding’

49 Things You Should Know About The Fringe 2014 pt.3 (38-49)

52 weeks in a year minus 3 weeks of the Fringe = Edinburgh49

49 Things You Should Know About The Fringe 2015 pt.2 (17-37)

52 weeks in a year minus 3 weeks of the Fringe = Edinburgh49

The Edinburgh49 Prize: for distinctive and memorable theatre (2014). Winners!

“CONGRATULATIONS!”

‘The Great Yes, No, Don’t Know 5 Minute Theatre Show (Edinburgh Coll’ege: 24 June ’14)

“We’re waiting for applause from Dumfries.”