FESTIVAL THEATRE REVIEWS AT A GLANCE
Belt Up Theatre’s A Little Princess ●●●●● Young York company Belt Up Theatre have been the toast of the Fringe in recent years for their immersive renditions of stories new and old. There are some nice touches in this adaptation, and as might now be expected from Belt Up there is some fun involvement for the audience. But the acting is too often rather shrill, and ultimately the power of make believe that the story so exalts just doesn’t enliven this production. (Laura Ennor) C nova, 0845 260 1234, until 27 Aug, 6.30pm, £8.50–£12.50 (£6.50–£10.50). Blake’s Doors ●●●●● Sequestered in a hospital ward that might as well be a Satrean, post-apocalyptic limbo, prickly young girl Blake exists in a cage of her own making and rages against anyone who claims differently. Moving from her personal angst to an existential enquiry, the script wrestles with monumental themes – the existence of a higher authority, the purpose and value of a human life – but the production doesn’t have the gravitas to do them justice or charm enough to leaven the philosophising. (Suzanne Black) theSpace on North Bridge, 0845 557 6308, until 18 Aug, 2.05pm, £5 (£4). Bound ●●●●● A young lad, his innocent girlfriend and estranged father are trapped inside a freight train. What was meant to be an anarchic trip to California has turned into an indefinite prison sentence. It sounds like the ideal ingredients for a claustrophobic play but Dylan Dougherty’s Bound derails early on. This is a stuttering journey from Belgium company Noosfeer, rescued only by some heartfelt singing from musician Dries Bongaerts. (Miriam Gillinson) C aquila, 0845 260 1234, until 27 Aug, 1pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£7.50–£8.50). Captain Ko and the Planet of Rice ●●●●● This retro sci- fi two-hander walks the fine line between conceptually impressive and impressively boring. Conceptually, I love the ten-minute section in which Valentina Ceschi mimes making a cup of tea. There is no conceptual excuse for the slow-moving action in the rest of the show, however. Once the point of each section is understood there’s just not enough going on onstage to engage with. (James T Harding) Underbelly Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, until 26 Aug, 8pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50). Desperately Seeking the Exit ●●●●● The birth, death and resurrection of a jukebox musical form the basis of Peter Michael Marino’s one-man show, directed by John Clancy. Chronicling the creation, destruction and resurrection of Marino’s 2007 Blondie musical, Desperately Seeking Susan, based on the Madonna-starring film, this show takes the audience on a journey deep into the inner workings of the world’s theatre elite. Showcasing Marino’s talent for storytelling and his obsession with British culture, the production is an uplifting tribute to the human spirit. (Amy Taylor) Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, 556 9628, until 26 Aug, 6pm, free. Educating Rita ●●●●● While Tamara Harvey’s production of Willy Russell’s play is solid it’s a touch too safe for the Fringe. Although there’s a gentle chemistry between Claire Sweeney’s Rita and Dr Frank (Matthew Kelly), there are no real fireworks. Kelly makes for a wonderful drunk but there’s not enough grit beneath his gravelly outbursts. It’s a polished production but it never reaches the emotional depths necessary to make this over-exposed play feel fresh once more. (Miriam Gillinson) Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 26 Aug (not 20), 1.15pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10). Executive Stress/Corporate Retreat ●●●●● A really great interactive 76 THE LIST 16–23 Aug 2012
show creates a new environment so convincing the audience has no choice but to get involved. Executive Stress/ Corporate Retreat, which unfolds in a black box space packed with sharp-suited actors, doesn’t quite manage this. Devised by Australian company Applespiel, this show is stuck somewhere between a play and a genuinely interactive experience. It makes for an embarrassing rather than immersive affair. A promising idea but much more rigour is required to set this concept free. (Miriam Gillinson) C eca, 0845 260 1234, until 27 Aug, 1.50pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£5.50–£7.50). Flâneurs ●●●●● Concerned by the so-called ‘bystander effect’, by which the larger the group of onlookers, the less likely bystanders are to stop an assault, Watt has decided to become a flâneur (i.e. an artist who strolls the streets of a city excavating its hidden truths). Using the devices of an overhead projector, audio interviews and a toy giraffe, Watt approaches her subject with a humour and a discursive informality similar to that of fellow live artist Rob Drummond; even if her approach struggles to carry the weight of her subject. (Mark Brown) Summerhall, 0845 874 3001, until 26 Aug (not 17 & 18), 2pm, £8 (£6). Hearts on Fire ●●●●● Sacrificing explanations for a sensational rendering of the deaths of the followers of self- styled motivational guru James Arthur Ray in 2009, the accomplished cast from Peculius Stage succeed in capturing the emotional complexities of those who were willing to defer their sense of self to Ray’s authority. But little illumination is shed on their motivations and, indeed, on whether Ray bought into his own image. (Suzanne Black) C nova, 0845 260 1234, until 27 Aug, 4.50pm & 7.50pm, £9.50–£11.50 (£7.50–£9.50). Hell’s Bells ●●●●● Seventeen years after being dropped by the BBC, Mrs Milliner’s creative team are preparing to record a DVD audio commentary. Eat, Shoots and Leaves author Lynne Truss’s amicable comedy is perfect Radio 4 fare, even if it doesn’t really have anywhere to go. She conveys a real sense of Mrs Milliner’s flimsiness through the snide remarks and Truss nails the polite, but cutthroat, bitchiness of the Beeb. And, indeed, of the business of show as a whole. (Matt Trueman) Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 27 Aug (not 20), 11.45am, £8–£9 (£7–£8). Inheritance Blues ●●●●● You don’t have to dig deep to see just how talented DugOut Theatre company is. Inheritance Blues revolves around blues cover band, Hot Air Ballues, who not only create rich music together but also share some cracking chemistry. I’ve no doubt this company will one day be the toast of the Fringe but this devised comedy doesn’t quite hit the mark. As the story crescendos and the music dims, the show loses its sparkle. A little more tweaking required but there are blue skies ahead for this fine company. (Miriam Gillinson) Bedlam Theatre, 225 9893, until 25 Aug, 10.30pm, £8 (£7). Irreconcilable Differences ●●●●● A couple. A car crash. Who lives? You decide. Benjamin and Pollyanna are clinging to life from their adjacent operating tables. We see them in an abstract limbo, tied together at the wrists, scrapping for our sympathies. As a portrait of a car-crash relationship, Alan Flanagan’s script – part balloon debate, part domestic – is punchy and heartfelt, if rather hackneyed overall. However, the interactive element, on which the whole so clearly hangs, is nothing more than a gimmick. (Matt Trueman) Gryphon Venues at the Point Hotel, 07531 392 327, until 25 Aug, 1.50pm, £8 (£7). I Shall be Remembered – The Story of Madame de
Pompadour ●●●●● I Shall be Remembered is a rather dull and one- dimensional one-woman show. There’s little palpable direction from Cathryn Parker bar a few blasts of courtly music. It’s down to Dame Elaine Montgomerie to keep us engaged. There’s a cheeky sparkle in her eyes as she recalls Pompadour’s extraordinary rise to the top. But Elizabeth Woodman’s script reads like a meandering diary entry and is too long and sentimental. (Miriam Gillinson) Venue 150 @ EICC, 0844 847 1639, until 19 Aug, noon, £12 (£10). Maurice’s Jubilee ●●●●● Maurice’s health might be fading but his love for the Queen remains undimmed. Will Maurice manage to hold on for one last encounter with Her Madge? Nichola McAuliffe’s latest comedy is grounded by a typically powerful performance from Julian Glover. There’s some dark stuff nestling behind this play about a man more devoted to the monarchy than his missus but it’s never fully exposed. A softly charming piece but a touch too whimsical to really set the heart alight. (Miriam Gillinson) Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 27 Aug (not 21), 4.25pm, £12.50–£15.50 (£11–£14). Mess ●●●●● A play about anorexia nervosa, written and (in part) performed by a young woman who was once very unwell with the eating disorder, might seem like one of those Fringe shows which should be avoided. However, from the early point in this play when the character of Boris (played by the hilariously un-masculine Hannah Boyde) announces the subject matter, and begs the audience not to leave, it’s clear that Caroline Horton (who plays anorectic Josephine with subtlety, fragility and pathos) has written her play with an emphasis on humour and emotional engagement. (Mark Brown) Traverse, 228 1404, until 26 Aug (not 20), times vary, £17--£19 (£12–£14). Mr Braithwaite Has a New Boy ●●●●● With this new comedy by Steven Dawson (who also directs and designs it), Melbourne’s LGBT-focused theatre company Out Cast Theatre plays lazily to the crowd, favouring lashings of none- too-subtle and none-too-imaginative cheap smut and broadly-drawn characters. The about-face from farce to weepie brings some emotion to the fore, but feels awkwardly handled and comes too late to redeem a story that’s predictable and full of holes. (Laura Ennor) C aquila, 0845 260 1234, until 27 Aug (not 20), 6.25pm, £9.50– £11.50 (£7.50–£9.50). Night of the Big Wind ●●●●● Canterbury-based Little Cauliflower Theatre Company return with puppetry, physical theatre and clowning in this whimsical and dewy-eyed show set in an Irish fishing village. The performers’ puppetry skills are impressive, the tale is touching and the theatrical set pieces are thrillingly executed. The narrative seems over-complicated and lacks a central focus, the characters are only roughly sketched, and it’s a bit hard to follow what’s happening in the show’s second half. But it still brings a lot of pleasure. (David Kettle) Underbelly Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, until 25 Aug, 1.15pm, £8.50–£10 (£7.50–£9) Nothing is Really Difficult ●●●●● Three grown men run around, striking poses and indulging in slapstick behaviour, with the odd flash of profundity and occasionally sinister undertones. The action is tinged with alpha male competitiveness; the three performers even compare crotch bulges at one point. Wisely though, this subtext does not overpower the show; it’s quite possible to go along purely for the joy of watching a man be scared and then enthralled by his own shadow puppet. (Niki Boyle) Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 26 Aug (not 20 & 21), 3.30pm, 5pm & 6.30pm, £10. Panning for Gold ●●●●● This heartfelt and heart-warming play unfolds at a support group where three young women meet to confront their related emotional problems. The show becomes dramatically compelling through the drip-feeding of details about the experiences of these women. The use of a key scene from the Bard’s Antony and Cleopatra brings this simply staged, well-acted show to a properly and pleasingly dramatic climax. (Miles Fielder) Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, 557 0234, until 26 Aug (not 21), 2.05pm, free. People Like Us ●●●●● When Simon tests positive for HIV and Stacey thinks she might have it too, their relationship is put to the test as Simon struggles against the disease that is slowly killing him. What should be a heart-wrenching story is hindered by a clichéd script. Despite a valiant attempt and several effective moments, the performances lack the maturity and experience required to perform material like this. (Jen Bowden) theSpace on North Bridge, 0845 557 6308, until 18 Aug, 7.40pm, £7 (£5). Teach Me ●●●●● Cringingly humorous yet touching sex comedy from Edinburgh-based company Strange Town. Alan Gordon’s script is pithy and clever, written naturalistically but with a kind of rough poetry. It spins the well-worn format round in unexpected directions yet never loses sight of its emotional honesty. Both characters emerge with depth and complexity, and they’re ably conveyed by actors Andy Peppiette and Amy Drummond. It’s quite low-key, and limited in its ambitions, but it’s still a little gem. (David Kettle) Hill Street Theatre, 226 6522, until 26 Aug (not 20), 2.30pm, £9–£12 (£7–£10). Tea with the Old Queen ●●●●● Writer-performer Graham Woolnough’s one-man show provides us with a delightfully indiscreet behind-the-scenes look at the lives of Britain’s royal family, as told through the fictional diaries of the Queen Mother’s bitchy old queen of a butler, ‘Backstairs Billy’. Billy’s inexhaustible bitching also takes in the out-of-the-limelight ligging minor royals, various other fellow silver servicemen and, most amusingly, the Blairs, who are portrayed, quite convincingly, as a pair of ladder- climbing oiks. Highly entertaining. (Miles Fielder) C aquila, 0845 260 1234, until 27 Aug, 5.25pm, £9.50–10.50 (£7.50–£8.50). Thin Ice ●●●●● What sets Thin Ice apart is not so much its narrative – a disjointed love triangle between academics in the Arctic Circle – as its remarkable depth of thinking. Shams’ writer-director Jonathan Young smartly parallels the Nazis’ race for lebensraum with the displacement of Greenland’s indigenous tribes by various scientific communities and neatly plays rational scepticism off against native belief systems. Chuck in notions of history, political ideology and climate change and you’ve got a hefty brain-feast that more than holds the attention. (Matt Trueman) Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 27 Aug (not 21), 11.45am, £9–£10 (£8–£9). You Obviously Know What I’m Talking About ●●●●● This cleverly devised bit of comic theatre concerns an obsessive-compulsive, whose entire carefully ordered daily life takes place within the confines of his tiny flat. These walls really do talk. And they burst into song and assist Winfield in his daily routine and worry that he’s not living life to the full. Although the show loses focus once or twice, during its more surreal moments, it’s brought to a satisfying – and sweet – conclusion. (Miles Fielder) Underbelly Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, until 26 Aug, 1.30pm, £9–11 (£8–£10).