“Byron Yee calls him- self a stand-up comic. 3. but that description :3" doesn’t do the San Fran- jjii ciscan justice. Only a consummate storyteller . could have put together
and moving tale.” - Toronto Star
“Both artfully con- structed and as poignant ,‘ as it is funny.” - San Francisco Examiner
nation, polish and an 3, open heart on stage.” - Edmonton Journal
6.15pm
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VENUE 47
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6—8pm
FESTIVAL 6—8pm continued
THEATRE REVIEW Bingo! ****
This really is a game of Bingo, but the point of the show is not what goes on rails, but the unpredictable factor of what goes wrong. The audience’s concentration on the game is distracted by a succession of interruptions by the group of highly theatrical charlatans who run the show. Riccardo, the ringleader of this dysfunctional crowd has some problems with gangsters, while his offsider Zico, makes amorous advances to Kate, an unfortunate audience member chosen for the evening. The action is farcical, the characters are grotesque by no half- measures in an evening of quite bizarre but enthralling entertainment. (Steve Cramer)
I Bingo! (Fringe) The Amsterdam Parade, Graffiti (Venue 90) 557 8330, until 29 Aug (not 23) 7. 30pm; 22, 29 Aug, 3pm, £8 (£6).
COMEDY REVIEW Adam Bloom: Beyond A Joke
it ‘k **
Mild natured, endearing and rather self-conscious, it's remarkable what Adam Bloom gets away with in the course of his act. Talking for extended periods about the size of his girlfriend’s breasts, and discussing sexual contingency plans for when she's on are not the kind of thing a man generally gets away with, but Bloom’s self-effacing manner continually pulls the audience back from total alienation. His mannered style, which has him asking the audience how the gig is going every few minutes, and commenting that it went better last night becomes a little irritating at times, but he compensates by what can only be called flirting with the audience. (Steve Cramer)
I Adam Bloom: Beyond A Joke (Fringe) Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 30 Aug, 7pm, £8.50/£ 7.50 (E 7. 50/15 6. 50).
Gus Theatre Company Wat Jargoons
BET/£3.59 99999. Bin—29m August I999 Venue 45 um Sl Pauls, Jeffrey Sireel
theatre 0 dance 0 comedy
festival
THEATRE PREVIEW The Lower Depths
Text n' drugs: The Lower Depths
Written by Maxim ‘the bitter’ Gorky in Russia at the turn of the century, The Lower Depths depicts those at the bottom of society - vagabonds who he called 'former people‘. He found in these street dwellers, the essential nobility of man and despite negative themes, it’s this positive vision that is seized upon in this Dutch production, adapted and directed by Alize
Zandwijk.
Originally conceived as a 'symphony for voices‘, Zandwijk has halved the number of characters on stage to highlight the individual portraits. Much of the detail situating the action in Russia at the turn of the century has also been dropped leaving us with the idea that this could be in any big city, at any time. Exploring fear, loneliness, hope, depression, sorrow and pain, the emotions expressed by one group extend to represent the predicaments of
mankind as a whole.
Replacing Gorky‘s socialist outlook with a more humanistic approach to the play, Zandwijk wanted her production to stress the belief that people can and will change their lives: ‘I wanted to show that people have the will to change, that there is always a flickering flame urging you to get out‘.
(Catherine Bromley)
I The Lower Depths (International) Royal Lyceum Theatre, 4 73 2000, 24-27 Aug,
7.30pm, £6-£22.50.
THEATRE REVIEW G.O.4: A Technodram at”:
What is a technodram, I hear you squeal? Well, on this evidence it’s what happens when a mid-period Madonna video meets a 19505 sci-fi B-movie. That means a gang of gorgeous females in matching catsuits and blonde wigs doing lots of impressive formation choreography in a vaguely futuristic setting. The music is abrasive experimental techno, and no expense has been spared on the light show and the multi-media effects. The impact is that of a glossier, glammier, sexier show than the usual Fringery. The dancers dazzle, and it's a pleasing spectacle; but there's surface gloss where soul could be. (Hannah McGill) I G. 0.4: A Technodram (Fringe) KCW, Club West (Venue 782) 337 6748, until 28 Aug (not 22, 29) 7. 30pm, £6 (£5).
THEATRE PREVIEW Hunger
You're advised to go on an empty stomach - promising a feast of visual gluttony, Hunger is set to be nothing short of substantial. ‘What we do,’ explains producer Boz Temple-Morris, ‘is put together images and music that give the audience room to find meaning by themselves. We give the actors something else to do but talk.‘
Both achineg sad and funny, writer and director Marc von Henning aims to restore the elegant simplicity of Kafka by translating his stories into verse. With an interesting approach — ‘I steal as much as possible really, and then make it into something else,‘ - this is the first time the company, Primitive Science, has hit the Festival. Having the London success of their last show, Icarus Falling, beneath their belts, Edinburgh marks the start of a nationwide tour. With few shows that approach theatre so visually, Hunger should give audiences something exciting to tuck into. (Judith Ho)
I Hunger (Fringe) Primitive Science, Theatre Workshop (Venue 20) 226 5425, 24-29 Aug, times vary, £7 (£4).
THEATRE PREVIEW Be Carna, Women Of The Flesh
Born out of her work with a support group for prostitutes in Dublin, Deidre Kinahan‘s Be Carna, Women Of The Flesh aims to demonstrate that those who are part of the oldest profession are not solely defined by their jobs. They are more than simply females who have sex for money. ‘It's an attempt to show that these are beautiful, ordinary women,‘ says Kinahan, the play's author, ‘the fact that they work as prostitutes does shadow every element of their lives, but beside that they do