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Five good reasons to lay off the afternoon drinking, as singled out by Ellie Carr.
I Electricity: The Caged Pony ‘A twisted genius’ and proud of it is our Ben Moor. High voltage comedy capers for animal lovers everywhere. Electricity: The Caged Pony (Fringe) Ben Moor, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 3 Sept. 3pm. £6 (£5); £7 (£6).
I Bow to the 3088! Another powerful blast from the Boilerhouse engine as Barry Graham’s raucous portrayal of a psychopathic Christ brings faith in the modern world (and half the show‘s scenery) crashing in around your ears. Bow to the Beast (Fringe) Boilerhouse. Traverse Theatre (Venue 15) 228 1404, until 21 Sept, various times, £7 (£4). I Marga Gomez in Memory Tricks As glamorous dykes everywhere leap out
of the showbiz closet, San Francisco‘s own Marga Gomez adds a touch of
lesbian chic to the art of the one- woman show at this year's Festival. Memory Tricks is a powerful, witty monologue that traces the steps of Gomez’s flamboyant Latino showgirl mother and her painful slide into senility.
Marga Gomez in Memory Tricks (Fringe) Marga Gomez. Assembly Rooms. 226 2428, until 3 Sept, 4pm, £7 (£6); £8 (£7).
Marga Gomez : in ‘Memory Tricks’
Thom Dibdin sees delightful dyke Margo Gomez deliver a sizable chunk of comic therapy.
Marga Gomez has been re-birthed. Not rebom. if she had been she‘d come back as a shape-changing ball of fun. but re-binhed: she‘s paid good dollars for the sort of therapy which puts you in touch with the pain you suffered as a life Latin types slouching and prancing child. freeing it up and allowing your ! across the stage, emotions to come to terms with their Leading the dance is Gomcz‘s mother, abuse. Thousands of strange Americans 3 Margo the Exotic Dancer, whose idea do it and it probably is a help — the of heaven would involve 17th century blackhead of bitter memories squeezed, France, probably decked out in mind and body focused. they get baCk 5 reproduction furniture. Never mind the to their consumer life-styles. poverty and deprivation. you could
Not our Marga, though. She had far wear low cut dresses in the moming. [00 interesting :1 childhood [0 leave it as Someone so completely dissimilar to a grubby stain on the side of the mirror. [he T.shir[ and baggy-[fougcfcd lesbian Th6 tragic. chubby. Child has been put ‘ she produced is difficult to to good use in this captivating 8hOW. comprehend. A conniving, treacherous, Technically we are talking monologue glamorous victim of fashion, her here. an hour or so‘s introduction to the mantra would be that a daughter always family that formed her. but she wants to be with her mother. Her reproduces their every mannerism so daughter's mantra is 1'1] never be like completely that you’d be forgiven for my mother‘. remembering a full cast of larger-than- The pitfall of such reminiscence-based
Margo Gomez: queen of comedy reborn theatre is that the coruscating cast of bit part players — father, step father and family friends — could end up as a selection of loosely hung together cameos. Gomez neatly avoids the trap by weaving the initially almost farcical representations into the increasingly tragic story of her mother‘s life. Be assured. this is comedy, but it is comedy with a poignant sting in its tail. Gomez’s re-binhing cost her $90 an hour. it was worth every cent and a bargain to boot: she has used it to produce a thought provoking show that never ceases to entertain.
l Marga Gomez in “Memory Tricks’ (Fringe) Marga Gomez, Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 3
I Sept (not 24 Aug), 4pm. £7/£8 (£6/£7).
intellectuals engage us in a linguistic [ousting tournament on the semantic identity of croissants and bananas in a sexual textual farmland. We then zoom over to the fashion-victim land of grunged-out Dutch MTV presenters. Swaying about like Vleeble-Wobbles, the duo deal a sharp and hilarious blow to pre-lungle-post-grunge yoof presenters and before you can say
num- Kittens Go Grrrrril
A trawl through comedy acts can be a rather disheartening affair, that is if
you failed to chance upon the ‘repressed lesbian leanings’ we’re “1.; as, a .: . _., proverbial roses on the dungheap: Mel transpon to St Gybil’s School for I and.“ my,“ powerful words
Girls. llere, the eyeball-rolling acting school is in full effect as the Antipodean PE teachers Ms Martin and Ms Derrick deal with verrrrca outbreaks and unvoiced feelings on a sports trip to iceland.
This is only a frantic whin through the ribtickllng repertoire of Mel and Sue, though honourable mentions must go to the trust-funded llanpstead Two, crimebusting Aunty Babs and Jenny, a
and Sue. A pair of whippersnappers who have alarmingly carved out their own cubbyhole in a place where Joyce Grenfell meets Dick Emery in a head- on collision, they purvey a one-way ticket to rollicking laughter land.
For the duo of Giedroyc and Perkins specialise in a rare breed of polished humour that is clever and contemporary (without going up their own orifices) and completely daft to
from the lips of acclaimed 7.84 actress Elizabeth McLennan as she reads extracts from Rigoberta Menchu's Nobel prizewinning account of her life in Guatemala 1 Rigoberta. Hard hitting stuff, even if John McGrath has set the reading in a Scottish garden centre. Reading Rigoberta (Fringe) Freeway Stage. Theatre Workshop, 226 5425. until 3 Sept, 5.45pm, £6.50 (£5).
I III The Pink Catch a short, sharp
DOM- Mel and Sue: smart, sassy kittens of comedy 300"" m “W930” and a “"31 shock of physical theatre in the Nofit The first set of loobyloo characters ‘ scratch their way to the top Mang Clarke, gallon the hype - the State Circus Big Top as kai
to roll off the comedy conveyor belt into that twilight zone that has the French and Saunders of the so: have Anderson directs Kim nibrook in a
are the paramilitary Brownie leaders. little elves and imps training Sits-style arrived, only they’re sassier, smarter funny and touching look at time spent
Seemingly innocuous camp leaders of for their Homemakers badge with a and even funnier. (Ann Donald) alone,
the .lean Brodie school, they have difference. Kittens Go Grrrrrlilll (Fringe) 1,, The pink (Fringe) Nofit 5mm Circus,
dangerously overdosed on one The Camille Paglia-inspired post- Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until N017, 5,0“. cm.“ Big T0,, (venue 109)
Brownie scone too many and slipped structurallst, post-modern llew York 3 Sept, 3.30pm, £6 ($15)] £7 (26). 662 1003' 22-24 gel". 4,,,,,, £5 (£4),
The List l9-25 August l994 31