FESTIVAL Bern—10pm
g COMEDY REVIEW Sean Lock
*****
Sean Lock: awe-inspiring surrealism
Effortlessly blending genial observation with awe-inspiring surrealism, Sean Lock’s marvelloust self-deluded storytelling goes way past anything you've heard before He’ll take a simple subiect and twist it till it bleeds He also covers the stranger parts of life. Killing a budgie With a teaspoon (takes ages, apparently) and why starfish are among his favourite animals He's got the lines, the talent
1
textual '
'.'1'.'l'.'l.EIIKJBLUZ ,
and the slightly-70s-shiits to appeal to the tastes of Just about anyone eager
this year, is a fine example of what Fringe comedy should really be about. (Danny Wallace)
I Sean Lock (Fringe) The Pleasance (Venue 33), 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 26) 9.25pm, [8/68. 50 ([7/[7 50)
COMEDY REVIEW Barbys, Bulls And Haggis:
The Comedy Feast * i it
An Australian, a Spaniard and a Scot all walk onto a stage one after the other and . . well you get the idea. Lehmo, the Australian, lS lewd and crude but hits his mark more often than he misses, while Luis Alberto cuts his gags from a finer Cloth but doesn’t qune manage to deliver satisfactorily. An inert audience doesn't help, Scot Brian Higgins is the pick of the bunch An
- effervescent and sparky Glaswegian, i Higgins's material stands out by dint |
of his sheer enthusiasm All in all, ‘ there’s some great stuff in this show, ‘ it Just needs sharper presentation (Jonathan Trew) I Barbys, Bulls And Haggis The Comedy Feast (Fringe) Marcos (Venue 98) 228 97 76, until 26 Aug, ' 9 75pm, £5 ([4)
all “Will It mi
to see comedy of quality, and his show,
COMEDY REVIEW Parsons and Naylor — The Merry Onions 0f Dorking
.**
Andy Parsons and Henry Naylor eXIst Within that uneasy comedic world somewhere between alternative and mainstream comedy, proVIding all the accoutrements of the dingy/fringey
while at the same time presenting material that your mum wouldn’t really be Outraged at This is not to be despised, as their routines,
concentrating on the self-constious
cheapness of their show, pub-lore in
; terms of fighting, and epic presented
through hats, do prOVIde some belly-
, laughs. The show Is ultimately pretty ’ slickly presented, and the audience
Interactions are fast and Witty, Without being threatening or aggressive (Steve Cramer‘i
I The Merry Onions Of Dorking (Fringe) Parsons And May/or, Plet'isance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 77, 28) [7 50/[8 50
([6 50/[ 7 50)
THEATRE REVIEW
- Ten Days A-Maze
***
Cherub theatre company returns to the
Fringe after a twelve-year absence With
this account of the dreamlike and
erotic experiences of a soldier In the
Napoleonic wars. Andrew Visnevski
‘ recurrent Image of two young women
, into corpses overnight, does, however have a misogynistic undertone to it.
. directs a colourful, although ; sometimes confusing multi-stranded,
many-charactered narrative, with a real feel of Gothic creepiness about a set composed of many doors, and little else. The tale, \Nhl(h features the
who sleep With men, then transpose
: (Steve Cramer)
I Ten Days A-Maze, Or The Prodigious
' COMEDY REVIEW 1 Sean Hughes
The Wistful, misunderstood Character of TV's Sean ’5 Show Is gone, replaced
: uncomfortably in their seats. Beginning in recognisable sad git style, Hughes
politics and TQIlQEOH. He is hilariously
Mysteries Of The Saragossa Manuscript (Fringe) The Cherub Company Hill Street Theatre (Venue 4 I) 226 6522, until 30 Aug, 9pm, [7 (£5).
****
by something altogether harder-edged. This could well be the darkest hour and a half's comedy on the Fringe. The laughter was accompanied by the sound of the audience shifting
then steers for head on collision with
offenswe about both, although his comments about the Pope are perhaps simply offensive. GO, for the moments when the liVing room formula collapses
:i'ii til I fill an “a "; ‘ ‘llll’llil'lll'Tlitl‘tliTII 3:3: 33'}.