Festival film see page 65 0 Festival art see page 72
THEATRE Sherlock Holmes: Murder In Edinburgh ****
Murder mystery tour with Sherlock Holmes and friends
What could be more pleasant on a summer afternoon than a stroll around Dean Village in the company of Sherlock Holmes and his friends? Although this play is loosely based on Conan Doyle's ’The Problem Of Thor Bridge’, purists should beware; this is no straight adaptation. Holmes and Watson are introduced as young men, and various other famous Edinburgh residents, such as Chopin, Robert Louis Stevenson and even Conan Doyle
. himself make an appearance. However,
this shouldn’t detract from your enjoyment; it’s a superbly conceived piece of theatre, performed in an ideal setting, by a cast who evidently enjoy every minute of the show. (Kirsty Knaggs)
I Sherlock Holmes: Murder In Edinburgh (Fringe) Frantic Redhead Productions, Randolph Studio (Venue 55) 225 5366, until 28 Aug (not Sun) 3pm, £8.
THEATRE
Apes' Society **
Anthro ologica/ exp/oration from Iceland/3
This tale of apes and man sharing a tropical rain forest two million years ago features lots of grunting with a bit of proto-feminism thrown in. It is nice to see a Fringe production that is not dialogue led, but it does present the audience with a rather stiff test of endurance. It’s a bit like sitting through an afternoon screening of One Million Years BC with a bellyful of temazapan: dreamy, innocuous but strangely watchable. The cast however are
; excellent and brave beyond the call of 3 duty. (Paul Dale) 1 Apes’ Society (Fringe) The Travelling
; 2256575, 78, 20, 23,
Theatre, Augustine’s (Venue 752) 225 6575, until 28 Aug (not 27) 4.45pm, £6.50 (£5.50).
THEATRE
Twelfth Night *tti Shakespeare transported to Africa Over The Edge removes Shakespeare’s genial tale of love, mistaken identity and rascality from Elizabethan Europe and locates it in the sunny climes of a fictitious Southern African country. The company’s neo-African take on the Bard is hugely entertaining. Bedecked in loud, elaborate garb, and with a dazzling array of hats, the five-man Zimbabwean ensemble inject this fantastical romp With colour and vitality. Every member of the cast gives a strong, confident performance and, more often than not, it has its enraptured audience guffawing with laughter. This Visually engaging and ingenious production is a joy to behold. (Dawn Kofie)
Twelfth Night (Fringe)
Over The Edge,
Augustine’s (Venue 752)
THEATRE
Splendour *****
Political thriller with emotional bite
Four women are stuck in a room; a bejewelled Prada-clad dictator's wife; her gentle but simmering best friend; a renowned international war photographer and an interpreter with sticky fingers and a penchant for Toy Story, crockery and anything that belongs to the others. It is an evening on the brink of civil war; they are waiting for the errant head of state to return to have his photograph taken, and tension is rising. In Splendour, writer Abi Morgan throws a clock in the air and shoots it to pieces. The play starts at the end, and ends a few minutes from the start. She achieves a dreamlike quality as the plot goes back and forth, rewinds and forward winds. The actors move in and out of time with the precision of dancers, and the result is mesmerising. Morgan uses language to explore the women's relationships: the photographer can't communicate with the other three characters and is dependent on the interpreter;
What lies behind the smiles in Splendour? proud throughout, well aware of the assumptions the
others are making of them and making assumptions in return. This is a masterfully clever piece of writing and
some characters are excluded from, but overhear, conversations; lies are told yet little nuggets of truth are revealed. But at no time does this descend into an emotional love-in. The women remain dignified and
COMEDY Stiff - Undertaking Undertaking ***** Dead cert of a killer hit
This show is a real beaut: perfect punning, gruesome slapstick, the
. epitome of knockabout farce, all played
exquisitely straight.
Toby Park plays Forbes Murdston, a thesp trying to put on a serious tragedy based on the death of his own Wife. His three inept co-performers play the funeral directors. What follows is a stylish hit With spot-on performances from a wonderful ensemble cast: Aitor Basaur, Stephan Kreis and Petra Massey. They break moulds with as much refreshing originality as Not The Nine or Faw/ty Towers did in their day.
DeVised by the entire company With director Cal McCrystal, Stiff is Fringe First material. (Gabe Stewart) Stiff —
Undertaking Undertaking (Fringe) Spymonkey, Club Pleasance @ Potterrow (Venue 23) 556 6550, until 28 Aug (not 21) 5.45pm, £7/f8
(f 5/f 6).
THEATRE I Kissed Dash Riprock!!! **** ; One grrrrrrl’s confession Cyndi Freeman is a smart cookie with i a big heart. She co-authored (with director Ellen Groves) this funny, touching semi-auto- biographical monologue about a celebrity crush versus true but elusive love. The Dash of the title is the superstar object of struggling, neurotic-but-nice, American-Jewish actress-writer Freeman’s wishful
Cyndi Freeman shows she’s all heart
the performances are exceptional, creating a fluid, hypnotic production. (Viv Franzmann)
I Splendour (Fringe) Paines Plough, Traverse (Venue 75) 228 7404, until 26 Aug (not Mon) various times, £9 (£6).
affections. Will he or won't he seduce her, or vice-versa, or will they ever achieve something deeper? A sharply- observed script yields a warm show with a wonderful central performance. If you live your life in a cross between panic and thrills, see this.
(Donald Hutera)
a / Kissed Dash Riprock!!! (Fringe) Cyndi Freeman, Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 28 Aug, 4pm, £8.50/f950 (USO/£8.50).
COMEDY Perret 8: Limb *‘k‘k Intergalactic nonsensical double act Space Boy is based very, very loosely around the fictional double act of a comedy club compere and a boy from, well, space; with the non-linear ’plot’ jumping haphazardly from quantum mechanics and time travel to space, beer and Britney Spears. There are unscheduled voice-overs, fake arguments and even an intermission in the middle of the show for a snooze, and the end result is a hit and miss affair which only rarely tickles the funny bone. Although the two play off each other very well, this sort of post- modern stuff has been done already, and better, by the likes of Lee and Herring. (Doug Johnstone) \
I Space Boy (Fringe) Perret 8 Limb, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 28 Aug (not 2 7) 3.50pm, £6.50/f7. 50 (£5. 50/f6.50).
. \~
25, 27 Aug, ’ . A: . 4.35pm, £6 (£4). / , anv‘“ \.
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T’E UST FESTIVAL GUIDE 35
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