FESTIVAL
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A SAVAGE REMINISOENCE AND COMIC MONOLOOUE
A powerful and thought-provoking double bill. the first part starting where The Tempest leaves off. with Caliban in Prospero‘s abandoned library after he and Miranda have left the island. Graham Eatough takes us through a wide-ranging meditation. comic and serious. on the ways we learn and mediate our experience. the various kinds ofmaps. literal and metaphorical. we draw to guide ourselves. the oppressive or empowering force of language. It'san intriguing. highly literary piece. effectively performed. To follow. we have an anything-but-eomic monologue from Sarah Kane. a brief. shocking. baldly told account ofan oral rape. the raw honesty ofthe performance compellingour attention. (Sue Wilson)
I A Savage Reminiscence and Comic Monologue (Fringe) Theatre Zoo (Venue21) until 25 Aug (not Sun 18). 8pm.£3.5() (£3).
V THEATRE
COWBOYS, INDIANS AND WAITRESSES
A huge debt is owed to The Unlikely Theatre Company. The Fringe programme gives the running time ofthis play as 9(lminutes. In fact.the whole sorry episode is over in just over halfan hour. but that is about the only redeeming feature of our American friends‘ performance.
The acting is straight out ofthe Ronnie Reagan Finishing School only without the polish. The script makes all ofthosc good 01' American references to ‘Nam and the plight ofAmerican Indians. but then leaves it at that (obviously the author feels that simply by mentioning such issues he is somehow at the forefront of avant-garde theatre). Only worth going to see if you are a Fringe group looking for clues on how not to stage a show. (Philip Parr)
I Cowboys, Indians and Waitresses (Fringe) The Unlikely Theatre Company. Randolph Studio (Venue 55) 225 5366. 16. 19. 21 . 23 Aug. 8pm. £2.50(£1 .50).
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CINDY SLAGGIT AND THE 7 AGES OF SUGARMAN
You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy Cindy's show. but it helps.
Fast talking. highly strung and seriously meshugenah. Cindy-aka Sara Sugarman — has more than her share of
hang-ups.Predictablysex ;
is her main talking point. And parents. Haring around the studio. disguised first as her father. davening with a newspaper on his head. and then her mother. ‘oy veying‘ in a rich RP accent. Cindy Slaggit exhauststhe audience almost as much as she exhausts herself.
Her style is quirkily intimate. warmly biographical and completely refreshing. If you‘re fed up with the same old comedians being dusted down and fitted in the same old rehabs. Cindy Slaggit offers a real alternative. (Aaron Hicklin)
I Cindy Slaggitt and the Seven Ages olSugarman (Fringe). Marco‘s Leisure Centre (Venue 98). 229 8831). until Aug 17.
9. 15pm.£4 (£3).
PASSION
An excursion into Berkoff country by a group of Reading graduates. who snarl and swear a lot in an attempt to recreate the frisson of inner City violence.
The hero Justin is giving up the gang. and is lead by a white clad Virgin Mary figure to self-realisation via a series ofcringingly turgid and heavily symbolic encounters. which resemble a particularly badly scripted Thought For The Day.
Lacking any sense of the reality of inner city life (no shell suits here) and given some inadvertantly hilarious dialogue— ‘There are no masters. Only those on the other side' — this play could be a huge hit ifthey played it forlaughs.
Still. you have to admire the grim determination of actors who can say. ‘He likes the colour ofblood. He is deafto its pain.‘ with a straight face. (Stephen Chester)
I Passion (Fringe) Jomijules. Festival Club (Venue 36) 650 2395. 16. 19. 21.23 Aug.8pm.£3.50 (£3).
V THEATRE UPSTREAM
This is based on one ofthe
V THEATRE -
BX-91: BEAU COMME LA GUERRE
Into the midst of a post-industrial holocaust steps a bizarre figure who looks like a cross between Marcel Marceau and a demented baglady. Her delicate mime is suddenly interrupted by a deafening explosion, followed by the dual growls of a revved-up car engine and grinding heavy metal guitar. In case you hadn’t noticed, the
circus is back in town.
Each year Archaos move closer to becoming more of a physical theatre spectacle, which retains elements of surreal comedy and thrilling big top skills, than an out and out circus troupe. This year’s show is more
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openly sexual within Its ‘lall of man' context, but with the exception of the cruder metal tones of the accompanying band, the structure and several olthe individual items are the same as last year‘s oilering. That said, you still won’t see anything as stunning as the show’s climax or anything as shocking as the flares on the guitarist's trousers elsewhere at the Festival. (Alan Morrison)
tax-91: Beau Comme La Guerre (Festival) Archaos, Leith Links, 225 5756, untlll Sept (not Mons), 8.30pm (Sat/Sun also 3pm), £10(£8/£4).
"3' L
“it:
chapters in Julian Barnes's History Of T/lt’ World In [0’ 3 Chapters. and the literary source doesn't exactly keep a low profile. Barnes presented his tale of a hellraising actor filming a Mission-ster movie in the South American jungle in the form ofletters home to the actor's girlfriend. So does this production. What we have then isa stage adaptation ofa writer's depiction of written material. Unsurprisingly . this does not give much scope for theatrical dynamism. The letters are read well-enough. the narrative is a gripping one. but Barnes's giftsof irony and verbal wit do not translate well to the stage. A short story masquerading as theatre. (Tom Lappin) I Upstream (Fringe) Paradox Theatre. Wee Red Bar (Venue 73) 229 1003. until 17 Aug9pm. 26—31 Aug. 4.30pm. £3
L (£2)
CARLUCCO AND THE QUEEN OF HEARTS
Bonnie Prince Charlie is a eantankerousold pisshead. exiled in Florence with his young wife. Louise. She's shagging the poet playboy Count Alfieri. w ho is pretending to court her lady-in-waiting. while flattering the Prince by his artistic interest in Mary Stuart. Oor Charlie - a grand performance by Robert Carr—still fosteringthe delusion that he will return to take up the English throne. triesin vain to hold on to the tattersofhislife.
George Rosie's extremer vv ell written play re-cv'aluatcs the Jasobite legends. turning them into potent allegory about the disintegration of this country 's identity. Delicately balancing information and entertainment. Fifth
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Estate proves that weighted social drama is no longer the mainstay of Scottish theatre. (David
5 Mackenzie)
; ICarlucco and theOueen olHearIS(Fringe)Fifth
Estate. Netherbow
(Venue 3(1) 5569579. until 31AuginotSuns).8pm. £6 (£4).
ABARET
BU” ' ED
I'm sure the dope they're burning in thisis real. It looks real and even smells real. Btit then againthat's just probany one ofthe many tricks played on the audience. along with the shifting realities. and changing pointsot' view
vs hich. for example. have you i'evilingthe deviousness of the drug squadone minute and
sy mpathising with them the next.
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The play is a far cryfroni
ioss-stick drug culture; by following the i'epeictissions for two easy -going Scots flatmates tll Ll l‘tlsl 'tor ptissCssitill'.
8PI/10PM
it has always got at least one foot firmly stuck in the ‘real' world ofcourt orders and housing eviction. But even here there are shades ofthe Freak Bitilhe‘ffi. Very amusing. (Robert Alsteadl
I Busted t Fringe) Sieve and Sheais Theatre
\\ at'lvshop (\‘enae 2())226 5425. until 24 Aug(not Sun 18). 8.3(lpm.£3.5(l (L2 511).
JIM TAVARE it's a sign oi Jim Tavare‘s popularity that on the first night of his show he managed to fill the room with adoring fans. Bowin hand. ‘Bassie‘. his trusty double bass by his side. he strings together silly and irreverent musical ‘inCCdOICS. with dead-pan expression. between songs that hash up
ev erything from Mozart to
Elvis.
Or else he bumbles about stage. gets entangled in the microphone wires. and plays the despotic band leader unplugging his back-up guitarist when he begins to upstage him. With a very funny death machine act by Al Murray this is a thoroughly entertaining way to start the evening.
(Robert Alstead).
I Total Sellout '90 (Fr:nge)Jim Tavarc. Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428. 9—31 Aug (not 13.29).8pm.
£6.50 £7.51)(£5.5(l/£6.50 .
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BUSHWHACKED IN AMERICA
.-\ short (35 minutes) but rathei sweet slice of temale life from two coiiiediennes from across the pond. Yes. they do talk about periods. but it does happen to be a fairly ":CIl source of(grim) etuiioui‘ for at least one of the sexes. They talk about other things too. often inspired by US daytime TV — an adroit Oprah Winfrey spoof featuring a self-help group addict; an en ioyable it predictable parody of \ew-Age-(‘alifornian types discussing food which unexpectedly slides into a near-obscene succession of double entendres— there'safair bit of mileage to be had out of a line like ‘Love your banana before you car. it »\ll ll‘. all.pretty good tuii (Sue Wilson)
I Bushwhacked in America (Fringe l I iill Street Theaiie (Venue 4i i 225
' 794. tllllll 2-1Aug. $.j-5piii. 25731 Aug. ".(lgifvrr. L" . 22.511).
The List to — .‘I August 199151
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