Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Top theatre shows at the Fringe so far
The award-winning Dancing Brick have a talent for conjuring up beautiful, offbeat characters and stories with a bare minimum of props and no speech, and their new show is a moving example of the kind of imaginative, visual storytelling-with-a-heart they do so well.
Rating: * * * *
Until 26 August. Today 1:45pm
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Hide Ad“Manchester is a city that thinks tables are for dancing on,” Mark Watson once said, and talented young Arts Ed graduate Hayley Cusick – a writer to watch – captures exactly what he meant in her astute, funny and warm coming-of-age drama about four schoolgirls whose friendship isn’t hampered by their different social backgrounds.
Rating: * * * *
Until 26 August. Today 2:15pm.
As if having a highly unfortunate name isn’t problem enough for Roland Poland, he’s also tremendously fat, which makes school a miserable cycle of bullying and loneliness.
As an adult he finds an outlet for his pent-up self-loathing and hatred for the world when he hits the gym and transforms himself into a beefcake extraordinaire, with his sights set on the Mr Britain bodybuilding competition.
Rating: * * * *
Until 26 August. Today 4:10pm.
Macabre. That’s the word I’m looking for. There’s just a hint of macabre delight in Martin Oldfield’s brilliant portrayal of Albert Pierrepoint, Britain’s last hangman, at the Apex Hotel, on the Grassmarket.
Rating: * * * * *
Until August 24
“Once more into the breeks dear friends,” declares Jimmy Chisholm, as the cast prepare to launch into their performance of highlight scenes from Casablanca.
Gavin Mitchell’s Bogart rehearses “of all the gin joints in all the world . . .” repeatedly, asking which version he should go with, and so the premise of one excellent show within another is established.
Rating: * * * *
Until August 27
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Hide AdThe choices we make and the arbitrary factors which affect them, and lead to either long-term happiness or being run over by a car as we step off the pavement, are explored with heart and humour in Ross Dungan and 15th Oak Production’s new musical play, following last year’s Fringe First-winning Minute After Midday.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 27 August. Today 12 noon.
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Hide Ad“I am lying,” read the words on the chalkboard behind the fidgety academic. This, he tells us, represents the Liar’s Paradox.
For how are we to know if the writer is an honest man telling the truth or a liar doing what comes naturally? The rest of this wonderful, emotive play from writer and director Freddy Syborn asks which of these groups the academic belongs to, and whether the difference between truth and lie can be reduced to a simple binary concept. For our lecturer is Alan Turing, Enigma-cracking genius, persecuted homosexual and, until recently, an unsung British hero for both of these reasons.
Star rating; * * * *
Until 26 August. Tomorrow 2pm.
List-making: we’ve all done it. For the protagonist of this one-woman play by Quebec playwright Jennifer Tremblay, lists are a lifeline.
The strength of the production comes from the way it illuminates the small details of domesticity and motherhood, which nevertheless link in to primal emotions. It’s about small things, and how sometimes a small thing can turn out to be the biggest thing of all.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 25 August. Tomorrow 2pm.
Taking aim at modern society’s futile, celeb culture-fuelled quest for physical perfection, Active Virgin is one of three shows brought to the Fringe this year by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s graduate production arm One Academy Productions, after last year’s well-received Wasted Love.
While it probably lacks that immersive feel-good factor necessary for a musical to enjoy a serious commercial lifespan, it’s easy to imagine this show having some kind of educational application as a stealthily un-preachy way of reaching impressionable young minds with an important message. The rapturous response of a school group in the front couple of rows well proves that.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 27 August. Wednesday noon.
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Hide AdHalf Jewish, half Scottish and 100 per cent diva, Lady Rizo, blind with mascara, dressed in Marchesa and dripping with diamanté is making what she calls her “European debut”.
No matter that she is in a wet tent faced with what she repeatedly refers to as 11 people, this New York chanteuse pushes it out to the max and belts out her numbers like she’s in Carnegie Hall.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 27 August. Tomorrow 10:20pm.
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Hide AdIN A Fringe full of student drama productions that often have little to say and acting which is simply reciting lines, it’s tempting to write off all youth theatre as fit only for the cast members of similar productions who help fill seats in a mutual appreciation circle.
While the play does a sterling job of explaining Chatterton for non-experts, it seems strange not to include even a sample of his poetry which, after all, is what captured the 18th-century imagination. But graceful dissolves between the modern- day story and Chatterton’s life in the late 1760s don’t over-egg the parallels. The young performers, particularly James Pardon as Chatterton and James Colenutt as Sir Hugh, are excellent in this bracing, witty entertainment.
Star rating: * * * *
Until
18 August. Today: 12:25pm.
Rarely on the Fringe is an all-action spectacular executed so well with so few resources.
To call the Californian Kinetic Dance Theatre’s two-man production a mime show is to fail to do it true justice, with Jaron Hollander and Slater Penney’s performances melding hilarity, excitement and a sense of furious, madcap wonder into a highly satisfying whole.
The performers use the entire theatre space, and even its exterior, to striking and inventive effect. One of the most amusing interactions involving one of them – in the character of an aggressive avian dinosaur – wrestling an empty crisp bag from an audience member like a fearless seagull on a park bench. For all ages, The Submarine Show is a work of outstanding light entertainment.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 27 August. Today 4:55pm.
Walk into any Shakespeare production, and it takes your ears five to ten minutes to adjust to the language. The same applies here.
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Hide AdEverything the members of Chicago Shakespeare Theater say may be in modern-day English, but the words aren’t spoken, they’re rapped.
Within minutes of the show starting, however, it’s as if rap were the natural language we all use. Even with a constant beat behind them, no words are lost – which is just as well, because you wouldn’t want to miss a single one of these oh-so-clever rhyming couplets.
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Hide AdThose familiar with Shakespeare’s original will appreciate this show on every level, those new to it will just enjoy a great story, well told.
Star rating: * * * * *
• Until 27 August. Today 1:55pm.
Speed of Light, Arthur’s Seat, Holyrood Park, Edinburgh
It was about 11:30pm on a still, mild night when my group reached the summit of Arthur’s Seat, and stood for a few minutes on that slippery knoll of rock, while light skeins of haar blew in from the sea, drifting past a little below us.
In Speed Of Light, our attention is mainly directed to the quiet, steady magic of Edinburgh itself, its magnificent skyline etched between sea and hills; while a waning moon rises orange through the sea-haar to the east, and hangs over our tough, rocky descent from the summit, like a blessing.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 1 September. Today guided walks depart every 15 minutes from 9:15pm.
IF YOU want to see 21st century live theatre at the raw peak of its powers, doing exactly what it does best, then head to the Traverse Bar, on Monday morning at 10am, grab a seat on a sofa or bar stool, and just revel in the sheer improvisatory brilliance and eloquence of the latest Theatre Uncut season.
Star rating; * * * * *
20 August only, 10am.
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Hide AdA trio of top talent has converged to create one of the finest hours of entertainment you’ll see this Fringe. Written by Philip Meeks, directed by novelist Stella Duffy (who once trod the boards), and acted with wit, delicacy and perfect pitch by Janet Prince, this short play packs in a tremendous amount of plot, and is filled with enough emotional drama to keep its audience on tenterhooks.
Moving, mirthful, and entertaining from start to finish, this gem of a production deserves a wide audience. The one I was part of uttered a noisy cheer when it ended, and left the room wreathed in smiles.
Star rating: * * * * *
Until 26 August. Today 3:15pm.
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Hide AdMAURICE is 89 and has eight brain tumours. With just weeks to live, he and wife Helena are joined at their South London bungalow by palliative care nurse Katie.
McAuliffe’s comedy drama balances laughs and poignancy, reminding us that whether queen or commoner, we all have moments to treasure, and things to regret. Five-time Fringe First winner Hannah Eidinow directs with an assured hand. The quality of production and players means Maurice’s Jubilee is wonderfully relaxing to watch, but it never takes the audience’s attention for granted; there’s always a little surprise, whether it’s an unexpected line of dialogue or bit of character-defining business. A timely take on timeless themes, Maurice’s Jubilee is a triumph,
Star rating: * * * * *
Until 27 August. Today 4:25pm.
Three actors unfold interlocking stories in this darkly beautiful play written and directed by Emily Jenkins, a recent participant on the Royal Court Young Writer’s programme.
Russ (Oliver Ashworth) is a small-time thug, the hired muscle for a debt collector, who is careful not to let on he likes listening to Just A Minute on Radio 4. Tom (Kyle Treslove) gets into trouble at school for daydreaming, though he’s probably just trying to keep his mind off the fact his father is a violent drunk and he has to steal food from Tesco to survive.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 27 August. Today 4:45pm.
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Hide AdThis is a brave title for a brave show. Ross Sutherland’s innovative piece of interactive theatre trusts the audience to create something hilarious from a deliberately bad piece of stand-up – and against all the odds, it works.
We are transported back to the “Crack Me Up Comedy Lounge” on 11 November, 1983, where clichéd comedian Joe “Pops” Pooley is about to die on stage, literally and metaphorically. As well as being a comedy club, this is a crime scene and the audience (us) are about to witness Joe’s murder.
Star Rating: * * * *
Until 27 August. Today 2:30pm.
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Hide AdIn a flat in Dublin, a well-spoken but oddly manic young woman called Isla rails at vengeful length about a well-known budget airline and the indignities they’ve just heaped upon her.
The play is dark and intelligently amusing, and filled with excellent performances: from Ollie Smith as down-to-earth Joe, “the only MC at Eton”; from Florence Keith-Roach as Isla, filled with just enough hyperactive energy to suggest bipolarity; and from Syborn himself as Joe’s drag queen partner Samantha Carnage, another character whose actions defy appearance or expectation.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 26 August. Today 5:25pm.
Echoes of South African history quietly sound through this play about an 81-year-old woman whose chief confidante is her trusty Bernina sewing machine. With it she clothed herself and four children, as the wife of a white South African farmer in the apartheid years. Now in an old people’s home, Magdaleen has decided the time has come to sell the machine. “You have to travel light, especially over the last few miles,” she says.
Playwright Rachelle Greeff has created an instantly recognisable character – Magdaleen is your favourite no-nonsense grandmother, unsentimental about getting older, frank and delightfully un-PC. She is cleverly and compassionately brought to life by leading South African actress Sandra Prinsloo and Hennie van Greunen, the director behind the wonderful Normality, here on the Fringe in 2009.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 27 August. Today 2:40pm.
We don’t think about them so much in these post-Cold War times, Britain’s fleet of Trident nuclear submarines; for most of the UK population they are tucked away well out of sight and mind, in their bases on the Clyde.
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Hide AdIt’s typical, though, of Scotland’s two leading playwrights, David Greig and David Harrower, that where others forget, they think and remember; Greig because he is a masterly explorer of the human dimension of global politics, Harrower because his searching and poetic studies of human pain often lead him, unerringly, to the deep political undertow of the society that shapes his characters.
So it is a more or less brilliant idea – at the heart of Orla O’Loughlin’s first Festival programme as Traverse director – to bring together these two short, conventional-looking, 55-minute dramas, one written for the Tricycle in London, the other for Paines Plough and the Glasgow Play, Pie and Pint lunchtime season.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 26 August. Today 10am.
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Hide AdSTEP into the room at the top of the stairs at C Nova and you’re transported back in time to a Victorian school room. Miss Minchin makes sure that the audience are sitting comfortably and then the story begins.
Princess Sara is brought up in India until her father has to go to war and deposits her at a boarding school in England. To cope with his absence, Sara spends her nights telling stories to Lionel, a servant boy, until one terrible day, her world crashes around her.
The production captivated this audience, from the six-year-old girls at my feet to the Brazilian tourists who unwittingly sat in Miss Minchin’s
chair. A truly enchanting hour.
Star rating: * * * *
Until August 27
It was in the early hours of May Day 2004 that Kneehigh Theatre Company’s Tristan Sturrock, on his way home from the pub, fell backwards off a wall and broke his neck. While he lay in hospital paralysed, his girlfriend Katy Carmichael – who directs him in this one-man show – was at their home in Padstow, five months pregnant with their first child.
The strongest moments are the poignant ones: Katy pinning the scan of their baby to the ceiling tiles above his bed; his sudden sense of our human fragility. But these are comparatively few. This is a strong piece of work, but using a greater emotional range would make it even stronger.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 27 August. Today 2pm.
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, it is often said, set the gold standard for chroniclers of decadence.
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Hide AdIn 2002, Will Self – an enfant terrible of the literary scene himself, albeit a century or so later – reworked Wilde’s only published novel, transposing its action from fin-de-siècle Victorian society to the London gay scene of the 80s.
Superbly acted by a talented young cast (it would be a tad unfair to single out any one actor, as all are excellent), it does a fine job of re-creating Wilde’s debauched tale for a modern audience, adding Aids, 80s pop songs, slickly choreographed dance routines, and multimedia to the mix.
Be warned, though. Dorian won’t be to everyone’s taste.
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Hide AdIt’s sexually explicit, violent and contains drug use – so if you’re prudish, homophobic, or easily offended, you’re advised to steer clear.
Star rating: * * * *
Until August 27
Willy Russell’s Educating Rita, immortalised in the 1983 film, is guaranteed to have queues forming right around the block this month.
The story centres on Rita and her university tutor, the jaded Frank, who is fond of a tipple. With a thirst for knowledge, she bursts into Frank’s office like a whirlwind. Her desire to escape the humdrum of everyday life takes both of them on a journey that will challenge their perceptions and views.
Claire Sweeney plays the role of Rita to perfection – a constant, playful smile on her face keeping the audience entranced. Matthew Kelly, meanwhile, as the weary tutor, demonstrates the kind of comic timing that can only come from years of experience.
Star rating: * * * *
Until August 27.
The first non-verbal physical comedy from Hong Kong comes to the Fringe – using clowning, mime, magic, martial arts, drumming and acrobatics to poke fun at the pressures to achieve academic success.
Three-time best director winner in Hong Kong’s Drama Awards, Tang Shu-wing choreographs a talented, delightfully expressive cast of five, which includes a world bodybuilding champion, Lisa Cheng. Through no words – just shouts, shrieks and squeals – they create a funny story in a situation that’s recognisable across continents.
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Hide AdWhen three schoolboys and one schoolgirl are trapped in detention together and forced to write lines, they decide to rebel in numerous ingenious ways. The minute their formidable teacher (Cheng) turns her back they’re off: slapping their music on, using the tables and a large bin as drums, dancing and fighting around the room. It’s wonderfully liberating stuff that pits childhood exuberance against adult authority and turns routine classroom activities into something extraordinary.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 26 August. Today 1pm.
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Hide AdIN AN Irish coastal community back in older, simpler times, villagers go dutifully about their business – filling oil lamps, shifting oars and beating fish over the head.
A fisherman, his flat cap dipped over his eyes, shares silent but tender moments with his young son – a lonely and frail looking lad “who dreams of doing it all someday” and shares a friendship with a sea bird which he can call by blowing a wooden whistle worn round his neck.
Told without speech through a blend of live acting, puppetry, music, song and sound-effects, Canterbury company Little Cauliflower’s follow-up to last year’s similarly excellent Street Dreams is a gorgeously detailed and gently moving piece.
It’s great proof of how wonderful puppet theatre can be. Told almost any other way, this simple little story wouldn’t be nearly as immersive and effecting.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 25 August. 1:15pm.
A CHURCH hall provides the site-specific location for the new play by Edinburgh-based Nutshell, whose Fringe First-winning Allotment makes a return to the festival this year.
Ostensibly, we are all guests at the annual Burntisland Beetle Drive, but after a brief bit of dice-shaking, it’s time to sit back and let the play get underway.
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Hide AdJules Horne’s play, sensitively directed by Kate Nelson, explores gently but deftly the subject of ageing, one of several works on the Fringe this year to do so. It also explores the gap that life all too often creates between youthful hopes and their realisation.
The play’s sure-footed direction means that, despite frequent shifts backwards and forwards in time, we are never confused. The three highly able performers use the subtlest changes in movement or voice to convey a shift of decades. The only moment of uncertainty comes at the end, which feels abrupt and in need of further resolution.
Star rating: * * * *
Until 26 August. 6:45pm and 8:15pm.
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Hide AdIt’s a simple enough story. Diana, The Moon, sends out her moonbeams to find somebody to love. She finds Sam, a young man who spends his time on his computer while awaiting his death from the ravages of cancer. Love is found and love is lost – or is it?
Gordon Hamilton has produced something that is breathtaking in its scope, yet simple in its execution. However, fragments of the libretto, projected on to a wall, are an unwelcome interruption. Mundane lines such as “My laptop is smashed” clash with the otherwise mystical ambience.
But little detracts from the 12 soaring and sweeping voices that produce a wonderful a cappella vista, echoing the fragility of love and life.
Star rating: * * * *
An ambitious, richly layered drama that flits between four different disparate eras that converge to ask questions about empire, the way technology affects ideas and the nature of commemorative monuments.
What we said: “How do you weave together the Arab Spring, the study of ants and the repatriation of museum artefacts with a lost coal miner, nuclear waste and the dying days of empire? Very cleverly, if you’re Curious Directive, the young company that won a Scotsman Fringe First last year for Your Last Breath.”
Star rating: * * * *
• Until 27 August. 3:40pm
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Hide AdA solemn, tender tale of a couple in their 60s, one of whom has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Facing death from two very different perspectives, Pam and Don are forced to contemplate their last moments together.
What we said: “Macdonald’s production provides a feast of world-class acting from two of the finest performers on the British stage. Dearbhla Molloy makes something subtle and fine out of Holloway’s idealised portrait of an infinitely loving woman calmly arranging her own end; Paterson is simply superb as Don, devastated, rebellious, helpless, and grumpily, profoundly male.”
Star rating: * * * *
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Hide Ad• And No More Shall We Part until 26 August, today 12:15pm.
Mark Thomas’ Bravo Figaro! is a poignant exploration of the comedian’s relationship with his late father, through the latter’s unusual passion for opera.
What we said: “In a sense, it’s a simple tale, with no obvious resolution. Yet there’s something about every moment of this thoughtful one-hour show that smacks of reality; of the messy mixture of magic and squalor that is everyday life, but also of the complex social history of Britain, in the half-century since Thomas’s birth, and the fact that there are many kinds of death, not all of which may claim us at the same moment.”
Star rating: * * * *
• Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro! until 26 August, today 10am. Morning until 19 August, today 5:30pm.
A “brief, bright, exquisite” drama about a young couple, Sophie and Jonah, who meet after Jonah becomes a tenant in a house she has not long inherited from her father.
What we said: “This fine piece of writing has plenty to say about the strange detachment of our increasingly individualised society, its growing voyeurism, and the inconclusiveness of the relationships that emerge within it.”
Star rating: * * * *
• Blink until 26 August. Today 3:15pm.
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Hide AdContinuous Growth, Pleasance Dome (Venue 23|Click to buy tickets}
An engineer who finds himself unemployed in a capitalist economy is propelled to overnight success when he devises automated machines to entirely replace the function of human beings as workers, friends, parents and even lovers.
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Hide AdWhat we said: “The wit and ingenuity of the play – first written by Esa Leskinen and Sami Keski-Vahala – knows no bounds, as it skewers every last absurdity of a global economy designed to serve itself, rather than the basic needs of the planet, or the people who live on it. And, as Andy Axelgrinder, Billy Mack delivers a performance even more thoughtful and brilliant than his award-winning turn in The Overcoat.”
Star rating: * * * *
• Continuous Growth until 27 August. Today 12:10pm
Emily, a woman in the grip of Alzheimer’s, tries to disentagle her knotted mind as memories of her husband, the Beach Boys and Bergman films collide together into an incoherent, poingnant narrative.
What we said: “As he did in Somewhere Beneath It All, Dave Florez creates the sense of a lively, imaginative person imprisoned by their physical circumstances. His writing is fresh, funny and at times achingly beautiful. By the time our hour with Emily has reached its sweet, sad conclusion, we are reminded again how good he is at turning the tables on his audience and shaking us out of complacency into compassion.”
Star rating: * * * *
• Hand Over Fist until 27 August. Today 1.55pm.
A one-man show that tells the story of Murray, who, in between trying to fight off ne’er-do-wells in Leith and maintaining an unlikely friendship with a former school friend, aspires to tread the boards in London while taking advice from a capricious imaginary friend, Sir Sean Connery.
What we said: “Based upon the real-life story of Murray’s journey from an easily-led lad negotiating “schemies” on the streets of Scotland’s capital to an aspiring actor on the make in London, this is a warm and funny tale that celebrates authentic working-class Edinburgh, particularly the rough-and-tumble straight-talking characters tourist guides omit.”
Star rating: * * * *
• Until 27 August. Today 1:30pm.
Teenage angst and global problems collide together in this experimental performance, written and performed by 18-year-old Koba Ryckewaert.
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Hide AdWhat we said: “It’s hard to say whether Ryckewaert’s show – created with dramaturg Joeri Smet and director Alexander Devriendt – offers a message of hope, or of complete despair. Yet in itself, it’s a near perfect example of art that conceals art, beautifully written and thought through, despite its apparent casualness.”
Star rating: * * * *
• All That Is Wrong until 12 August, 5:45pm
A play that sheds light on a scandal that helped remove US president Herbert Hoover from office, Why Do You Stand There In The Rain? tells the true story of a movement of First World War veterans who marched on Washington DC to demand cash bonuses that had been promised upon their return from duty.
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Hide AdWhat we said: “This young cast, directed by Cathy Thomas-Grant, deliver a performance of terrific focused intensity, seamlessly mixing direct narrative and live action, and punctuated at every step by the powerful protest songs of Woody Guthrie and other radical musicians of the time.”
Star rating: * * * *
• Why Do You Stand There In The Rain? until 11 August, today 12:50pm.
A charming, forceful play about a teenager, Sparky, who fancies a girl who may or may not have telekinetic powers.
What we said: “The show also features four thrilling performances, along with an ear-splitting but hugely effective musical score, terrific visual effects, and a strikingly fluent way with movement.”
Star rating: * * * *
• The Static until 26 August, today 2:40pm.
A young Mexican girl living in London who, holding dreams of a better life in her new home, finds her hopes shattered by the pervasive self-interest and callousness of the people she encounters.
What we said: “Along with director and co-writer Nir Paldi, Araico Casas has developed a joyfully physical kind of storytelling that pairs the vibrant and expressive dance of Mexico’s rich heritage with the mundane, repetitive and demeaning tasks Juana is forced to do in a kitchen in London’s Elephant and Castle under the ever-present threat of sexual abuse.”
Star rating: * * * *
• Until 26 August. Today 4:15pm.