Rating
Guide
None = Unmissable
= Unwatchable
A
Slacker's Opera
Drams
Venue The Pleasance (Venue 33)
Address 60 The Pleasance
Reviewer Thelma Good
15 minutes of laughing publicly at one of those sad guys who might collect
train numbers or navel fluff. With a droll delivery this one man show
by Julian Fox features the RSC stage door keeper. You get to hear his
great songs and leaf through his fascinating photo album! If this is
what the stage door keeper can do what's the cleaner like?
On until the 28th ( not 7,14, 21) at 2pm for full 15 minutes!
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Soho
- A Tale of Table Dancers
Drams None
Venue The Pleasance (Venue 33)
Address 60 The Pleasance
Reviewer Thelma Good
Club Venus is where Marco, the compere, lashes out with his verbal tongue
at the b-tches he employs to pull the notes out of men's wallets. Veronica,
a "resting" actress, arrives to try and earn some money and at first
fails. Rebecca Lenkiewicz is both writer and one of the excellent actors
in her sharply written play with keenly drawn characters which is both
funny and dark.
This is a world where usually only some men enter willingly, but go
and check out Marco and the women who turn on their tormentors at the
full moon. Sexy and dangerous too, catch this one before you have to
beg for entry. Run now extended.
Till 21st not 15th or 16th Run extended
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Somebody
to Love
Drams 
Venue The Pleasance
Address 60 The Pleasance
Reviewer Carol Francis
Dear
God. It was like a step back in time to infant school when we were made
to leap about in the assembly hall with some old battleaxe furiously
banging the old joanna screaming at us to ".make yourselves BIG children!
Now be SAD! Now be ANGRY! Jump and be a SNOWFLAKE!" Music Mime and Movement,
blood-inhibiting gym knickers and scrawny flailing limbs.it all came
rushing back like a horrible dream. This is a boy-wearing-mask-meets-girl-wearing-mask
epic which spans decades, with a soundtrack by Queen used to help tell
the story. I'd expected a prop consisting of 25 years of pop legend
(man) to be used more imaginatively. However, what we got was a 30 minute
story padded out to a full bum-numbing hour of tortuous clown dancing
and slapstick from three Mr Beans. Ideal for highly patient children,
or undemanding adults.
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Splendour:
Paines Plough
Drams
with water please.
Venue The Traverse (Venue 15)
Address Cambridge Street beside Usher Hall
Reviewer Thelma Good
Four women wait in a affluent home for a man to arrive. One is his wife,
another is her friend, the other two are strangers- a photographer and
her interpreter. Abi Morgan's characters talk as they wait, sometimes
to each other, sometimes to themselves. At times the dialogues goes
back on itself and starts again an exchange that we have heard before.
As the play progresses the rewind and replay buttons are pressed more
often until it becomes tenser and tenser, and more and more disturbing.
This is an extremely well cast production of a play where the actors,
Mary Cunningham, Faith Flint, Myra McFadyen and Eileen Walsh, directed
by Vicki Featherstone combined to make a fascinating text absorbing
theatre. It captures so well the way women relate, using words and body
language, at first with a bland courtesy and then the fingernails slowly
emerge to become honed talons.
My only reservation is about the set which had a swimming pool bottom
as the floor, on which were placed some items of posh furniture and
above was hung the rim of a swimming pool. Whilst it is mentioned in
the text I don't think that the very realistic look of the swimming
pool rim quite worked as well as a rather more stylised one would have
done.
Various times till 26th, not Mondays
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Techno-Frantic-Love
Drams
Venue Hill Street Theatre (Venue 41)
Address 19 Hill Street
Reviewer Thelma Good
Techno-Frantic-Love is set in a future where a couple decide to spend
an evening in and play games and virtual sport. This is a couple who
live in the same dwelling but not in the same space. They seemed almost
emotionless and inhuman, preferring to resort to their technical gizmos
rather than relating to one another. Techno-couch aubergines who exercised
on their own with own virtual reality visors.
The set suggested the future with just a few objects, including two
chairs which were made of two planks of wood and looked hard to sit
on. This had an unfortunate effect when the characters sat down, which
they did quite a bit, you longed for them to move because they looked
so uncomfortable.
That said the play had some interesting ideas, but I think, in cutting
it down to fit the time slot available, the kernel of the play was lost.
The dialogue had some ironic humour but not enough tension to make the
play engrossing enough. There were two good actors on the stage but
the script didn't have enough for them to do. I'd like to see the longer
version though. The audience of mainly young men and I did laugh quite
a bit.
Until 15th.
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Tesla's Letters
Drams
Venue Drummond Community Theatre (Venue 25)
Address 41 Bellevue Place
Reviewer Colin Donati
‘Tesla’s Letters’ involves the visit of a young American PhD student
to a Tesla archive in Yugoslavia during the Serbo-Croat conflict. Her
motives are not clear and the Museum authorities receive her cagily.
Certainly, much intrigue surrounds Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) usually
hailed as the forgotten genius of twentieth century electrical engineering
whose reputation, after his death, has been largely suppressed. This
play depends upon the darker suggestions surrounding his career for
its interest. But, fascinating though this story is, such ‘dark interest’
alone cannot carry a play. The writer has been so caught up in his subject
that he loses sight of his characters. The conspiratorially suggestive
scenes had us guessing to begin with, but tended to be over-long, stretching
the credibility of dialogue and psychological interaction. These were
potentially interesting characters with real histories and we wanted
to discover their motives. But by the end, the unclear motives remained
just that: - unclear motives.
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Theatre
Alba - Charles Edward Stuart
Drams
of Drambuie
Venue Duddingston Kirk Manse Gardens (Venue 121)
Address Duddingston Village (Outdoor venue - bring a rug)
Reviewer Colin Donati
This open air production takes a broad sweep across the events of the
Jacobite rising of the 1740s. The first part carries us from the landing
of the Prince and his wooing of Scotland through to Culloden. The script
does not make the mistake of shadowing the atmosphere of the moment
with the hindsight of the savage post-Culloden oppression. The picture
painted is one of optimism and cheer, even almost festival on the eve
of the famed march south. There is an intriguing insight into what might
have contributed to the decision to abort this march at Derby. Not until
we reach Culloden are the protagonists struck by the final recognition
of how seriously the tables have been turned.
Similarly the second part does not dwell overly on the well-known horrors,
but focusses on the subsequent history of the Prince back in Europe
and his entourage of followers. They continue to live in hope for some
eventual realisation of their ideal. This episode traces their gradual
disillusionment as the man upon whom all these hopes have been pinned
eventually disintegrates in character.
It is an often told and painful story, but this production - by focussing
on some of the less familiar aspects without lingering on any one -
by virtue of its breezy approch, goes some way towards making it seem
fresh. The outdoor setting adds to the spirit. Make sure you dress warm.
Hot tea and bisuits are available at the interval. All in all, an atmospheric
and entertaining couple of hours.
Runs till the 27th (not 20-22), at 20.15hrs.
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Thunderstruck: One Yellow Rabbit
Drams
- none later in run I think
Venue Traverse Theatre (Venue 15)
Address Cambridge Street near Usher Hall
Reviewer Thelma Good
When
we step into Traverse One there is a woman, half way up the stairs,
singing beautifully a selection of country and western songs. We move
in our minds from the hubbub of Festival Edinburgh to the vastness of
the Canadian country where your next neighbour may be distant from you
and isolation can make you quite odd to outsiders.
On the stage tonight I saw such a strange family, where the outside
world is alien and a threat. Chaos starts "to hammer on the house",
set off by a violent storm. "The muncipals", as the three brothers call
the authorities and townfolk, in the aftermath try to control the now
parentless family they nickname "the Eternal Storms."
Using movement and very subtle acting this superb ensemble of actors
bring these odd 3 brothers and their sister alive. We watch helplessly
as the outside pressures attempt to break further and further in. The
family responses as if under siege, displaying the fear, tensions and
intense caring, feeling it must stay welded together. At the moment,
I felt the play is a tad too long especially for its late night slot
and there was some loss of momentum at points during it but I did see
it on its first night.
Acting with great skill, achieving both humour and humanity, this highly
regarded company from Calgary, in its 19th season bring us this play
by the Quebecois playwright Daniel Danis, translated by Linda Gaborian.
Denise Clarke, who acted and staged it and Andy Green who is also a
member of the resident company are joined by Andy Curtis who has created
and collaborated before with them and Elizabeth Stepkowski who has acted
in several of their productions before.
Until 26th every day at 22.30pm
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The
Trial
Drams None
Venue C too, St Columba's by the Castle (Venue 4)
Address Johnston Terrace
Reviewer Thelma Good
This is a very satisfying production of The Trial by Franz Kafka, adapted
by Stephen Berkoff. The play has a chorus and one actor who plays Joseph
K throughout. Individual members of the chorus also played all of the
other parts. Set in a country where no one gains admits admittance to
the law, we follow Joseph as he tries vainly to understand a legal system
which is incomprehensible and inconsistent. I was strongly reminded
of Dickens' Bleak House and Heller's Catch 22.
The production takes place on a fairly small empty stage, the only props
being the occasional addition of some clothing, and the use of six open
doorways which are covered at times with black cloth or a gauze and
a stool. The bank offices scenes are simply created by the chorus using
imaginary telephones and typewriters, and making appropriate sounds,
this technique is used to considerable effect throughout. The cast of
a dozen actors are on stage all the time and they play their parts with
conviction, and maturity. The pace of the play is wonderfully executed
and never flagged. Chorus work requires great discipline to do well
and this cast are spot on all the time, giving the play the dynamic
it requires. And the actor playing Joseph captures the character's earnest
belief that there is a logic where there is in fact none.
The violence in the play is stylised: the stool being hit clearly in
sight of the audience whilst the actor playing Joseph reacts as if he
is hit. In a Fringe and Festival where graphic violence is being shown
in other ways, I found this approach more effective than many I have
witnessed this August. This is a top notch production with a cast and
director who gave the play a thoroughly professional performance when
I saw it on its first afternoon.
Till 27th
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Twelfth
Night (from Zimbabwe)
Drams
(excellent fun)
Venue Augustine’s (Venue 152)
Address George IV Bridge
Reviewer Colin Donati
This one shifts Illyria South of the Sahara. ‘Over the Edge’ come from
Zimbabwe and the cast of five rattle through the Shakespeare with great
exuberance. Malvolio struts and caws like a shamanistic bird. Feste
plays thumb-piano. The scenes are unashamedly milked for their comedy.
Full-colour tribal costumes are used to switch characters with the swish
of a cloak. Yet as modern dressings go, with all the cloth and colour,
it might just be conceivable an original ‘Shakespeare’s-day’ audience
would be finding it more than a tad familiar.
Also, being an all male ensemble, the gender-switching aspects too have
an ‘Elizabethan’ ring about them. A buirdly Olivia with her huge hat,
on the one hand, and the thin high-pitched Maria on the other, make
for full-on panto dames. Thing is, it kind of works. Yes, it’s an unashamed
crowd-pleaser, but there’s a more serious side to ‘Over the Edge’. On
alternate days they play ‘Eternal Peace Asylum’, a much darker comedy
based on the current political situation in Zimbabwe.
Twelfth Night runs till 27th on alternate days (except 21st), at 16.35hrs
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