FESTIVAL 8""l10m
CHARLIE’S ANGELS on re HELL
Lurking in the hairy. overweight acting frame of Graham Norton is a comedian desperately trying to escape: perhaps that explains why Charlie '3 Angels Go To Hell falls down so badly. Norton is a confident, energetic performer who demands the audience pay attention to his monologue. But a comedian also needs decent material — unfortunately Norton has very little.
On paper it‘s only a vaguely funny notion anyway: Norton enters a fantasy world in which he discovers his homosexuality by becoming the ‘fourth Angel' with the babe- action translated to a San Franciscan hippy commune. Even the really funny joke about Natalie Wood‘s swimming deficiencies is not enough to save this from Seraphic Hades. (Philip Dorward) I Charlie’s Angels Go To Hell (Fringe) Graham Norton, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550. until 3 Sept (except 24 Aug, 1 Sept) 8.30pm, £6/5 (£5/4).
v COMEDY BLOHDE AHD
Belly Dune:th
Gentlemen, only go to see Dolly Dupree if you have asbestos underwear because she’s after your meat and two veg: ‘1 give
V THEATRE HAPPY BIRHDAY M
iii'w I Q
Marilyn Monroe’s involvement with the Kenoedys inspired a bucket-load oi conspiracy theories, many of which can be found in the 30-odd source materials listed in this show’s programme. More homage than drama, lick Bird’s script takes the tom of an interview/trial, as a nameless interrogator quizzes Jackie Kennedy, one of the survivors of that era and
clearly the villain here.
good. mind.’ she quips. She does. you know, and why not. it‘s in vogue for male comedians to be laddish: Dolly Dupree is girlish but still manages to be razor-sharp in her delivery.
Her constantly topical material covers everything from male drivers to Scousers being useless in bed to raves. There were also what are fast becoming this year‘s Fringe staples — Stephen Milligan and Fred West. The main complaint is that Dupree is rather lacking in the vocal harmony department, but support act Suzanne Foster came to the rescue with a series of dirty faces and crude songs that make Les Dawson seem genteel. (Philip Dorward)
I Blonde and Brainy (Fringe) Dolly Dupree, Southside (Venue 82) 667 7385, until 3 Sept. 9.15pm, £5 (£4).
V COMEDY CRAIG FERGUSON
He’s been around a while, has Craig Ferguson, and it shows - his delivery is polished and his bile has been concentrated into a particularly corrosive venom.
Ferguson delves deep into the collective Scottish psyche, pulls out the worst elements and siaughters them. Going all
\-&.N
Happy Birthday Mr Presidentdead loss?
Perionned adequately enough, the ' text ls largely research, and says nothing revelatory. Those familiar with the myth will already know the anecdotes, so until something comes along that digs deeper best stick to the books. (Hell Cooper)
Happy Birthday Mr President (Fringe) Bunbury Touring, Hill Street Theatre (Venue 41) 226 6522, 10—31 Aug, 8pm,
£5 (£4).
the way from the important, such as Caledonian sectarianism, to the trivial, like farting etiquette in Cumbemauld.
He looks them all in the
eye, pulls a revoltingly sleazy face and then delivers a vicious headbutt. Gentle humour it ain‘t.
Tonight's audience loved it — not one heckler in over two hundred folk. Ferguson doesn‘t need to prove anything. but he did. (Jonathan Trew)
I love, Sex, Death and Weather - Craig Ferguson (Fringe) Assembly Rooms (Venue 3), 226 2428, until 21 Aug, 8pm. £8/£9 (£7/8).
V COMEDY ‘ ALAN DAVIES
Alumna-its hunt:
a PRESIDENT
toilets and a hungry alsatian. Nothing special there, you say. but when added to the secret Davies ingredient. such topics become curiously side- splitting. Even the Star Trek jokes are funny. (Andrew Bumet)
I Alan Davies (Fringe) Gilded Balloon (Venue 38) 226 2151. until 3 Sept (not Tues). 8.15pm. £6.50 (£5.50).
THE LAIRD OF SAMOA
""" This new piece by
Shambling and shaggy. with a nasal twang reminiscent of Mick Jagger (but probably attributable to the cold he‘s caught in our fair city). Alan Davies hardly
‘ seems the type to unleash
a wired, Ben Elton-style tirade of barbed invective. What‘s more, he isn’t. Hotly tipped in this year's fizzy water stakes, Davies has a style to match his appearance: meandering, casual, mundane. But, like the best observation comics.
he has a way of sifting out_
the absurd from ordinary experience. and distilling it into a stream of anecdotes. Featuring among his best material are dust mites, Starsky and Hutch, aeroplane
RESERVATIONS ADVISABLE
biographical monologue specialist John Cargill Thompson celebrates the RLS centenary by presenting Stevenson at Valima. the estate in Samoa where he passed his final years. Following a formulaic device. the consumptive but spirited Stevenson, anticipating death, looks back over his life, describing and — to
t some degree -— reliving it for the audience.
John Shedden brings poise and vivacity to the role. though his pasted-on moustache and silenced cough fail to convince. But despite the centrality of a theme (‘Ifl can make my father proud 1 can do : anything'), it’s a ' meandering and rather uninvolving account which more often tells than shows, and fails to exploit fully the theatrical
V THEATRE
potential of a one-man show. (Andrew Bumet) I The laird oi Samoa (Fringe) Cafe Royal (Venue 47) 556 2549. until 3 Sept (not Suns 21. 28 Aug) 9.30pm. £5 (£4).
COMPANION PIECE
Melanie Stewart‘s Companion Piece is a twisted and macabre adult fairy-tale told through tough. expressive dance and disjointed passages of text and song. with a score by Scottish composer Peter Livingstone. The companion of the title is Darya Stanley. whose wild. muscular grace and piercing gaze add a new dimension to US dance stalwart Melanie Stewart‘s usual bold and brassy performance.
A giant Alia: in li’mztlerluml set becomes a nightmare nursery where painful childhood
-' memories are played out
Melanie Stewart twoiwoman e circus
CHARCOAL STEAKS & BURGER
by two demonic girl- children in a surreal fight to the death. It‘s a bizarre turn of events to say the least. but worth a viewing for the brilliantly staged strangeness of it all. (Ellie Carr)
I Companion Piece
(Fringe) Melanie Stewart
Dance. Theatre Workshop (Venue 20) 226 5425, until 20 Aug. 11.45pm. £6 (£3.50).
SUN TO FRI 6.00pm to 10.30pm ALL DAY SAT 12.09pm to 10.30pm LICENSED RESTAURANT
.v $t""‘
The List 19—25 August I994 55