August 30, 2012  EXEUNT MAGAZINE. | | Review of TWONKEYS KINGDOM-FREE | | Twonkeys Kingdom | | Twonkeys Kingdom is the product of an immersive imagination. Paul Vickers orchestrates the proceedings, and his stage is essentially a large toybox: his various props include a windmill, a prosthetic nose, a ship’s wheel, and a large collection of puppets. Each is briefly used and then discarded, as Vickers switches topic or breaks into song. The show as a whole is a chaotic experience, which at times requires some suspension of disbelief; but it also combines hilarity with intrigue in a way that elicits strong feelings of endearment towards him as a performer.
The kingdom itself is a bizarre parallel universe, a place populated by the actor Lon Chaney and the doomed descendants of Humpty Dumpty, and ruled over by the iron fist of Twonkey herself. Although Vickers does use his props and puppets to physically create this world, it is his idiosyncratic imagery which really brings the ki Click Here |
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| August 29, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of Aaaaaaaaaaaaarghh! It’s the Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards Show with Miss Behave - and It’s Free! | | Review | | The big Perifosters comedy award is a bit like the FA Cup: once it was surrounded by romance and glamour, now it's a bit of a consolation prize for teams who don't make the Champions League (in this metaphor, the Champions League represents a regular spot on Mock The Week).
So hooray for these awards, founded in memory of a beloved headcase and handed out in a deliberately nuts ceremony. Tonight's two hour show is hosted by Miss Behave, whose own material includes doing odd things with her tongue piercing and headbutting a watermelon to death. We also get the wonderfully bitchy David Mills, the truly bizarre Baby Warhol and maybe the most alternative comedian on the planet, Charlie Chuck. Click Here |
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| August 26, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of A Brief History of TIMELESSNESS.. | | Review | | I would say that I had a good time at Matt Welcome’s informative and funny discussion, but of course time doesn’t actually exist. Or at least that’s what he was trying to prove as he talked us through at rapid pace the Grandfather Paradox Theory and Einstein’s illusive views on the past, present and future. Click Here |
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| August 26, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Aaaaaaaaaaaaarghh! It’s the Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards Show with Miss Behave - and It’s Free! | | Review | | Given the perpetual debate concerning the over-commercialisation of the Fringe that has been prominent this year, it is with a great sigh of relief that events such as the Malcolm Hardee Awards are still taking place. A commemoration of the stalwart institution of alternative comedy that was Malcolm Hardee, the increasingly prestigious awards act as the antithesis to the Fosters Comedy Awards. Click Here |
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| August 26, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of What Would Beyonce Do? | | Review | | Luisa Omielan’s show ‘What Would Beyonce Do?’ combines her adoration for the superstar with anecdotes from her own life, which really works, even though her own life stories don’t appear to mirror the lifestyle of the much loved celebrity very much at all. Omielan’s energy is infectious and her warmth towards the audience entices everyone to sing along to Beyonce’s tunes. And you find yourself empathising with her stories of love, life and work, and feeling uplifted by her ability to make even painful experiences darkly funny. Omielan confronts taboo subjects with confidence, wondering what Beyonce might do if she had her heart broken, or was suffering from depression. An ‘independent woman’ is redefined as someone who is strong but definitely not flawless, and it is this honesty that makes Omielan a star in her own right. |
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| August 25, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Now.Here | | Review | | Come with us on a ride, run away on horseback, from Wales to London, through forest and dale, to collect stories and dreams, find magic at the corner of the field and learn not to lose it again. The three performers throw the audience into a fanciful kaleidoscope of tales, cello suits, songs, movement and maybe even news snippets. Themes reach from pregnant teenagers to four leaf clovers, from the lady of the manor to an artist who catches the spirits of dead birds on paper. As there are a lot of intricate story-lines and the surroundings are not ideal, the audience needs to pay extra attention to hear every line – but it is well worth it. |
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| August 25, 2012 Chortle | | Review of What Would Beyonce Do? | | Review | | If Beyonce were to do a Fringe show, she would be lucky to capture half the energy newcomer Luisa Omielan brings to this intense, funny and manic hour of soul-baring comedy... Big topics covered with showmanship, oomph and lively tunes – this is exactly what Beyonce would do. There’s only one word for it: Bootylicious. Click Here |
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| August 25, 2012 The Scotsman | | Review of Kunt and the Gang - Free | | Review | | Künt is a true festival original – a normal Essex bloke who leaves his life behind him once a year and comes up to the Fringe to perform filthy songs with cheesy Casio accompaniment played through his iPod... Some people didn’t like it, some walked out. But those who loved it laughed their heads off and I was one of them. Click Here |
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| August 24, 2012 Marie Claire | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Marie Claire rag says they're not coming to my show | | If you could complain about anything at Edinburgh Festival it would be that – with more than 43,000 performance in three weeks – it can be tough to know what to see.
Arriving in Edinburgh and flicking through the Fringe Festival programme, it was easy to identify what not to go to. I quickly established that I wouldn’t, for example, be attending Wake Up and Sing! A 'full audience participation event'.
Nor would I be heading along to Sex Tourist by Chris Dangerfield, which offers attendees the added incentive of a flyer for £10 to a local escort agency (though you can read Guardian writer Tanya Gold’s take on this here). But a process of elimination will only get you so far; the Fringe programme alone is the size of a small phone book.
Another way to decide on your festival line-up is to comb the fliers and posters that festoon practically every spare wall in Edinburgh – they’re Click Here |
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| August 24, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of American Girlfriend, Laura Levites | | Review | | Laura Levites is pretty awesome. As her bittersweet stand-up shows, she’s not too used to good luck, getting kicked around a lot, and lacking said good fortune, she could have gone the route of angst, but instead chose cynical optimism, and it’s great. She’s a warm, likeable personality, which, in an age of grim-dark, mock psychotic comics – is itself becoming a little unusual, so it’s refreshing to see someone that you can really root for. And, quite importantly for a comedian, she’s very funny. From observations (white girls always get let off smuggling) to anecdotes about her Christmas in London, her show is sharp and hilarious. Not all of it seems fresh, a good few punch lines can be predicted, but she’s chatty and charming. |
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| August 24, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Aaaaaaaaaaaaarghh! It’s The Greatest Show on Legs | | Review | | This is a sketch show occupying a very special niche in the imagination of the Fringe. Let’s be clear, on one level it is an utter shambles; the set collapses half way through, performers shout to each other from off the stage and they even apologise to the audience for not having rehearsed enough to make the show suitably slick. The show is under-rehearsed and sometimes rather rambling.
On another level though, many of the sketches from this veteran band of comedians are side splittingly funny. Click Here |
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| August 24, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Made for Each Other | | Review | | A one-man four-character show, ‘Made For Each Other’ is touching, funny, tragic, and above all, romantic. A man proposes to his boyfriend after three dates, and they both struggle with the consequences. But it’s not really the plot that makes this show – it’s an incredible performance by the lead, and only, actor, John Vico. Without resorting to caricatures he managed to create four distinct people. While they aren’t especially subtle, they’re no more exaggerated or ridiculous than the characters you’d find in any play. Could there have been more to it? Could the scope have been wider? Yes, but this wasn’t supposed to be an epic: it’s about a relationship, and making it work. |
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| August 24, 2012 Fringe Guru | | Review of Made for Each Other | | Review - Outstanding Show | | A play about gay marriage is certainly timely for this year’s Fringe – next year it’s expected that a bill will be passed to legalise it within Scotland. But although it’s an important aspect of Made For Each Other, it’s so effectively dealt with that it almost becomes an incidental aspect of the plot. Make no mistake, this is no preachy piece of theatre, but a frequently hilarious and thoroughly thoughtful analysis of a relationship. Both the writing and the acting could not have been better from this impressive piece of free theatre. Click Here |
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| August 24, 2012 Festival Journal | | | In Pictures: This Arthur's Seat Gala Belongs to Lionel Richie | | Saturday 18th August saw the annual This Arthur's Seat Gala Belongs to Lionel Richie take place on the summit of Arthur's Seat overlooking Edinburgh.
The show is composed of a mixture of stand-up comedy and music, but this year the organisers added the spectacle of unofficial "King of Comedy" Arthur Smith being carried to the top of the iconic hill on a bespoke sedan chair. Comedy was provided by Smith himself alongside Josie Long, Joel Dommet, Barry Ferns and Tony Law. Click Here |
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| August 24, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of Abigoliah Schamaun: Girl Going to Hell. | | Review | | "Oh, I'm going to hell for this," is a pretty overused terms in our society, often said after committing some mundane sins. Congratulations then to Schamaun for creating a show that genuinely might see her condemned to a lake of fire for all eternity. Click Here |
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| August 24, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of One in a Million | | Review | | At the start of her show Smith warns her audience that it isn’t so much a stand-up comedy show, more a story about how she became a comedian. While this could indicate that you were about to be severely let down, the opposite couldn’t be more true. Smith tells a hilarious tale of growing up, of finding yourself and overcoming obstacles. It is witty, heartfelt and engaging with a strong overall message of pursuing your own happiness and holding onto your dreams. Morven Smith is an admirable, instantly likeable comedian that one can easily identify with, and you’re likely to leave this show with a happy feeling inside you that will last all day. |
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| August 24, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of WINFAMY | | Review | | An abundance of questioning and dealings with vulnerability make up Winfamy, as a selection of classically challenging characters are theatrically pasted alongside each other and supposedly filmed, spewing their heart rending stories. Characters walk on and off producing monologues which vary from displays of tireless persistence to dishevelled heart-ache. Senses of longing and loneliness prevail as this multi-faceted piece works as one product; demanding a concentration and perseverance I ignorantly wasn’t convinced I’d part with at a free show. The cyclical narrative and wondrously delicate characters push at sensibilities which are admirably varied and challenging to confront. The passion in performance and complimentary power of resonance make this a true pleasure. |
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| August 23, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Ladies & Gentlemen | | Review | | Join four improvisation comedians in an hour of quick-witted and fast-paced goofball sketches featuring word play, silliness, and spot-on comedic timing. Sketches tackled topics such as the creation of a Last Words Epitaph app for Facebook, dialling the afterlife and receiving a switchboard, and clouds going on a blind date. Most of the sketches are clever and well delivered but others surpass the goofy mark and become more strange and awkward the longer they go on. Each individual improviser is very talented and their facial expressions are perfect, although the sound effects are occasionally too loud and mistimed. Despite this, however, it’s a great family-friendly show. |
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| August 23, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Austerity Pleasures | | Review | | This 50 minute set was divided evenly between relative Fringe veteran Ben Morgan and newcomer Alex Chapman, although such experience would be indistinguishable on set. The show is entertaining, although the jokes sometimes become laboured and can lose the interest of the audience, while the use of multimedia sadly detracts from the impact of this political stand-up and Chapman does better when he leaves it be. While this may not have you roaring with laughter, it is undoubtedly enjoyable; the two different comedians sit well together, Morgan dealing in more light-hearted comedy, which is a nice contrast to Chapman’s more satirical set. This was their first performance so I can imagine a lot of the kinks will be ironed out as the show progresses. |
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| August 23, 2012 The Scotsman | | Review of This Barry Ferns Belongs to Lionel Richie | | Review | | EDINBURGH Fringe romantic Lionel Richie – formerly and confusingly still known as the comedian Barry Ferns, who changed his name by deed poll to the one he shares with the soul singer – has contrived a show questioning just why exactly he performs at the festival. And why it drives him to such extreme lengths Click Here |
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| August 23, 2012 Flaneaur | | | The best Free Venue is the Three [Free] Sisters | | I spent a few days scouring through Edinburgh trying to find great performances for as little as possible (i.e. free). The best venue for free comedy was The Three Sisters on Cowgate, which has cleverly been renamed to The Free Sisters for the duration of the festival. I managed to take in four shows hosted in the venue’s six rooms. Click Here |
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| August 23, 2012 The Scotsman | | | The Scotsman's best free shows at the Fringe - 8 out of 9 top listed shows are Free Fest Shows | | The Scotsman lists their top reviewed free shows - and 8 out of the 9 show are Free Fest shows Click Here |
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| August 23, 2012 The Scotsman | | Review of Austentatious - an improvised Jane Austen novel | | Review | | WHO would have thought it? People are queuing round the block at the Free Festival for an afternoon improv show based on the novels of Jane Austen. Austentatious, in which a supersmart and terrifically funny group of actors and comics spirit up a “lost” Austen work with a title picked at random from a suggestion from the audience has become a runaway hit... It is a wonderful show – joyful, creative and a true homage to a novelist who was one of the greatest female humorists who ever lived Click Here |
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| August 23, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Laughing Horse Free Pick of the Fringe | | Review - 'The 11pm show: The Late'n'Live of the Free Festival' | | Laughing Horse presents its pick of the best comedians three times a day – be advised that if you choose to go at 11pm, things will have gotten a bit rowdy. Think ‘Late ‘N’ Live’ of the Free Festival and you’ll have an image of what sort of chaos to expect here; the host is drunk, the audience are abusive, and the comedians are desperately trying to keep their cool. On my night, the first comedian buckled and left the stage, but the others talked about sex and kept the drunken crowd hanging on. With different guests every night, this pick of the Festival is clearly a rite of passage for the comedians involved. |
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| August 23, 2012 One4Review | | Review of Laughing Horse's Funny Fillies | | Review | | The room my have changed at the aptly titled White Horse pub, which is the stable for these fillies to perform but the ethos of the show remains constant. This hour is a relaxed showcase of some of the many funny women across the Fringe doing a short section of their shows, to entertain the assembled crowd but also to promote their main product.
The acts vary nightly, the constant feature being our hostess with the mostess Sajeela Kershi, an accomplished comedian and compere extrordinaire.
It’s not really like a show in the true sense of the word, more like a bunch of mates sitting around while friends entertain, so relaxed is too harsh a word for it. Don’t be mistaken though the entertainment is of a high quality too. The night I attended we had Jan Moree, Spring Day, Miranda Kane topped off with Laura Levites, but each line up will be unique. Click Here |
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| August 23, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Poe's Last Night | | Review | | Fans of Poe will enjoy this piece, which would be better described as a dramatic reading of his poems than as a play in itself. Crawford is a talented actor who gives it his all in a venue not ideally suited for theatre. However, his abilities would perhaps be better used in a faster-paced, more exciting play. Nevertheless, this was an enjoyable glimpse into the life of a very complex man and Crawford coped well with the slightly problematic venue and the added challenge of making Poe’s famously dreary poetry come alive for a modern audience. Overall, this was by no means unmissable but still a pleasant way to spend an afternoon (although not if you’re looking for something uplifting!). |
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| August 23, 2012 Fringe Guru | | Review of Carnival of Crows | | Review | | As far back as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by horror films; mainly by the pleasure the viewer derives from being confronted with representations of the darkest depths of humanity (and having their underoos scared clean off as a result). It was this fascination that led me to see Carnival of Crows. It proves to be a fairly archetypal example of the genre at the Fringe – what with its reliance on disturbing the audience rather than outright shocking them, its use of Gothic, Grand Guignol influenced imagery, and its rather destructive relationship between the performer and the fourth wall. Yet Carnival of Crows defies most “Horror” productions on this year’s Fringe, by being properly, sensationally good from start to finish. Click Here |
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| August 23, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Lach's Antihoot | | Review | | Those looking for a dose of the unexpected, who enjoy wandering off the beaten track, will be delighted by Lach’s Antihoot. Anarchic and disparate - a lot like the Fringe itself - the Antihoot is an evening of mixed artists: comedy, spoken word and music share a space curated by antifolk legend Lach. Click Here |
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| August 23, 2012 One4Review | | Review of American Girlfriend, Laura Levites | | Review | | If anyone could cast aspersions as to the value of free shows at the Fringe then I would have to point you to this show as an example of all that is good. Click Here |
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| August 23, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of John Robertson - The Dark Room - Free | | Review | | If you don’t like to get involved in your comedy, then this is not for you. However, if you like it to be interactive, you’ll struggle to find better than John Robertson’s show – or perhaps game show – ‘The Dark Room’. The host’s infectious energy does not allow for dull moments, or indeed, quiet ones, with a premise based around the audience participating in a bleak, yet somehow hilarious video game that is not won (at least not at my viewing, give it a try). In someone else’s hands this idea could become tiresome, but Robertson’s own charisma and incredibly loud voice keep proceedings fresh, interesting and hilarious. And loud. Cruel, well thought out, and hilarious. |
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| August 23, 2012 Spoonfed | | Review of John Robertson - The Dark Room - Free | | Review | | I’m intrigued to find out how John Robertson’s ‘Dark Room’ is going to work as a live show. Based on ‘80s multiple choice adventure games, the comic’s own YouTube version went viral in February and he’s since developed it into a 45 minute Edinburgh performance. And it really has gone viral too – there’s a family in the audience today from Israel who have played it online.
Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 Fringe Buscuit | | Review of Helsinki | | Review | | Like vegetarian sausages, this punchline-less sketch show tastes a bit different, but strangely does the job. 3/5 |
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| August 22, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of James Redmond and Ellie Taylor | | Review | | hough her co-stand-up James Redmond was otherwise engaged (“auditioning for ‘Total Wipeout’ or something”) and replaced temporarily by Australian Benny Boot, Ellie Taylor proved to be sparkling and energetic company, managing to come across as both poised and goofy in her half hour set. The former face of Matalan (2004) discussed her time as an overly smiley model; the horrors of girls’ night out Facebook albums, and having to move back in with her parents, ending with an excellent extended metaphor about a javelin. Even if not all her material was laugh-out-loud funny, Taylor is a naturally likeable performer with the potential to go on to really great things. |
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| August 22, 2012 The Stage | | Article about Thinking of you, by Niki Orfanou | | Review | | Niki Orfanou’s edgy scenes from the life of a dysfunctional family is an intriguing piece of new writing that often catches you unawares. In avoiding the usual stereotypes of family disintegration, this four-hander looks at the long-term damage on parents and their children that arises from a simple lack of communication. Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 ScotsGay | | Review of We Need To Talk! | | Review | | Chris Henry displays tremendous energy and has a lively interaction with the audience. He got good cooperation from several women in the show, found out where we were all from and some of our likes, and then said,” I needed to know that about you.” When comedians say that you may not believe it, but I expect it helps the audience to feel it was worth doing. Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 EdFringe Review | | Review of Cheese-Badger presents... MIDGE (a two-man musical) | | Review | | As eccentric as the name would suggest, ‘Midge (a Two Man Musical)’ tells the original and bizarre story of Midge (Tom Ovens), recently orphaned and sent to live with his mad, narcissistic, scheming Uncle Clive (Frank Paul). Both also play a range of supporting roles through the use of various wigs and props, and provide their own soundtrack on guitar and balalaika. Musical numbers pop up frequently – however somewhat awkwardly. The plot becomes progressively more elaborate and ridiculous until it culminates in a rousing number in which two young lovers liken themselves to bowls of semolina; the musical elements of the show are definitely the most enjoyable. ‘Midge’ just about manages to remain the right side of quirky, and Ovens and Paul are enjoyable to watch – yet it lacks any significant comedic punch. Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Theatre Tasters | | Review | | A Fringe first for me (and probably most of the audience!): singing happy birthday to one of the actors. This moment fully captured the bubbly, happy nature of this new theatre company. Their focus is on international work, which was reflected in the three new short plays from Australia, Scotland and Norway, each remarkable for its quirky and unusual perspective. My favourite involved a pair of workers in an old people’s home arguing about love, death and sex. Though it was thought-provoking and humorous, the card games and bouncing on trampolines when things got particularly heated were inexplicable. With this hour’s entertainment the company gave just a taste of what they might be capable of. |
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| August 22, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Panning For Gold | | Review | | Life is beautiful, suicide is poetic. And cruel and adventurous and stupid. In this marvellous performance, three stood-up brides are trying to come to grips with their experiences – and with the consequences they led to. After attempting suicide, they are committed to attending group therapy. Over the weeks, and with various techniques, the whole stories are brought to light, leading to partly hysterical outbreaks, despair as well as laughter and relief. The four actors manage to create a dense and believable atmosphere in a claustrophobic place, and have the possibility and the ability to impress, be it in role play, recreating Cleopatra’s death by Shakespeare, or simply by pointing out how important and positive counselling can be. |
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| August 22, 2012 Festival Journal | | | Laughing Horse emerge triumphant in Scotsman's Free Fringe Picks | | Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 ScotsGay | | Review of Kevin Dewsbury In...Sane | | Review | | Praise be! A great relief among the laddish banalities of the Fringe. That it says it with such humour, and good humour, about a period of what must have been great personal distress, is great. This is indeed therapy. But for us, the audience, not Kevin Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 EdFringe Review | | Review of Made for Each Other | | Review | | Monica Bauer’s ‘Made for Each Other’ is a clever piece of design. The only actor, John Fico, quadruples as two gay lovers, mother and grandfather. ‘You are invited to the wedding of Vincent and Jerry … IF they go through with it’ says the program. But the practical impossibility of displaying any such union with a single actor is soon apparent. If opposites attract, then the conventions of the stage suggest that equals repel. Fico’s very own versatility dismantles this corollary in a performance that routinely challenges assumptions about sameness and difference. Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 The Scotsman | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Some misguided attempt to help the world | | FRINGE performers have been urged to stop cracking jokes about rape and sexual assault during this year’s festival.
Jim Jefferies, Jimmy Carr, Chris Turner, Chris Dangerfield and Paul Revill are among those targeted by a group of “radical feminists”.
The Feminist Avengers – who have vowed to take “guerrilla action against sexism, misogyny and rape culture” – have sent letters of protest to the comics.
And they have vowed “direct action” against anyone making jokes about rape, sexual abuse, sexual torture and prostitution.
Spokeswoman Clare Zetkin said: “It is estimated that one billion women and girls on our planet have been raped – this is not a laughing matter. However, we have a culture in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Free Fringe; a rape culture where jokes about rape are the norm. Rape jokes are an everyday occurrence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Free Fringe. Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 Three Weeks | | Article about Desperately Seeking the Exit | | Desperately seeking Peter Michael Marino - talking to Three Weeks | | Peter Michael Marino is in Edinburgh to tell the painfully true tale of his musical ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’, which combined the plot of the Madonna-starring movie with the music of Blondie.
As jukebox musicals go, it looked like it had all the potential, yet managed to flop spectacularly in London’s West End. Fortunately, Marino’s Fringe show is far from a flop, garnering 5/5 from a ThreeWeeks reviewer, and acclaim from other Festival critics too. Peter tells us more… Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 Fringe Guru | | Review of Swedenborg, the Devil & Me | | Review | | Gregory Akerman got a bad review last year. He’s not dwelling on it. He’s really fine about the whole thing. Except that he’s made an entire show about it, focussing in particular on a stream of childish bile at the end of the piece where the reviewer calls Akerman the devil. Akerman is (apparently) not the devil, but his attempts to prove this fall apart over and over again.
Akerman is stunningly original, genuinely fresh, and packs his show with more interesting asides and fascinating throwaway than you’ll find in a dozen less ambitious fringe stand up performances. And yet, the show I saw had an audience of six, two of whom left halfway through. So, he’s probably not for everyone – but I loved every minute of his slow, whispered, self-referential hour-long hissy fit about a reviewer who got a bit carried away. Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 EdFringe Review | | Review of WINFAMY | | Review | | To call ‘Winfamy’ a sketch-show would be accurate, but underplays the show’s most unique and original feature. Best described as a ‘mockumentary’, it consists of a series of confessional interviews, in which characters earnestly describe to a conspicuous video camera what makes their lives special. It’s hard to go into more detail without giving too much away (which is a problem, alas, with their flyer), but hammers feature, as do spies, kidneys, and, most notably, pigeons. Click Here |
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| August 22, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of LOLympics Live - FREE | | Review | | It’s actually quite surprising that during a massive clash of events – the Edinburgh Fringe and the Olympics – there haven’t been more shows combining the two. Embracing the theme entirely is ‘LOLympics Live’, hosted by two “laugh-letes’’ Marcus Ryan and Bronston Jones. The two comedians are armed with medals, ready to offer gold to the best jokes, and give every audience member the chance to participate. Also competing are three special guests, giving this variety show another string to its bow. Expect big comedy names, audience participation at a high, and two hyper hosts dressed in awful tracksuits that will brighten up your afternoon. Get down early as this show fills up extremely fast. |
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| August 21, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Trodd en Bratt - Well Done You | | Review | |
‘Well Done You’ calls itself a character sketch show, but Lucy Trodd and Ruth Bratt are in character even when not doing sketches. This is a nice touch - it ensures that the chat in between is often as funny as the sketches themselves. There’s a running joke, for example, that Ruth comes from the comedy circuit and Lucy, the serious circuit. The gaps in Lucy’s understanding of how to do comedy are very amusing, as are the jokes about ‘getting into character.’ Teasing and affectionate, Trodd and Bratt are an appealing duo Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Hurt and Anderson: Scenes of a vignette-ish nature | | Review | | ver wondered how Nick Clegg would express himself in song, or what would happen if Thomas the Tank Engine confessed his undying love for a fellow locomotive? Then look no further. This female duo presents an hour of songs and sketches, performed with great stage presence and creativity. Perhaps the wordy introduction is a little shaky, and the occasional descent into play fighting is too extended and not wacky enough to really be amusing, but the comic chemistry between the two is palpable and the rest of the show is written intelligently enough to gloss over any earlier problems. These girls could be the next Mitchell and Webb, except, like the best vignettes in life, they’re free |
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| August 21, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Lucy Cox: Attractive Audience Required | | Review | |
It’s a tough crowd to play to but Lucy Cox wins them around easily with her charming repertoire of comedy songs and savage black humour during her show Attractive Audience Required. Touching on themes of modern dating, the internet and sociopaths, she manages to tie disparate threads together in a surprisingly funny manner, whilst singing some wonderfully witty songs about sexual dreams, the London Underground and bad boyfriends. Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Bogan Bingo | | Review | | Free. Australian. Bingo. Three things which when combined can only equal a gloriously good time. Led by the enthusiastically bawdy hosts, the rowdy audience is taken through a wild and lewd game of Bingo, strung with one-liners, banter, 80s sing-a-longs and a panda on a slide. Fantastically fun, joyfully silly and with funnier jokes than many full-blown comedy shows, there aren’t many better ways to while away an evening at the Festival. Presenting a well-crafted spectacle, the duo have a great presence and chemistry, playing off their country’s stereotypes in devastatingly hilarious fashion. If you love balls, the 80s, Australians and balls, then think of Bogan Bingo and mullet over – you won’t regret it. |
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| August 21, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Control/Alt/Delete - The Funny Side Of Computers | | Review | | Dan Willis, who is doing six different stand-up shows this year, has used his background in computer programming and his geeky charm to assemble this show. Complete with the inevitable Powerpoint, it is not about infuriating computers, as might conceivably be expected, but about the funny side of people who use computers and their relationship with the machines. Willis has a likeable, conversational style and manages to use the audience’s IT experience to humorous effect. While some of the jokes are a bit technical, many of the anecdotes, including a surprising cheese-based finale, have universal appeal. He may not be about to set the world on fire, but Willis is an interesting guy with some funny stories to tell. |
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| August 21, 2012 The Scotsman | | Review of What Would Beyonce Do? | | Review | | A CONSERVATIVE at heart, Beyoncé wouldn’t have it in her to deliver a debut stand-up hour as fresh, ambitious and vulnerable as this existential howl of anguish Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Dr Ettrick-Hogg's Manly Stand-Ups | | Review | | Dr Ettrick-Hogg is the very macho compere for this evening of male stand-ups talking about manly things and being generally masculine. The line-up changes every night, but you can be assured of one thing: there are absolutely no women whatsoever to be found in this show. Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 Fresh Air Radio | | | Fresh Air Radio interviews Free Fest Director Alex Petty and Comedian Rob Deb | | Rob Deb and Alex Petty talk to Eve and Philip from Fresh Air about their respective roles in the Fringe. Rob Deb has a stand up show called "The Dork Knight Triumphant" and Alex Petty is the manager of the Free Fringe. Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Ivo Graham & Liam Williams | | Review | | The gig started in a marvellous shambles. Ivo Graham took to the stage having already started the audience chuckling, whilst setting up entrance music, claiming that it was 11.38, so ‘’still totally legitimate’’. Brilliantly neurotic, Graham presented ‘’coming of age experiences’’ through graphs and elaborately constructed witticisms. Sharp banter with unsuspecting spectators made for a highly entertaining set. Liam Williams took to the stage with an equally witty, yet different approach. Making brilliant use of vocabulary, and a mix of one-liners and storytelling, he had the audience doubled-up with his tales of drug use and lower-middle class background. This may be a Free Festival show, but I would pay good money to see this awkwardly charming duo again. |
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| August 21, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Panning For Gold | | Three Weeks - Panning For Gold | | Life is beautiful, suicide is poetic. And cruel and adventurous and stupid. In this marvellous performance, three stood-up brides are trying to come to grips with their experiences – and with the consequences they led to. After attempting suicide, they are committed to attending group therapy. Over the weeks, and with various techniques, the whole stories are brought to light, leading to partly hysterical outbreaks, despair as well as laughter and relief. The four actors manage to create a dense and believable atmosphere in a claustrophobic place, and have the possibility and the ability to impress, be it in role play, recreating Cleopatra’s death by Shakespeare, or simply by pointing out how important and positive counselling can be. Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of The Expeditionary Force in The First Supper | | Review | | In one of the little gems to be discovered in the depths of the Fringe, The Expeditionary Force offer a hilarious comedy sketch show. By mixing the absurd with the mundane and figures of the past with modern day scenarios, the show is well-developed and canny in its humour. The cast made clever with sound to produce unique wordplay with lots of tongue-twisting alliteration to great effect whilst strong performances from the three-cast members led to a concise and pithy show that is thoroughly enjoyable. Offering sophisticated material that relied on nothing more than its own strength, this was an ideal way to spend an afternoon at the Fringe. |
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| August 21, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Simmons & Ward: Two For None | | Review | |
Two for None comedians Mark Simmons and Danny Ward display, between them, vastly different comedy styles. Simmons is a cheeky, fresh-faced and charming one-liner pun machine whilst Ward is a cynical, craggy and dry observational comedian who enjoys pointing out the ineptitudes of his environment in long-winded speeches. They both present varied ability and Simmons is, by some margin, the superior out of the two. Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 EdfFringe Review | | Review of Eggball | | Eggball Review | | o call this a madcap comedy show a little strange would be to do it a great disservice. Strange is but the tip of the iceberg of this weird, wacky, wonderful, silly, surreal, frantic and fantastical little show starring the inimitable Sonja Quita Doubleday. Far be it for me, a high-flying reviewer with plural decades of experience and thousands of pages of published work to lapse into bias. Yet as soon as the eccentric but endearing Sonja dragged me onto stage while dressed as a crab with no concept of personal boundaries, I could not help but view this show through rose tinted specs. Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Thinking of you, by Niki Orfanou | | Review | | A dynamic story of four broken lives: the lonely Woman, frustrated Man, terrified Girl and drunken Boy. This free Fringe play has a clever way of keeping the audience entranced, weaving between past and present, reality and fantasy worlds. It was too simple at times, missing out points in the narrative I for one would have liked to have known, such as the age of the girl. Each character has his or her own story to tell and this edgy, dark comedy resonated a little with everyone. Whether it be the image of the fractured family, or the individual stories themselves; the universal themes of loneliness, frustration and wanting one’s voice to be heard in volatile times, the audience understands. |
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| August 21, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of 3 Days off Jesus | | Review | | David Burke may have the beard of Jesus, but the only similarity he claims is that his own birthday is three days off Jesus’s – which explains the name of his show. Don’t be fooled by the facial hair, Burke is quite literally the loveliest man you’ll ever meet (and his performance in such a small room means everyone will meet him). Content spending his Saturday nights knitting, drinking tea, and finding links between movies, Burke’s story-telling comedy is simply adorable. Don’t get too comfortable however, he will battle a heckle with hilarious full force, showing off his feisty Irish upbringing. Burke is a gem in amongst the Free Festival acts. |
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| August 21, 2012 The Scotsman | | Article about An Audience With Tomás Ford | | Featured in The Scotsman's "Best Free Shows At The Fringe" | | One of The Scotsman's nine picks for the best shows at the two 2012 free fringes. Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Derek Ryan: Time Lord | | Review | | Is it possible to turn back the clock? Does evolution make mistakes? Will time ever run out? These are questions most of us will think about late at night after a few too many drinks; but it’s unlikely that anyone has made them quite so hilarious before. Derek Ryan brought his new material to the Fringe to “workshop”, yet he makes it hard to believe that there was ever anything wrong with it. He divulges how to slow time down; examines the evils of the snooze button and discusses how times have changed with technology and slang. Highly amusing from start to finish, the comedian plots the demise of the clock and concludes, “when life is good, you barely ever look at your watch”. |
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| August 21, 2012 Fresh Air Radio | | Article about The SomeNews Live Show - Free | | Steve Allen speaks to Fresh Air Radio | | Eve and Philip have a chat with Steve Allen about his Free Fringe show, Some News. We discuss his addiction to news, his past as a radio presenter, and the effect of social media on the Fringe. Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Trevor Lock's Amateur Sex Tape Theory | | Review | | Thankfully, the title of this show is misleading. Trevor Lock’s Amateur Sex Tape Theory is less about inexpert pornographic productions and more about awkward liaisons on French nudist beaches. Having been scarred by a proposition from a naked Frenchman whilst holidaying in the Riviera, Lock discusses sexuality and nudity in technical detail after the encounter left him questioning his identity and how weird most people appear when they are naked. Click Here |
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| August 21, 2012 | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Chris Dangerfield - Sex Tourist - Malcolm Hardee Nominee | | 2012 AWARD NOMINEES
THE MALCOLM HARDEE AWARD FOR COMIC ORIGINALITY
JAMES HAMILTON
SIMON MUNNERY
THE RUBBERBANDITS
THE MALCOLM HARDEE CUNNING STUNT AWARD
for best Edinburgh Fringe publicity stunt
NATHAN CASSIDY
CHRIS DANGERFIELD
STUART GOLDSMITH
THE MALCOLM HARDEE 'ACT MOST LIKELY TO MAKE A MILLION QUID' AWARD
TIM FITZHIGHAM
TREVOR NOAH
THE RUBBERBANDITS Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 Chortle | | Review of Nick Sun: Potty Time! | | Review | | For the uninitiated, this show is a leap of faith. For the initiated, this show is an older more reflective (but still ultimately crazy) Nick Sun. For both, this is a bittersweet mix of enjoyment, uncontrollable laughter, awkwardness, and bewilderment. Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 Fest | | Review of Bob Slayer: He's A Very Naughty Boy | | Review | | If you like your standup slick, polished, well-written, with recurring themes and a moral lesson to take away with you, this show probably isn’t for you. If, however, you like it rambling, sometimes incoherent, full of dead ends, seemingly made up on the spot, and by an increasingly drunk comedian, then this might just be your thing. Does that sound appealing? The thing is, Bob Slayer carries it all off with such charm and generosity that his show works, even when it really shouldn’t. Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of 5-Step Guide to Being German 2.0 | | Review | | According to Paco Erhard, there are
actually more than five steps to becoming
German, but if you’re worried about that
then you’re already too German. Indeed
the show is more a playful and riotous
look at German and British stereotypes
than a rule book for the German psyche.
Erhard aims to prove that not everyone
hates Germans and that the Brits can be
just as annoying. Eventually the ‘Nazi/
You-beat-us-in-the-World-Wars’ jokes start
to get a bit samey, especially as Erhard
discusses the need for the Germans
to create a new national history they
can be proud of. Nevertheless, this is a
triumphant return for Erhard. Make sure
you get there early for a seat! |
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| August 20, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Its Not Us, Its You | | Review | | With so much free fringe it’s can be a daunting prospect wading through the guide to find what’s worthwhile. However, Larry Dean has made the task a little easier with his best of the free fest show at The Yurt Locker in which he showcases his personal favourites from around the free venues. Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of The Mclough-Hess Monster | | Review | | The Jekyll and Hyde bar is a fantastically atmospheric location for any show and gave the perfect cosy yet still spooky setting to this stand up comedy gig. Squashed into a tiny room at the back of the bar, two comedians, Sean McLoughlin and Adam Hess, gave us half an hour of stand up each. Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 Broadway baby | | Review of Huggers - Family Friendly Comedy and Cabaret | | Review | | All in, an enjoyable hour of varied family fun. And to the parent who asked if I had brought the head-butting child along myself to test the performers, the answer is no. Even reviewers aren't that cruel Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 Fringe Review | | Review of The Blitz Sisters - Sweethearts of the '40s | | Review | | Neville Chamberlain’s announces that we are at war with Germany. Two young women enter dressed in army uniforms, their vibrant red lipstick and permanent waved hair immediately transport you back to the war years. Union Jacks are draped from their chrome grilled microphones and they sway along to a backing track, the sound of which is the unmistakable musical strains of a 1940’s big band. They welcome the audience and proceed to perform a mix of British and American tunes that were hits during the Second World War and responsible for raising the morale of battle worn troops who dreamt of home. The women are informative about the music selected and the recording artist that was mainly associated with the particular songs success. Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 Fringe Review | | Review of Tricity Vogue's Ukulele Cabaret | | Review | | Tricity Vogue's offbeat style sits under a hat that leaves one in no doubt that this is a show of ukeleles. Endearing, accessible and full-hearted, the show opens with a song of her own, based on a theme given by the previous night's audience. Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 A Locals Guide | | Review of Angela Barnes & Matt Richardson | | Review | | I took a punt on this show, not realising that I had seen Matt Richardson before doing a 10 minute open spot at the Laughing Horse Pick of the Fringe.
He buddies up with his comedy friend Angela Barnes - giving them both 30 minutes to do an extended set - with a view to them doing an hour each at the Fringe next year (as they mentioned in their show). Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 ScotsGay | | Review of Made for Each Other | | Review | | I’m a big supporter of the various Free Fringes that are happening throughout this month. But if you’d told me that the strongest, most powerful piece of theatre I’d see this fringe would be as part of the Laughing Horse Free Festival in the corner of a pub, I would not have believed you. Extraordinary. Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Damian Kingsley: Work in progress | | Review | | Openly admitting his show was a ‘work in progress’ and should not be judged on the quality of all of the material, there seemed no need for excuses as Damian Kingsley ushered us all into a cosy backroom of the Espionage and made us roar with his witty sketches about life, love and general embarrassment. Click Here |
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| August 20, 2012 Fringe Review | | Review of Phil Mann's Full Mind | | Review | | In this hour-long show, comedian and mine of emergent knowledge, Phil Mann delves into a basket of questions, submitted by audiences attending previous shows. Little questions, teasing questions, big questions and no question is impossible for protean Mann! Click Here |
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| August 19, 2012 Broadway baby | | Review of Phil Mann's Full Mind | | Review | |
To say that young and enthusiastic comedian Phil Mann has a penchant for learning everything and everything would be a huge understatement. Give him a question or even a rough area of discussion and Mann will spill out every single piece of information he has filed and stored away in his mind that is any way relevant to the topic/question at hand. It’s a bit full-on but rather impressive at the same time Click Here |
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| August 19, 2012 The Scotsman | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Comedy reviews | |
By KATE COPSTICK
Published on Saturday 18 August 2012 17:50
AS audiences get wise to inflated ratings and overpriced shows
play to empty seats, don’t fret.
A leaner, meaner Fringe will give true talents the whip hand
Chris Dangerfield: Sex Tourist / Alan Francis Expands / Milo McCabe: Kenny Moon This Is Your Life / Mike Workman: Mercy / Al Pitcher: Tiny Triumphs / Wil Hodgson’s Kidnapped By Catwoman / Will Franken: Things We Did Before Reality
REVIEWS are funny old things. Everyone wants them. Producers and PRs in August are like star vampires, they are nourished by them and they live for the day when their artists’ faces cannot be seen behind rows of them. The air is thick with the PR’s wail “It read like a five…” and posters bristle with rows of stars actually given when the Queen Mother still had her own hips.
But is there a change coming? I was queuing (t Click Here |
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| August 19, 2012 TheMusic.com.au | | Article about An Audience With Tomás Ford | | Sambucca, Sleep & The Second Week: Tomás Ford's Edinburgh Diary II | | Tomás Ford takes on a tough second week at Edinburgh Fringe in his diary for Australian music news website The Music. Read it at the link. Click Here |
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| August 19, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Nick Sun: Potty Time! | | Review | | You might not necessarily expect to see the 2004 winner of So You Think You’re Funny playing a free show in a small, dingy venue, but then you see all sorts of things at the Fringe, and this show is very Fringe. ‘Potty Time!’ is guaranteed to provoke a reaction in you; whether it’s laughter or sheer horror is a question of taste. Nick Sun’s stand-up is truly off-the-wall, at times disconcerting and most definitely outrageous, yet somehow, it works; I was in fits of laughter as he delivered his deadpan set. His persona is that of the tragic, paranoid comedian and he pretty much let the audience lead the show, resulting in a failed game of musical chairs. Nick Sun is bonkers, but his show is one that I’ll always remember, which can’t be a bad thing, right? Totally unique. |
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| August 18, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of David Mills is Smart Casual | | Review | | With a razor-sharp tongue and ever sharper wit – think 1940s American reporter meets cocktail bar swagger – David Mills delivers an hour of comedy that you may mistake for an hour of catching up on the latest gossip with your gay best friend. Mills’ delivery is fast-paced yet easily digestible, a fine line but he manages to get the balance just right. His material is very clever and well-rehearsed without coming across as washed out, striking the collective funny bone of the audience as he discusses celebrities, the homeless and Islam. However, he is careful never to border on the offensive or distasteful - or at least he thinks so. Click Here |
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| August 18, 2012 Time Out | | Review of The Tom Collins Free Variety Hour | | Review | | Terrific skills-based character comic Abi Collins and sword-swallowing comedian Tom Balmont team up in the back room of a pub for this charmingly lo-fi spirit-of-the-fringe show. The night I went there was a casual, supportive vibe for the combination of songs, circus skills, comedy and character work on show, as well as Collins’s dabbling in performing as herself. Things got a little too casual when one of the punters she brought on stage to help with a regular acrobatic number proved too pissed to support her weight and she took a nasty tumble onto her forearm. Suffering in the name of cabaret – here’s to a speedy recovery… |
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| August 18, 2012 Fringe Guru | | Review of Helsinki | | Review | | fter last year’s mashed-up Shakespeare fun, The Underdogs (Kate Roxburgh and Shae Kuehlmann) return to the Fringe with another inventive, imaginative sketch show. The Underdogs are, of course, afflicted by the same compulsion that affects every modern sketch group – that of making their show mainly about being a sketch group – but this pair do it in a distinctly different and imaginative way. Sketches themselves turn out to be about the process of writing sketches, or about the duo’s own lives as actors. It’s all very clever stuff, featuring multiple callbacks and endless, unravelling layers. Click Here |
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| August 18, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Helsinki | | Review | | If you’re having a rough time, then taking a snoop at the Under Dogs might not be such a bad idea. Kate Roxburgh and Shae Kuehlman present something just plain silly and fun here, in their character comedy sketch show which includes murder mystery, lap dancing and a 1940’s war-torn love story. While the material on Midsomer Murders and World War II romances isn’t exactly cutting edge, there are some great moments to be found in their musical sketches. Their cover of the Goo Goo Dolls is hilarious, and snappy back and forth sketches stop the show from ever feeling tired or dull. It’s enough to leave you with your tail wagging. |
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| August 18, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Angels In Heels | | Review | | Angels In Heels opens with high ambitions: a class of sixth formers giggle and misbehave as they and the audience are treated to a brisk history of Manchester from the industrial revolution to the Madchester days of the late 80s and early 90s, before the students - faced with the full arc of the city's varying fortunes - wonder what memories Manchester will leave them with. From here the show wanders from its mission statement somewhat. Angels In Heels is not so much a social commentary on Manchester in 2012 – the story it tells and the themes it covers could plausibly apply to any part of the country – but rather it is a tale of the uncertainty of young adulthood and the responsibilities that come with it. Click Here |
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| August 18, 2012 The Carrick | | Review of 'All Turn!' | | Review | | Emily Summers' evocative one-woman show offers a poignant, affectionate and humorous insight into the life of her granddad, Albert North. Appearing as Albert, who was born in Oldham in 1926, she recounts his early life through hard times, and the Second World War. Albert was never bored, but he was often hungry. His clothes were patched, and his first bike was cobbled together from spare parts. He called it the 'Mayfall' as it may fall apart any second.
Emily, as Albert, mingles with the passengers in the bus, occasionally playing the music from his era. The passengers get the chance to see Albert's tools, his wedding photo as we relive his memories of life, love, tribulation, illness and death. To coin a phrase, 'we don't know we're born' these days compared to the things that men of Albert's generation had to put up with. Click Here |
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| August 18, 2012 A Younger Theatre | | Review of The Road That Wasn't There | | Review | | Part of the Free Fringe, the New Zealand company Trick of the Light Theatre has travelled across the world to tell a wonderful story of maps and roads that exist only if you know where to look for them. And if you follow them, the consequences may be more real than you expected. Click Here |
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| August 18, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Dissecting Comedy | | Review | | This was a very casual affair, the open window providing a gentle backing track made up of light pub garden chatter whilst the amiable pair of performers did their stuff. There were few defined jokes but the charming atmosphere involved the audience well and ensured that everyone in attendance was at least in a good mood. Taking us through the events of previous shows and various tales from their lives, this former couple had an excellent chemistry which resulted in a very intimate mood. Whilst you won’t be blown away if you see this this show, you’ll almost certainly have a lovely time and could well learn a useful perianal fact. |
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| August 18, 2012 Such Small Portions | | Article about Trodd en Bratt - Well Done You | | Trodd en Bratt snaffle out the finest vegetarian restaurant in town | | When you've had one too many late-night Fringe kebabs, it's time to head to a Trodd en Bratt-endorsed veggie eatery...
If you want to treat yourself in Edinbubble, why not do it the guilt-free, meat-free way by going to David Bann's restaurant on St Mary's Street? That's how we roll! You won't even notice there's no meat in, we promise! It's 'World food' so, 'Aubergine, Chickpea and Cashew Koftas' and 'Chilli Filo Tart with Sweet Potato and Chocolate Sauce' are the sorta tuck which adorn the menu - nom NOM NOMMM...
And anyone who has 'Rhubarb Cake and Vanilla Cream' on the menu should be a friend for life right? This is Edinburgh's finest vegetarian restaurant - we're sure of it. We'd advise booking but you can't during the festival, so don't.
Last year we had a girls night out there with Pippa Evans and Jules (who was teching for us on The Showstoppers) - it was the perfect a Click Here |
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| August 18, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Now.Here | | Review | |
The Free Fringe is a generous proposal at the worst of times, but when it offers up shows like this, ones that feel like they've been dreamed up out of pure love and shared free of charge out of sheer benevolence, you really start to wonder why you bother paying for any tickets at all. This is the true story of Aimée Corbett and Vanessa Hammick, who last year walked from Wales to London in search of adventure and are now in residency at the Free Sisters with a storytelling piece about the tales they were told and the encounters they had along the way. Click Here |
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| August 18, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Stella Graham: Karma Comedian | | Review | | Stella Graham's routine is fun and original: she recounts amusing anecdotes of good and bad things she has done and the audience have to decide if she should go to heaven or hell. Hence the 'karma' in the title Click Here |
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| August 18, 2012 A Younger Theatre | | Review of Austentatious - an improvised Jane Austen novel | | Review | | “Nothing in life is free”, or so my mother used to say. Well, there’s plenty of free shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and if Austentatious is anything to go by, then they‘re of an extremely high, and hilarious, standard. Each afternoon, this small cast acts out one of Jane Austen’s supposedly “lost works” in an improvised play based on audience suggestions. Click Here |
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| August 18, 2012 SGFringe | | Review of Made for Each Other | | Made for Each Other-FREE | | Made for Each Other – Free
THEATRE
★★★★★
Made for Each Other – Free
Bar 50
4:50pm (run ends 26th August)
Ostensibly about the upcoming gay marriage of Vincent and Jerry, Made For Each Other actually explores much more universal themes of the family.
We have Vincent, who’s in his fifties and is yet to come out as gay. Vincent’s mum, a former minor star on Broadway who thinks she always knows best (now suffering from Alzheimer’s). There’s Jerry, Vincent’s husband-to-be, a younger wannabe actor who proposed to Vincent on their third date. And there’s my favourite, Jerry’s Grandpa Damiano, who encouraged the boy Jerry to grow up to be, well, whatever he wanted to be.
These characters are very well drawn and utterly real. You really do care about each and every one of them. All of them are played by John Fico, who acts his guts out in a performance that Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Shaggers - Late Night Comedy Show | | Review | | An hour long comedy show featuring five different acts talking about sex? After a few pints this starts to seem like a great idea and I would recommend the show to any finding themselves at a loose end (or out of pocket) at 11pm.... So, if you want a sweaty and boozy night, if you are feeling a little randy for comedy then get down to the Free Sisters and enjoy Shaggers. Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Chortle | | Review of Austentatious - an improvised Jane Austen novel | | Review | | Such is the enduring appeal of Jane Austen, that his is probably the biggest free hit of the Fringe: fans have been queuing around the block to get in each morning, scores turned away disappointed... Forget qualifications about being free or being improv. This is one of the most impressive comedy shows on the Fringe. Camp out early. Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Cream of the Fringe | | | Review | | "I was very entertained" - full review in Cream of the Fringe booklet, not available online Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Discograffiti | | Review | | This was a very casual affair, the open
window providing a gentle backing track
made up of light pub garden chatter whilst
the amiable pair of performers did their
stuff. There were few defined jokes but
the charming atmosphere involved the
audience well and ensured that everyone
in attendance was at least in a good
mood. Taking us through the events of
previous shows and various tales from
their lives, this former couple had an
excellent chemistry which resulted in a
very intimate mood. Whilst you won’t be
blown away if you see this this show, you’ll
almost certainly have a lovely time and
could well learn a useful perianal fact. |
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| August 17, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Kemsley and Callaghan: Keepin' Their Cool | | Review | |
Harriet Kemsley and Sarah Callaghan may be just starting out, but at least they have each other. In a sweet and well-paced double bill, Kemsley’s shy, fearful-yet-unabashed character pairs well with Callaghan’s tough-girl attitude and the strength of the show comes from their alchemy as a duo. Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Cream of the Fringe | | Review of Marcus Ryan: Home & Away - FREE | | Review | | "A creative and engaging comedian, this man is not to be missed" - full review in Cream of the Fringe booklet, not available online Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of WINFAMY | | Review | | this is a solid show and well worth spending your time to see, as your wallet need not suffer at all if you do not want it to. Just be prepared to giggle before immediately chastising yourself for doing so at such horrific things. Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Cream of the Fringe | | Review of Perfectly Bananas | | Review | | "I was very entertained" - Review in the Cream of the Fringe Booklet - not available online |
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| August 17, 2012 Cream of the Fringe | | Review of John Hastings Unrelentless | | Review | | "You won't want this disillusioned, apologetic twenty something to stop talking" - full review in Cream of the Fringe booklet, not available online Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 TO&ST AWARDS | | Article about Dusty Limits: Post-Mortem | | Free Festival shows nominated for the Best Cabaret | | Congratulations to Dusty Limits and Tomas Ford - both nominated for the best Cabaret "TO&ST" awards. Two out of Five nominees for the awards are Free shows from the Free Festival |
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| August 17, 2012 Cream of the Fringe | | Review of Jocks and Geordies | | Review | | "So much Fun... refreshingly unpretentious" - full review in Cream of the Fringe booklet, not available online Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Cream of the Fringe | | Review of Desperately Seeking the Exit | | Review | | "A hilarious silver lining to a Theatrical catastrophe" - full review in Cream of the Fringe booklet, not available online Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 EdFringe Review | | Review of 'All Turn!' | | Review | | 'All Turn!' is simply magical: a rare chance to share something special. If you’re searching for a play that will bring you to tears as many times as it does make you smile then look no further. This is one bus you should hop straight on. Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Applause | | Review | | A show which works for their audience’s approval, Robin Grainger and Gregor Wappler don’t automatically expect your applause. In a semi-improvised stand-up performance, the two Scotsmen have compiled bits and pieces of stories together and attempt to amuse the crowd for an hour. Working well as a team, the two comedians seem to genuinely want to make you laugh and are pretty successful, even if the show does feel a little haphazardly thrown together.
Both Scottish Comedian of the Year Semi-finalists, the comedy duo have a lot of potential. Grainger is a great storyteller and his anecdotes are well complimented by Wappler’s punchlines. Drawing on their life-experiences, the two describe life in Scotland for a pair of ordinary guys like themselves and are pretty likeable in their honesty. The show was varied and they managed to keep the pace going throughout the performance, although it Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of When Alice (Cooper) met (Prince) Harry | | Review - Don't read this Review! | | There are reasons to be sceptical coming into When Alice (Cooper) Met (Prince) Harry. The show's Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme entry promises 'quirky and touching solo comedy' with little further detail and its posters, though they certainly scream 'eclectic', don't shed any further light on the show's content. There's a reason for this: the less you know about When Alice (Cooper) Met (Prince) Harry coming in, the better the show will be. Keep that in mind before deciding if you want to read on. Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of The Template For Lack Of Conversation | | Review | | Alison Trower would be an excellent date – never running out of topics of conversation, skipping from theme to theme with probing intriguing questions that make you think, and not afraid to talk about sex. In her hour long show she does all of these things and the audience ends up with almost a brand new outlook on life, one that prompts a fascinating interactive conversation at the very end of the show. Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 TO&ST AWARDS | | Article about An Audience With Tomás Ford | | Free Festival shows nominated for the Best Cabaret | | Congratulations to Dusty Limits and Tomas Ford - both nominated for the best Cabaret "TO&ST" awards. Two out of Five nominees for the awards are Free shows from the Free Festival |
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| August 17, 2012 Cream of the Fringe | | Review of Carnival of Crows | | Review | | "An evocative tour de force" - full review in Cream of the Fringe booklet, not available online Click Here |
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| August 17, 2012 Cream of the Fringe | | Review of The Mclough-Hess Monster | | Review | | "Stand-up comedy as it's supposed to be" - full review in Cream of the Fringe booklet, not available online Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 ScotsGay | | Review of David Mills is Smart Casual | | Review | | David Mills seems timeless, tethered to the contemporary by acerbic, sharply crafted lines about the prevailing culture he finds himself in. Yet when watching this stylistic raconteur, I am no longer in 2012, I am witnessing the birth of the cool. Sarah Vaughan and Dizzy Gillespie are waiting in the wings, Lenny Bruce is in the bar, the sassy cool spreads out across the audience. No smoking though. It’s my fantasy, and the smell would distract me. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Adam Larter: Happy New Year | | Review | | Adam Larter takes ‘alternative’ and runs with it, in this New Year’s – with bells on – themed performance. Complete with bagpipes, fireworks, sing-along and kite-flying, this is an endearingly madcap hour of high spirited-fun. Larter’s original humour isn’t always a hit: occasionally it shoots right past silly into entirely bizarre, leaving the crowd a few steps behind. But altogether this show’s pure absurd hilarity and festive Fringe spirit will make you forget you’re celebrating Hogmanay in August. So if you give it a try, you might discover that all your perfect New Year’s Eve has been missing is Adam Larter: two parts comedy genius, one part borderline lunatic, leaping around the stage in a mini-kilt. Who knows? |
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| August 16, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Adventures of the Singing Acupuncturist: Olivia finds IT | | Review | | Olivia Rhee has returned to the Edinburgh Fringe to tell of second chances, following your dreams and how to fix your life when you suddenly find yourself ‘going through the motions’. This is a third show at the Fringe for Rhee (otherwise known as The Big O), and features audience participatory acupuncture techniques, songs both novel and classic, and a full host of characters played by one talented person. This great performance could be done anywhere – there’s no set or props because she simply doesn’t need them – and creates a charming piece that manages to rise above the slightly off-key singing and bring the focus onto the themes of longing, shifting personal goals and self love. |
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| August 16, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of LadyStache | | Review | |
To clarify, these ladies do not have facial hair. However, they do claim to push the boundaries of gender. They say they are ‘just funny. Period.’ By this they mean do not expect the usual topics that we might hear from female acts. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of John McNamara - Acoustic Soul / Blues Singer | | Review | | In such an intimate setting as a yurt, an acoustic session could very easily go awry, but seated less than a metre from John McNamara and his guitar as his bluesy tunes floated through the air I felt nothing but a sense of privilege. McNamara’s rough-around-the-edges vocals contrast beautifully with the clarity of his expert guitar strumming to create an exceptional musical experience. This incredibly talented gentleman, who launches his debut album this year, shares his passionate blues originals as well as some soul/blues covers, and beautifully reinvents classic pop tunes such as Men at Work’s classic ‘Down Under’. A few more covers, perhaps from a different genre, might elevate this concert further, but ultimately, it’s a deeply satisfying show. |
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| August 16, 2012 One4Review | | Review of Kevin Shepherd: Thus Spoke Kev | | Review | | Thus Spoke Kev is a show about Nietzsche, a German philosopher whose name is best copy & pasted, and whose best known work is “God is Dead.” Sounds a right giggle, right?! Well, it was a very funny show. Not non-stop guffaws – oh no – far more pathos than that – but there was plenty to laugh about. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 One4Review | | Review of Huggers - Family Friendly Comedy and Cabaret | | Review | | uggers is a mad mix of a family cabaret / comedy show, with various acts popping along to perform to a bus load of children. Host Nik Coppin is genial, gently teasing front row siblings into giving each other a hug. The packed bus enjoy his banter, but as it’s a day with five acts, not the usual four, it’s quickly time to move on. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 One4Review | | Review of CeilidhKids at the Fringe | | Review | | Fun Scottish Dancing for all the family is what this says, and that’s pretty much what you get. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of What Would Beyonce Do? | | Review | | Omielan first found herself wondering what Beyoncé would do when she was unclogging a toilet using a stick. Would the ultimate pop diva ever use a stick to break up poo? How would Beyoncé deal with getting dumped, being unemployed and having to move back in with her mum? And so Omielan, a woman so disconnected from the broader world that she's only just discovered who Margaret Thatcher is, tries to piece together a new philosophy based on Beyoncé lyrics. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of AAA Batteries (Not Included) | | Review | | This performance sees three distinct styles of comedy performed with flair by Chris Turner, David Elms and Adam Hess. It’s compèred by Turner, a man with bags of energy, who has left his roots in archaeology and turned his hand to stand up; well-timed puns and audience interaction are his thing. Entirely different is David Elms, whose calm stage presence and toned down style is refreshing, and succeeds in getting the laughs. Lastly Hess bursts onto the stage and tells us about being ‘that boy’ who read dinosaur books at school instead of playing sport. He is self-deprecating yet confident, and completely hilarious. I can hardly believe this show is free! |
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| August 16, 2012 Three Weeks | | Article about Spring Day:Learn How to Take a Punch | | Spring Day Podcasts with Three Weeks | | Live from the streets of Edinburgh, the ThreeWeeks podcast team catch up with Fringe performers. Today, Holly Close chats to Spring Day, who is performing ‘Learn How To Take A Punch’ at The Free Sisters. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Spring Day:Learn How to Take a Punch | | Review | | As refreshing and witty as ever, Spring Day returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a new show which takes some of the best bits of her 2011 Fringe appearance whilst offering up some brand new and equally funny material. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of All About The Craic! | | Review | | With stand up variety shows the aim is always to showcase a variation of comedic talent in order to provide ‘something for everyone’. Sometimes if you don’t get it right the results can be very hit and miss and such was the case for All About The Craic, a show which attempts to showcase the best in up-and-coming Irish talent. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 Chortle | | Review of Phil Walker - is this it? | | Review | | Phil Walker bounds onto the stage with the energy of a dog that has just been let out for an overdue walk. He looks excited and full of beans at the prospect of us paying attention to him for the best part of an hour. Click Here |
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| August 16, 2012 Three Weeks | | | Review | | Apparently, one reviewer said of Kunt last year that he only had one good idea and he’d been running with it for too long. To prove that reviewer wrong, Kunt is back this year with a brand new show about daytime TV and how he’d improve it. But fans don’t be alarmed. The laddish, and at some points downright disgusting humour we’ve come to expect from him, are still there. Highlights include a quiz featuring audience members with rounds such as “Match the Snatch”, Kunt’s Noel Edmond’s conspiracy theories and of course some 80s inspired musical interludes. A great laugh but not for the faint hearted. You won’t look at daytime TV the same way again. |
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| August 15, 2012 Edinburgh Ferstivals Magazine | | Review of Austentatious - an improvised Jane Austen novel | | Review | | One of this year’s best fringe shows is performed not in front of the heaving crowds of Assembly Hall or in the big purple cow, but in a crowded room above a pub on the Free Fringe. Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Three Weeks | | | Review | | Adam Larter takes ‘alternative’ and runs
with it, in this New Year’s – with bells
on - themed performance. Complete
with bagpipes, fireworks, sing-along and
kite-flying, this is an endearingly madcap
hour of high spirited-fun. Larter’s original
humour isn’t always a hit: occasionally it
shoots right past silly into entirely bizarre,
leaving the crowd a few steps behind.
But altogether this show’s pure absurd
hilarity and festive Fringe spirit will make
you forget you’re celebrating Hogmanay
in August. So if you give it a try, you might
discover that all your perfect New Year’s
Eve has been missing is Adam Larter: two
parts comedy genius, one part borderline
lunatic, leaping around the stage in a minikilt.
Who knows? |
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| August 15, 2012 Broadway Baby | | | Review | |
Part of the Laughing Horse Free Festival, comedian and photographer Ian Fox delivers an hour of very amusing entertainment through a selection of photos. The show was charming, witty and most importantly, really quite original. Fox talked the audience through a series of photos that were projected around the room on plasma screens. The photos were of a wide range of things, from spotting his friend dressed as Where’s Wally in a crowd to pictures taken from underneath animal’s noses or people caught on the toilet. Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 BBC News | | | Free Fest boss Alex Petty talks to the BBC | | Alex Petty talks to the BBC about free shows at the Fringe Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Tricity Vogue's Ukulele Cabaret | | Review | | Tricity Vogue gets her kicks from having somebody strum her ukulele that sits on top of her head. Such an honour is bestowed upon the winner of the ‘Uke of Edinburgh’ award which is nightly awarded to the best of four participants at the Ukulele Cabaret, as voted for by members of the audience. Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Broadwaybaby.com | | Review of Kevin Dewsbury In...Sane | | Truly, Madly, Deeply | | There’s a familiar traditional-northern-comic style about Kevin Dewsbury as he welcomes the audience to the room above the Meadows Bar, mixed with a bit of laddish banter. His stand-up set is based on his descent into and recovery from a psychotic episode. Mental illness is a subject that is not usually this visible; fellow comedian Ruby Wax’s recent documentary on Channel 4 challenged people’s perceptions and she stated, as does Dewsbury, that one in four people will at some point in their lives suffer a form of mental illness.
Dewsbury opened the set with his version of Ruby Ruby Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs but with his own lyrics and reassured the audience that he wasn’t one of those ‘stabby nutters’. At once self-deprecating and confident he shared his ‘Nutter’s Guide to Avoiding Leafleters’ and even when some latecomers arrived he greeted them with warmth and not a hint of irony. He Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Aaaand Now For Something Completely Wireless | | Review | | Already doing another long-form show
earlier in the day, 4-man improv troupe
Racing Minds don sharp suits and bowties
to exploit the 50s radio genre for
everything it’s worth. Stylistically, it’s
a great choice, allowing them to play
multiple roles within the same scene and
have great fun with sound effects. There’s
a slight tendency to carry on with scenes
that have perhaps run their course, and
on this occasion it took a while for any
actual narrative to kick in, but when such
good comedy is being put together so
quickly, such problems seem fairly minor
in comparison. Above all, these are some
damned funny chaps putting on an
absolutely top-notch show. |
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| August 15, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Trodd en Bratt - Well Done You | | Review | | Less of a comedy performance and more an experiment in character acting, this duo’s foray into sketch show territory is, well, sketchy. The theatrical talent – particularly of Ruth Bratt – is undeniable; with very few props or scenery, both transform themselves time and time again. The faultless accents and surprisingly good singing are high points in the performance. Indeed, though the acting is not under question, the comedy perhaps is; whilst I marvel at the chameleon-like ability of the two stars, there are few laughs to be had here – the jokes are well worn and often overstretched to last an entire sketch, and some just don’t make sense. |
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| August 15, 2012 ScotsGay | | Review of Constant Craving | | Review | | Sarah Archer presents a nostalgic look at the upbringing of, well, Sarah Archer. But it’s also about her insatiable cravings and by extension, ours too. Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Luke Milford-Things I Like | | Review | | In this hit and miss comedy show, Luke
Milford and his guest comedians talk
about life, relationships and Pokémon. At
times the show is pretty funny, and Milford
himself stands out, and with different
guest stars every day, hopefully other
performers will be stronger than the ones
I saw, who relied far too much on out of
context one liners and laughed at their
own jokes; at one point one of the comics
just gave up on a joke half way through
and left. Milford spent a lot of time talking
with the audience, which wasn’t so much
funny as an awkward getting to know
people session. Milford’s show is good
though and whilst not hysterically funny, it
will put a smile on your face. |
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| August 15, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Lucy Cox: Attractive Audience Required | | Review | | Honest, bubbly and exceedingly
entertaining. Lucy Cox shares the story of
her life as a single woman living with her
parents in London: her dating disasters;
the inherent threat of taking public
transport; online dating and her love of
winky faces and ridiculous milk toppers.
Cox uses musical comedy throughout her
performance, which is catchy, personal
and very funny, plus her bright and
bubbly attitude contrasts perfectly with
her dark comedy and stories of everyday
experiences everyone can kind of relate
to. While there is nothing exceptionally
different or unique to this show and it
under runs a bit, it is structured with
staple recipe for comedy that Cox pulls off
extremely well. A strong, well assembled
show which flows perfectly. |
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| August 15, 2012 TIME OUT | | Review of TWONKEYS KINGDOM-FREE | | sideways imagination! | | Twonkeys Kingdom [sic]: ★★★★☆
Certainly the most bizarro piece I’ve seen so far this Fringe, this is the third of Paul Vickers’s shows exploring the fantasy world of Twonkey, now installed as tyrannical (female) king of a land beyond easy description. Vickers is the outsider artist of comedy: ruddy-faced, bearded and curly-haired in t-shirt and jeans, on a stage adorned with a little yellow windmill, ship’s wheel and piles of dolls and puppets, he tells weird stories and sings rocky songs about deposed alpine centaurs, Lon Chaney and the offspring of Humpty Dumpty. It’s like peeking into an adult playroom of remarkable but decidedly sideways imagination. Basically, if you like the sound of panicked crocodile piss, crab-hunting at Voodoo Bridge and ‘another victory in the war against eggs’, this is the show for you. Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, to Aug 26 Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Hairline | | Review of Dusty Limits: Post-Mortem | | Review | | There’s nothing quite like a one-man cabaret show about death, alcoholism and drugs to perk you up after a day pounding the cobbles of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Ferris Buellers Way Of... | | Review | | Buying into the take away message from the 1986 film ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, Dan Willis provides the audience with an overview of how following the titular character’s mantra of embracing life from every angle has worked out for him. Willis’s use of clips from the film to back-up his points helps to elucidate what we can learn from Ferris as well as providing a different way to engage the audience. However, those unfamiliar with the movie and its premise may at times feel slightly alienated and lost. A self-confessed computing geek, Willis naturally identifies with the film’s nerdy character Cameron, and in many ways, he is indeed like him: affable and awkwardly funny but someone who may need a spark to try something different. |
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| August 15, 2012 The Stage | | Article about When Alice (Cooper) met (Prince) Harry | | The Stgae MUST SEE Show | | Proof that the Edinburgh fringe is still a place for seriously bizarre experiment and kooky excitement comes from Alice Mary Cooper with this splendid deconstruction and reconstruction of the dramatic lecture format. Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Cheese-Badger presents... MIDGE (a two-man musical) | | Review | | This show is an absolute gem, and that’s
especially satisfying when you consider
that it’s from one of the free strands.
Brilliantly fantastical, with a surreal
storyline, this tale follows the life of Midge,
who is sent to live with his mad uncle
Clive when his parents are killed in a car
crash. The two man musical brims with
almost ridiculous levels of intelligence and
creativity, and the comic overacting lends
itself well to the style of the show as well
as to the hilarious, well-integrated songs. If
you crossed Flight of the Conchords with
a Tim Burton-esque plot, then you might
have a shadow of an idea about the quality
of this production; an absolute must-see. |
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| August 15, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Ivo Graham & Liam Williams | | Review | |
In a “botched attempt” to entertain his audience before the show two things became apparent: Ivo Graham is hilariously charming and if Liam Williams could match his calibre of comedy we would be in for a thoroughly entertaining show (Williams did. We were.). Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Who's Dorian Gray? | | Review | | I still don’t know who Dorian Gray is.
Not that I’m complaining. In this play, we
are thrown into the lives of 3 flatmates,
the trials and tribulations they endure
together, and how these events affect
and damage their friendships. The six
actors are convincing, and as an audience
member, it’s all too easy to empathise
with what their characters are feeling
and going through; at times, indeed, we
get so immersed that the audience feels
entirely burdened with the characters’
emotions. There is a slightly awkward
nude scene (given the small audience size,
I didn’t know where to look). However,
the actors soon put us all at ease as the
story continues and we yet again feel so
emotionally attached to the characters
that I was sad when the play ended. |
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| August 15, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Patterson and Ranganathan | | Review | | Join Jason Patterson and Romesh Ranganathan for an extraordinarily hilarious hour of witty anecdotes and social cynicism. Patterson doles out hysterical tales of the first woman he brought to his mother’s house and his attempt to get out of being mugged by poking fun at the mugger’s trouser choice, while Romesh harks back to his not-so-careful use of sarcasm as a school teacher, and learning life lessons at the ‘Avengers Assemble’ film showing. Both Patterson and Ranganathan complete excellent stand up routines that are seamless and clever, and they definitely delivered more than I expected. Don’t miss these two comedians, because it will most likely be the last time one can see them for free. |
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| August 15, 2012 The Scotsman | | Review of Angels In Heels | | Review | | One of the best shows I’ve have ever seen at the Free Festival, it is written and performed with such unassuming northern charm that it will have you leaping on the bus to visit the home of The Happy Mondays Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Time Out | | Review of An Audience With Tomás Ford | | Five Stars For Tomás Ford | | "Tomás Ford is what you’re looking for... It’s a little as if Sweeney Todd threw an electro-punk party in the sex dungeon of the TARDIS en route to nirvana." - Ben Walters Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 ScotGay | | Review of Lewis Schaffer: No, YOU Shut Up! [Later Show] | | Review | | Lewis Schaffer is something of Fringe royalty. Having performed for free at the festival for 19 straight years, there are few more experienced comics you will see without paying for. And this experience shows: he knows how to banter with the audience, and is capable of structuring a good joke. Click Here |
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| August 15, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of This Arthur's Seat belongs to Lionel Ritchie - Gala | | Review | | Come and watch a decent comedian in a spectacular location. Barry Ferns is gigging daily atop Arthur’s Seat, the highest point of Holyrood Park. His set is only fifteen minutes long, but the set is only a small part of the show. Even once you’ve completed the climb, you still have the ‘pre-show queue’ to look forward to. At the summit Ferns has constructed a ramshackle wooden doorframe, where people queue in order to have their hands stamped (“this ink belongs to Lionel Richie”) and be admitted ‘into the venue’, where they can enjoy the tiered seating lovingly provided by nature. It’s a beautifully surreal moment. Click Here |
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| August 14, 2012 TheMusic.com.au | | Article about An Audience With Tomás Ford | | Self On Self Psychological Torture: Tomás Ford's Edinburgh Diary | | The amusing first part of Tomás Ford's Edinburgh diary for Australian music news website The Music is online. Read it at the link. Click Here |
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| August 14, 2012 The Scotsman | | Review of An Audience With Tomás Ford | | The Scotsman Review Tomás Ford | | "Ford is not afraid to be thoroughly ridiculous, even shameless in performance and there emerges a fond sense of ownership among onlookers as he croons theatrically over a dystopian electronic soundtrack teased from his flight case of hi-tech hardware. So much so that we are momentarily bereft when he forsakes our company mid-song to go walkabout in the pub and freak out the drinkers." - Fiona Shepherd Click Here |
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| August 14, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of Stand-Up, Fall Down | | Graham Whistler: Stand-Up Fall Down Review. | | Review by Collette Cullen.
Published 14 August 2012
Graham Whistler has cerebral palsy.
That’s a fact that shouldn’t normally be relevant when reviewing a comedian but as it’s the central theme of his show – Stand Up, Fall Down – I’d do him a disservice by not alluding to it. The real strength of Whistler’s stand-up is its candor; for those jaded by comedians who shamelessly trot out lazy routines and tired clichés here is someone with a genuine talent and a remarkable story to tell.
The small crowd is taken through a multitude of encounters that could in many ways be heart-rending but are actually very funny. From the logistics of playing cricket in a wheelchair to the fact he can often pipe up with a cheeky comment and avoid a beating – we’re reminded it’s OK to laugh along at the experiences of someone else even if their lifestyle is different.
Although at times some of th Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of I Am Google | | Review | | When a rather generously proportioned man begins his one-man comedy show by pole-dancing to Far East Movement’s Like A G6, it’s clear that this is one performance the audience aren’t likely to forget anytime soon, but afterwards things become a bit more clear. If you ever wondered what Google would be like as a person then wonder no more, for Craig Rico Shaynak nails the character so accurately that he’ll have you clutching your sides with laughter. Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 Stage Won | | | Review | | It's amazing to see something on the free fringe that makes you laugh so much, includes audience participation and can end up in you winning prizes whilst still not having to pay a penny to enjoy. These two boys are a mash up of 'Waynes World' and 'Ant and Dec'. They have phenomenal comedy timing, can handle and audience perfectly, and keep hitting you with more and more suprises. I don't think I've enjoyed a game of bingo so much in my life.
It's a great night out with a group or just a chuckle on your own, but you end up chatting and meeting everyone around you as the atmosphere they create is so friendly and positive whilst still ripping in to anybody who makes a mistake with this simple game. I strongly recommend seeing this if you can, and as its free you'll feel you owe them both so much by the time it's over. Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of AAA Batteries (Not Included) | | Review | | Three young talented comics take over with a show full of improvisation, riffing and household observations. There are flashes of real comic genius in their jokes that push the audience into a chuckling, whimpering mass of hysteria. Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 John Fleming's Blog | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Man Goes Down on me During Gig. | | I had no sooner left the cultural oasis of the Word Power Books shop, than I got brought back to earth with a bang by news from comedian Chris Dangerfield, whose Sex Tourist show is sponsored by a local Edinburgh escort agency.
A man fainted at the very thought of Chris Dangerfield’s show
“A man fainted halfway through my gig last night,” he told me, “just as I said This next bit is a tad gross – the joke being that the whole show had been a bit bleak up to that point. The story I almost told is actually about ‘a multiple bodily fluids accident’ but I had not even got into the details when this punter spasmed a little and fell off his chair. Commotion ensued, I quickly got help and he was revived with lots of fanning and lying down, which took about five minutes. He was then taken off and I continued with my show, making a point of getting everyone to agree what a rude and insensit Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Desperately Seeking the Exit | | Review | | For a show about a West End flop,
American writer Peter Michael Marino
delivers a success with his comedy skit,
‘Desperately Seeking the Exit’. Marino
incorporates brilliant humour into his
story of the staging of ‘Desperately
Seeking Susan’, a jukebox musical
which was staged – and which failed
miserably - at the Novello Theatre in
London. Witty, smart, and hilarious, the
show also includes Marino’s comparisons
between British and American cultures
that are funny and accurate, earning
nods and laughter from the audience,
many of whom leave the show with
tears in their eyes. Marino is charismatic
and an excellent storyteller and his
impersonations of his theatre colleagues
are funny and engaging. Audiences
will not be desperately seeking the exit
anytime soon. |
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| August 13, 2012 Daily Express | | Article about Desperately Seeking the Exit | | Daily Express talks about Peter Michael Marino | | "On the other hand, Peter Michael Marino’s fast, funny first-hand account of being the writer of a disastrous London stage musical version of Desperately Seeking Susan turns that painful experience into comedy gold in a show that he names after one of the review headlines it received: Desperately Seeking The Exit (Laughing Horse)." Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 FringeWon | | Review of Bogan Bingo | | Review | | It's amazing to see something on the free fringe that makes you laugh so much, includes audience participation and can end up in you winning prizes whilst still not having to pay a penny to enjoy. These two boys are a mash up of 'Waynes World' and 'Ant and Dec'. They have phenomenal comedy timing, can handle and audience perfectly, and keep hitting you with more and more suprises. I don't think I've enjoyed a game of bingo so much in my life.
It's a great night out with a group or just a chuckle on your own, but you end up chatting and meeting everyone around you as the atmosphere they create is so friendly and positive whilst still ripping in to anybody who makes a mistake with this simple game. I strongly recommend seeing this if you can, and as its free you'll feel you owe them both so much by the time it's over. Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 Chronicles of a Nerd | | Review of Life's Short. I'm Not! | | ★★★★★ Bronston Jones: Life's Short. I'm Not! | | Bronston Jones is a 6ft 7 American Comedian who spends just over an hour Telling hilarious and filthy stories about his life, Covering his battle with alcohol and his “Interesting” romantic interests spattered with political views and some brilliant crowd Interaction. A genuine funny comedian at an unbelievable price (FREE). Stories of pornstars on cocaine and how hotel hookers look down on sluts as well as the mad things we all do for love are just a few of the things you’ll hear as the night goes along. If you’ve ever dated, or fallen in love you’ll find yourself nodding along to Bronstons preachings and stories . A truely fantastic hidden gem of the free Fringe and a genuinely “Stand up guy” as well as probably the smoothest flirt you’ll ever meet. Bronston is worth checking out, be careful about taking your girlfriend with you though, because Bronston is packing some of the greatest Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Who's Dorian Gray? | | Review | | A man who is scared of women, a man in a long-term relationship, and a man who has seven women in one week - in Who’s Dorian Gray, we are introduced to all these characters. The three clashing personalities are used to delve into the types of intimacy of many different relationships as the play questions whether being in a steady relationship actually makes people happy, or whether it is just a convenient front we use when we would secretly rather live the lothario dream. Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Michael Pope is Gay for Pay | | This Pope Isn't Catholic | | This gig is a total surprise – just what the Fringe should be. Despite being classed as comedy in the Fringe program and having a title and image that make it look like something else entirely, Michael Pope is Gay for Pay is in fact spoken word - a simply told tale of the time when Pope got employed (basically by accident) as an operator on a gay sex phone line. He turned out to be very good at it.
Storytelling is a peculiar art, and Pope is very good at this too. He has the necessary qualities: an agreeable voice that is a pleasure to listen to, not too much emphasis so as to be jarring and not so soothing as to make you drift off. It helps that he has a good yarn to tell. Phone sex, or ‘the theatre of the imagination,’ as Pope’s boss Barry dubs it, is a fascinating subject, and Pope balances humour with drama well.
He is a gracious performer with a light touch. There was a loud dru Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Man Feelings | | Review | |
Comedy duo James Cottle and Kevin Kennedy take their audience through a series of hilarious scenarios verging on the absurd in this sketch show. At times the show lives up to its promise, exposing parts of the male psyche in a brutally candid way. At other times, it merely divulges the bizarre, if not worrying, imagination of two comedians. Click Here |
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| August 13, 2012 The List | | Review of Lach: Up The Anti! | | Review | | Think of one man. Add in that he’s masterfully strumming a guitar, singing with a deep, gravelly vocal or producing a commendable Bob Dylan impression. Then factor in that, despite an on stage humility, he’s kind of a New York legend. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Edinburgh Spotlight | | Review of Theatre Tasters | | Review | | Presented as a ‘three course meal’ of short new writing pieces, Theatre Tasters is an appetising and hearty debut from new Edinburgh-based company Fronteiras Theatre Lab.
Bringing together writers, performers and crew from seven countries, Fronteiras focus on cross-cultural collaboration, thus ensuring their theatrical spread has subtle seasoning from across the globe. The three darkly comic pieces on offer are all separate and distinct in their own identity, but a common taste soon emerges: that of imprisonment. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Arnie Pie - Because I felt like it | | Review | | After introducing himself four times Arnie Pie gave a bit about his stage name before launching into the set that can define the rest of his show in two words: racial comedy. If you can leave every politically correct part of you at the door you’ll be able to enjoy this act. Arnie Pie himself is an Australian with a Thai background and he milks this for all it is worth with a multitude of voices and accents. His favourite imitation and constant inspiration for his material is his Asian father, who he does a hilarious impression of. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of The Three Half Pints | | Review | | Everything goes wrong in the eccentrically
posh world of The Three Half Pints!
Gleefully silly and full of surprises, the
show sees three brothers - Ernie, Derrick
and Dick - present a range of sharply
witty and “weally, weally good” sketches.
Using gentlemanly banter and embracing
the use of shockingly convincing, yet
delightfully hilarious, moments of stage
combat – The Three Half Pints dazzle
with well executed ‘Monty Python’-
esque slapstick humour. Richard Frank’s
adorably dim portrayal of Dick induces
belly aching laughs and is reminiscent of
the dim witted ‘Frank Spencer’ from ‘Some
Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em’. This free show is
sure to captivate you, and it is refreshing
to see such brilliant and young talent in
the festival. |
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| August 12, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Bob Slayer: He's A Very Naughty Boy | | Review | | Bob Slayer treats his audience like a classroom full of unruly students - he is the erratic alcoholic headmaster to lord over them all. He managed to down three pints during his show, or ‘memory juice’ as he would call it. In fact, I’ve never seen anyone chug a beer that fast before. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Edinburgh Spotlight | | Review of This Arthur's Seat belongs to Lionel Ritchie - Gala | | Review | | Barry Ferns changed his name to Lionel Ritchie by deed poll in 2007 to enable him to list his show in the Fringe programme – This Arthur’s Seat Belongs to Lionel Richie. Every day he carries up 19kg of equipment to the top of Arthur’s Seat in whatever conditions the Edinburgh weather throws at him. Ferns instantly wins the accolade of being the only Fringe participant this year to perform on top of a 350 million year old volcano. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Ryan Withers - One Woman Showe | | Review | |
‘Just had a moment of self-awareness there,’ Ryan Withers stopped halfway through a joke to announce. ‘I’m on stage as a woman.’ The young Australian seems almost as confused as we are as to why. There is a lack of certainty and self-assuredness to his Edinburgh debut that masks an otherwise strong hour of comedy. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Fringe Guru | | Review of Michael Pope is Gay for Pay | | Review | | This show is a story, a true one, about Pope’s late twenties – when he, a struggling film maker, discovered he had an amazing talent for phone sex. So while he spent his nights sleeping rough in pursuit of a dream, he spent his days making other people’s fantasies a little more real. He acts out some of his calls with a demonstration of that skill, showing just how he used to work his magic. And of course that’s very funny, as other people’s predilections often are. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 One4Review | | Review of BLUES AND BURLESQUE | | Review | | This mid afternoon slot is definitely not the normal time slot for a show of this genre, one would normally expect this to be around midnight, but then this is Edinburgh when anything goes.
Welcoming the healthy crowd to the Counting House club was the delightful Vicious Delicious while keyboard wizard Pete Saunders played up a storm keeping everyone well entertained.
The pacey show was a selection of Blues, burlesque, cabaret and dance as the afore mentioned pair were joined by ‘Bouncy’ Hunter to complete the lineup.
All performers are obviously quality seasoned pros and the are totally at one with their show, employing all the devices one would normally expect from this genre and using them with style.
The hour was a quick one, which is indicative of a good show and then it was out into the night, except given the time it was a sunny afternoon.
This is part of The Laughing Horse F Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Alpine Horn with Flange Krammer | | Review | | Comedian Neil Dagley is Flange Krammer; German Olympic skiing sensation and interminable ladies’ man. In a show peppered with silly projected videos, audience interaction and a baffling guest appearance by the man from Del Monte, Krammer gives the audience an insight into his life. Much in the style of Borat or Angelos Epithemiou, Krammer is a character complete with catchphrases and zany affectations, the guise of the character allowing Dagley room to be as wacky as possible. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 One4Review | | Review of Sajeela Kershi: Regret-Me-Nots | | Review | | Since the first time I saw her perform a few years ago now I have been keen to see the progress of this very likeable comic and the development has been very significant.
She comes across as supremely confident, happy to go to he audience for input, but with a full set of material as well.
Now this is fair enough when there are huge numbers to ‘play’ with but to be able to sustain the high level of presentation to a smaller audience is less easy, and the crowd I saw the show with were not so giving either.
But that didn’t matter to Ms Kerschi. She had a full hour of extremely funny and entertaining stuff, a lot very personal as she exposed some of her regrets in life; some of the material was almost tear jerking too.
Hilarious stories of dating, her first kiss, bitchy friends and a whole raft of family stuff leading on to her major regret were delivered openly and honestly, yet in a Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Jody Kamali: Dirty Filthy Rich | | Review | | Dirty Filthy Rich wants to make you stinking, filthy rich. Rich beyond your wildest dreams. It wants to show you that having the money to buy your woman a Dyson will lead to avalanches of happiness. It wants you to stand up and believe in yourself and cry, ‘I’m going to be rich!’ to the heavens. Sadly, despite its good intentions, it won’t have you laughing too much along the way. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of Aaaand Now For Something Completely Wireless | | Review | | Racing Minds held the audience kindly and confidently from the very start of this hour-long improvised 1950s radio show. Gentle but not overdone in-character welcoming created a receptive atmosphere. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of The Dork Knight Triumpant | | Review | | By his own admission, Deb's shows only really work when he's playing to proper hardcore geeks. Tonight's tiny crowd includes a man who owns his own Batman costume and a honeymooning couple who had a Star Wars-themed wedding, with the head table done up to look like Tatooine. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Fringe Guru | | Review of Abigoliah Schamaun: Girl Going to Hell. | | Review | | Abigoliah Schamaun seems to be running this whole show herself. She’s outside chatting to punters before it begins, she’s introducing herself from the back of the room, she’s doing her own tech and she’s on stage telling the jokes. And, she is very funny. With a particular brand of confidence and self-regard that feels like it could only come from America, Schamaun chats amiably about her haircut, her parents and her sex life and it feels just like catching up with a close, and very witty, friend. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 The Scotsman | | Review of Nik Coppin's Caricatures | | Review | | The man who gave Edinburgh first Shaggers and then the delightful Huggers attaches yet another string to his comedic bow: we now discover he is a talented caricaturist. This is another of the kind of shows that make the Free Fringe great. Click Here |
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| August 12, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Austentatious - an improvised Jane Austen novel | | Review | | An hour is a long time in improvisation
and it takes skill and wit to keep the
audience laughing that long. Thankfully,
The Milk Monitors have plenty of talent to
go around. Riffing on “lost” Jane Austen
titles suggested by the capacity crowd,
they weave a delightfully silly tale of
ribbons, romance and text messages off
the cuff to much merriment. Some scenes
work better than others – they could stand
to take more audience suggestions than
just the title to stop things getting stale –
but the cast never falter or let their energy
drop. Funny, frilly and family friendly, you
don’t need to be an Austen fan to enjoy
this lunchtime cracker. Just be there early
to get a seat! |
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| August 11, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Him and Me: Sketch Circus - Free | | Review | | I should have hated this show; it had all
the sophistication and subtlety of a stag
night during Blackpool illuminations.
However, despite its bawdy flamboyance,
it was also rather brilliant. The dynamic
duo were clearly the best of friends, and
it was difficult not to be swept along by
their enthusiasm and rapport. Lines were
forgotten, sketches were under-rehearsed,
and punchlines were fairly predictable,
but none of that really mattered. Their
improvised teasing when things went awry
was often funnier than their pre-written
material. If you have a spare hour, a puerile
sense of humour, and a few quid for a
round of drinks beforehand, shut off your
brain for a while and have a mischievous
snigger at this show. |
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| August 11, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of This Barry Ferns Belongs to Lionel Richie | | Review | | A patchwork of stand-up, sketches
and publicity stunts, this performance
was tied together by the thread of
Edinburghs gone by. It worked largely
as a retrospective of Barry’s (technically
Lionel’s...) decade-long Fringe tenure,
during which he fantasised about an
Edinburgh ombudsman telling him
objectively whether his productions were
worth the hassle (and the bankruptcy).
It did stray into the realm of farce many
times (purposefully or not), yet ultimately
the hitches became the highlights, not
a reflection on the script but on Ferns
(Richie) himself who handled them
impeccably. While Barry’s (Lionel’s) doubts
about the Fringe were prescient, if I could
step into his imaginary official’s shoes
just for a second, I’d assure him he wasn’t
wasting his time. |
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| August 11, 2012 Three Weeks | | Article about Life or something like it | | Review | | This unlikely duo – one part earthy, nostalgic poetry, one part satirical song – creates what is actually two distinct performances billed as one show. In reasonably engaging if rudimentary rhyme, Alex Keelan articulates the memories of childhood and the gripes of adulthood. She is followed by the witty and politically passionate Claire Mooney; armed with a fiercely strummed guitar, she sings a selection of catchy self-penned songs about the coalition, NHS and fleeces, to name a few. However independently talented, the two acts do seem misplaced together, and the change of tempo from pensive poetry to “all together now” singsong is slightly jarring, as is the show’s confusion over whether to be heart-warming or soul-searching. |
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| August 11, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Theatre Tasters | | Review | | The obvious, but often overlooked difficulty with one act plays is their length. Too long to rely on gimmicks as sketches often do, yet too short for a decent narrative arc; crafting an effective one act is all about balance. It’s fair to say that Theatre Tasters offerings demonstrate three different ways it can go slightly wrong without careering into abysmal territory. There’s a lot to like in this fun, diverse trio written by Australian, Scottish, and Norwegian artists, but none of them quite hit the mark. Click Here |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Do You Still Throw Spears At Each Other? | | Review | | The Duke of Edinburgh is back in town
with a bloody good show. George Telfer’s
caricature of Prince Phillip is uncanny;
from a mastery of his bumbling tone, to a
staggering grasp of his mannerisms, to a
curious failure to adjust to the times, this
is exactly how you imagine Phillip to be
behind closed doors. Telfer embellishes
his life story with a witty script, finding
comedy in his historical inability to keep
his mouth shut and the readiness of the
Tabloids to prey on his gaffes. Making
good use of an awkward room and audio
excerpts as well as the national anthem,
this is an unmissable hour of dramatic
monologue, littered with Philip’s most
memorable and hilarious slip-ups. |
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| August 10, 2012 The Scotsman | | Review of 3 Days off Jesus | | Review: 3 Days Off Jesus | | It’s entirely possible this delightful Irishman has an actual show inside him, but I couldn’t say for sure. Playing a tiny room, to an over-capacity crowd of his peers, the 26-year-old proves that some people are born with funny in their bone marrow.
The show purports to be about growing up in the far south of Ireland with a crazy mother (she took 11 September, 2001 as a personal insult); racing around on bikes as a kid; his love of 1980s action films; and the crapness of a children’s show called Bosco. And his reason for hating porn nearly brought the walls down with vibrations from our laughter.
Bizarrely, the material flagged up as being part of the actual act often misfires, partly because he’s gone off on so many tangents the punchlines lose their momentum. But oh, what a joy those tangents are! The show became so interactive that it felt hanging out with mates, one of whom wa Click Here |
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| August 10, 2012 EdFringe Review | | Review of Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Musical | | Review | | When I turned up to see 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Musical', I was expecting something light-hearted and mildly philosophical. What I saw was mildly philosophical, extremely intense and not at all musical.
The set-up was more like a stand-up show than a musical, but what you get is the opposite of comedy. A man in a suit stands with open arms, a wide-eyed expression and a husky voice. He apologises for the lack of music that the show will contain; his friend has borrowed his musical equipment and hasn’t yet returned it. This was, of course, both a shock and a disappointment, but I later learned that he hopes to get his equipment back soon and that it isn’t too integral to the performance anyway (although this is another strange thing for a professed musical).
His monologue follows the story of Michael Thross, an ex TV performer whose life has taken an unexpected turn and who ha |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Carnival of Crows | | Review | | Claustrophobic, stony and tucked away
behind a thick red curtain, you couldn’t
find a more appropriate venue for this
show than the Gothic Room at The Free
Sisters. A tale of marred innocence and
twisted psyches, this new script is filled
with the freshness of Roald Dahl’s ‘Rotten
Rhymes’ and the nauseating monstrosity
of ‘Sweeney Todd’. Although the stories
seemed a little disconnected at times,
Molly Beth White displays an obvious gift
for physical theatre and confident, but
not overbearing, audience interaction.
Definitely not for the easily queasy (the
bolognese I had planned for dinner
didn’t seem so appetising by the show’s
conclusion), but if gothic grisliness is right
up your street then make your way to the
carnival...if you dare. |
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| August 10, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of The Three Half Pints | | Review "Carry On Laughing" | |
If I were an anthropologist or a linguist I could write a thesis on non-verbal communication through shared laughter. I have come to recognise the difference types of laughter as a response to live comedy. The tittering, nervous giggle, the knowledgeable chuckle, the shrieks and cackles, the guffawing and the sniggering. This comedy sketch show was full of all-out relaxed belly laughs, the best sort of laughter - cathartic and genuine.
The Fringe Guide rates it a PG rating, so I left BBR8 and BBR11 (my two boys/mini reviewers) at home in case of bad language. This is a shame since The Three Half Pints, shoehorned into the downstairs bar, is a show for which you can be any age from eight to 80. A few bits of naughty but nice double entendres was as risque as it got.
The Three Half Pints are Richard Franks, Callum Donnelly and Robin Hatcher who play the roles of Dick, Derek and Ernie Click Here |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Angels In Heels | | Review | | In this enjoyable free show, recent graduates of Arts Educational Schools London and other performing arts schools give us a glimpse into the lives of four Mancunian girls studying for their A-levels. They face the usual challenges, including the distractions of boys and clubbing and the problem of financing their studies. The piece incorporates modern music and current events well, with a nod to both the controversial hike in tuition fees and to popular chart music However, the storyline can feel predictable at times and romantic scenes can’t avoid a hint of awkwardness. Nevertheless, Josh Ruhle as Mr Cooper and Darlene Charles as Tanya give strong performances and help to make this a very watchable piece of theatre. |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Free to Obey | | Review | | Aidan Killian does not like the
establishment, and has put behind
him a career in the banking sector.
He’s endearing from the off, but his
conventional image dissolves fairly
rapidly, as he launches into a fast, comic
tirade, and spills endless disillusionment
about the modern world. He discusses
money, corporate greed, politics and
more, and what emerges above all else
is Killian’s intelligence; his grasp of the
absurdity of law is staggering, as is his
command of language and his passion
for living free from rules. It does risk
becoming a pseudo-motivational talk
rather than comedy act, and whilst it will
raise smiles, Killian’s liberal message is
more galvanising and anarchic than funny.
But given what he is trying to put across, it
seems unlikely that he will care. |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of The Mclough-Hess Monster | | Review | | Adam Hess and Sean McLoughlin’s show shares certain similarities with The Aerie at Jekyll and Hyde, where their free hour-long set takes place: both are charmingly ramshackle and in need of a good polish. The thrown-together feel of ‘The McLough-Hess Monster’ works in the pair’s favour, however. It’s a typically student-y affair, with off-hand observations on university life, girlfriends and terminal poverty. Hess is the most animated of the pair, and though funny, is at times a little rambling. McLoughlin is more upfront about the show’s unfinished nature, and we see him mentally scratch the two or three jokes that simply don’t work. Despite this, it’s a promising start. Hopefully by the end of August they’ll have found their Fringe feet. |
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| August 10, 2012 Fringe Guru | | Review of Sex Tourist | | Chris Dangerfield - Sex Tourist | | Chris Dangerfield is going places, in a couple of senses. He’s apparently a regular traveller to the Far East, for nefarious reasons that he’s happy to confess on stage, but he’s also very clearly en route to becoming a big comedy name. He’s got the goods: effortless presence, superb physicality, and a gleeful commitment to risk-taking – which all combine, along with some nice confessional writing, to produce a satisfyingly complex hour-long show.
Dangerfield stands out immediately because his subject matter is taboo and extreme, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Crucially, what makes him distinct from other debut comics at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, who could also be described with a paragraph much like the one above, is the thought behind it all.
Taboo-busting alone isn’t that original. Especially not when it’s done in a sniggering schoolboy kind of way, not when it’s just Click Here |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Andy And The Prostitutes-The Musical | | Review | | The story of Andy and his band of former
prisoners (coming over something like
the lovechild of The Blues Brothers and
Frankie Boyle) makes for a brilliant show.
As Andy recounts the absurdist tale of
how he came to be imprisoned and thus
meet his band, we are led along his grimy
path of sexual perversion, drug abuse,
and Disney sponsorship to a rocky tune
that you can’t help but clap, tap, and sing
along to. With an original and macabre
setlist, Andy and his band aim to please
the politically incorrect in a fresh and
rousing manner. Songs as comically and
musically accomplished as ‘Benefits Girl’
and ‘Uncle Walt’ make you glad you visited
‘The Prostitutes’. |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Stories From The Middle | | Review | | Luke Capasso wants to be clear: he may have tattoos covering his arms, but you won’t find a trace of ink on his neck. He’s not a thug: he’s an ex-army, blokeish American trying to cope with the fact that his English kids are starting to speak like David Cameron. Which, yes, makes him a little angry. Capasso’s stand up is macho and near the mark, but its frequent crudeness is tempered with a likeably gentle delivery. The act is peppered with clever observations, even if an apparently obligatory size obsession does wear pretty thin. Smart one-liners counterbalance some wayward anecdotes that never quite hit their mark, while the filthy impression of his grandmother is one to savour. A good free fringe bet. |
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| August 10, 2012 British Comedy Guide | | Article about Trodd en Bratt - Well Done You | | Trodd En Bratt talk to the British Comedy Guide | | http://www.comedy.co.uk/fringe/2012/features/trodd_en_bratt_festival_diary/ Click Here |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Abigoliah Schamaun: Girl Going to Hell. | | Review | | Abigoliah Schamaun is going to hell and taking everyone with her. In an incredibly frank show, Schamaun is big, brassy and brilliantly shocking. The small venue space combined with her infectious enthusiasm immediately warmed the audience, and quickly removed the fear of the dreaded ‘audience participation’; people who were lining the walls of the half empty room were soon in easy conversation with her. She chirpily works through material bordering on the outrageous, but for all her stage presence it doesn’t hide the fact that the jokes are not as laugh-out-loud funny as they should be. Still, I defy you not to have a good time with Abigoliah Schamaun, even if the show is more fun than it is funny. |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of The Blitz Sisters - Sweethearts of the '40s | | Review | | You have to hand it to them, they give it their all. From wailing air raid sirens to red lipstick and seamed stockings, authenticity is the name of the game here. Featuring classic wartime songs including ‘We’ll Meet Again’, ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ and ‘At Last’, the Blitz Sisters sing their hearts out with the very gusto the era embodies – naturally accompanied by nostalgic members of the audience. This show is consummately professional throughout; perfectly learnt historical introductions and songs rehearsed to within an inch of their lives. Unfortunately the girls’ voices are not exceptional, nor is the arrangement. But it hardly matters, because a good patriotic singsong will always have a place in British hearts, young or old. |
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| August 10, 2012 Three Weeks Edinburgh | | Review of Phil Walker - is this it? | | Phil Walker - Is this it? (Phil Walker - Laughing Horse free festival) | | Phil Walker radiates an infectious, cheeky energy. A slightly rowdy pub crowd is not an easy audience at the best of times, but Phil gives better than he gets, and all with an affable grin somewhere between the winking countenance of Al Murray and the chirpy expression of Jason Manford. He’s as comfortable with stand-up as he is with audience interaction, employing Usain-quick wit, and he keeps running jokes alive with perfect timing. The material veers often into overworked territory, but he always manages a new and inventive spin, if occasionally missing the mark with his more inappropriate jokes. Phil Walker is definitely ready to give more experienced comedians a run for their money, as long as he keeps that boyish charm.
Laughing Horse @ The White Horse, 2-26 Aug (not 6, 13), 8.30pm.
tw rating 4/5 | [Jessamine McHugh]
Click Here |
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| August 10, 2012 ThreeWeeks | | Review of Revill's Selection | | Revill's Selection Review | | In this eclectic comedy show with a changing line up, friendly and energetic host Paul Revill somewhat steals the show with his quick-witted and fast-paced comedy, though to be honest, it would have been good to see him on stage more. However, the comedians featuring the day I went were funny, outgoing and engaged well with the audience. The atmosphere at this show was amazing, partly because of the venue, but it was mainly the chat between viewers and comics that made things so convivial, as if we were just sitting around having a laugh with some really funny friends. Definitely worth a watch, even just for Revill himself, especially as there might be a bag of chocolate in it for you. I probably don’t have to spell out which kind. Click Here |
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| August 10, 2012 Festival Journal | | | Free Fest Director Alex Petty's Festival Journal Blog part 2 | | Click Here |
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| August 9, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Phil Walker - is this it? | | Review | | Phil Walker radiates an infectious, cheeky
energy. A slightly rowdy pub crowd is not
an easy audience at the best of times, but
Phil gives better than he gets, and all with
an affable grin somewhere between the
winking countenance of Al Murray and the
chirpy expression of Jason Manford. He’s
as comfortable with stand-up as he is with
audience interaction, employing Usainquick
wit, and he keeps running jokes alive
with perfect timing. The material veers
often into overworked territory, but he
always manages a new and inventive spin,
if occasionally missing the mark with his
more inappropriate jokes. Phil Walker is
definitely ready to give more experienced
comedians a run for their money, as long
as he keeps that boyish charm. |
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| August 9, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Spring Day:Learn How to Take a Punch | | Review | | Spring Day is bubbly, likeable and enjoys
herself on stage but unfortunately a
show that starts so auspiciously trails off
without realising its potential. Her better
material offers an insightful and hilarious
analysis of life as a cultural outsider living
in Japan, and what it is to be an American
with a mild form of Cerebral Palsy.
However, the show was cheapened by the
unnecessary inclusion of smutty jokes,
which were not as clever or popular as her
opening material. The climax of the show
eventually split the audience, with some
finding Day more troubled than comic. For
a show and a comic with a lot to offer, this
ultimately draws some belly laughs, but
more smirks. |
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| August 9, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Parris & Dowler Know What They're Doing | | Review | | The show starts with a song repeating the
lines “Paris and Dowler know what they’re
doing” to the same four notes, and this
kind of demonstrates how the show will
go: Paris and Dowler are an impressionist
and a musical comedian respectively,
with the show divided between them,
and while the impressions are good,
they do get rather tiresome because of a
build up of repetition, plus the songs are
hit and miss. The saving grace is when
the two get together, because there’s
a good chemistry between them; they
work well, bouncing off one another to
produce a decent act. Overall it’s a good
performance, but one which would benefit
from less repetition, and more interaction
between the two acts. |
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| August 9, 2012 The Scotsman | | Review of Dusty Limits: Post-Mortem | | Review | | Dusty holds us in thrall as he talks about the inevitable conversation every single gay man has with his single female friends, launching into the
self-penned Think of the Kids, which explains why, even though “our DNA should be in the V&A” he won’t be donating sperm Click Here |
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| August 9, 2012 The Edinburgh Reporter | | Review of Man Feelings | | Edinburgh Festival Fringe review - "Man Feelings" | | Click Here |
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| August 9, 2012 Scotsgay (SGfringe) | | Review of Sex Tourist | | SGfringe - Chris Dangerfield - Sex Tourist | | Situated in a windowless underground space with a low curved ceiling painted in dark brown, this room looks more appropriate for Hitler’s suicide than a comedy performance. Sorry, that might upset someone. It’s like watching a show inside the shell of an armadillo (is that whimsical enough for you?). This odd environment does not however stop a triumphant performance from Chris Dangerfield.
Eight months ago Dangerfield went on a sex tour of Thailand, sampling every ware peddled by the prostitutes of this unique country. He relapsed from being an ex-drug addict to very much a current drug addict and lost about five days. There are not many performers that can still be likeable after a story about possibly shooting a child but Dangerfield somehow manages it.
The narrative does occasionally jump around a bit and sections of the story do seem to be missing, but that’s tramadol for Click Here |
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| August 9, 2012 EdFringe Review | | Review of Do You Still Throw Spears At Each Other? | | Review | | George Telfer plays HRH brilliantly. He has the walk and the posture down to a tee, with the comical side of him showing his usual role of saying hello and shaking all of the audience’s hands. Telfer did well to use the small space that he was in. The lizard lounge is not the greatest space for any show. It is rather easy for the actor to move to part of the stage and have half the audience unable to see. However, Telfer was obviously well aware of this as he did well to make sure the audience could see and hear him throughout the show. Commendations for the great flow and structure of the play also have to go to the director, David Gilbrook. |
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| August 8, 2012 The Scotsman | | Article about Lach: Up The Anti! | | Lach speaks to The Scotsman | | MY FIRST appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was 2010. The great impresario Karen Koren had invited me to perform at the legendary Gilded Balloon after seeing me perform stand-up at the Voodoo Rooms... Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Frenemies | | Review | | This original set of stand-up sees the loud
and vivacious Israeli Daphna tempered by
the gentle humour of Iran-born Peyvand,
as the pair discuss native stereotypes and
the possibility of nuclear war between
their homelands. The start, however, had
something of the unsteadiness of Bambi’s
first steps, with a ten-minute diversion
showing the ease with which they could
be distracted. Eventually they righted
themselves, however, and the show got
progressively better (although some
political knowledge is required in order to
fully appreciate the material). Perhaps the
back and forth between the two could be a
little more lively, and the timings be a little
more slick, but it has potential, and makes
for a thought-provoking evening. |
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| August 8, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of A sense of Humour | | Review | | Conor Drum, the 30-year-old Irish actor cum comedian battled through the adversity of a small audience and actually put on an entertaining and amusing show with some very shrewd observational humour. The Londoner spoke about such topics as family, flatmates and their habits, pornography and Eastern Europeans and drew titters and the occasional hearty laugh from the few people gathered for the show. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Fringe Guru | | Review of John Robertson - The Dark Room - Free | | Review | | Brilliance. Innovative, funny, exciting, dark-as-hell brilliance. Six months ago, Australian stand-up comedian John Robertson posted a choose-your-own-adventure-game on YouTube, entitled The Dark Room. In the video, the viewer is told that they have woken up in a dark room, and have to find their way out – accompanied by some less-than-helpful suggestions from Robertson, spotlit by a torch under his chin. It quickly went viral due to its relentlessly dark humour, Robertson’s outrageously hammy narration, and simple yet genius premise. Inspired by its success, he’s taken the premise more than a few steps further, by converting it into a live show – in which a whole roomful of people AWAKE to FIND themselves… in a DARK… ROOOOOOOM! Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of BattleActs! Improvised Comedy Presents... | | Review | | Before the acts even take to the stage the atmosphere anticipating Battle Acts! Present is electric. It seems the show is rapidly en route to becoming something of a cult classic. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 The Scotsman | | Article about This Arthur's Seat belongs to Lionel Ritchie - Gala | | Barry Ferns talks to the Scotsman on his rise to the top... on top of Arthur's Seat | | SPEED of Light won’t be the only festival show taking place on Arthur’s Seat this August. Working on a rather more modest scale, veteran Fringe comedian Barry Ferns, 35, is performing a free stand-up show on the summit of the iconic hill right through the month. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 The Scotsman | | Article about Lewis Schaffer: No, YOU Shut Up! [Later Show] | | Lewis Schaffer is one of the top 5 shows at the Fringe | | Cheerily ticking off all manner of ‘taboo’ comedy subjects in his repertoire - racism, misogyny, beastiality, paedophilia, etc. - Lewis Schaffer’s stand-up is an insight into a razor-sharp, venomous wit that treats misanthropy like an Olympic sport.
What we said: “He gleefully violates every comedy rule in the book... an hour with Lewis Schaffer is an hilarious, cathartic, exhilaratingly appalling experience. He wants you to hate him. I, for one, just can’t. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of My Damage is My Gift! | | Review | | onathan Prager’s performance is a mixture of spoken anecdotes and original songs with both lyrics and score written by himself and performed with accompaniment from Ben, his very talented pianist. They are both funny and touching in places and the pair perform very confidently together. Being early on in his run there were a few teething problems with song lyrics but these will be easily ironed out as he grows in confidence over the course of the festival. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of Michael Pope is Gay for Pay | | Michael Pope is Gay for Pay | | It's only fair to start by saying this show has been miscategorised. Pope paints a picture, tells a story, pulls at your rain-soaked, invariably heavy heart strings more than most. Unfortunately however, this simply shouldn't be classed as a comedy show.
It's theatre. Pure theatre infact. The audience hangs off every syllable, greeting each fresh pause with respectful pin-drop silence, from opening tirade to final sigh. It's poetry in motion, a joy to behold, an absurdist, intriguing, beautifully nuanced performance from the American as he invites you on a nothing-to-lose, thrill-ride journey of his own personal self-discovery. He takes you from naive innocent to darkened soul, from wide eyed and bushy tailed to bleary eyed and bedraggled.
Sexual undertones are present throughout and often raise their head in a relatively sinister fashion but with Pope as navigator you never feel l Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Alistair Green: Jack Spencer In Why Anything? | | Review | | His tale of a somewhat shallow, media-obsessed UK stand-up talking earnestly about overcoming his sex addiction is a sharp and amusing reflection of our celebrity-fixated, ‘journey of discovery’ times. British audiences of a certain age may never quite forgive Green for what he does to an old childhood icon but, while he’s certainly exaggerating his picture of drug-fueled debauchery behind the facade of old-school family entertainment, it’s by only a matter of a few degrees. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of A Good Catholic Boy | | Review | | Extremely loud and incredibly close is
undeniably the best way to describe the
“three levels of comedy” that Italian/
Canadian Massimo takes his audience
through. Happily living up to every
Italian stereotype known to man,
Massimo explains how he deals with
being a “Jesus man” and a “hardcore”
comedian. Massimo’s zest and passion can
occasionally become excessive. However,
his promising cultural diatribes and
highly amusing personal anecdotes will
certainly come to yield further rewards in
the laughter stakes. Finishing with a dark
and intelligent insight into how Hitler may
have initially been treated as a stand-up,
Massimo competently demonstrates that
he can be both physical and cerebral at
once. |
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| August 8, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of Joz Norris is Matt Fisher: Uberperson | | Joz Norris is Matt Fisher: Überperson | | A short run at the fringe is often a safe bet. It allows most acts to enjoy the festival, sample the atmosphere and not take the huge financial risks of the longer 4 week marathon. Joz Norris is one such soul that has chosen said short run. Unfortunately for you, that means there are but days left to catch his deluded musings, unabashed self-awareness and beautifully-crafted comedic character creation Matt Fisher.
In Fisher, Norris has created a genuinely brilliant character, performed with a confidence that belies his years and a pomp that defies the room. The audience loves every second, as Norris revels in the atmosphere, milking every moment and taking every opportunity to get involved with his audience.
He barely drops a beat throughout and the youthful vibrancy of the performance ensure Norris is one to watch and a real talent for the future. Reminiscent of a young Matt Ber Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Jocks and Geordies | | Review | | The Jocks and Geordies is a show that has found an audience. The ladies in the front row had been coming for years, a mark that someone is doing something right. Compere Dan Willis began with a few gags about his fiancé and the stresses he’s going through performing six hours each day in the Fringe, which played well with a crowd who’d put in nearly as many hours drinking as he has joking. He has an easy chatty way with the audience and we were quickly into the meat of the evening, five minute sets from comics from the north east of the UK, or at least comics who could present a case in a court of law that they have some vague type of connection with the north east. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 The List | | Review of TWONKEYS KINGDOM-FREE | | Review | | We’ve all taken a bag of ecstasy and tried to book a skiing holiday, haven’t we?’ If you say so, Paul Vickers, renowned Edinburgh musician and maverick, and key-holder to the frankly baffling kingdom of Twonkey (it rhymes with ‘wonky’), who is a small rattling puppet character who’s ‘half dragon, half witch and also an accountant’. Vickers’ solo show is filled with statements like the above, surreal vignettes with a stupefying laugh-out-loud quality, which make little sense on their own and even less when performed together. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Phil Mann's Full Mind | | Review | | Several festivals ago, a chance
conversation in the Bedlam Theatre cafe
about £2 coins set Phil Mann off down
a path of comedic research, putting
together mini-lectures on random
subjects, with some well-timed jokes
of varying quality thrown in for good
measure. Every audience suggests new
topics and the next crowd gets to hear
his findings. Incredibly knowledgeable
and charmingly inquisitive, within one
show he discussed alternative medicine,
woodchucks and Rolf Harris conspiracy
theories, though his enthusiasm meant
that he could veer alarmingly from normal
delivery to manic shouting without any
kind of payoff. That said, even if certain
bits don’t leave you rolling in the aisles,
you will at least come away feeling like
you’ve learnt something. |
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| August 8, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of The One-Eyed Men's Friendship Formula | | The One-Eyed Men's Friendship Formula | | Sam, Ben, and Alex want to be your friend. Well, maybe not you, but every day one lucky punter will be thoroughly befriended by these One-Eyed Men. Friendship is central to this show in more than one way. Firstly, it’s the grounding for the brilliantly offbeat flights of fancy the guys whip out of their imaginations, and secondly it’s what makes these three work so well together. Each man is their own puzzle piece, and they all understand and highlight each other’s strengths.
The show is solid ideas performed well, but it’s much more than that. There is an individuality about this that comes from their equal footing in the real and the surreal. They break the fourth wall in a teenage boy kind of way, and they’re not afraid to quickly change direction – imagine Jay from the Inbetweeners having a go at being in The Mighty Boosh and you’re somewhere like it. Their sketches start as littl Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of Trodd en Bratt - Well Done You | | Review | | Ruth Bratt is from the comedy circuit. Lucy Trodd is from the serious circuit. Their show is a bit of both.
Both women are excellent actors and talented character writers, and this is possibly the slickest, best put together, most well-rehearsed sketch show that ever existed. Each character has clearly been given lots of TLC, and this makes for recognisable, realistic caricatures that the audience absolutely love. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Constant Craving | | Review | | Sarah Archer’s adorable daughter invites us into the venue and welcomes her mother onto the stage, a fitting introduction for an adorable show. Archer is effervescent and her contagious smile entreats us to enjoy her show - and enjoy it we do, Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Revill's Selection | | Review | | Revill’s Selection is an hour of very friendly comedy, with Paul Revill hosting and three unannounced acts every day.
On this occasion, the audience was packed with families, couples both old and young and groups of friends and tourists. Paul Revill warmed up the crowd in a warm, unpretentious and inoffensive way. Feeding helpings of Revel’s Selection chocolates, he told tales from his career as a supply teacher, anecdotes involving road rage and questions to the floor regarding what super power we would like to have. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of All About The Craic! | | Review | | Four lads from the Emerald Isle have migrated to Edinburgh for this extremely entertaining night of stand-up. First up was the brilliant Robert Coyle, who will inevitably be compared to Ed Byrne due to his whimsically Wildean hair and his highly-charged yet infinitely amiable performance. Nicky “shaved gerbil” Bartlet, up next, perfectly struck the balance between gentle giant and cheeky sod, and it’s just unfortunate that the second half was a bit of an anticlimax: one of the comedians seemed too drunk to remember his own material, and the other’s delivery was so unintelligible that many of his jokes passed the audience by. But Gary Lynch held the evening together as a fantastic MC, able to slip into any comic vein. Overall, a craic-ing evening. Highly-recommended. |
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| August 8, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Nik Coppin's Caricatures | | Review | | Sometimes a gig feels like visiting an old friend - the audience have never seen the comedian before, but we have seen comics like him and he’s had audiences like us. Thus somehow there is the familiarity of a shared history, without us ever having been in the same room before. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of I Am Google | | Review | | Just imagining Google as a living, breathing being is a great joke with endless possibilities, and so, there are very few things American character actor Craig Ricci Shaynak could do wrong. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of I Am Google | | Review | | Google personified? If you’re picturing a
recluse, alone in a basement surrounded
by piles of reference books, you’d be
correct. Craig Ricci Shaynak invites us
into his home (cookies compulsory), for a
look into the life of a search engine, and
the insight proves warmly humorous. The
audience tries out Translate, Maps, and a
voice search and hears Google relate tales
of his brother Jeeves, his mate Wikipedia
and his sexy new crush, all interspersed
with queries from search-engine users –
he works 24/7, naturally. The comedy is
fun, and cheesy in the best possible way.
While occasionally the internet-based
puns begin to drag; Google never loses
his enthusiasm. This show achieves
witty comedy for computer geeks and
technophobes alike. |
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| August 8, 2012 Informed Edinburgh | | | FREE Fringe- Enjoy the Festival without Spending a Fortune | | Informed Edinburgh picks the places for the best free things in Edinburgh, which is a selection of Free Festival venues and the Royal Mile Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 The Skinny | | Review of Kunt and the Gang - Free | | Review | | What a difference a few cock-shaped stickers can make. Two years ago, Kunt was playing to baffled tourists after midnight. Now he's the star attraction of the Free Festival, endorsed by Stewart Lee and tonight he's playing to a packed room. Of fans. Who know all the lyrics. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Fresh Air | | Review of Austentatious - an improvised Jane Austen novel | | Review | | Austentatious, The Milk Monitors' improvised play inspired by the works of Jane Austen, follows successful performances around London with a trip Edinburgh as part of the Free Fringe, and looks set to make an impression on the Austen-obsessive and non-fans alike. Click Here |
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| August 8, 2012 Huffington Post USA | | Article about Made for Each Other | | Free Fest performer Monica Bauer Blogs for Huffington Post | | Monica Bauer is one of a small number who have earned both a GED (after dropping out of high school) and a Ph.D. She is a playwright and Writing Fellow at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. She holds degrees from Brown, Yale, and Boston University, where she was the Teaching Fellow for the graduate program in playwriting. She’s a member of the Playwright’s Unit at the Abingdon Theater in New York City. This August she is taking a play to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Click Here |
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| August 7, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Kemsley and Callaghan: Keepin' Their Cool | | Review | | Replete with awkward humour and superb
comedic timing, this duo will keep you
laughing and begging for more in one
of the best free comedy shows I’ve seen
at the Fringe. Kemsley and Callaghan
touch upon the more important things
in their twenty-odd years of experience,
such as how Disneyland turned Kemsley
into an atheist, and how to approach
an ogre-like woman who’s slept with
your boyfriend. Kemsley embodied a
hilarious combination of bashful and
weird, which juxtaposed perfectly with
Callaghan’s in-your-face attitude, creating
a phenomenally diverse show. Callaghan
should slow down her delivery and try
not to refer to her notes as often, but that
comes with practice. All-in-all a fantastic
show not to be missed. |
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| August 7, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of A Theory of Everything | | Review | | Not quite causing a laugh a minute but
bursting with potential, Danny McChrystal
reluctantly rationalised on everything
from how not to dump your partner to the
illegality of heading into outer space. As
the gig progressed, the more fluid Danny’s
performance became, as he kept the
audience chuckling with a combination
of one-liners, stories of his experiences,
and the discussion of his cynicisms. It’s
certainly not for evangelicals or hardcore
Catholics; much of the set focused
on mocking the Bible for its tales about
600-year-old arc-builders. The comic was
sometimes driven to casual banter, but
did well to entertain a small audience and
proved that he didn’t have to rely on prewritten
material to be funny. |
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| August 7, 2012 Three Weeks | | Article about Jane Bom-Bane | | Three Weeks talks to Jane Bom-Bane | | We love Jane Bom-Bane for a whole number of reasons, but not least because, for us, she’s one of those people who truly embodies the spirit of Fringe (if you are ever in her home town of Brighton, do check out her Bom-Bane’s Café). So we were thrilled to find out that, after a significant absence, she was planning a return to the Festival this year, with a new show where she will be joined by singer Rosi Lalor. We duly hastened to put some questions to her. Click Here |
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| August 7, 2012 broken blonde @ the fringe | | Article about Desperately Seeking the Exit | | Desperately Seeking The Exit - Peter Michael Marino (broken blonde @ the fringe) | | A YouTube video interview! Click Here |
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| August 7, 2012 Time Out | | Review of Dusty Limits: Post-Mortem | | Review | | ‘Post Mortem’, playing the Free Fringe, is the strongest hour I’ve seen from Dusty Limits in some time. Structured around the simple but effective theme of reaching 40 and getting morbid, the show sees the pioneering cabaret performer deploy his consummate wit and assured audience rapport in the service of a terrific set that combines strong original songs (written with ace accompanist Michael Roulston) with gorgeous covers. ‘Ashes to Ashes’ and ‘Glory Box’ are stand-outs, though ‘Sinnerman’ is perhaps shortchanged. Dusty Limits makes it look easy. It isn’t. Click Here |
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| August 7, 2012 Fringe Review | | Review of Panning For Gold | | Fringe Review - Panning For Gold | | Low Down
In this extraordinarily mature piece of writing from a young writer (Jasmine Smart) three young women are attending a drama therapy group after being stood up at the altar. Strong performances in a confined space gradually reveal their deeper stories and make this show well worth seeking out.
Review
Three young women are attending a drama therapy group after being stood up at the altar -gradually over the weeks and the activities their stories emerge. Each represents something of an archetype – one literally left at the altar with both families looking on, one ‘dumped by text’ and the third deserted for a younger model. They share their stories with varying degrees of reluctance, both supporting and challenging each other as the weeks and sessions pass. The drama therapist, Juno, has her own past to deal with as she holds the threads of the girl’s stories, provi Click Here |
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| August 7, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of The Template For Lack Of Conversation | | Review | | Alison Trower presents a refreshingly
profound performance where philosophy
and biology are enthusiastically entwined.
Striking a perfect balance between the
emotionally engaging and the cold,
factual presentation of biology, this
series of surprising chapters sees this
sole performer presenting witty yet
profound observations of the bigger
picture. Audience interaction includes a
game of Jelly Baby Snap! and harmonious
sing-alongs. At times this performance is
unexpectedly amusing and Trower can
catch you by surprise with her shocking
deadpan nature, sending you into
unexpected laughter. The transitions from
each chapter to the next are seemingly
unrelated, but are sharp and continually
engaging, making it easy to understand
their common united theme: exploring the
beauty, depth and complexity of human
existence |
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| August 7, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Tales From The Unaccepted | | Review | | The top of a graffitied double-decker in the
guts of the Cowgate; was I in the Fringiest
venue on the Fringe? The bizarre location
added a lovely intimacy to this two-set
show hosted by the chatty and charming
Elaine Mason, whose natural friendliness
(and games… with prizes) turned us into
a cheery afternoon audience. Next we
were treated to Gary Tro’s endearing
and self-deprecating exploration of
failed romances, his warm wit overriding
his slightly nervous energy. Surreal
storyteller Richard Todd followed, and
both his height and performance made
him seem slightly too big for the bus – his
animated, haphazard comedy could easily
fill a theatre. Despite frequent talk of “no
punchlines,” this warm, unpolished and
genuinely funny trio kept the whole crowd
laughing. |
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| August 7, 2012 Time Out | | Review of Eccentronic Present: 'We Won't Rock You' | | Review | | Eccentronic (John Callaghan and Hypnotique) are a bit like the Warp Records version of Frisky & Mannish. In ‘We Won’t Rock You’ the duo set out to create a hit musical while wrestling with notions of artistic independence, playing the Theremin, creating situationist installation pieces with the audience and dishing out cheese toasties. There’s also room for Morrissey, Heston Blumenthal and an avant-garde ‘Agadoo’. It’s a chaotic show, at times too clever for its own good – the pair’s delivery isn’t as nimble as their writing and the Free Fringe setting isn’t necessarily conducive to the sustained audience attention the latter requires – but Callaghan is unflappably upbeat and there’s wit and ambition in spades. It took a while but by the end, I was rocked. Click Here |
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| August 7, 2012 Broadway Baby | | Review of Wrong Place, Right Time | | Review | | After about ten minutes where I was convinced I was in the wrong place and the wrong time, I stumbled onto the top deck of the Comedy Bus in The Free Sisters’ courtyard for some gentle, whimsy comedy. Click Here |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of 'Survivor-one man, one tent, one goal'. | | Review | | For some the Fringe is all about catching
new comedians performing their first full
show and in ‘Survivor - A Broad Irish Idiot’
you can watch Jon Brennan do just that.
Far from being nervous, the Irish stand-up
seemed unfazed, drawing the audience
into his thoughts on life and relationships
with his chatty, fast-paced delivery. Many
find a comedian using their young children
as a source for material problematic, but
Brennan brought out the universal silliness
of family life. The show was not perfect:
sometimes the chatter, though engaging,
lacked real punchlines and the cruder
strands became graphic description rather
than comic observation. However, for a
first attempt this was really not bad and,
after all, practice makes perfect. |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Cheap Laughs (are better than no laughs) | | Review | | Homely Eric Gudmunsen has successfully
created a truly funny low-brow comedy
show: a night of potty humour and offcolour
puns, paired with quirky songs
and musings. Normally a street musician,
he’s trying his hand at comedy, and his
speciality is telling the kind of jokes
your grandfather might produce around
the family supper table. Gudmensen
questions why people get married and
why everyone is so concerned with being
politically correct whilst flitting between
cheesy puns and Bruce Springsteen
covers, but ultimately, the show seemed
to lack a solid theme. Clearly a great
musician, Gudmensen should probably
keep his serious songs for the streets in
order to maintain the light humour of the
show. |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Lewis Schaffer: No, YOU Shut Up! [Early Show] | | Review | | It is sometimes with some scepticism
that I approach a free act at the Fringe,
expecting an inexperienced teenager
trying their hand at dismal stand-up
or something woefully acted with low
production values. Lewis Schaffer
surprised and delighted me by surpassing
my low expectations. Quick, slick and,
most importantly, very funny, Schaffer
violates all stand-up rules (even, at
one point, sitting down), but a man of
his energy and charisma could make
anything funny. His steady rapport
with the audience is comfortable, and
he somehow manages to flirt, kiss and
racially abuse without anyone really
minding. This unfailingly affable man can
get away with anything - go and see him, it
can only be worth it. |
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| August 6, 2012 The scotsman | | Review of TWONKEYS KINGDOM-FREE | | furious invention at work | |
Cabaret review: Twonkey’s Kingdom, The Hive (Venue 313), Edinburgh
By DAVID POLLOCK
Published on Monday 6 August 2012 16:15
THE musical storytelling of Edinburgh-based maverick Paul Vickers is frankly an acquired taste, but amid the ramshackle – possibly deliberately so – delivery and an approach to narrative which can only be described as stream-of-consciousness, there’s furious invention at work.
Twonkey’s Kingdom - Free
Alternative Fringe
@ The Hive (Venue 313)
Rating: ***
Only the first few minutes of the show proceed as billed, as Vickers introduces us to the puppet queen of his kingdom Twonkey, who’s “half-dragon, half-witch and an accountant”, before the rest veers off the road – again deliberately, although you wouldn’t know it from the bearded Vickers’s madcap gibbering and his mishaps with the assortment of knick-knacks which double as a set.
E Click Here |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of The Bob Blackman Appreciation Society Presents | | Review | | This is a tricky show to recommend: on
the one hand, it is brilliant, so it deserves
to be seen by more people. On the
other, watching it in an audience of five
in a dingy room above a pub actually
enhances the experience. It’s a risky
gambit to present “crap” comedians as
your onstage schtick, but luckily it pays off
here. There’s more than a touch of Reeves
& Mortimer to this gloriously funny show;
even when you think a joke has misfired,
it turns out to be the set up for another
joke instead. Genuinely hilarious, and
better than most things you’ll pay to see,
my face is still sore from laughing hours
afterwards. |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Jane Bom-Bane | | Review | | Watery themes predominate in this
wonderfully quirky set from Jane Bom-
Bane. Accompanied by a harmonium and
a ukulele, she sails through endearing
stories of swimming-pool mermaids
and brooding Brighton fishermen with
wit and immense charm. Jane’s warmth,
together with her peaceful attitude, create
a relaxed and intimate atmosphere from
the start, and it is with ease that she draws
the audience into her performance once
they begin to get a feel for the music.
Tributes to Albert Einstein and Edinburgh
Castle Rock in particular are creative
and full of surprises. Refreshing, playful
and brimming with energy, this is a truly
original mixed media performance that
combines music, poetry, artwork, and
some very nifty hat tricks. |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of BLUES AND BURLESQUE | | Review | | I’m glad that I am not shy nor easily
scared. From the start of the show it was
obvious that audience participation was
a key element and, while it was funny
in an old-fashioned slapstick way, it did
prove uncomfortable at times. ‘Blues And
Burlesque’ features an on-stage keyboard
player providing the blues and two
beautiful ladies providing the burlesque.
The singing, teamed with ballet and tap,
was well thought out and well executed,
and the whole audience was pleasantly
surprised when the keyboard player put
a jazzy edge on Nirvana’s classic ‘Smells
Like Teen Spirit’, but with no real storyline
the show felt a tad random and lacked
purpose. This show is good, but definitely
not for the faint hearted |
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| August 6, 2012 Squirrel Comedy | | Article about Jennifer Carnovale in Scraping the Barrel | | Five Good reasons to See Jennifer Carnovale | | Previously half of Carnovale and Culp, who won Best Newcomer at the 2010 Sydney Comedy Festival, Jennifer is performing in Scraping the Barrel as part of the Free Fringe in Edinburgh. Click Here |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of 101 Comedy Club | | Review | | There are times when the direction this
show takes is confusing or even nonexistent.
This, however, seems to be the
point: it’s organised comedic chaos. The
comedians bring a dark and flippant
sense of humour to the stage and,
with the Master of Ceremonies being a
ginger Australian koala bear playing the
mandolin and serenading (shouting at)
members of the audience, this show may
not be for the faint-hearted. But with acts
changing every ten minutes the tempo
and confusion is kept high, which is all
part of the fun and helps to keep the
audience involved. Matt Wills, Ian Miller
and Tony Harris deserve credit for putting
together a pandemonic production that is
funny, fast and free. |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised | | Review | | The show’s name may reference Python,
but the Racing Minds team seem to take a
studious interest in comedy and popular
culture in general, which gives them a
wide range of references to play with. This
improvised show never loses momentum
thanks to the abundant joy and energy
from the performers. Their ability to
skilfully make light of continuity errors
and enjoy moments of failure is as much
of a credit to their ingenuity and wit as
their impressive ability to jointly construct
an entirely believable world out of a few
suggestions. They could probably have
used the audience more than they did, but
they seemed to be enjoying themselves
enough up there. A quick-witted, energetic
and confident show. |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Tricity Vogue's Ukulele Cabaret | | Review | | A different show each night, this ukulele
extravaganza showcases both audience
and performer talent. For their third
year at the Fringe, Tricity Vogue and her
glamorous assistants are staging the
‘Uke of Edinburgh Awards,’ encouraging
festival-goers to compete for the chance
to strum the ukulele which is situated
atop Tricity’s head. Proceedings started
and ended with cheerful sing-a-longs
of ‘You are my Sunshine’ and ‘Hit the
Road Jack’ respectively, and ukes were
handed to audience members, who were
the judges of the night’s competition.
At times the songs about evil cats gave
this a resemblance to an over the top
Phoebe Buffay concert. Nevertheless,
hilarious lyrics, beautiful vocals and witty
commentary made this cheesy cabaret at
its very best |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! Monster Stand Up - FREE SHOW | | Review | | Closing the show, loveable compère
Harriet Dyer put it best by saying “there
is something here for everyone”. The
stand-up variety show features four
new comics each night, with yesterday’s
line-up including Scott Adams, Aaron
Twitcher, Jay Handley and Masai Graham.
Admittedly some of the comedians were
mediocre and the air in the room turned
a tad awkward as the ‘dark’ line was
overstepped, but luckily the delightful
compère made up for this. It was
refreshing to see such a vibrant young
woman host an all-male stand up-show;
Dyer made the audience feel at home and
managed to wow the crowd by playing
‘guess the song’ with her ‘Finding Nemo’
whale impression. |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of The Good, The Bad & The Irish! | | Review | | Another batch of Irish comedians has
made for Edinburgh to showcase their
craic-inducing talents. Gary Lynch was an
excellent compère, engaging and drawing
in the audience, whilst the comedians
themselves were all experienced and
confident in their material, making for
an easy-going and highly enjoyable
evening. The topics ranged wildly, from
the conception of aftershave to the
inadvisability of taking Facebook out
of the virtual sphere, yet a high level
of energy was maintained throughout.
Unfortunately, the headline act,
Michael Porter, strayed a bit too far into
uncomfortable territory and seemed out
of touch with his audience, which made
for an awkward end-note. Nevertheless, it
was good fun, with a bit of bad taste, and
definitely all-Irish. |
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| August 6, 2012 Three Weeks | | Review of Angela Barnes & Matt Richardson | | Review | | as the set wore on. 21-year-old Matt
Richardson chatted with the audience
during his 20 minutes with a casual
and justified confidence beyond his
years. His relatable material might have
suffered from some teething problems,
but with some editing and an increase in
his slight cockiness, his 2013 debut solo
show should be one for the diary. Angela
Barnes’ follow-up did not show the same
bright promise, as she plodded through
her slightly lacklustre set. Her material
A stand-up double header which
developed clearly into a tale of two halves (single 30-something) has been covered
with more verve elsewhere, and her weak
moments outweighed her stronger ones.
Due to his slicker and funnier delivery,
Matt Richardson certainly shone as the
one to watch. |
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| August 6, 2012 Fresh Air | | | Hanks and Conran Talk to Fresh Air Radio | | Comedy double act Hanks and Conran joined Iain and Ellie in the Fresh Air studio to chat about their new Fringe show Pigs in Blankets. Click Here |
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| August 6, 2012 The Scotsman | | | Free Fringe shows come of age in battle for awards | | FREE comedy shows are now as important to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as ticketed events, the organiser of the main comedy awards has said Click Here |
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| August 5, 2012 the scotsman | | Review of TWONKEYS KINGDOM-FREE | | TWONKEYS KINGDOM/NEST OF KNICKERS | | Music review: Paul Vickers, Nest Of Knickers
Published on Sunday 5 August 2012 00:00
Vickers serves up another generous helping of crazy, rendering reference points redundant now that his own surreal world is becoming freakily familiar.
Paul Vickers
Nest Of Knickers
Simple Bounty (available online)
****
We are in the lap of Twonkey, and his bizarre imaginings of gothic icons (Lon Chaney), vegetable hybrids (Morph Rooms) and, of course, the Nest Of Knickers of the title.
There are characters of which Oliver Postgate might be proud, the inventor Botch Battersea for example, the creator of Jennifer’s Robot Arm.
There are tunes that might make LMFAO grin knowingly, such as the infuriatingly catchy Goat Girl and Sheep Woods, and banter which crackles with the invention and innuendo of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer in their pomp.
It is absurdist and mischievous, c Click Here |
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| August 4, 2012 THE SKINNY | | Review of TWONKEYS KINGDOM-FREE | | Twonkeys Kingdom 4 star Skinny review | | Half-dragon, half-witch, all accountant, Twonky returns to the Fringe as ruler of her own kingdom. Don't worry if you missed the previous installments, Twonkey's Cottage and Twonkey's Castle. Even if you had seen them, you'd still be confused.
Twonkey herself only takes up a small part of the show before Vickers moves on to more pressing matters: the horrifying untold story of Humpty Dumpty's orphaned children; Lon Chaney's favourite flowers; and the results of last week's pub quiz. At one point we're all taken away on a ship sailed by the Queen of Ireland. It's quite lovely.
This is not the hipster surrealism of The Mighty Boosh. With his charm, catchy tunes, music hall sensibility and a steadfast refusal to make any kind of sense, Vickers seems to be the natural successor to Frank Sidebottom. Like the sadly-departed Sidebottom, Vickers will cause immense frustration in those bori Click Here |
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| August 4, 2012 The Illuminator | | Article about WINFAMY | | WINFAMY | | "...it was incredibly funny, but the humour had a context that lingered past the laughs..." Click Here |
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| August 4, 2012 London is Funny | | Review of Kunt and the Gang - Free | | Review | | Always good to kick things off with a room divider. My first show of the 2012 was one of the most talked-about of 2011 (EiF bang on the pulse, as ever), following a publicity stunt involving penis stickers that got both awards and legal threats. Click Here |
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| August 3, 2012 Theater Is Easy | | Article about Michael Pope is Gay for Pay | | Michael Pope is Gay For Pay | | BOTTOM LINE: The very funny story of one man's rise to greatness in the phone sex industry.
In the you-can't-make-this shit-up column of stories worth bringing to the stage, Michael Pope presents an autobiographical tale of his time working as a gay phone sex operator. Pope, age 28 at the time, desperately needed work. An upstart filmmaker, he had exhausted his financial resources and was in dire straits. In situations such as this, Pope tells us, survival instinct can be strong. Sure enough, the natural storyteller was actually quite good at contriving sexy fantasies to his callers. And this 'theatre of the imagination' that his boss boasted actually resonantes as a valuable life skill.
Pope is an engaging performer and Michael Pope is Gay for Pay feels more like straightforward storytelling than a stagy one-man show. At 59E59 Theatres in New York City, where I saw the show premie Click Here |
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| August 3, 2012 Broadwaybaby.com | | Review of Lach: Up The Anti! | | Anti Hero | | Some acts let the music do the talking, but performers can vastly improve their sets with routines. Too little conversation will have fans feeling the cold shoulder, while too much laughter-seeking fluff can result in awkward silences and lowered estimations. Stage patter is an art form, and one which Lach has down to a tee.
Lach (pronounced 'latch') is the creator of the self-titled genre 'antifolk'. Its hallmarks vary, but at the core of this show was a charming subversion of seriousness and lyrics that swung between poignant and hilarious. Taking to the stage without ceremony, he launched into 'Coffee Black', a mock coming of age tale ending with him howling 'when I learned to drink my coffee black/Oh baby take your sugar back.' In another offering we heard about a child with a Barbie of a mother and a Ken of a father feeling out of place, drawing a few empathetic whimpers from some Click Here |
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| August 3, 2012 Such Small Portions - Best storytellers | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Such Small Portions - Recommendation 'Sex Tourist' | | This guide is to the best story-tellers - the people with the most intriguing stories on offer....Chris Dangerfield:
Filth, filth, filth, a small amount of abuse, a mild glint in the eye that just about lets him get away with it, filth filth filth. Given that it's set in Thailand, this seems pretty set on being the stories-down-the-pub version of the Hangover Part 2 Click Here |
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| August 3, 2012 Fringe Guru | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Show Preview from Fringe Guru | | We’ve seen Chris Dangerfield take his place in a number of ensemble shows over the last couple of years, and have to admit to being intrigued as to what his first solo hour will bring. Part man, part prancing peacock, charismatic Dangerfield is one to watch, and has been attracting attention for his Edinburgh show thanks to a “sponsorship” deal from a local escort agency. Click Here |
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| August 3, 2012 London is Funny | | | Top 20 Free Shows - featuring loads of Free Fest ones | | Click Here |
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| August 3, 2012 The British Theatre Guide | | Review of TWONKEYS KINGDOM-FREE | | review | | A polished performance with a strong narrative and slick transitions into beautifully choreographed song and dance numbers this is not. Paul Vickers is certainly a comedian but not of the hip, fresh-faced, trying-to-prove-themselves variety. Vickers is from a different, less hectic, time, perhaps even a different, less hectic, planet.
Despite his Harpo Marx on heroin appearance and at times spaced out gaze, Vickers is very with it. He spouts endless eloquent nonsense, comparable to Edward Lear or Lewis Carroll, though there are plenty of modern references. The small cavern is very much Vickers's kingdom, with his collection of strange props assembled around him. Most of them disturbing creatures probably picked up from one of Edinburgh's many weird antique shops. All the more disturbing when he starts to introduce them.
The show has a very hand made feel, with Vickers doing everthi Click Here |
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| August 2, 2012 Free Festival News | | Article about CeilidhKids at the Fringe | | Extra Shows Added for CeilidhKids at 11am | | Extra shows added for "CeilidhKids", 11am at Counting House due to full houses already Click Here |
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| August 2, 2012 Edfringe Review | | Review of Angels In Heels | | Review | | a sweet, funny and warm play about school girls who are, if not quite the angels the title suggests, ambitious teenagers struggling with A-levels and UCAS against a background of rising tuitions fees, poverty and romantic and religious struggles. This was a strong piece of new writing, which keeps you tittering with chat-up lines like “I’ll send you lots of sheep on Farmville!” and some of the best drunk dancing I’ve seen in a long time – as someone who celebrated their own A level results on a night out in Deansgate, I can vouch for their verisimilitude. |
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| August 1, 2012 Festival Journal | | | Why I Love Fringe chaos - Free Fest Director Alex Petty's blog at Festival Journal | | Laughing Horse promoter and Free Festival honcho Alex Petty reflects on the art of Fringe promotion in the age of the PR mega-budget Click Here |
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| August 1, 2012 Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser | | | Chris Henry needs to talk at Edinburgh Fringe Festival | | COMEDIAN Chris Henry is set to have audiences rolling in the aisles as he returns north of the border to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
They say that some of the best things in life are free, and is there really anything better than a right good laugh? Click Here |
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| August 1, 2012 STV | | Article about Phil Walker - is this it? | | Skirting the Fringe: Phil Walker to find out if Edinburgh is ‘it’... | | After entertaining troops in war torn Afghanistan, at least the comic – also the son of the Catchphrase host Roy – is well versed at winning over hard-to-please crowds...
Click Here |
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| July 31, 2012 The Skinny | | Article about TWONKEYS KINGDOM-FREE | | Fringe Factions: The Political vs The Surreal | | Rhys Darby and Paul Vickers are two men who are very serious about being silly.
Purveyors of whimsy Rhys Darby and Paul Vickers return to the Fringe for the seventh and third time respectively.
Darby’s new show, This Way to Spaceship, is a stand-up performance spawned from his book of the same name, which he describes as “a sort of autobiographical sci-fi novel”. Best known as Murray from Flight of the Conchords, his stand up persona is quite different to his TV alter-ego. “There’s a lot of stuff that I do that you wouldn’t link to the character of Murray, so I think, rather than be disappointed, anyone coming to see me should be in for a real treat.”
It was in Edinburgh when Darby first connected with the Conchords. It clearly holds a special place in his heart and when he’s not working in Hollywood he makes a point to perform at the Fringe. “It’s the heart of everything. Comics Click Here |
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| July 31, 2012 The Skinny | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Chris Dangerfield: Interview with THE SKINNY. | | A show about sex tourism, sponsored by an escort service? Chris Dangerfield is set to be one of the most controversial acts of 2012 Click Here |
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| July 31, 2012 The Skinny | | Article about Heroes of Alternative Fringe | | Bob Slayer and Stewart Lee on the Fringe | | The Big Four venues cast a long shadow over comedy at the Fringe. Many performers walk away in debt, but why is that and what are the alternatives? Stewart Lee and Bob Slayer offer an insider's view of how the Fringe really works Click Here |
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| July 30, 2012 Empty Pocket Guide | | | How to see shows for free | | Edinburgh fringe is a wonderful mix of highly sucessful performers and new talent. The physical cost of putting a show on at the festival can be immense. Sometimes as an audience member you don't appreciate the work behind the scenes. Comedians would have been working on their material and gigging up and down the country since last years Edinburgh festival. Then there's venue hire, accommodation in edinburgh whilst paying home rent or mortgage, preview costs, technicians, costume, travel, posters, pr, flyers, food and alcohol (yes you have to network so it is an essential...not sure my accountant would agree)
One of the best ways new acts can do the fringe is by participating in free fringe which can be significantly cheaper. It also means new acts ,who can't get in at the larger venues for not being known, can still do the fringe. Click Here |
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| July 30, 2012 The Guardian | | | Stewart Lee comments on the state of the Fringe, and recommends three Free Fest shows | | Shows performed in the burgeoning Free Fringe cost nothing to see, and little to stage. The fiercely independent Stand underwrites all its shows, so performers lose nothing. But many performers in the simulated Edinburgh Comedy festival's venues will agree to shed upwards of £10,000 this summer. Click Here |
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| July 30, 2012 Briitish Comedy Guide | | | Dave Cohen speaks to the British Comedy Guide | | Dave Cohen, at 53 - sporting what I thought was a trendy 'mid life' earring but turns out to be a hearing aid - is once again up from behind his desk and on tour with his latest act, Songs In A Flat. Click Here |
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| July 29, 2012 Chortle | | | Top 10 Publicity stunts - Including 4 from the Free Fest | | Darren Walsh and his 1000 puns, Dan Willis' six daily shows, Chris Dangerfield's Escort sponshorship and This Arthurs Seat belongs to Lionel Ritchie... Click Here |
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| July 29, 2012 The Sunday Mercury | | | Various Free Festival acts from the Midlands talk Fringe | | Harriet Dyer, Masai Graham and Freddie Farrell talk to The Sunday MErcury Click Here |
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| July 29, 2012 The Independent | | Article about Now.Here | | Now.Here recommended by The Independent | | Aimee Corbett and Vanessa Hammick went on a 200-mile, 17-day journey from Wales to London. Their chosen means of transport? The humble hobbyhorse. On route they collected stories from people they met to turn into a show. Giddy up! Click Here |
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| July 29, 2012 Scotland On Sunday | | Article about Lach's Antihoot | | Festival Picks | | Lach’s Antihoot at the Counting House Ballroom (38 West Nicolson Street) every night (except Mondays) from midnight until 2am is New York City’s longest running, most infamous open stage ever featuring the best songwriters, comics, poets, magicians, and burlesque queens at the festival. You may even get a chance to perform yourself. Over the years everyone from Beck to Jeff Buckley has played it and everyone from Bob Dylan to freaking Meryl Streep has hung out there. It’s free this year with a full bar to boot.
Click Here |
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| July 29, 2012 The Edinburgh Reporter | | Article about Man Feelings | | Man Feelings Preview | | ri Porter’ Exposes Edinburgh-Born Comedians’ Conspiratorial Cunning Plan To Snook A Cock At The Suffocating Orthodoxies Of Male Gender Stereotyping. Fed-up of teaching your grandma not to cry over spilt eggs after the gift-horse she’s just sucked in the mouth has bolted? Then why not try the frisson of ‘Free Fringe’, comedic entertainment promised by ‘Man Feelings’? Click Here |
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| July 29, 2012 The Edinburgh Reporter | | Article about Man Feelings | | Preview - Edinburgh Festival Fringe - Man Feelings | | Click Here |
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| July 29, 2012 The Scotsman | | Article about Queens of Antifolk | | My Festival | | For those new to Edinburgh, I have a secret for you – the music scene native to this city is bubbling under the radar and producing some of the best artists in the UK. It’s a big reason why I moved here from New York City last year, to witness the emergence of the Edinburgh scene.
One place you’ll be able to bear witness to this is Queens of Antifolk every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday at 8pm as part of the Alternative Fringe at The Hive (15-17 Niddry Street). Over the years the Antifolk scene has produced such amazing artists as Regina Spektor, Kimya Dawson, Michelle Shocked and Laura Marling. The ladies scheduled to play Queens of Antifolk such as Depresstival, Erin K, Teen Canteen and Emily Scott are all as talented as their forerunners – this is your chance to see them for Click Here |
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| July 28, 2012 Three Weeks | | Article about Huggers - Family Friendly Comedy and Cabaret | | Recommended shows for all the Family | | Any really good children’s show will prove just as entertaining to adults, but there are some shows that lend themselves more to the whole family experience, and that’s I’m recommending here. ‘Huggers’ is tailor-made for this section as it’s an hour of comedy and cabaret aimed squarely at families, and by all accounts, it’s great fun, recommended for adults and children alike. Click Here |
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| July 28, 2012 Chortle | | | Recommended Free Shows | | Flange Krammer, Mike Sheer, Trodd En Bratt and Nick Sun Recommended in Chortle's run down of Free shows that they have not already recommended Click Here |
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| July 27, 2012 Free Fest News | | | The Free Festival is Taking Shape - Only Six Days to go... | | The Free Festival is starting to take shape, as the first venue is put together - the new Free Sisters Venue's Comedy Bus was driven in today, and the new signage to turn one of Edinburgh's most well known bars from the Three Sisters to the Free Sisters is underway Click Here |
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| July 27, 2012 BBC Online | | Article about Desperately Seeking the Exit | | How to write a West End flop | | Five years ago, a West End musical married the story of Madonna's 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan with the music of Blondie. It flopped - but its creator has now turned the debacle into a one-man comedy show. Click Here |
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| July 27, 2012 Chortle | | Article about Lost Voice Guy and Jeff Lantern - Not Afraid Of Tablets | | Chortle highlight's Lost Voice Guy's show | | Lee Ridley is the first comedian to perform entirely through an iPad, thanks to a a text-to-speech app called Speak It! He lost his voice through cerebral palsy but says: ‘The fact that I can't talk hasn't really been a problem.’ This is a two-hander with ‘conspiracy fascist’ Jeff Lantern |
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| July 26, 2012 The New Current | | Article about An Audience With Tomás Ford | | Interview With Tomás In The New Current | | In the leadup to Fringe, Tomás took a break from his touring schedule to chat to The New Current about his new show for Edinburgh. Click Here |
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| July 26, 2012 The Scotsman | | Article about Dusty Limits: Post-Mortem | | Recommended Show | | Post Mortem: Being rather cheeky about The Scotsman while performing at our Best of the Fest show last year hasn’t put us off Dusty one bit. Whether performing solo or hosting the Bongo Club Cabaret, he’s one of the most witty and engaging (and rude) performers at the Fringe. This year he’s here for a two-week run, with a new show of songs about sex, drugs and death |
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| July 26, 2012 this is cabaret | | Article about BLUES AND BURLESQUE | | Pete Saunders with Polly Rae | | Between the sheets :"Saunders is quickly on his way to becoming London’s leading authority in live burlesque music, using his six years of expertise from Blues and Burlesque to enhance many numbers the pianist’s arrangements and the quartet’s swift grooves are a key factor making Between the Sheets a raunchy triumph of big-time burlesque.
This is Cabaret Click Here |
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| July 26, 2012 The List | | | The Top 3 free shows in the List are Free Festival Shows | | From the List's best five free shows, the top three are from the Free Fest: Austentatious, David Mills and Trodd En Bratt Click Here |
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| July 26, 2012 The Yorker | | | Edinburgh Fringe Preview: Hurt & Anderson | | o the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is renowned for having a hugely exciting comedy scene, and particularly this year, comedy is set to be the big thing to look out for. With this is mind, I spoke to Laura Anderson, one half of comedy double act Hurt & Anderson. I was supposed to speak to Georgia Hurt as well via Skype, but her internet was down ... Click Here |
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| July 26, 2012 Free Festival News | | Article about Laughing Horse Free Pick of the Fringe | | Laughing Horse Pick of the Fringe Line-ups announced | | Laughing Horse have announced it's line-ups for this years Pick of the Fringe shows - click on the following link to see who's on each day... Click Here |
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| July 26, 2012 Free Festival News | | Article about Laughing Horse Free Comedy Selection | | Laughing Horse Comedy Selection Line-ups announced | | Laughing Horse have announced it's line-ups for this years Comedy Selection shows - click on the following link to see who's on each day... Click Here |
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| July 25, 2012 The List | | Article about Austentatious - an improvised Jane Austen novel | | Top Free Show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2012 | | Best Newcomer nominee Cariad Lloyd takes time out from her solo character show thing with a return to her free roots. In which a crew of similarly expert improvisers make up an hour-long tale in the style of Jane Austen purely from audience suggestions.
The Counting House, 667 7533, 2–26 Aug (not 14), 1.30pm. Click Here |
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| July 25, 2012 The List | | | The List recommends Free Festival shows | | Cry freedom
Given the disquiet at some prices on the Fringe, free entertainment is on the increase once again. Among those hot names doing it for nowt are Phil Kay, Kunt and the Gang, and the filth-tinged storytelling show, Shaggers. Our favourite innovation is that Cowgate venue The Three Sisters has been renamed, you guessed it, The Free Sisters. Click Here |
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| July 25, 2012 The New Current | | | Interviews with the New Current | | Lot's of interviews with many Free Festival shows at the New Current Click Here |
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| July 25, 2012 Chortle | | Article about Angela Barnes & Matt Richardson | | Top 10 promising Mixed Bill Shows | | Barnes won the BBC Radio 2 New Comedy Award last year, which immediately makes her one to watch.
Click Here |
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| July 25, 2012 Such Small Portions | | Article about Angela Barnes & Matt Richardson | | Fringe Picks: Double Headers and Team Efforts | | Having done every new act competition under the sun between them, the self-deprecating lady and funny child are teaming up. This is, in short, a great pairing: her comedy is straight-down-the-line, his is exuberant. Last chance to see them before probable first hours next years, we reckon. You'll also see them rotating through the Late Night Laughs (22:45 at Gilded Balloon Teviot) rota, alongside other acts including Romesh Ranganathan, Ellie Taylor and Paul Sweeney. Click Here |
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| July 24, 2012 London is Funny | | | Free Festival shows recommended in days out for under £25 | | Click Here |
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| July 24, 2012 ThreeWeeks | | Article about Life's Short. I'm Not! | | 3 To See ED2012: Really tall comic acts | | ThreeWeeks Co-Editor Caro Moses recommends three really tall comic acts in the Fringe’s comedy programme this year. You may think that choosing comedians based on their height is a foolish way to pick shows to recommend. You may be right, but sorry, I’m the one doing the choosing... (more) Click Here |
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| July 24, 2012 Halesowen News | | Article about Black Country Cider Lions | | Old Hill comic hoping for rip-roaring fringe success | | FUNNY man Rob Jackson, from Old Hill , is part of a trio hoping for a roaring success at this year’s world famous Edinburgh Fringe. He is one third of the Black Country Cider Lions who will be performing their stand-up routines as part of the festival’s Laughing Horse Free Fringe next month. Click Here |
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| July 24, 2012 Three Weeks | | Article about Dan Willis: A Comedians Life | | 3 to See: Comedy Dans | | I initially picked this particular Dan for this here ‘Dan section’ because he happened to have received a number of extremely positive ThreeWeeks reviews for his shows in the past. But then I noticed that Dan may also be in the running for Busiest Comedian At The Fringe (that’s an award I just made up) because he is not only doing this show, but he’s doing five others as well, all free, in a bid to prove that “a comedian can work six hours a day just like a normal person”. I take my hat off to him, and insist you all support him in his endeavour. Click Here |
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| July 24, 2012 Chortle | | Article about Lewis Schaffer: No, YOU Shut Up! [Early Show] | | Lewis Schaffer reccomended by Chortle | | Recommended as one of the Fringe's Most Underrated Acts: "He’s one act where you can understand the lack of mainstream success… this New Yorker’s brashness and self-destructive tendencies mean you’re not guaranteed a smooth ride. But he adheres to Socrates’ maxim ‘an unexamined life is not worth living’ more than most – and combines his neurosis with blunt appraisal of the complacent." - Chortle Click Here |
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| July 23, 2012 The List | | Article about Desperately Seeking the Exit | | The writer/performer who’s hoping to turn a stage disaster into a Fringe success | | It’s a classic case of triumphing in the face of disaster. In 2007, Peter Michael Marino’s adaptation of the Madonna movie Desperately Seeking Susan, opened in London’s West End and, after devastating reviews, crawled through 13 days before closing, saying goodbye to a £4m investment. Click Here |
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| July 23, 2012 Scout London | | Article about Trodd en Bratt - Well Done You | | Todd En Bratt talk to Scout London | | In 2007 Lucy Trodd and Ruth Bratt met on the improvised comedy circuit. While enjoying solo success on the stand-up circuit, they got more of a buzz from collaboration, becoming comedy duo Trodd en Bratt Click Here |
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| July 23, 2012 Three Weeks | | Article about Trodd en Bratt - Well Done You | | Todd En Bratt talk to Three Weeks | | Often seen on stage improvising in a musical fashion as part of The Showstoppers, Lucy Trodd and Ruth Bratt debut their own character sketch show at the Fringe this year as part of the Free Festival programme. “Deliciously dark and very funny” said Rob Brydon, and that’s good enough for us. The girls kick things off by tackling the Quick Quiz. Click Here |
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| July 22, 2012 London is Funny | | Article about Trodd en Bratt - Well Done You | | Trodd En Bratt talk to London is funny | | Two graduates of the hugely successful Showstopper! the Musical are stepping out to do a show of their own – here's how Trodd en Bratt are preparing ... Click Here |
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| July 22, 2012 Three Weeks | | | Bob Slayer talks about the Alternative Fringe | | Click Here |
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| July 22, 2012 Scotland On Sunday | | Article about Lewis Schaffer: No, YOU Shut Up! [Early Show] | | Scotland on Sunday reccomends Lewis Schaffer | | “Lewis Schaffer is back, dyspeptic, self-loathing and appallingly hilarious as ever (at Laughing Horse @ Free Sisters)” – Scotland on Sunday Click Here |
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| July 22, 2012 The Guardian | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Rewind radio: Hardeep Seeks Serenity – review | | He also got a lovely interview from Chris Dangerfield. Dangerfield, like many recovering addicts, gave it some NA jargon, but he was excellent on the difference between the cliche of serenity – a view from a hillside, a lovely sunset – and what actually works to quash the turmoil within, which is making a connection with others.
"Sitting by a river wasn't going to get me clean," he spluttered.
Clean and serene, they call it. A riveting listen. Click Here |
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| July 22, 2012 Edinburgh Spotlight | | Article about Theatre Tasters | | Fronterias Theatre lab talk to Edinburgh spotlight | | Click Here |
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| July 20, 2012 | | Article about 6 Foot Silly | | The 1,000-pun salute | | To celebrate a record-breaking number of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, I’m attempting a record of my own.
On Monday 6 August at 3pm, I will attempt to tweet a pun based on the name of every single comedian (who has a Twitter account) performing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year.
For example:
Tim Shishodia
“What kind of kebabs do you like, Tim?”
“Shish.”
“Oh, do ya?”
Some will be good, some will be bad and some will be downright terrible.
Twitter only allows 1,000 tweets per day. So, from more than 2,695 shows, I will pick 1,000 comedians and make #1000puns. Click Here |
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| July 20, 2012 PINK PAPER | | Article about Desperately Seeking the Exit | | Desperately Seeking the Exit: sport or theatre? | | Writer Peter Michael Marino flexes his pecs and tells why this year’s Olympics means so much to him as a performance athlete who picked himself up, dusted himself off and finished the race of his life. Click Here |
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| July 17, 2012 Theatre Reviews Limited | | Review of Made for Each Other | | Made for Each Other New York production | | "Made for Each Other" at 59E59 Theater C
“Made for Each Other”
By Monica Bauer
Performed by John Fico
Monica Bauer’s “Made for Each Other” is a charming and challenging performance piece brought to life with skillful grace by John Fico at 59E59’s “East to Edinburgh” Festival. Transcending the themes of most gay theatre (and those themes are important), “Made for Each Other” is a multi-layered piece which challenges all audience members with universal and powerful themes.
Sorting out meaning in a well-written, well-performed script replete with characters, conflicts, settings, and themes that connect to a broad spectrum of audience members is less than an easy task. But these characters – alive, about-to-die, and already dead – challenge the audience to deal with the importance of truth, honesty, love and the loss of love, loss of and restoration of self-worth, and the joy of Click Here |
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| July 12, 2012 Such Small Portions | | Article about Austentatious - an improvised Jane Austen novel | | Fringe Picks 2012 | | To say the members of Austen improv troupe Austentatious are diverse would be comedy's biggest understatement.... After a successful run at the Wheatsheaf in London, it's off to Edinburgh.
Click Here |
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| July 12, 2012 Such Small Portions | | | Loads of Free Festival shows recommended | | Click Here |
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| July 12, 2012 Such Small Portions | | Article about What Would Beyonce Do? | | Top Free Shows to see at The Fringe | | No-one has pushed their free shows harder ahead of August – and it's hard to think of any with a better buzz at this stage – than Luisa Omielan. She's a stand-up improviser with a squirly energy who has already made herself one to watch this year. Click Here |
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| July 12, 2012 Huffington Post | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Chris Dangerfield - Sex Tourist | | Opened up a debate regarding Sex Tourism and comedy with an ever growing multitude of contributors. Click Here |
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| July 11, 2012 eastlondonlines | | Article about WINFAMY | | Capturing the madness of reality TV on stage | | "The passion and energy of the actors drove through the performance of this hugely relevant and insightful black comedy, to make it a very enjoyable experience... The audience packed out The Macbeth in Hoxton for the London preview and I have no doubt they will be drawing in crowds in August in Edinburgh." Click Here |
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| July 11, 2012 ScotsGay, SGFringe | | Article about Made for Each Other | | Q and A with Monica Bauer, writer of Made for Each Other | | Monica Bauer
Monica Bauer – Writer of ‘Made for each Other’
Tells us about Made for Each Other - the play you’re bringing to the Edinburgh Fringe.
It’s drama with high comedy, gay marriage with a big twist. Who proposes marriage after the third date, and who would say yes to such a proposal? The answers are Jerry and Vincent, the two protagonists of Made for Each Other. Vincent’s closeted, over fifty, ashamed of his body, and horrified by the deterioration of his mother, who has Alzheimer’s. His mother’s nurse, Jerry, is forty, out and proud, but struggles with secret unfulfilled dreams of an actor’s life. The play follows their love story, through alternating monologues between Vincent and Jerry, plus monologues from a significant person each one carries in his own subconscious. Vincent’s inner voice comes from his demented Mother, a former Broadway chorus girl with pr Click Here |
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| July 11, 2012 Flavorpill | | Article about Michael Pope is Gay for Pay | | Michael Pope Is Gay For Pay | | Wild-eyed and whip-smart, storyteller Michael Pope recounts the compelling, hysterical tale of his brief but memorable career as a phone sex operator in Michael Pope Is Gay for Pay. With expert comic timing, Pope recalls how his desire to finish making his first film led him to be penniless and squatting on the roofs of the Lower East Side before he discovered his talent for "the theatre of the imagination" necessary to create all-engrossing fantasies for male callers. Although not gay himself, Pope reveals phone sex to be a complex role for a committed and talented actor just desperate enough to not mind the subject matter.” Click Here |
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| July 6, 2012 Remotegoat | | Review of Mr Susan's 'Cheeky Flippin' Nice' | | Mr Susan anything BUT Lazy | | 100% charming and totally hilarious. If you're in Edinburgh this year, then pay Mr Susan a visit. You may not learn much, you may come away confused as to what the hell you just saw... but I guarantee that you'll have a good time and smile and laugh throughout. Click Here |
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| July 3, 2012 The Sun | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Vice Girls back Sex Tour Stand-up | | COMIC Chris Dangerfield has secured sponsorship for his Fringe show about sex tourism in Thailand — from an escort agency.
The funnyman struck a deal with Escorts in Edinburgh for the gig at the city’s famous festival.
And audience members will get a £10 discount if they show his flyer.
The 40-year-old’s show is about his seven-week trip to romp with vice girls in the Far East.
He said: “Brothels are far more relaxed in Scotland than England. They can pretty much advertise it for what it is.
“The show is about me going to Thailand to be a sex tourist so it makes sense that we had some sort of connection.”
Chris will perform 21 stand-up shows during his three-week stint at The Hive next month.
He added: “I went on holiday to be a sex tourist and I wanted to give each aspect a go.
“Unfortunately I had a horrific drug relapse because I am clean. The show is what I managed to piece Click Here |
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| June 29, 2012 Chortle | | Article about Sex Tourist | | Losing an ounce of meth up your arse... | | Chris Dangerfield’s Edinburgh show is sponsored by an escort agency – which is offering 10 per cent discount to anyone who shows them his flyer. The show, Sex Tourist, is about a seven-week trip to Thailand where heI overdosed on Viagra, shot a 9mm Browning at some naked children, lost an ounce of methamphetamine in his anal canal, bodged a home enema, fell in love, and cried. Perfect training for the Fringe, then.
Click Here |
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| June 26, 2012 Such Small Portions | | Article about Parris & Dowler Know What They're Doing | | Interview with Rachel Parris | | First up is Rachel Parris: half of musical duo the Balconettes, member of improv troupe Austentatious, a solo act (called Rachel Parris): she has all the comedy hats, which she wears variously while singing songs, unless she's doing one of the things that doesn't involve songs. Click Here |
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| June 18, 2012 TheNewCurrent.com | | Article about Applause | | Robin and Gregor speak to The New Current about their show | | Another great thing you won’t be short of at Edinburgh Fringe is the vast array of Scottish comics who embrace the festival and bring some of the great Scottish charm and humour to the fringe. This year a comedy duo Robin and Gregor, one from Aberdeen and one from Edinburgh are bound to tickle that funny bone you have itching. Already semi-finalists on the comedy circuit their show is going to be something never every day and is not to be missed. For more information on their show you can find it at the end of their interview.
Hey how’s it going, you all prepared for the biggest fringe in the world?
Its going fine thanks. The long answer is- we are writing bits and pieces, getting guest hosts organised and feeling optimistic. The short answer is- No, it’ll be a beautiful, hungover disaster. Can you really prepare for such a huge festival?
How have the previews been going? Click Here |
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| May 31, 2012 Daily Record | | | Daily Record recommends in Free Fest shows their top 10 lists for this years Fringe | | "This Arthur's Seat Belongs to Lionel Ritchie", "Desperately Seeking the Exit", "Dusty Limits: Post-Mortem", "Lewis Schaffer - No You Shut up" and "Jane Bom-Bane" Click Here |
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| May 31, 2012 | | | The Programme is Live | | We Launch our new website, and programme for Fringe 2012 Click Here |
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| May 21, 2012 What's On Stage | | Review of SINFUL | | Review of 'Sinful' from the Brighton Fringe | | Sinful (Gulliver’s Hotel, New Steine, Brighton)
WOS Rating: 5 STARS
The seven deadly sins have always seemed something of a strange concept to me, after all, how many of them are really deadly? Carly Tarett seems to have had a similar issue and so she has now written, and performs as a one-woman show, her own take on them with seven pant-wettingly funny short sketches.
First we deal with Gluttony and meet Bex, she’s a “Bexercise” class teacher for a group of food obsessed ladies. Very much in a Victoria Wood style, she tries so hard to get them motivated and fails miserably. Tonight’s class will be different though because Bex is going to introduce the class to “Imagicise!” – my kind of exercise, where you just imagine the places in which you are working out and the activities that you would be doing.
In Lust we hear from a terribly posh lady wh Click Here |
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| May 14, 2012 Stumble Upon | | | A Guide to Free Stuff in Edinburgh | | Click Here |
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| May 11, 2012 The Latest | | Review of Jane Bom-Bane | | Show Review from the Brighton Fringe | |
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| May 10, 2012 The Argus | | Article about TEA WITH TERRORISTS | | Brighton Fringe Review | | You can’t help but be drawn to Zehra, with her laidback style and I-wish-she-was-my-mum personality. Click Here |
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| May 8, 2012 The Latest | | Review of TEA WITH TERRORISTS | | I was left wanting the next chapter | | ‘Tea With Terrorists’ is the one-woman show starring Sameena Zehra that explains how she had some very polite afternoon tea with some terrorists. The story begins with her move from London to Kashmir after her “emotionally incontinent” parents separated. Sameena introduced a family of strong women that curse almost everyone they meet, incompetent staff that no one has the heart to fire and an uncle who is out the day some terrorists knock on the door. Samenna finds humour in almost every strand of her life so far and tells her story fantastically. I was left wanting the next chapter. Click Here |
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| May 3, 2012 Huffington Post | | | Censorship and Malcolm Hardees Testicles | | Free Festival shows and censorship from the Edinburgh Fringe Click Here |
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| April 13, 2012 The Scotsman | | Article about Lach's Antihoot | | Anti-Hoot moves from paid to free Fringe | | The Antihoot show's move from the Gilded Balloon to Free Festival Click Here |
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| April 10, 2012 RHUM | | Review of Upstaging: A Modern Guide to Acting for Gentlemen & Gentleladies | | UPSTAGING review from the Melborune season | | Upstaging achieves everything it set out to do in a brilliantly designed piece of comedy theatre.
I mean everything that could have gone wrong (and some of it did), every groan-inducing joke and lame bit of staging or dialogue, only added to the charm of Upstaging - it's a trap I tells ya!
The show is ostensibly an acting lesson, with the audience being lectured on how to overact, scene-steal, and to obstinately refuse any notion of humility, style or restraint.
What we are actually seeing is a pair of great humorists launching some huge broadsides, taking the stage to thrash about in their lack of success, griping about the theatre scene, yelling back at their demons and cathartically bantering about the frustration of being big actors with small parts (to butcher the axiom).
The onstage rapport between Ged Cogley and Jamie McCarney as Maurice Cock and Belvedere Bagg (respec Click Here |
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| April 5, 2012 John Fleming Blog | | | Performers Freedom restricted and attempted show poaching | | PBH Free Fringe, Edinburgh's other large scale free show producer restricts performers freedom and tries to poach show Click Here |
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| March 20, 2012 The U-Review | | Article about The Three Half Pints | | An Afternoon with the Three Half Pints | | Remember the days when you and your friends used to sit and laugh at the word ‘poo’ for hours? Well it is that simplistic glee that awaits when you spend ‘An Afternoon with the Three Half Pints.’
Callum Donnelly, Robin Hatcher and Richard Franklin play brothers Derek, Ernie and the intellectually challenged Dick. They push, slap and punch their way through five hilarious sketches from stealing a Faberge egg, to a visit at Auntie Brenda’s, which of course saw one of the boys in drag.
It’s silly, it’s juvenile, it’s excessively violent and it was absolutely brilliant. They describe it as ‘comedic chaos,’ but you can’t ignore that it is meticulously choreographed by three great comic talents. Franklin plays Dick; the brother who jumped into the shallow end of the gene pool, and he is perfect creating countless laughs, but these would not be possible without Hatcher’s beautiful management Click Here |
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| January 25, 2012 UK Theatre Net | | Article about SINFUL | | Rave review for 'Sinful'. (Star ratings not used by UK Theatre Net, but if they were...!) | | Sinful - written and performed by Carly Tarett
Published by: Caroline May on 25th Jan 2012
It takes a great deal of talent to pull off what is effectively a one-woman sketch show, yet writer-performer Carly Tarett does this effortlessly with her sequence of single-handed playlets themed around the seven deadly sins.
Apart from being very funny comic monologues, each piece works as a stand-alone drama. Outstanding among them are the blindfolded neighbour-from-hell whose envy and interference have led to her current mysterious predicament, and a philosophical exchange (technically a monopolylogue) between a couple of east end bank robbers. However the highlight of the evening is an outrageously rude skit about an elderly Welsh classroom assistant - her imaginatively obscene and expletive-filled commentary on Red Riding Hood would make Quentin Tarenti Click Here |
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| December 14, 2011 John Flemings Blog | | Article about Heroes of Alternative Fringe | | The Alternative Fringe starts here | | John Fleming exclusively reveals the plans for an Alternative Fringe in 2012 Click Here |
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| December 14, 2011 Madge Hooks-comedy collective | | Article about Eggball | | Eggball Preview | | After seeing Cheekykita perform her black beauty character at an alternative comedy night, I just knew I had to see more – and her Edinburgh preview show did not disappoint! I was delighted to find that she has a whole host of equally weird and wonderful characters to share with us – caterpillars, an egghead, a shark, a horse with golden hooves to name but a few.
She opens the show with her caterpillar-themed character. The old-style music adds a classy and quirky vibe as she sidles down the edge of the audience dressed head-to-toe in black – which is hilarious in itself – before taking to the stage and unraveling in her unique style the relationship between the two caterpillars dangling from her hands. This act sets the precedent for the other characters to follow and epitomises what Cheekykita is all about. She has a remarkable talent for absorbing herself into the wacky characters s |
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NEWS
& REVIEWS 2012
