FESTIVAL 8-10pm continued
COMEDY REVIEW
Martin Bigpig: My Grandmother Was A Bearded Lady
*‘k‘k‘k
‘Pig laughs: Martin Bigpig
The more comedians you see, the more you realise that, irrespective of the material, that being funny is something God-given. It's like being able to sing. You’re either born with a singing voice or you aren't. It's true that many great vocalists can't sing, but if you can then you're off to a flying headstart. Belfast's Martin Bigpig was born, excuse my French, a funny fucker
The theme to this show, given away in the title, sees Bigpig giving Jim Rose a decent run for his money, but it's the way he plays an audience that makes this work. You will be left gasping for air, you will laugh so much. (Ross Holloway) I Martin Bigpig (Fringe) The Stand (Venue 5) 558 7272, until 29 Aug, 8.20pm, £5 (£4).
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THEATRE REVIEW Will's One And Only Time Deprivation Play
*
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Part of an experiment, a man is placed in a room by people we know only as THEY. He meets other characters, but it’s unclear whether they're active participants or other subjects. The problem here is that the confusion facing the central protagonist also faces the audience. Thus it’s difficult to follow the development of the narrative. Further, the text is so weak that we don’t care about any of the characters.
The play attempts to tackle some heavy material but is far too lightweight to add any insight. The actors perform reasonably well, but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. (Davie Archibald)
I Will’s One And Only Time Deprivation Play (Fringe) Fletcher Players and Footfa/l Productions, Greyfriars Kirk House (Venue 28) 225 3626, until 22 Aug, 8.55pm, £4.50 (£3.50).
COMEDY REVIEW
The Purple Pineapple Show - Medusas a: a: it
The horrors of being a single female just the wrong side of 29 when the biological clock is relentlessly ticking down - the desperate search for millennium man. All this and more is explored in great gynaecological depth by two wickedly foul-mouthed Scottish lasses.
There are some fantastic laugh out loud moments as the ladies go loopy with celibacy. Christ, the furniture wasn't even safe. It ended up being quite an eye-opener, even if it did wear a bit thin over an hour. But this one‘s really for the girls. Add on a star or two if you don‘t have a willy.
(Ross Holloway).
I Medusas (Fringe) The Purple
Pineapple Show, Observer Assemny
(Venue 3) 226 2428, until 30 Aug,
8pm, £9I£8 (£8/f 7). . v
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Snake Charmers: The Purple Pineapple Show
THEATRE REVIEW The Speculator iii
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0f questionable value: The Speculator
Watching David Greig's The Speculator makes you feel like Edward Scissorhands trying to juggle water-filled balloons. You get drenched with
ideas.
Greig's seeds are sown in a fertile period of history — Paris 1720 - when our tired old addictions were all fresh: money, cigarettes, chocolate. It was also a period of temporary alchemy. European trash briefly became American gentry and gold transubstantiated into paper.
Greig's narrative follows the fortunes of two couples and an eternal triangle: John Law, exiled Scot in Paris who 'owns' a quarter of the earth's resources. and his mistress; guileless natterbox Lord Islay of Islay who falls for a French ex-nun nearly twice his age; and playwright Pierre Marivaux,
his heiress wife and actress mistress.
Characters continually try to differentiate between faith and reality, both theatrically, romantically and financially. What is the best way to get power and influence: violence? nobility? money? honesty? And it all comes back to value in the end: the value of money; of good looks; of love.
The acting and luscious stage management is superb, but muddy direction and the demanding near three hour script creeps into over-indulgence and lacks resolution. ’Theatre doesn't tell us anything,’ says Marivaux. 'Well it
should,’ says Islay. (Gabe Stewart)
I The Speculator (International) Traverse Theatre Company Royal Lyceum Theatre, 473 2000, until 22 Aug, times vary, £6—f22.
THEATRE PREVIEW The Morning After (A Hangover Mystery)
We've all been there. Shivers, hot flushes, mouth drier than the arse on a desert toad. Hangovers can be cruel. But for Dave (protagonist of this Fringe debut from shiny new theatre company Thingimijig) the headache really kicks in when he awakes from the excesses of the night before to discover that a heinous crime has been committed.
This detective story send-up is the first original comedy from the group whose performing history includes dazzling the shoppers of Birmingham city centre with their street Shakespeare. They're bringing The Morning After to Edinburgh following its recent successful Wolverhampton premier.
’Vomit features heavily,’ admits Thingimijig’s Toni Griffiths. ’lt's definitely not for the faint hearted.’ For those who gag at the mere prospect of puke, the play also features a psycho stalker and a vanishing pussy as well as a nourishing dose of Young Ones-style humour.(Allan Radcliffe)
I The Morning After (A Hangover Mystery) (Fringe) Thingimijig Theatre Company, Greyfriars Kirk House (Venue 28) 225 3626, 24-30 Aug, 8.50pm, £4.50 (£3.50).
COMEDY REVIEW Vic Henley ***A
This grey-haired, tank-topped comic has the same kind of delivery as the late Bill Hicks, but that's where the similarity ends. The amazingly laid-back Henley isn’t half as venomous or paranoid as the master of scorn could be.
Playing the American abroad and providing a good mix of the personal and the political, he has some fresh comments on the errant Mr Clinton, and commendable things to say about Andrew Lloyd Webber, Celine Dion and oral sex.
The only minus point is that potentially hilarious jokes aren't developed. So we’ll never know why he likes Ricky Martin so much. (Dawn Kofie)
I Vic Henley (Fringe) Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 29 Aug, 9.45pm, £10/f9 (£9/f8).