Fringe theatre reviews

The Royal College of Surgeons is an appropriate enough venue for a Victorian murder mystery.

So the setting is perfect, the staging is effective, the costumes and the performances definitive. And, yet the problem with this genre is the danger that the tension between, suspense, drama and humour veers into melodrama or farce.

The suspension of disbelief sometimes requires a bit of work but it's well worth the effort and nothing can detract from Elizabeth Muncie's electrifying performance. Her mastery of the final denouement alone is worth the ticket price.

Run ends tomorrow

JIM FERGUSON

Stalag Happy

Underbelly, Cowgate

***

Stalag Happy is a story about imagination, friendship and expression that manages to bloom in the terrible conditions in Second World War POW camp Stalag 383. Humorous imaginings of trains to Margate, Christmas dinners and beautiful women with endless legs, provide light humour and moments of pathos. The simple but effective set suggests that inadequacy of accommodation at Stalag 383.

Run ends Sunday

CHLOE DEAN

Stars on the ceiling

C Venue, Chambers Street

****

CAPTIVATING theatre from leading Swedish theatre company, teater Fredag. This is a gorgeous production from four hugely talented actresses. Beautifully directed by Anders Alnemark, this cast squeeze every drop of humour and pathos out of this vibrant script. This show is deservedly one of the most popular pieces of theatre with young audiences in Sweden. Catch it here while you can.

Run ends Monday

CLAIRE WOOD

Averse To Personal Publicity

Riddles Court,

Lawnmarket

The Bronte sisters are the subject of this year's tribute to famous authors from Edinburgh's Mercators theatre company. Now in its eighth year, the Mercators' format is not so much a drama but a marginally dramatised lecture, presented as a rehearsed reading in fancy dress – with the occasional foray into the performance of a scene from the novels. It is interesting enough, but you would probably get a better and more entertaining understanding of the sisters on Wikipedia.

Run ended

THOM DIBDIN

Crave

C Venue, Chambers Street

***

Crave is pretty hard work as theatre goes but this is a polished and extremely competent production. Director Tamsin Bell does a great job of wringing the pathos out of each character's confused and abused existence. Good student theatre: energetic, sensitive and compassionate but arguably a little bit shallow.

Run ends Monday

CLAIRE WOOD

The Bite-Size'd Breakfast in Bedlam

Bedlam Theatre, Forrest Road

***

WHITE Room Theatre return to Edinburgh with a set of short humorous plays, including Mind the Flak – the rant of an aggravated commuter as she waits to board the Tube, and Quiet Table For Four, which charts the first meeting of a nervous couple, accompanied by the voices inside their heads. A slick presentation, nonetheless, of five witty pieces exploring themes of loneliness and insecurity, and a great way to kick- start a day on the Fringe.

Run ends tomorrow

TOM DICKSON

George In The Dragon's Den

Zoo, Southside

Las Productions present a colourful version of the tale of St George while exploring themes of greed. Performed entirely in rhyme George In The Dragon's Den is not for those wishing to see a realistic or graceful piece of theatre. However, for those missing the pantomime season, this play is an entertaining way to spend a lunchtime.

Run ends Monday

TOM DICKSON

Palace of the End

Traverse, Cambridge Street

****

Palace of the End by leading Canadian playwright, Judith Thompson, reflects on the multiple repercussions of the Iraqi war on the lives of three very different individuals, each of whom represents a wider force within the conflict. Thompson doesn't offer any easy answers but it makes for a thoughtful and compelling piece of theatre.

Run ends Sunday

CLAIRE WOOD

Lilly Through The Dark

Bedlam Theatre, Forrest Road

****

HAUNTING tale of love and loss that combines whimsical childlike wonder with an unapologetic lust for the macabre. Lilly Through The Dark is a is a gothic gem, telling the simple tale of a grieving young girl looking to find her recently deceased father in the underworld. Wondrous, imaginative and heart-wrenching theatre.

Run ends tomorrow

EMMA BRANKIN

Don Juan in Soho

C Venue, Brodie's Close

****

SEXY and erotic, perhaps border-line pornographic at times, this adaptation of Molire's Don Juan is a treat. Patrick Marber's script could well bare a 'suitable only for persons of 15 years and over' warning but is witty and comical in the spirit of Molire. The acting in intertwined with physical theatre and can be seen at 360 degree angle.

Run ends Sunday

CLAIRE CHARRAS

Rich Hall

Assembly Rooms, George Street

*****

THE master miserablist from Montana is back in town. Practically part of the furniture at the Festival it would be hard to imagine a year without Hall's celebrated grumblings. This year he shares his magnificently curmudgeonly musings on subjects as diverse as US politics, midges, and the overacting gophers of Montana.

A great natural storyteller, Hall builds his hilarious tales around the smallest incidents and even when interrupted by some baffling comments from the audience he's surefooted enough to absorb them for new material.

An expert performer and master craftsman, Hall has a wonderfully bewildered view on things that is probably more in line with the audience's than they might wish to admit.

It might be going overboard to compare Hall to the ravens at the Tower of London – the Fringe might not collapse without him – but there's no doubt it would be a good deal poorer.

Runs ends Monday

NEIL McEWAN

Carl Donnelly

Underbelly, Cowgate

***

Donnelly, by his own admission, has a poorly structured show. He throws a handful of older material that sticks comfortably alongside fresher tales, but inevitably lacks any killer zest which in time could see him alongside the consistent heavyweights on the Fringe scene.

Run ends Sunday

NIALL McNEILL

Helen Keen: The Primitive Methodist Guide To Arctic Survival

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Bristo Square

***

Based on accounts of her great, great grandfather, Helen Keen explores what it feels like to be trapped in the Arctic and offers helpful survival hints using impressions, props and amusing scientific facts to create a tundra in the Gilded Balloon.

Although intelligent and extremely likeable, Keen does not always seem in control of the stage and fails to fill the whole hour with laughter.

Run ends Monday

TOM DICKSON

Alun Cochrane

The Stand, York Place

****

COCHRANE'S observations may begin predictably, but the wit and sincerity behind them turn situations into their own self-contained tales delivered as honestly mid-way through his August run as they likely were the first time he dreamt them.

Every mundane incident is examined to a blissful conclusion, with topics stretching from mortgages and the pub to dreams about road tax.

Run ends Sunday

NIALL McNEILL

Hooked on the musicals

Hooked

Musical Theatre, George Street

***

THERE'S a deep seem of realism running through many of the productions at the Musical Theatre on George Square this year, and Hooked is no exception. The sorry tale of a middle class man, his addiction to cocaine and the effect it has on the women in his life is, however, one of the more convincing and professional offerings.

Created by Max Kinnings, writing partner of Rik Mayall, the dialogue is taut and realistic. The awkward moments shared by Jason Langley's protagonist Ben and wife Emma, (Jessica Sherman], are thrillingly real. Manal El-Feitury's Odette is also particularly well observed. Where the show falls down is a lack of character development. Worth the effort, if only for the fabulously stroppy scene changes by hooker Angel.

Run ends Sunday

JOSIE BALFOUR

One Touch of Venus

Augustin's, George IV Bridge

FOR a Broadway play based on a book by Marx Brothers, writer SJ Perelman and poet Ogden Nash, One Touch of Venus is unforgivably short on laughs. While the wit's there in the script, the cast and director have conspired between them to wring out every drop of the show's humour like it's a dirty dish cloth. Trudging through the score like a lost boy scout in the rain was Michael Trakas as the hapless Rodney Hatch, while John Kirkman so comprehensively murdered the role of Whitelaw Savoury that he should be arrested for manslaughter.

Run ended

JOSIE SCOULLER

Micaela Leon

C Venue, Chambers Street

****

HISTORY lessons at school were never like this. Smart, sexy and spirited Micaela Leon's snapshot of the Weimar republic mingles cabaret songs with the stories of eight strong women to evoke that exotic period in Germany between the end of WWI and the rise of Hitler. This is sensual, potent stuff from a performer who loves their material, Simon Schama eat you heart out.

Run ends Monday

NEIL MCEWAN

8 1/2 songs about love (and other myths)

The Spaces, Royal College of Surgeons

***

ALONE with her piano, Helen Array serenades as she meanders her way through songs about the L word. Swaying between musical styles, her Lily Allen London-accented approach to music and to songs is one in which the voice is used as an instrument, rather than a noise over a melody.

Funny, sometimes cynical and sometimes teary, Helen and her piano make a pleasant duo for early evening entertainment.

Run ends tomorrow

CLAIRE CHARRAS

Dance

Spectrum

C Venue, Chambers Street

***

50 minutes of edgy urban movement blend with crafted hip-hop under a 'multi-media' umbrella in Spectrum, by the Avant Garde Dance Company. The choreography is deliciously unpredictable and inconsistent; the dancers are relentless in their performance.

Run ends Monday

CHLOE DEAN

Still Breathing

Zoo Southside

****

THE all male 2Faced dance company showcase a blend of contemporary dance with street and acrobatics. Firing off like a shot into the auditorium, a gripping opening solo performance illustrates the raw masculine aggressiveness which runs through the piece. Group scenes play out like an acrobatic brawl, elegant and dazzling albeit at times slightly disjointed and chaotic. Despite its contemporary dance tag this is as accessible as it is stimulating.

Run ends Monday

FIONA McKIM