FESTIVAL 8pm —lOpm
33%pfi7/
Dave Gorman: impressive
COMEDY Dave Gorman
Although laid-back and happy to chat, Dave Gorman could not have been
3 prepared for the mindless, boozed-up
heCkIIng that greeted him almost as soon as he took the stage With sOme
' neatly placed sarcasm, however, and ' the odd carefully honed put-down, any
troubles were more than adequately dismissed with smooth comic professionalism And Gorman Is a professional A polished and buffed-up hour of affable and highly confident comedy is what he has to offer, and with a casual delivery that almost fools yOU into thinking he's putting no effort Into what Is essentially an impressIVe and tight set (Danny Wallace)
3 Dave Gorman - In The P/easance With A Microphone (Fringe) The Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 26) 9 l5pm, [8/[8 50
([7/[7 50)
70 THE usr i5—2i Aug i997
COMEDY REVIEW Talkin' Vagabond Jazz
*‘fir‘l'
Comedy is not usually the most informative of mediums, but frequently during this show I found myself open- mouthed, wondering ’can that be true?’
Aiaye's tales of the absurdity of the US legal system and anecdotes about amateur terrorISm fell into the category 'funny-but-frightening-if-real'
Some of the other targets were a little soft (blues musicians, Star Trek), but overall AIaye makes for intelligent, Entertaining COmpany
More a raconteur than a stand-up, he is well worth checking out If only the venue — the Assembly's Wildman ROOm weren't so permanently, airlessly hot (Stephen Naysmith)
I Talkin’ Vagabond Jazz (Fringe) Franklyn A/aye, Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 30 Aug (not 78, 26) 9 50pm, [8/[9 ([7/f8)
COMEDY REVIEW DIY— The Musical
*t‘k
If you like yOur dancing dirty and your
dialogue flirty ('I love it when yOLI're so rhetoricall'), here is a show wolverine whistling in yOur direction The Sex Pack is a cabaret-Cum-strip Club run by one Jon O'Fun (groan), a sadistic ringmaster who delights in making the lives of his dancers miserable Such machinations are reasonably intrigumg, but they somewhat fail to match the spectacle of the high- kicking choreography or the \‘VII of the Pet Shop Boys-smart disco ditties Will Mr O'Fun's closet dwelling skeletons be outed? Who cares. Saucy rather
Franklyn Ajaye: the cat with the chat
COMEDY REVIEW
Chloe Poems: check out that gingham diva
Chloe Poems in Universal Rentboy
*‘kt‘k
Chloe Poems is a poet. Check: Chloe Poems is a witty, gay, transvestite, socialist poet. In that order. Which is not to put down her poetry, but give it perspective: You will like her performance if you enjoy gayness. transvestism, socialism or the cruder side of life. Otherwise join Moira Knox
on her knees.
Poems celebrates her sexuality, her dress sense (for which she loses a star - Chloe, take an iron to that gingham dress pulease) and her politics with a falsetto guffaw, a dirty pout of rouged lips and a caustic rhyme. She is no mincing New York Drag Queen - see her try to lip synch - but an English bloke who likes dresses and cruising, poppers and disco.
And the poetry is hilarious. She imagines Dr Who, written by Irvine Welsh with the Doctor’s assistant as a Glaswegian junkie called Sarah Jane McTuckie. Her paean to poppers comes complete with a big sniff and a dancefloor hand-raising routine. Even having a bad trip in the disco is funny as Poems tells it. The only moment of sadness comes in her poem about the death of Stephen Milligan, the Tory MP who died with his stockings on.
(Thom Dibdin)
I Chloe Poems in Universal RentDOy (Fringe) Pantomime Prods, Hill Street Theatre (Venue 47) 226 6522, until 30 Aug (not 77, 24, 25) 9.50pm, £6 (£3).
3 than out and out salac ious
(Rodger Evans)
ZI D/Y - The Mus/cal (Fringe) K C Productions Ltd, Old St Paul’s Chart Ii
(Venue 45) 556 0467, until 23 Aug (not Sun) 8 l5prn, [6 I[5)
THEATRE REVIEW
Celle-La
*‘ki‘k
A mother, son and an old man live on top of each other in a house where
emotions run high, as the extremity of the paSSIon-driven mother's actions change their lives forever Quebecois playwright Daniel Danis' script drips With poetry, in this production by the ever bOIder Theatre Cryptic
Told Via three cuss-crossing
2 monologues, further textures of live
Chamber mUSlC and opera are added, while a trundling, spinning sculpture of a set is integral to the action It's a Sumptuous slice of lioiiie-grov.III European theatre that, amongst all the tricksy playfulness, still wears its heart on its sleeve in a tragedy of domestically epic intent (Neil Cooper) I Ce/Ie-La (Fringe) Theatre Cryptic, Traverse Theatre (Venue IS) 228 7404, 9-75 Aug, times vary, [IO ([6)
THEATRE REVIEW The Garden
*‘ki‘t
; On its first VIsIt to the Fringe, the Polish
street theatre grOup Teatr Snow
(Theatre of Dreams) has created a ' suitably dream-like piece in the open
air of the Old College Quad. Taking its cue from medieval moralisers like Dante and Hieronymus Bosch, Its 'Ship of Fools' in this case a large wooden boat enacts an epic tourney towards what appears to be paradise, represented by a bridge, Meanwhile the cast are beckoned onwards by strange creatures on stilts who dance among them UsIng movement, music
- and mime to bring alive the search for
knowledge, Teatr Snow lives up to its name and reputation. (Marc Lambert) I The Garden (Fringe) Teatr Snow, Scottish International At The Quad (Venue 792) 220 5606 until 27 Aug
(not IS, 76, 20) 8pm, f8 (f6).
STAR RATINGS
t t t t t Unmissable
It r t it Very ood
* * arr Won seeing
i if Below average
it You’ve been warned