FESTIVAL 6pm—8pm
THEATRE REVIEW
Anna Weiss fir * fir
Prepare to be upset by this powerful new play commissioned by the Traverse from Scots writer Mike Cullen. A rivetting drama of recrIminatIon and revelation, it plays jury as a young woman accuses her father of child sex abuse, having ’recovered’ her memories Via hypnosis by her manipulative and misanthropic therapist
Control relationships, the agony of injustice and the reliability of memory are tackled as the audience is kept svvithering over the verdict — IrreSIsthly recalling Ariel Dorfman's Death And The Maiden.
Cullen’s spare, nimble dialogue and Vicky Featherstone's muscular production Will leave no scalp free of tingles and implant a lingering memory. (Andrew Burnet)
I Anna Weiss (Fringe) Traverse Theatre Company, Traverse Theatre (Venue 75) 228 7404, until 30 Aug (not 78, 25) times vary, [ 70 (f 6).
THEATRE REVIEW The Naked Guest
* ‘k at
The life of the great Rus5ian writer Alexander Pushkin seems to have been more exciting than his poetry, This play,
For five nights only!
One of the world’s greatest singer-pianists Ivor Novella Award-winning Gerard Kenny along with two of the Fringe's funniest songwriters Jim Drite and Walter Nimmo
GERARD KENNY AND ABRACADABARETS AT THE COLLEGE
Music and laughter
Royal College of Physicians, 9 Queen Street
16-20 August, 7.30pm
Tickets from Fringe Box Office
focusmg on the events leading up to his death In an illegal duel In 1837, may be little more than an educated guess at what happened — but is intriguing nonetheless.
Intrigue, in fact, is never In short supply in this Witty, intelligent script. Wanting to know what happens keeps the audience attentive through moments of clumsy staging and unclear verse-speaking. The ending is a little anti-climactic (that’s the trouble with real life), but this is a stimulating — if not especially movmg — play (Ed Grenby)
I The Naked Guest (Fringe) Animus, The P/easance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 26) 7.45pm, f5.50/£6.50 (£4.50/f550)
COMEDY REVIEW Marcus Brigstocke *‘k‘k
It must be every stand-up's nightmare: you start to take the piss out of someone in the audience, and it turns out to be your auntie One star for Marcus straight off, just for going ahead With all the dick jokes in his rOutine
Mostly then, Brigstocke rounds up the usual subjects mobile phones, traumatic haircuts, childhood humiliations Conventional stand-up stuff, perhaps, but he's got some good one-liners (which seems to be strangely rare on this year’s Fringe). This, his first solo Edinburgh show, is not quite the triumphant debut predicted in some quarters - but it’s not at all bad (Ed Grenby) I Marcus Brigstocke (Fringe) The Honeycomb (Venue 739) 226 2 7 5 7, until 30 Aug (not 28) 7pm, [6 50 (£5.50)
COMEDY REVIEW Three
****
Self-confessed fat, speccy, sweaty dweeb Robin Ince kicks off the night's chuckle-zone With amusing musings on language r— such as his alternative interpretation of ‘turd burglar' And he does a mean John Peel take-off
l I
Self-confessed Irish/Italian Catholic
? Manchester City fan Lucy Porter
endears herself no end by InVItIng the
audience to sniff her oxters In the interval Leading you gently along a
yellow-paved path before disembowelling you With a killer
punch-line is her modus‘ operandi
Self-confessed sexy, beardie weirdo
Martin BIgPIg closes things manic'ally With lots of running, beard impersonations, audience
j 'Involvement' and firing a gun With his
nipple Hot stuff (Brian Donaldson)
I Three (Fringe) Cafe Royal (Venue 47)
556 2549, until 30 Aug (not 28),
7 75pm, [6 ([4 50)
THEATRE REVIEW ‘ Enemy: Project Ibsen
*‘k‘k
Ibsen's Enemy of the People Is still as relevant today as when it was first written, pToVIng that the more things change, the more they stay the same With Its unmasking of corrupt small- town politics, and opportunistic and
manipulative journalists, it fits neatly
r—T
PASSEPARTOUT
H
LONDON BOMBAY
Lunch l2-2.30pm Early Dinner 6o7pm Dinner 7-l0pm
HONG KONG
NEW YORK
Why Travel The World When You Can Eat Here?
CUISINE FOR THE COSMOPOLITAN
£5.50 (2 courses) £7.00 (3 courses)
£l2.50 (3 courses)
02.50 (2 courses) £|6.00 (3 courses & coffee) BOOKING ADVISABLE Also serving light meals. coffees. beers 8: wines all day from IOam
24 DEANHAUGH STREET, STOCKBRIDGE 332 4476
58 THE “81' 15—21 Aug 1997
l l l
into our QXDE‘TIGHCC , In this adaptation by the American university group Aurora, Ibsen's cynical take on human nature Is put across With a strong mixture of physical theatre, Video prOjectIon and acoustic
effects Most of the time this use of
technology works -— but the technical Wizardry also contributes to an
’ occasionally stop-go performance.
(Marc. Lambert)
A I Enemy PrO/ect Ibsen (Fringe) Aurora,
Souths/(Te Courtyard (Venue 76) 667 § 2272 until 23 Aug (not 78, 20) 6 40pm, [6 50 ([5)
THEATRE REVIEW Shopping And Fucking
****
Mark Ravenhill’s alleged masterpiece of
. millennial nihilism is in some ways
rather dated A sterile hotel-room set suggests the 80s, while the theme the struggle for humanity In a society obsessed With marketable commodities - also belongs to the Thatcher era The plot revolves around three twentysoinethings caught up In enterprise culture With a capital E — 300 pills-worth - and a lost boy's incest-warped sexuality. Though dialogue and acting are sharp, the hype hangs on taboo-breaking.
Onstage drug-taking Is old hat, While
gay sex, however credibly simulated, really shouldn't shock these days Each
act offers a chilling climax, but What It
amounts to is a series of well written snapshots of late 20th century zeitgeist IAndrew Burnet)
I Shopping And Fucking (Fringe) Out Of Joint/Royal Court, Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 30 Aug (no? 26) 7 30pm, [IO/[ll (EB/[70)
, STAR RATINGS
t * * * * Unmissable
| a: it it t Very good
i i. i it Worth seeing
t * Below average
1 t You’ve been warned