FESTIVAL 9am-1pm continued
KIDS REVIEW King Stag *‘k‘k
’Once Upon A Time' starts the classic Italian fairy story - and a jolly complicated story it is too, involving transformed sorcerers, a variety of souls committed into a variety of bodies (both animal and human), and three love stories.
When a mobile phone goes off, the audience gets to stretch suspending its disbelief to the limit. The guilty one becomes embroiled in the action, which gets a little weird and complicated. Sometimes the show bits get a bit boring and the mayhem a little too frantic, but the fresh-faced young Americans, who bounce and flounce across all corners of the theatre, give their all in a style reminiscent of panto and music hall. (Gabe Stewart)
I King Stag (Fringe) Shoestring Players, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 23) 12. 75pm, £ 7/£6 (£6/£ 5).
KIDS PREVIEW 'I'II Tell You A Story About Jackanory' With Margie
Barbour
Remember the days when you'd rush home from school, sit cross-legged in front of the TV, and be entranced by wonderful stories told by wonderful people? Well, here’s your chance to really wallow in nostalgia as the former producer of lackanory, Margie Barbour, brings her own story-telling talents to the Fringe. The tales she will be telling will be familiar to everyone - to a certain extent. ’l'm taking commonly known stories but adding a twist to bring them up to the 19905,‘ explains Margie. ’I think people really relish the humour in that.‘ So, The Emperor 's New Clothes stars a certain Tony and Cherie, and Idle Jack features a pig escaping to a vegetarian commune. ’When you're telling a story, you have to keep entrancing and entertaining,’ says Margie in her rich voice. ’Energy is one of the greatest things you can give a story, and that's
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my gift to the community.’ (Kirsty Knaggs)
I 77/ Tell You A Story About Jackanory’ (Fringe) Margie Barbour, Quaker Meeting House (Venue 40) 220 6709, until 26 Aug (not 22) 7 7am, free.
THEATRE REVIEW Messengers ***
Set in a dystopian Scotland where devolution has turned to revolution, Messengers is a play about violence, politics and the paranoia of power. Rab is the leader of a paramilitary organisation but who can he trust, his lover, his military advisor, his old psychotic pal or the mysterious man from the ministry?
There are some good performances from this Glasgow-based company and if some of the scenes are a bit creaky the whole adds up to an ambitious project attempting a critical look at the nation's possibilities. (Moira Jeffrey)
I Messengers (Fringe) Theatre Works, Theatre Workshop (Venue 20) 226 5425, even dates until 30 Aug. 12.30pm, £6 (£5).
THEATRE REVIEW Dream State it“:
The three performers in this production are not poets themselves, but they know how to do what many writers cannot: that is, to act the words. Devised and directed by Deborah Andrews, the piece draws upon a poetry anthology of the same name, published by Polygon. In it over a dozen poets examine Scottish national identity in all its cliches and contradictions, manners and meanings. The lingual rhythms include thoughts on tearaway youth, leaving and returning to the homeland, and the tawdry glories of an urban parade of 'daytime Valkyries, nae-brains and bedroom centrefolds'. The set, with its postcard floor and hooks for hanging objects, is a bonus. (Donald Hutera)
I Dream State (Fringe) Theatre Works, Theatre Workshop (Venue 20) 226 5425, until 29 Aug (not 20, 22. 24, 26, 28) 72.30pm, £6/£5.
THEATRE REVIEW Wedding Belles **
It’s the morning after the night before, which was the night before the nuptials. Five of the key players including bridesmaid, mother of the bride and the blonde, blushing bride brace themselves for the main event. On the morning of the wedding it’s the usual catalogue of woes: disputes over the dresses, sexual intrigue and hangovers.
This is a series of comic monologues in the style of Julie Walters or Victoria Wood. There are lovely moments from writer and actress Sally Woodcock, but she's a little too unsympathetic towards her characters to carry you
THEATRE REVIEW
Play Wisty For Me: The Life Of Peter Cook
****
Dead comic. dead funny
One part of inspirational comedy double act Pete & Dud, the indomitable Peter Cook was both a very funny and a very tragic man. Telling his life through his characters in entirely original material, Sir Arthur Streeb- Greebling, Sven the Norwegian Fisherman and E.L Wisty are brought to life
once more.
Matthew Perret masters Peter Cook in all his dead-pan comic perfection, while Jeremy Limb plays Dud. his sometime comedy partner and tinkler of the ivories. Off the wall humour is balanced with poignant moments, including the break-up of Pete & Dud, where Cook ridicules his partner's transformation from club-footed short arse from Dagenham into Hollwood sex symbol, and Cook's own degeneration into a disillusioned porn addict.
(Catherine Bromley)
I Play Wisty For Me: The Life Of Peter Cook (Fringe) Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 30 Aug, noon, £7.50/£6.50 (£6.50/£5.50).
with her. (Moira Jeffrey)
I Wedding Belles (Fringe) Sally Woodcock, Gilded Balloon /I (Venue 36) 226 2757, until 30 Aug (not 79, 23) noon; Hill Street Theatre (Venue 47) 226 6522, until 30 Aug, (not 79) 6.20pm, £7.50 (£5).
THEATRE REVIEW Adolf *‘k‘k‘k
Hypnotising us with his speeches of impassioned reason, Pip Utton evokes the mechanisms of Hitler's masterplot with might and frightening majesty. However, just it all seems neatly pigeonholed as a precisely powerful impersonation, the lights go up, and, utterly disorientated, we are hurled into a dazzling change of direction. The atmospheric staging and all- consuming performance largely conceal the script’s occasional lack of subtlety that threatens its chilling unease. Yet Ado/f5 strength is in its own twisted politics: it caresses its way into your confidence, then chokes you on your own laughter. (Judith Ho) I Ado/f (Fringe) Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 30 Aug, 77.30am, £9/£8 (£8/£ 7).
THEATREREVEVV touched... ****
Three actors, some chairs and a few lights are the component parts of touched. But does good theatre really need more than that? Certainly not in this production. For one hour the audience is imaginatively transported to the world of rural Ireland where a couple of youngsters flee their abusive environment. Performing a host of
different characters, the actors weave together an intriguing narrative that chips away at myths of rural tranquility. Perhaps the occasional flaw, but this young and clearly very talented company remind us what can be done with a good script. Crisp and compelling. (Davie Archibald)
I touched. . . (Fringe) Granary Productions. Hill Street Theatre (Venue 47) 226 6522, until 30 Aug, 72. 30pm, £6 (£4).
THEATRE REVIEW Brave New World iii"):
This is an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s classic novel of a future world in which nobody is a square peg having to fit into a round hole. A world in which automation, symbolised by Ford’s model T car, is worshipped and in which everybody is happy due to regular doses of the drug soma.
The physical theatre elements are as impressive as the staging: innovative and visually exciting throughout. It plays as satire of contemporary society - in Huxley it is more a warning of what could be - but it suffers from being a touch heavy handed in this. Despite this it's still very good. (Ross Holloway)
I Brave New World (Fringe) The American Drama Group Europe & TNT Music Theatre Britain, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 30 Aug, noon, £8 (£6).
STAR RATINGS
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