Edinburgh Fringe 2013: Pre-festival Picks

Photo by byronv2 under Creative Commons licence

Doesn't time fly! It's nearly that time of year again — when actors, directors, singers, comedians, writers, dancers, ventriloquists, poets, acrobats and performers of all kinds make the trek to Scotland's capital to try their luck at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. And the rest of us follow, whether we're a part of the action, reviewing their efforts, or simply enjoying it from a safe (we hope...) vantage point in the audience. As the world's biggest arts festival grows steadily each year, 2013 will see more shows than ever gracing Edinburgh's venues: at the last count, 2871 events encompassing over 24,000 performers.

With all those options offering thousands of different emotions, experiences and possibilities, how on earth do you separate the good, the bad and the ugly from your Fringe guide? I decided to come up with a Top 10 list of intriguing, promising or exciting things from this year's festival — except, of course, there's too much to choose from so even I had to resort to a Top 15 instead. Check 'em out:

1. I Need A Doctor: The Unauthorised Whosical Adventure — Stormy Teacup Theatre Ltd./Pleasance Courtyard/31 Jul – 26 Aug/£6-11
Being a massive fan of Doctor Who and of musicals, I couldn't really ignore this one. A parody of the beloved BBC One series with songs such as 'Companion's Lament' and 'Phonebox of Love', this is possibly the nerdiest show on the programme, but looks to be providing a healthy dose of silliness at the Pleasance Courtyard this year.

2. Titus Andronicus — Hiraeth Artistic Productions/theSpace@Surgeons Hall/2 – 24 Aug/£10-12
Shakespeare reinvented can go either of two ways, but this production may be on to an intelligent restaging. One of four productions of Titus Andronicus at the Fringe this year, this particular version reimagines the action of the Bard's goriest tragedy in the midst of 1980s Britain. It's a tough play to pull off, with all its over-the-top blood and guts — but in the violence of skinhead culture, the extreme emotions that lead to all this anger, vengeance and bloodshed start to make sense, and to really hit home.

3. Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel — Milk Monitors/Laughing Horse @ The Counting House/1 – 25 Aug/Free Non-Ticketed
Anyone who read my blog during last year's Fringe may remember how I raved about this lot — and I'm so happy to say they're back! Some of the best improv you'll see in terms of quickness and hilarity, and all Austen-themed. Austentatious manages to mock the author's stereotypes whilst showing it holds much affection for her, and based on audience suggestions they construct a brand new Austen novel every day. Last year crowds were queuing down the street to see this, so arrive early! It's lovely, and pretty astounding, to see that the show is still part of the Free Fringe, as I'm sure the troupe could sell out a ticketed event with no problems. A hugely likeable comedy group who will have you in stitches.

4. Rachel Parris: The Commission — Laughing Horse @ The Counting House/1 – 25 Aug/Free Non-Ticketed
Following on from Austentatious, many of their members are involved in other shows at the festival, including the delightful Rachel Parris. Often taking the role of naive, pretty heroine in the Austen-themed tales, her solo performance is a chance to see a wider range of her comedic and musical skills, with topics such as Disney and The X Factor on the promised list of targets. It will be great to see this talented performer showing she's got a darker side and some real bite.

5. No Place Like — Le Mot Juste/Zoo/2 – 26 Aug/£4-9
A piece of physical, verbatim theatre inspired by real-life conversations, this work examines the lives of elderly care home residents: it's nice to see that the play promotes itself as "a celebration of life", rather than presenting these places as morbid or depressing, and there is the promise of comedy as well as poignancy in the variety of memories that emerge.

6. The Pin — Pleasance Courtyard/31 July – 26 Aug/£6-11
Again, this show is no new discovery for me as I saw these guys doing their thing — with much success, I might add — at university in Cambridge. Since then they've been busy making a name for themselves with a sell-out run at last year's Fringe. However, things have changed recently as the trio has become a duo: it'll be interesting to see how this changes their act, but with their usual combination of wit, silliness and deadpan delivery, booking early will surely still be necessary for these rising stars of the circuit.

7. Boys — No Prophet Theatre Company &  Close Up Theatre/C aquila/1 – 26 Aug/£6.50-10.50
Last year No Prophet Theatre (starring Will Merrick of Skins fame) took on Simon Stephens' gritty shocker of a play, Punk Rock. And damn, was it good. They're following up that edge-of-the-seat performance this year with dark comedy Boys, also focusing on a group of adolescents, this time on the edge of adulthood as they graduate from university. Its "drug-fuelled irresponsibility" recalls the glory days of Skins, but No Prophet's 2012 production certainly showed that this group were not going to rely on the TV fame of one of their number. If the ensemble deliver as much electricity as last year, this will be one not to miss.

8. Nirbhaya — Assembly, Riverside Studios & Poorna Jagannathan/Assembly Hall/1 – 26 Aug/£10-16
Yael Farber took Edinburgh by storm in 2012, with a sell-out run for her searingly passionate and volatile Mies Julie, a South African adaptation of Strindberg's 19th century classic that became the hot ticket of the festival. This summer she returns with a piece of new writing, which is set to be even more blisteringly gut-wrenching. Nirbhaya is inspired by the gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey in Delhi in 2012, which opened the floodgates for revelations about the brutal treatment of women in India; Nirbhaya (one of the pseudonyms used in the press for the victim, meaning 'fearless one') attempts to break through the silence that surrounded the issue. Mies Julie was the most powerful piece of theatre I have ever seen, and if Farber brings the same extraordinary rawness and explosiveness to these real-life events, it is sure to rock the Fringe this summer.

9. Dick Whittington — University of Bristol Pantomime Society/theSpace on North Bridge/2 – 17 Aug Aug/£4-7
Ok, ok — I'm a bit biased. There's a small chance one of my loveliest best friends is starring in this. Nevertheless it's also a great option if you want a bit of good old-fashioned fun and silliness with a healthy dose of grown-up wit and humour. These students from Bristol are experts at serving up everything you'd expect from a panto, but with added extras and without too much of the cheese on top. With romance, songs and a dastardly villain, this is sure to put a smile on your face — plus it's great value for money!

10. Voices Made Night — The Magnet Theatre Company & Baxter Theatre Centre/Assembly Hall/1 – 26 Aug/£10-15
It seems that South African theatre is showing us all how it's done. Here the nation's top physical theatre company arrive in Edinburgh with their adaptations of the short stories of Mozambican author, Mia Couto. Described previously as "the cutting edge of South African art and culture", this company seek to relate his tales of love, loss, transformation, damage and forgiveness through the use of physical theatre and ever-changing characterisation and movement. Expect theatre that is passionate, moving and altogether beautiful.

11. Our Glass House — Common Wealth/Summerhall/13 – 25 Aug/Free Ticketed
Promenade and site-specific theatre are always to be found scattered across a fringe festival, and can work either fantastically or terribly. A promenade piece always feels like a risky choice, as the directorial decisions are so different to those of a conventional narrative work. Yet if the effect is truly immersive, it can be incredibly powerful. One such production, which certainly has the potential to be uncomfortable in either a good or bad way, is Our Glass House, a new work exploring domestic abuse. Staging this in a residential house should bring home (literally) the reality of this issue, as it is seen in its true setting rather than within the artifice of a theatre. Using fantasy, songs and choreography, there are a lot of elements in this — it has the potential to be too fragmented to deliver real energy or power, but if it is judged right it could be a truly eye-opening and compelling work.

12. Alice in Wonderland — Oxford University Dramatic Society/C nova/31 Jul – 26 Aug/£4.50-10.50
Having taken on the tricky tale of a murderess, Machinal, at last year's Fringe, OUDS are back with the rather lighter offering of Alice in Wonderland. Bringing out the vibrant insanity and twisty darkness of Lewis Carroll's classic children's novel, this adaptation throws you right into the world of the Mad Hatter and all his weird and wonderful companions — jump down the rabbit hole if you dare!

13. Nish Kumar is a Comedian — Nish Kumar/Underbelly, Bristo Square/31 Jul – 25 Aug/£6-11
After catching him guest-performing at the Footlights Free Show last year (one to look out for, by the way), I was impressed by Nish Kumar's set. Charming, witty, fresh and sharp, he delivers easy gags that nonetheless have a bite to them: certainly a name to keep an eye on, his one-hour show at Underbelly will be a tenner well spent!

14. Desperately Seeking the Exit — Peter Michael Marino/Laughing Horse @ The Counting House/1 – 25 Aug/Free Non-Ticketed
When you've invested a whole heap of time and money into a new West End musical and it closes within a month, you might lock yourself in your house and weep for a year, hiding from the embarrassment and despondency that might accompany such a flop — certainly, you might hide from the critics who gave it a panning. Peter Michael Marino has done no such thing: when Desperately Seeking Susan (the plot of the Madonna film of the same name, with the hits of Blondie crammed unceremoniously into it) turned out to be a bit of an epic fail back in 2007, Marino turned the situation to his advantage. Taking his new show's title from a damning review by Charles Spencer, Desperately Seeking the Exit tells the tale of how his musical flopped so badly, turning a theatrical car crash into an original, brutally honest, camp yet sensitive comedy. A phoenix of a show — from the ashes comes a new triumph.

15. Jonny and the Baptists: Bigger Than Judas — Pleasance Dome/31 July – 26 Aug/£6-10
Some musical comedy to round up my picks of the programme. Last year while editing Ed Fringe Review, my co-editor and I discovered this band and listened to their hilarious album on repeat in times of stress. With catchy tunes, sharp satire and a dash of absolute nonsense, Jonny and the Baptists make you laugh even more each time you hear their songs, as you pick up subtleties and asides that may have slipped by you the first time. More than one visit is a must!

THEATRE REVIEW: End to End (Edinburgh Fringe)

Gramophones Theatre Company

Edinburgh Fringe - Bannermans

25 August 2012

'End to End' is one of the quirky gems waiting to be found amongst the mad mish-mash (technical term) of the Free Fringe: it was recommended to me by two EFR reviewers (their thoughts on the show can be found here http://edfringereview.com/r/UCi_Q25cQ6WR3W81XDx6yg – shameless plug Number I-Don’t-Know-What), and word of mouth recommendations had obviously been doing a great job for the Gramophone Theatre Company. The back room of Bannermans was full to the brim for this performance, their last at the Fringe.

The show presents Hannah Stone, Ria Ashcroft and Kristy Guest's adventure from one end of the country to the other, as they travelled from Land's End to John O'Groats in April 2012. For the most part getting by on the kindness of strangers, their trip has been adapted into a touching and charming piece of theatre about human connections and the way that chance encounters, however fleeting, can make a deep impression. It is heart-warming, funny and at times unexpectedly moving, and the cheery, sparky spirit of these three women makes it impossible not to be swept away by their tales. Each performer has a particular personality trait which they exploit to characterise the narration whilst still managing to stick close to their true selves, making the show honest: there is Hannah the tea-loving worrier, Ria the (almost) fearless adventurer, and Kristy the wide-eyed innocent. The bond and love between these friends is evident and is passed on to the audience through their direct communication with us, sharing in their thoughts, feelings and desires. The involvement of names and stories of the people they met lends a truth to the show, and the three performers allow the audience in to share their personal highs and lows without ever creating a feeling of discomfort. When Kristy speaks of her homesickness, I am sure it strikes a chord with many in the audience: by simply reading a text message from her mother to evoke her feelings, the moment is touching without becoming sickly sweet or too obviously pulling at the heartstrings with long, demonstrative speeches.

The set is cluttered artistically with rucksacks, maps, signposts and blackboards which are updated as the story continues, as the girls rack up miles, costs and increasingly wackier modes of transport, from trains to tractors, space hoppers to scooters, hitch-hiking to handgliders. The use of photographs and film is a nice touch to bring truth to the tales and to add interest to the show, which could have become a little flat with just a spoken narrative. Similarly, the stylised enacting of aspects of the journey is effective, particularly Kristy's representation of handgliding and Hannah's comic episode of a difficult cycle ride. The mimes and models are sometimes childlike, sometimes striking, such as the recreation of the kite-flying at the conclusion of the journey. At times the show can verge on being a little too cheesy: at one point, on being told to shut our eyes, the audience are wafted with cushions (I peeked…) to simulate the sensation of travelling in the open air, which felt rather gimmicky. I can see the effect they were aiming for, but for me this attempt to take us on the journey with them misses the mark slightly and is somewhat unnecessary.

However, this is a very minor point: overall I was captivated by the charm of the show and by the touching journey of the three women. The show ends with every audience member being given a postcard addressed to the women, and a seed. I’m still deciding what to do with mine: but I can’t help but be inspired by the Gramophones’ experiences and their simple but touching rendering of their great British adventure.

Edinburgh Fringe Day 18 - Just for Lolz

(I am aware this is very very late and we are way past Day 18 of the Fringe, for which I humbly apologise...)

Although I'm not trying to fish for sympathy (....OK, yes I am. I can sense I'm probably not getting much after waxing lyrical about the amazing-ness of the Fringe...), this month has not been an easy one. In between all the shows I've been writing about, I have of course been co-editing EFR - and to be honest it's been as stressful as it has been fun. So I figured I need a good laugh every now and then to make the crises fade away. And the Fringe isn't short on comedy shows, although not all of them necessarily manage to provide "a good laugh". So, once again, here's a snapshot of my comedic experiences at the Fringe so far (the ones I witnessed on stage. Not the ones which involve me trying to be cool in front of actors, or going up and down in a hotel lift trying to find a show, or carrying a rucksack packed with whole chickens back to the house. Although I will admit all these things are pretty laughable in their own way.)

Anyway. First up, the Edinburgh Revue - comfortably at home in their own city, right? Well, maybe if they'd been allowed a better venue. The Banshee Labyrinth is not exactly designed for sketch comedy, and quite honestly the background music they play in that place is terrifying, and didn't wash away my initial concern at the name of the building I'd decided to venture into. Yet the Revue don't deserve a scary venue - they really do seem like lovely people and had a lot of fun with their show, throwing themselves into the silliness. As always, some sketches worked better than others, but they started strong with a quick and hilarious history of Edinburgh; with a series of tableaux representing everything from war and rebellion to Harry Potter and Greyfriars Bobby, they had me giggling from the off - a good sign. Beyond this, Adam Todd was consistently strong and I particularly enjoyed his portrayal of Hamlet at the job centre. The gameshow in which a couple have to 'prove their love' also guarantees a lot of laughs throughout, and didn't weaken or lose focus as some other sketches sadly did. Clarisse Loughrey and Katia Kvinge particularly shone in a wide variety of roles, but the whole troupe were likeable purely on the basis of their own enjoyment and enthusiasm. The venue leaves very little space for movement and no option for blackouts between sketches, but in general the Revue worked with these limitations with success. Sometimes the odd awkward laugh-less moment punctuated the fun, and the show is rather rough around the edges. But overall, a relaxed and enjoyable show.

Moving from the back room of the blood-curdling Banshee Labyrinth (it wasn't that bad - I just like alliteration) to the Pleasance Courtyard, and a prize of £2500. Or should that be £25,000? Or maybe £2.5 million? With Mark Watson in charge of proceedings, who knows? Yes, the Chortle Student Comedy Awards 2012. Six pounds for a night of eight of the best up-and-coming comedians, plus Mark Watson - definitely not a bad deal! And I got plenty of laughs for my money. Footlights stalwart Pierre Novellie was flying the flag for Cambridge and got the evening off to a great start: I'd heard a lot of the material before, but that didn't stop me enjoying it immensely and giggling away at his parodying of bio-yoghurt adverts and affectionate mockery of the Isle of Man. Elsewhere Kwame Asante, Hari Sriskantha and David Elms all tickled my funny bone, and huge credit should go to Jonny Pelham for having the audience in full-on hysterics for a good few minutes simply with the words "She died". One act, Johnny F Monotone (aka Sebastian Bloomfield) quite honestly left me baffled rather than amused, but I'll accept that it simply wasn't my kind of humour, and it seemed that others around me enjoyed the set. In the end it was Kwame Asante who took the big prize and - putting aside my Cantabrigian loyalty - I was pretty satisfied by that result: he's clearly a brilliantly talented comedian and a seemed a gracious and humbled victor. Hopefully we'll be seeing much more of this lot in the years to come, and I'll be a bit smug to say I saw and rated them all before they hit the bigtime.

Another chance to spot the rising stars came at the Footlights Free Show: I've been twice now (the beauty of the Free Fringe) and if you've been paying attention you might have read what I wrote about it the other day.... My second visit repeated some of the same acts as my first, but also some new ones. Again, I'd seen a lot of Ahir Shah's set before in Cambridge so probably didn't appreciate it as much as the rest of the crowd, but it went down well. For me the show was made by headliner Nish Kumar, who definitely deserves the label of "rising star" which TimeOut gave to him. His quips and anecdotes lifted my spirits from the symptoms of Fringe fatigue, and sent me back out into the sunshine with a broad grin on my face. Frequent performers at the Footlights' show are the three-man sketch troupe of Rory & Tim (yes, three man...) who are also well worth a watch - details, in another shameless plug, are here: http://edfringereview.com/r/UCDeIuJAT4ScYD6pXDx6yg

I'd definitely recommend them if you've got a free hour; but of course, all my comments on this comedy may be totally different to your own thoughts. This was obvious from the reviews which emerged of this year's offering from the Oxford Revue, 'Prattle Royale'. Now, I really wanted to like this show. I really did, and I went in there putting all my latent distrust of Oxford aside (sorry, it's the Cambridge in me...) and prepared to have a good time. Yet the show really struggled to make me laugh - my review here justifies why: http://edfringereview.com/r/UBkdvLdcRSqP1ieWXDx6yg. However, another certain high profile reviewing body gave the show five stars, raving about its hilarity. Were we at the same show? Had they drastically rewritten the script? Was one of us blind or deaf? Or - most likely - doesn't this just show the subjectivity that is inherent to reviewing, and particularly reviewing comedy: a sense of humour is such a particularly personal trait that it's even harder to provide the opinion of the masses than usual. I don't think this devalues the opinions of our critics in any way: I still firmly believe that critics do a fantastic job in providing feedback for shows and audience and creating conversation and debate about cultural events and performances. Yet performers who are unhappy with a bad review should always remember that there is probably someone in the audience who totally disagreed and was loving it. It just happens this wasn't the person whose job is it to publicly publish their opinion.

As a final note for today, I have a confession to make: I've become an Austentatious-aholic. After my fourth visit to the show, I haven't yet tired of it - the funniest thing I've seen here, without a doubt.

Edinburgh Fringe Day 12 - Variety is the spice of the Fringe

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…

Edinburgh Fringe Day 3 - Attraction & Animosity, Editor's Guilt, and some Improv.

After many nervous and increasingly stressful hours of waiting for deliverymen...We have EFR jumpers! They are bright bright red, shamelessly promotional things of beauty. But they also have a strange, Marmite effect - people are either drawn to you as if you're some kind of big scarlet magnet, or run away in deadly fear. Certainly there are many performers desperate for extra publicity and for reviews, and I love being out on the Royal Mile and chatting to people about their shows - I've heard that last year a couple of our reviewers literally got chased down the Mile by someone wanting a review written of their show. There's such a buzz here and it's brilliant seeing the amount of hard work and passion that goes into an extraordinary variety of shows. But I've heard other tales from reviewers that crowds part in front of them, as if some weird Moses-like aura  is attached to the jumpers. I certainly had my own strange experience when I reviewed my first show yesterday, Rosa Robson and Matilda Wnek's Beard. Entering the Baillie Room at Assembly, the entire room - audience and the show's tech team - turned and stared. Just stared, without any subtlety or embarrassment. Effortlessly grabbing the attention of an entire room of people purely by walking in is maybe every girl's secret dream, but this wasn't quite how I'd imagined it. It was disconcerting, as if they were all thinking - "ARGH. REVIEWER. JUDGEMENT. EVIL EVIL DREAM-DESTROYING CRITIC" (for the record, I didn't destroy any dreams - the girls gave a great show, and you can read my review here! http://edfringereview.com/r/UBpVkrfMQAamNUa9XDx6yg Shameless plug no.2). It reinforced what a strange position being a theatre critic is sometimes - involved in the theatre scene but not part of the gang, as it were. Apparently a strange beast, to be feared and not quite to be trusted... So walking around the Fringe with this big label of 'REVIEWER' stuck to me is going to be interesting.

Next, a small word of warning about the Free Fringe. It can be wacky and surprising and exhilarating and confusing and disappointing - and it can apparently be highly traumatic. One reviewer returned to the house so dumbstruck from such an intensely disturbing one-man show last night that I felt immense editorial guilt for unknowingly putting her through such an experience. So if you're looking for something different and unusual at the Fringe, there's plenty of choice. Just make sure it won't mess up your mental health.

However if you're looking to laugh yourself silly, go and see The Improverts! Yes, you! Go! See them! They are Bedlam Theatre's resident improv troupe from Edinburgh University and provided the best hour of improv I've seen. The cast of 5 were so slick, so tight, so quick and so, so funny: from conversing in sentences beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet to a guessing game involving prosthetic legs smuggled inside bananas from Uruguay, the (surprising) all-male group dealt with everything thrown at them by the game formats and by the audience (including some drunk hecklers - this was a post-midnight show after all). Of course there were elements which didn't quite work, as is the tendency of improv, but in this case the hilarity far outdid the flop moments. David Elms particularly stood out for his accents, quick-thinking, subtlety and wittiness, but he was the leader of a strong ensemble performance. I can't recommend them enough - go go go before they sell out!!

And now if you'll excuse me, the sun is shining and I'm off to meet a star of Skins and review his play. Laters.