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| Edinburgh : A&E : Festivals : Fringe Theatre |
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Rating Guide None = Unmissable 
= UnwatchablePage number refers to the Fringe programme Talk Radio.(Page 207). Drams .Venue E4 UdderBELLY (Venue 300). Address Bristo Square. Reviewer Nathan Witts. From start to finish this is an incredibly slick and professional production with an extremely talented cast. The play centres on Barry Champlain and his late night phone in radio show but it is a lot more than just Phil Nichol. Don't get me wrong Nichol is good. He captures the controversial radio dj perfectly displaying just enough arrogance while keeping the audience well aware of his insecurities. Nichol also manages to sustain the visual attention of the audience effectively with his fidgets and movement while never detracting from the callers being boomed around the Udderbelly. What makes the show what it is however is not what's happening on stage. Beyond the coffee machine, dj mike and sound desk are a number of superb characters broadcasted throughout Champlain's time on air. From lonely housewives to child beating convicts free speech has never been so entertaining. Stewart Lee's direction moves the show on at just the right pace. The flow of the show is never stopped as what is happening on the radio and in the studio are tied together perfectly. He has a gifted ensemble working in harmony. Some of the characters aren't truly believable, even Champlain himself, but the performers and the play itself aren't taking the subject matter to seriously. It is a quip at the reality shows flooding the airwaves and it is done exceptionally well. Worth queuing fifteen minutes in the pissing rain ©Nathan Witts 18 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com . Runs to 28 August at 17:15 every day. Company - Underbelly Productions and The Comedians' Theatre Company.
The Tempest. (Page 208). Drams
.Venue C Too. (Venue 4). Address St Columbia's by the castle, Johnston Terrace. Reviewer Pippa Tennant. The set consists of a pile of old books and a few planks of wood. This is typical of the production - Simple, and yet profoundly beautiful. Ariel is played by four actors, Lea Pascal, Holly Harris, Andrew Johnson and Seth Ewin, who lean and swoop with harmonious precision, merging together as one spirit. They give stunning performances through their exquisite elflike movement and mystery. Harris shines particularly with her innocent facial expressions and violin playing. Anselm Ibing's exceptional performance as the island savage, Caliban, whom he weaves together with depth and humour, should also be noted. Although Ferdinand, Chris Zegel, and Miranda, Rebecca Palmstrom, are weak and one-dimensional, the creative direction of James Hartman and the strong members of the cast carry this production of The Tempest through successfully. The choice of music and use of silhouette to portray Propsero's puppeteer power is striking and overall this competent production by Eyeball Theatre is worth a watch. ©Pippa Tennant 18 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com. Runs to August 28 at 19:15 every day. Company - Eyeball Theatre. Company Website - www.eyeballtheatre.com .
The Tempest. (Page 208). Drams None required. Venue Pleasance Dome. (Venue 23). Address 1 Bristo Square. Reviewer Morag Hannah. The recently formed Ex-Young Pleasance, as the name suggests, are graduated members of the Young Pleasance Theatre Company. It's perhaps no surprise, then, that their production of Shakespeare's Tempest this year is a professional and inspiring piece of theatre. The (all-male) cast is small, with some lads doubling up on parts, and Ariel and Caliban, innovatively, played by multiple cast members at once to interesting effect, particularly in the case of Ariel. While everyone put in a good performance, particular mention should be made of Prospero and Stephano (whose player also made an excellent comic Gonzalo). The play is ruthlessly condensed, both cutting swathes of the text and creatively interspersing scenes with each other to cut its run-time down to a bite-sized hour, and it by no means suffers for it. Slick and stylish, with a lovely set, unobtrusive costumes and good use of lighting, Ex-Young Pleasance are young actors to watch. ©Morag Hannah 12 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com . Runs to 28 August date at 1420 every day. Company - Ex-Young Pleasance.
Terre Haute by Edmund White.(Page 208). Drams None needed. Venue Assembly Rooms (Venue 3). Address 54 George Street. Reviewer Ritchie Smith. This quietly brilliant play is largely a battle of ideas between the old, civilized world - represented by understanding, decent-minded, physically feeble James (think Gore Vidal) - and a younger, more virile opponent, Harrison, an angry young man desperate for significance. (Read Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber.) There is great wit and telling line after telling line in this confrontation, as Harrison tries to take the moral high ground and James punctures his angry, ignorant but eminently deadly seriousness. 'Biography,' says Harrison (meaning history) 'is a waste of time' - but the author, and this play, know better. Peter Eyre, playing the Paris-exiled writer, gives a wonderfully wry and humane performance, matched - quite incredibly, given this is his first professional engagement - by Arthur Darvill, who is simultaneously very appealing, and a monster. No doubt Edmund White sees the play as about America and its 'sheer ugliness' and disappointed hopes. Of course it is. Harrison has read 'The Turner Diaries' and he talks angrily about Waco and Ruby Ridge. But Harrison is more than American. In spirit he is the same as some young Muslim who reads the al-Qaeda Websites and talks in a rage about Palestine and Iraq. Though the terrorist here is caged and about to be executed, this is his play. Don't be fooled by the carefully unassuming style. This is likely to be one of the important plays in the 2006 Festival. Edmund White has given us a completely convincing (and sometimes almost charming) portrait of that angry, under-achieving, dispossessed young man who is our ruthless conscience and also our deadly enemy - the terrorist. ©Ritchie Smith, 10 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com. Runs to August 27 at 12:10 every day, not 14 or 21. Company - nabokov. Company Website - www.nabokov-online.com . .
The Third From The Left. (Page 208). Drams .Venue C Central. (Venue 54). Address Carlton Hotel, North Bridge. Reviewer Ariadne Cass . Jean Colonomos's play is about five women dancers who rehearse till they bleed - literally - to master Martha Graham's dance, Primitive Mysteries. Their physical, emotional and intellectual struggle to grasp the dance is of course a journey of self - discovery as well. The dance itself portrays the crucifixion of Christ from Mary's point of view. The idea is offered that Mary herself may have been a reincarnation of other women in mythology who have been doomed or chosen by the Gods. The women in this play have had their own losses. Martha Graham is, through her dance, a conduit for intense female energy. The concept of the female cult of Mary is thus explored in an incredibly interesting way. All the performances are delivered with such honesty and humour that it seldom becomes mired in pretentiousness. The collective energy and physicality of the cast is hypnotic. This is a very intelligently written and acted piece. ©Ariadne Cass 17 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Runs to August 28at 14:30 every day. Company - Playwright's Arena.
Tits & Blood. (Page 209). Drams
.Venue Greyfriars Kirk House. (Venue 131) till 20 August the 22 - 28 August at Augustine's (Venue 152). Address 86 Candlemaker Row then moves to 41 George IV Bridge. Reviewer Adam Baker . Tits & Blood is writer Neil Labute's latest play, a dark and post-modern piece that explores the nature of the relationship between actors and audience. The play has two parts; the first is called I Really, Really Like You in which the audience is warned that the ostensibly mundane scene may be the prelude to something very dark, possibly involving tits and blood. We are offered the chance to possibly intervene and thus our sense of separation from the action and our morality are tested. The second part is called Liars Club (typo or post-modern ambiguity?), in which four actors tell four stories. We are told that one of them is false but that the other three really happened to the actors, and later we are invited to guess which one is the lie. Labute's assault on the audience's preconceptions is in some ways bold, but there is the nagging feeling that it's not quite as bold as he would like to think. While there is certainly tension in the dramatic irony of I Really, Really Like You, there is no sense that the audience has any real control over the outcome. After the rise of reality television, the internet etc. it may well be that the position of voyeur is more comfortable to us than it was to the original audience of the final scene of Othello, for example. However, I Really, Really Like You wasn't quite engaging enough to make you care. One member of the audience attempted to divert the action, but to no avail. Was the joke on him? It didn't really seem to matter. Liars Club, though some of the actors gave impressive performances, is structurally flawed as well. All of the actors' stories were clearly scripted by the playwright, and almost the entire row I was sitting in had realized this when they were asked to clap for the actor they thought was 'lying'. With Tits & Blood Labute discards narrative, character and structure but seems to leave a faint underestimation of his audience in their place. ©Adam Baker 9 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com. Runs to 20 August not 13 or 14 at Greyfriars moves to Augustine's (Venue 152) )on 22 August till August 28 at 18:20 every day, except 13, 14 and 23. Company - The General's Players, Washington and Lee University.
Tom Crean – Antarctic Explorer. (Page 209). Drams None required at all. Venue. Assembly at George Street . (Venue 3). Address Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street. Reviewer Bill Dunlop. Aiden Dooley clambers off the sled which is the only piece of staging in Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer and simply begins. This is undoubtedly one of the outstanding performances of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe of this year, a sustained characterisation of thoughtfully understated fortitude. Dooley is obviously a performer of considerable skill and the quiet informed integrity which imbues this piece is a tribute to both subject and performer. Tom Crean took part in two of Captain Scott's expeditions to the Antarctic, in addition to one under Sir Ernest Shackleton, his greatest claim and feat of endurance being a thirty six mile solitary trek back to base camp to get help for two companions during the Terra Nova expedition. Crean's achievements were as remarkable in their way as that of other more well-known figures, but his status as a simple able seaman ensured he gained little more than footnote status in the history of polar exploration. In Dooley's interpretation, Crean remains remarkably sanguine and level-headed, a sure rock in a world of uncertain ice and even more uncertain futures. Dooley's writing brings out something of the phlegmatic fascination which seems to touch all who venture into unknown territories, respecting their environment but refusing to be overawed by it. To single out productions and performances for particular praise so early in the Fringe may seem to be giving hostages to fortune, but Aiden Dooley's remarkable creation is one which is likely to remain long in the memory of its audiences. ©Bill Dunlop 7 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com. Runs to August 28 at 14.50 every day. Company – Fairbank Productions, Play on Words Theatre, Pat Moylan.
Top Girls. (Page 210). Drams
.Venue Rocket at Demarco Roxy Art House (Venue 115). Address Roxburgh Place. Reviewer Ritchie Smith. Top Girls' is a well-known play by the acclaimed theatre writer, Caryl Churchill, and I was curious to see whether this slice of 80s 'feminism' is entirely edible today. As a three-course meal, two courses are Burger King - but the third course is Gordon Ramsey! The banquet at the start featured - as well as Marlene, your 80s woman newly-promoted to MD of a recruitment agency - various 'historical' figures such as Pope Joan, Lady Nijo from samurai Japan, Isabella Bird the Victorian explorer, etc. The interlapping talk did not quite work for me, though Stephanie Martin as Isabella has vocal artistry and timing. All these women have suffered at the hands of men and men's selfishness. The move to the recruitment agency, though more believable, did not particularly move or compel - the writer rather than the cast, though - and when a very young actress claimed to be '46' a ripple of amused disbelief passed through the audience. But the third section is absolutely electric and entirely justifies this revival. I was idly wondering what specific sacrifice Marlene had made to 'get on' in a man's world. In the third section, set in the Fens in completely convincing domesticity, we find out. Marlene goes to visit her abandoned sister Joyce and her 'niece' Angie. The confrontation is gut-wrenching and tearful - a piece of true theatre that gripped everyone in the audience. All praise to the director Hatty Preston and the three actresses involved, Daisy Fellowes, Abbey Mordue, and Gabriella Wass. They may not need a reviewer to tell them they have momentarily touched greatness here, but I'll tell them - and you the public - anyway. ©Ritchie Smith 7 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com. Runs to August 19 at 18:15 every day, not 13th. Company - About Turn Theatre Company. Company Website - www.aboutturn.co.uk.
Top Gun. (Page 210). Drams .Venue Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33). Address 60 The Pleasance. Reviewer Edmund Gould. If you've seen the film - and let's face it, among the under-30s there aren't many who haven't - this might just be the most fun you'll have all month. Directors Stewart Pringle and Tom Richards have created something more akin to a homage than a spoof, and the result is riotously entertaining. Tony Scott's 1986 movie Top Gun, the blockbuster that brought the world that diminutive superstar Mr Cruise, has been lovingly transferred, scene by scene, to the Edinburgh stage. Accompanied by the gloriously tacky 80s soundtrack of the original, this production's tongue is of course lodged firmly in its cheek. The constant presence on stage of a guitarist bearing a striking resemblance to Axl Rose sets the comic tone from the off. In a stylish touch, the cast burst on to the stage one by one with credits rolling behind them on a giant screen. These guys don't just want to recreate the movie - they want to become the movie - and their shameless devotion pays dividends. The problem of how to recreate fighter jets on stage is solved with a simple extension of the actors' arms, and these mid-air combat scenes are handled with real invention. The story is an uncomplicated All-American tale of men and planes - you can almost smell the testosterone mingling with the jet fuel. Maverick, Owen Findlay, joins the Top Gun training academy with a reputation for being - well, a bit of a maverick, really. Competition comes in the form of his steely rival, Iceman, Charlie Reston, and when he's not tearing up the sky alongside best buddy Goose,Kelly Nottage, Maverick spends most of the time seducing his feisty instructor Charlie,Phoebe Wood-Wheelhouse. In between, we see him brooding on his Harley Davidson and engaging in a lot of hearty homoerotic backslapping with his fellow Alpha-Males. The cast keep a straight face throughout, and their deadpan commitment to their roles frequently has the audience in hysterics. It's all there - the awful karaoke moments, the nonsensical one-liners ('Your ego's writing cheques your body can't cash!'), and - inevitably - that bare-chested volleyball scene. Findlay captures Cruise's cocky swagger with unnerving success, while Reston's imitation of Val Kilmer's gum-chewing Iceman is absolutely spot-on. Richards and Pringle could perhaps do with editing out a few scenes, as there's only so much talk of MiG 28s and 4-G negative dives that the average spectator can take. It must be added, of course, that if you're one of the cultured few who haven't seen the movie, then you'll most likely be utterly baffled. However, if you're a frustrated fighter pilot in civilian clothes, if you wear Ray-Bans even when it's cloudy, if you've always wanted to be a 'wing man' - then you're in for a treat. ©Edmund Gould 19 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Runs to 28 August every day at 17:00. Company - Collapsible Theatre Company.
Touched (Page 210). Drams
-- I
needed an extra dram just to give me something to look at!Venue C Cubed (Venue 50). Address Brodie's Close, Lawnmarket, Royal Mile. Reviewer Lorraine McCann. Note to any companies booking the Temple space in C Cubed for next year - DON'T have the main action of your play take place at a table, because only an eighth of your audience will actually be able to see it. It's difficult to describe just what a suboptimal experience watching this play really was. There could have been stellar acting and heartbreaking emoting going on like crazy at that wee table but it might as well have been radio a lot of the time -- having said which, the dialogue is very good and just about manages to carry it off. Still, putting my frustration to one side, here's what I managed to glean. Playwright and cast member Julia Johnston's new play is all about private sorrows, and the ways in which enforced small-talk with strangers can bring them out. As the publicity says, 'Every wedding has a table of misfits', and here we find a motley, though strangely familiar, collection. There's Moosa, a reserved Muslim doctor; Ann, a recently bereaved but otherwise brash American; and Zev and Jo, a Will & Grace-type gay-best-friend combo. So far, so predictable. But added to and inter- linking these cyphers is the beautifully-observed character of Carly, the wedding planner. With her sing-song 'public speaking' voice and her officious headset (through which we learn of myriad disasters befalling other areas of the reception), she conveys perfectly the experience of being simultaneously in and out of control. The writing also goes off on pleasingly bold tangents, such as allusions to the myth of Icarus and 'allowing' the gay character to attempt to exert a good old-fashioned patriarchal hold over his pregnant friend -- all of which made me wonder if there's a two-act play in here somewhere, one with a little bit more of a backbone? As it stands, however, it does exactly what it says on the tin. With some cute touches, such as a seating plan on the way in, and little bits of cake on the way out, plus a tasteful live guitar soundtrack, Touched is a brilliantly sure-footed piece of entertaining theatre. I'd just advise you to make sure you're first in the queue, and bag a seat near the aisle! © Lorraine McCann, 15 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com. Runs to 28 August at 1215 every day. Company - Abelia Theatre Company. Company Website - www.abeliatheatre.com
True West.(Page 211). Drams
.Venue Assembly at George Street (Venue 3). Address Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street. Reviewer Edmund Gould. Comedians these days aren’t content with just getting a laugh, it seems - some of them want to be taken seriously as actors. Over the last couple of years the Fringe has been graced by Bill Bailey and friends in ‘Twelve Angry Men‘, and a host of comics supporting Christian Slater in ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest‘. Phil Nichol appeared in both productions, and this year his appetite for thespian credibility seems as insatiable as ever. His chosen vehicle - well, I should say one of them, as he seems to be popping up in shows all over town - is Sam Shepard’s True West, staged by the Comedians‘ Theatre Company. Nichol takes the role of Austin, a screenwriter house-sitting for his absent mother in Californian suburbia. In walks the menacing figure of Lee, a suitably boorish Tom Stade, who appears to threaten his younger sibling’s prospects. Fresh from three months on the desert, Lee could do with a shave and a change of clothes, and his aggression doesn‘t sit well with his quiet, conformist brother. Austin nervily attempts to close a deal with Hollywood producer Saul Kimmer (played by fellow comedian Dave Johns), only for Lee to wade in with a script all of his own. Gradually, and it has to be said predictably, the two brothers begin to swap roles, and after some brotherly rough-and-tumble things swiftly begin spiralling towards domestic anarchy. While Nichol and Stade both acquit themselves well enough, it is always a dangerous business using comic actors in a serious play. Johns may look the part, clad in a garish Hawaiian shirt, but he acts with an uneasy hesitancy suggestive of stage-fright. Nichol and Stade revel in the brothers’ amusing repartee, but perhaps overplay the slapstick to the detriment of Shepard’s wider concerns. It‘s a lively interpretation, and Stade in particular displays a talent that extends far beyond mere stand-up - but the RSC won’t be losing any sleep just yet. ©Edmund Gould 14 August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Runs to 28 August (not 14 August) at 13:40. Company – Assembly Theatre, Marshall Cordell and The Comedians‘ Theatre Company.
Two Men Talking. (Page 211). Drams
. Venue Assembly at George St. (Venue 3). Address George St. Reviewer Pippa Tennant. First impressions are not good. Script stumbling and a slow start. Incidentally, the girl behind me is having a snooze. But my rash judgements soon change. These two are not acting. The tentative dialogue is in part improvisation, creating a kind of informal chat. A psychiatrist and film director, childhood friends from South Africa meet in America 30 years on. They explore their life struggles as homosexuals and the prejudices they experience in this moving series of stories. Humbling and comical, these sketches are welded together with Zulu and Hebrew song. We are presented with serious snippets of bullying, but also funny sketches, such as the transition to a Hindu goddess through smoking potent 'Durban poison'. Far from cheesy or pretentious, these endearing characters are definitely worth checking out at the Assembly Rooms. ©Pippa Tennant August 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Runs to 28 August at 15:30 every day, not 14. Company - Barrow Street Productions.
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