Festival Comedy list.co.uk/festival
Telephone Booking Fringe 0131 226 0000 International Festival 0131 473 2000 Book Festival 0845 373 5888 Art Festival 07500 461 332 TIFFANY STEVENSON Top Trumps of despots ●●●●●
A quick glance at the leaderboard Tiffany Stevenson uses to rank and display her top five dictators reveals all you need to know about this comic and her style. First, that she scores power-crazed and often genocidal individuals like they were Top Trumps (stats include ‘Nicknames’ and ‘Death Count’). Second, that she rates her own mother in the top five. Third, that she thoughtfully accessorises the board with a picture of her cat Bumbles sitting in a box looking adorable, as a comforting visual lifebuoy for anyone that feels she’s stepped off the deep end. That whimsical touch sees
Stevenson safely through some pretty toe-curling subject matter. Robert Mugabe executes homosexual people: that’s a harrowing thought. How to deal with him? Book him into Pineapple Dance Studios. Poetic justice. Bashing Mugabe, Hitler and Gaddafi is not exactly a controversial position; the real strength of Dictators lies with the two less conventional entrants in Stevenson’s top five. The worst kind, after all, is the one dictating specifically to you. (Matt Boothman) ■ The Stand III & IV, 558 7272, until 29 Aug (not 16), 2.05pm, £8 (£7).
A BETRAYAL OF PENGUINS Expectations and plotting take the edge off ●●●●● Like most glorious debut ventures, the ‘difficult second album’ syndrome is a
50 THE LIST 12–19 Aug 2010
tough nut to batter. And try as they might, A Betrayal of Penguins just can’t quite regain the glory of 2009 in their new show, Don’t Run with Scissors. Some might point to a line- up change at the head of this young Irish group or the addition of subsidiary characters (whether on screen or in the flesh) as factors in their slippage, but there’s nothing obviously wrong with the spirit or energy of the new performers. While the story itself feels a touch
hackneyed (a kids show is about to be shut down just at the point where a bomb is discovered on-set), it could simply be down to the fact that the shock of the new helped in their favour last year while the weight of expectations may have proved too much for the BoPs to shoulder. Still, there’s enough verve about this silly
NEXT ISSUE OUT WEDNESDAY 18 AUGUST
show to keep big kids amused during a Fringe mid-afternoon. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, until 30 Aug (not 17), 2.45pm, £8.50–£10 (£7–£8.50).
PROS FROM DOVER Sketch comedy from accomplished trio ●●●●●
Critical reaction to sketch groups is an all-too predictable business. ‘Hit and miss’ comes the cry from the press box. So, when the likes of Pros from Dover come along and attempt to inject the form with a bit of curveball innovation, that should be enough to have them rightly trumpeted. The fact that they also go on and wheel out a procession of excellent sketches makes them all the more vital. So, rather than just jog on stage and crack on with their broken bits about a depressed chicken, a police interrogation being conducted via parlour games and the story behind the invention and subsequent
ROSS SUTHERLAND Life’s daftness exposed via poetry and music ●●●●●
Over the past few Fringes, Luke Wright has earned himself a reputation as the cutting thrust of performance poetry. Now two of his fellow Aisle 16 buddies are getting their taste of an Edinburgh ‘summer’. While Tim Clare takes us on a Death Drive at Zoo Roxy, the Underbelly is hosting this excellent debut from Edinburgh-born, Essex-raised Ross Sutherland. The Three Stigmata of Pacman (discussing the title will give away too much) is described by its creator as ‘live literature, or whatever this is’, and features plenty of projected imagery, slabs of music and swabs of poetry.
Sutherland’s story takes us from his happy life working as a music reviewer for Metro, amusingly sharing office space with the Daily Mail, to redundancy and the spectre of having to move back to the family home. The disintegration of his self is played out on a backdrop of fairy tale and Greek mythology with Sutherland showing a forensic Stewart Lee-esque disdain for life’s stupidities. A moving and compelling show which might have you swiftly returning for seconds. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Underbelly, 08445 458 252, until 29 Aug (not 16), 4.40pm, £9–£10.50 (£6.50–£9.50).
corruption of the word ‘and’, the crew discuss the mechanics of their art and how the hour will pan out. Still, you suspect that there’s nothing here that will linger as long in the memory as Phil Whelans’ stirring performance during their superb 2008 Fringe debut as a brain-damaged supermodel. But even that show was a mixed bag. Damn! (Brian Donaldson) ■ The GRV, 226 0000, until 29 Aug, 3.20pm, £5. NO SON OF MINE Family secrets uncovered amid a heap of gags ●●●●●
For anyone who has been embarrassed by a parent or felt shame at their offspring, this is possibly not the show for you. Then again, those scenarios most likely cover everyone, and it would be a shame to miss out on such a pleasing mid-afternoon show. Rufus Jones plays precious ‘act-or’ Dennis Hazeley, who has just been stood up by his co-star in a distinctly non-PC play about the gay scene among the Taliban, Afghan Hounds. Unleashing himself solo upon this dramatic two- hander, his Grimsby-based father Don (Alex Kirk) enters the fray and seeks, as ever, to trample all over his son’s dreams. This is the cue for plenty back and
forth banter with massive subtext, but any seriousness is left behind for a wildly silly reconstruction of the moment when Don met Dennis’ mum. With Dennis in the role as the seductress. Jones (who co-formed the Perrier-nominated Dutch Elm Conservatoire) and Kirk (one half of Kirk and Messingham) fit together like a glove as the piece delves into a dark family history but the gags happily keep coming, whether in subtle or innuendo form. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 25), 3.15pm, £9–£10 (£8.50–£9).