There are far far far too many shows on at the Fringe to
talk in detail about everything I’ve seen – Austentatious
became an exception, because…well, read the review and you’ll understand – so
this is a quick-march-review-spectacular through my last few days of
theatregoing. I have truly experienced the variety of the Fringe recently, from
puppets to Footlights, from drag queens and burlesque to Mozart, from packed-out
theatres to the back room of a tiny pub.
I’ll start with the burlesque. It was really
an accident that I ended up at Briefs,
a troupe of male burlesque performers from Australia . We set out to see Showstoppers, the improvised musical (by
the way, we did see it another night – it is INCREDIBLE and I still can’t
believe they improvised the whole thing) but, on finding it was sold out, took
a punt on this “beef-caked and
disorderly” Antipodean show on the advice of a charming man at the
Underbelly box office. I don’t regret it – Briefs
was one of the most hilarious evenings I’ve ever been witness to. Unfortunately
I don’t have a record of cast names anywhere, but our brilliant compère not
only had a range of fabulous outfits, but also kept the audience laughing
throughout the show with a combination of camp flamboyance and wickedly blunt
humour. The acts ranged from hilarious – a truly bizarre lapdance – to
stunningly impressive, notably the aerial silks and rope routines. Not for the
faint-hearted, but also don’t be put off by the ‘burlesque’ tagline if it makes
you nervous: there really is very little here that is gratuitous or would make
anyone uncomfortable. Rather it is an evening of impressive circus/cabaret/vaudeville
acts combined with brashness, occasional crudeness, flamboyance and straightforward
hilarity.
At the other end of the spectrum, one lunchtime
I made my way down to The White Horse on Cannongate to see Dating George Orwell, a one-woman performance playing as part of
the Free Fringe. This show really epitomised the charm and hidden delights of
the Free Fringe; ushered through the tiny pub into a small, cosy back room –
more English country pub than theatre venue – I was at first slightly perturbed
by the intimacy of the venue – was this just going to be horrendously awkward?
In fact, I very much enjoyed the show that followed. Kelly Jones (as lonely
bookworm and birthday girl Pauline Duffy) is in turn adorable, pitiable, funny
and perplexing as she relates her coming-of-age years and the combination of
her love of literature with her sexual awakening. A strange concept perhaps,
but utterly and surprisingly entertaining.
Elsewhere: the Footlights’ daily stand-up show
is a cheap (in fact, free if you’re stingy and don’t donate anything at the
end…) alternative to their tour show. In fact, having seen these performers on
many occasions, I feel that the strength of this year’s Footlights lies in
stand-up rather than sketches, so here is a great opportunity to see some of
their best alongside some guests. My favourite new discovery from this show was
the exquisitely rib-tickling musical comedy of Emerald Paston who closed the
show and sent me on my way giggling appreciatively. For something more
traditional, a modernised version of Mozart’s The Impresario finished yesterday (sorry, I meant to write this up
sooner…) at Paradise in Augustine’s but was
well worth a watch: even if you’re not into opera, you can’t help but be
impressed by this über-talented cast. If you didn’t go, you missed out.
However my biggest MUST-SEE (capitalised
because I can’t emphasise enough how much you should see it) is now The Girl With No Heart at Bedlam
Theatre. I can’t thank the programmers of Bedlam enough this year, as their
whole schedule for the festival is incredible, but this show in particular
really is sensationally beautiful. I can’t sum it up in a couple of lines, so
I’ll leave that review for another time…
No comments:
Post a Comment