A couple of days at Edinburgh Fringe
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| Photo: Carliol Photography |
We had a chance to pop up to Edinburgh and to
take in a few shows. We hadn’t done much planning as this was a last-minute
decision so no official press passes and free tickets to enjoy. Instead we had
the PBH free fringe app (https://freefringe.org.uk/app/)
and the new Working Class Fringe App (https://t.co/vXezUB1U1g) to help us. This gave us a chance to enjoy
some great “free” fringe – of course, these shows are free to get in but not
free to leave and I put in between £5 to |£10 in the bucket at the end. I
remember someone commenting in 2016 that reviewers didn’t put their hand in
their pocket and I pointed out that we had. The visit then finished with a paid
show that was on a 2 for 1 offer (our photographer managed to pick up a free
ticket for that one).
The apps worked well and the google maps
function on the Working Class Fringe app was really handy when you don’t know
the locations of the venues or the venues don’t make it that clear what they’re
called.
Now reviews are subjective – we all know
that. This is a summary of how we felt
and other people may disagree. That’s fine. All of the shows run to the usual 1
hour time slot or less… the odd performer ran out of material at 50 minutes. We
took a “risk” on many of these performers, having known nothing about them
other than the title and flyer before the show – but we now have a number of
new names to look out for. Having said that, it was a change to catch up on 3
old friends too, talking of which we started with the brains behind the Working
Class Fringe website (https://workingclassfringe.co.uk/),
Lee Kyle.
Venue
85: Laughing Horse @ City Café
(Hollywood room)
August 6-14, 16-18,
20-26. 10:20 am.
It may have been 10:15 on a
Sunday morning but the room was full to bursting as Lee Kyle appeared to start
the show. Not just seats filled, we had the floor full too. Fortunately this
Karaoke room came with air conditioning unlike some of the venues we would
visit later.
Kyle is an immediately likeable chap who quickly has the
rapport and trust of the audience. Writing this review after we have returned
from Edinburgh, we appreciated just how good he is at quickly winning an
audience around. Our later shows would include some acts who just didn't know
how to handle an audience. Unlike a local North East gig, this wasn’t a room
full of friends, this was a crowd that needed impressing and sure enough Lee
did this.
This is the best show we have
seen Lee do to date. It is quite a personal show. Lee discusses his time in
wrestling, his upbringing, his family and coping with autism within his close
family circle. His genuine open style
doesn't offend and you could feel the warmth in the audience’s reaction. But
Lee doesn’t go for quick sympathy votes nor does he forget to be funny. Despite
the intensity of the material often being covered, he makes the room laugh with
almost everything he says, and that takes skill.
We like Lee Kyle a lot and he is
well worth getting early to see (in our case, leaving Gateshead at 6am!)
Free tea and biscuits ★★★
Venue 398: Three Broomsticks. 12:10pm
Described as “What better way o
start your day than with free tea & biscuits from three lovely comedians,
with oddity Daniel Nicholas, the engaging Paul Savage, and the dark musings of
Hannah Platt” we decided to head to the show after our lunchtime supermarket
sandwiches.
We struggled to find the venue as the sign saying “3 broomsticks” consisted of
a piece of paper on the window. Upstairs we found a variety of small rooms in
need of decoration. We are talking bare plaster and an odd assortment of light
fittings here.
Before we got into the room our
order for tea was taken. This show is certainly different. We only had 2 acts:
Dan Nichols, who got the crowd to discuss their favourite childhood toy and
board game followed by Phil Savage with a more conventional 30 minute set.
Nothing wrong with the show at all and the tea and biscuits were worth stopping
by for.
The Tanner ★★★★★
Venue 398: Three Broomsticks
Until
August 25. 1:20 pm
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| Photo: Carliol Photography |
Alex McSherry performers a great
single-handed play about William Wallace’s fight against the English. Taken
from the point of view of a tanner who fought alongside Wallace, we get the
blood and guts. In fact we get lots of bodily fluids, thus is the nature of a
tanners work. The flyer suggests 18+ but to be honest this strong, passionate
performance will go down well with 15+. Robust language features in films with
this cert and the descriptive power of McSherry is something a GCSE/Standard
Level student should witness. This was a real emotional treat.
Dan Willis: Live
At The Laugh ★★★★★.
Venue 276: Liquid Rooms Annexe
Until
August 26. 2:30pm
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| Photo: Carliol Photography |
Dan Willis is very comfortable on
the microphone. A very slick operator. He not only has a great pace with his
own material but also in his responses to those in the audience who are invited
to say something. I’ve not witnessed a comic with such a quick reply reflex
since I saw Bob Monkhouse back in the day. The hour flies by as Dan dissects
zombie attacks and self-help books.
There are reminders of why he was
so successful compering the Grinning Idiot shows at Newcastle’s St Doms before
he moved to Australia (which
form part of another show I wish we had time to see). Then I remember: Dan
is the reason why, years ago, I worked out how fast I could get to the Gosforth
Asda if there was ever a zombie invasion.
Dan is still a really good laugh.
A real comedy treat.
Janey Godley: Godley's Cream 20 Years and Counting ★★★★★
Venue
170: Laughing Horse @ The Counting House
Until
August 26. 5:30pm
We had been aware of Janey’s work
for some years. Not only is she a fellow socialist and campaigner for equality,
she is not afraid to get in the face of those in power. But she is much more
than a woman who stood on a golf course with a pair of signs about the current American
president.
This show features a whistle stop
tour of some of her life story. Unlike some youngster at the fringe today, you
get a real sense that Janey has many, many more tales where these came from. We
have the real life encounters and protests with Trump of course but we also
have so much more. This is a history of a Scottish woman of our time and you
get the impression that she has hard to work hard for everything she has.
There are some tough moments
amongst the comedy. I’m not that familiar with the sectarianism that was very
much a part of Janey’s upbringing. Don’t get me wrong, I know it happens – it’s
just that you don’t get that sort of thing happening on the streets on Hull or
Newcastle.
This is a fabulous solo show and
it is easy to see why the venue was packed.
Lovell’s Labour’s Hoss’ed ★★
Venue 398: Three Broomsticks
Until 25th August. 7pm
Here’s the thing. Reviewing is
subjective. We are not going to like everything. That’s just personal. This
show with Matt Hoss and Nigel Lovell is one we’d rather forget. Wee-man wanted
to give it one star. I thought 2 as Lovell wasn’t that bad.
Can we please move on?
Joke Thieves ★★★★★
Venue 338: Laughing Horse @
Cabaret Voltaire
August 6-13, 15-26. 8:30pm
Oh boy – this was fun…
Host Will Mars explained the format. We will see 4 acts. A member of the audience
nominates a pairing and each pair of acts will come back on stage to repeat the
set of the person that they have been paired with.
Of course the audience member
thought pairing up the biggest chap, Nick, with tiny Laura would lead to some
fun. Of course it would as Laura energetically bounced around the stage
comparing sporting opportunities for the 2 sexes: football and netball. In the
other pairing Paul tried to make it hard for Andrea by including lots of sound
effects in the set. Whilst each of the first sets was brilliantly funny,
another barrel of laughs was to come when the partner in each tried to
replicate the set. Some got political whilst Laura got a chair to stand on.
This was a really rapid show – 9
sets (if you include the host) in an hour and hence no chance of getting
bored. They all got into the spirit of
the show and it was a superb treat – no wonder the room was packed.
Different people appear each
night which are announced on Twitter https://twitter.com/JokeThieves
– so it is literally a different show each night.
Day 2
Why is every venue uphill in Edinburgh. Even when you return to the venue
you’ve just come from? We had sorted tickets for the 4pm show and wee man loved
last night so much he wanted to do sketch thieves so that limited the shows we
could fit in. This was going to be about quality rather than quantity today.
Tw@t Out Of Hell ★★★★
Venue
85: Laughing Horse @ City Café
(Hollywood room)
August 8-20, 22-26. 11:35 am.
As we left Lee Kyle’s show the
previous day, the imposing figure of Gary G Knightley had invited us to had
straight back into the room to see his show but we had been up since silly
o’clock and we needed food. We did, however catch his show on day 2 of our
visit.
We love rock music and we love
musicals so it is no surprise to discover that we’d find the show very funny. The
Meatloaf element was short and to the point. The full room had a working
knowledge of his greatest hits, when asked. I was going to go for Paradise By The Dashboard Light or Modern Girl but wasn’t asked.
In a room this small, the mic is
more of a prop than a necessity but Gary can sing, he could belt them out if he
wanted to. But this was about comedy and soon the focus moved to musicals. Given the theatrics of Meatloaf, there is
plenty in common. Our wee-man was ready to give Avenue Q or Urinetown if
asked about his favourite (I had explained to Gary at the start that he
wouldn’t be the first to corrupt his poor young mind…he has witnessed it on
stage before).
Funny and near the knuckle with
some of the material, Gary isn’t nasty but he made full use of the adult
vocabulary as we described the re-write of a number of shows. He worked the
room very well indeed. He wanted a reaction and got one. A great start to day 2
of our EdFringe journey.
Sketch Thieves ★★★★★
Venue 338: Laughing Horse @
Cabaret Voltaire
August 6-13, 15-26. 1 pm.
This is a similar format to Joke
Thieves but with sketch groups. Again, we had 4 acts who would perform a
routine and then copy the routine of another group. The pairings were once
again selected by an audience member to stop any rehearsal beforehand. Just
like Joke Thieves, the material appears to have been selected to make it hard
for the other group.
The performers change daily and
our lucky quartet were MOON @mooncomedy, Dirty White Boys @dwbcomedy, Tracy's Leaving Party @tracyisleaving and The Delightful
Sausage @mmmsausage.
This was as good as Joke Thieves.
If the first act made a mistake, you could guarantee that the copying act would
highlight the fact. The audience would get into the spirit of the show and
repeat their first half interaction too. So we had quiet talking (with shouts
of ‘Speak Up Please’), Geezer lad interactions, Toothbrushes and Mexican waves.
It is amazing how quickly the
hour goes by when you’ve having this much fun. If we had been in Edinburgh for
longer than 2 days then this is a pair of shows that we would have definitely
returned to.
That was the end of our tour of
the Free Fringe as we headed over to one of the city’s Student Union buildings.
Trumpageddon ★★★★★
Venue 14: Gilded
Balloon Teviot
Aug 6-7, 9-14, 16-21, 23-27. 4 pm
Our last big trip to Edinburgh
Fringe was 2016 and one
of the stand out shows was Trumpageddon. Back then Trump was simply a
candidate. He was a man that could be laughed at as he made a bid to become the
President of the USA. Events later in 2016 changed that and we all know what
happened next as the reality TV businessman and major user of Twitter took up
residence in the White House.
This is a totally different show
to 2016. A lot has happened since then. Not only was Trump elected but
the Twitter feed has become daily international news. On TV we’ve also had The Handmaids
Tale discussing a possible future for the States. Simon Jay has rewritten the show and added an
assistant, Ofdonald, dressed as a Handmaid.
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| Photo: Carliol Photography |
The show has been successfully
scaled up. A much bigger room has resulted in a much larger audience than 2016.
The show is still attracting a vocal north American section to each audience. There
is still a question and answer element, though now Ofdonald collects and writes
down the questions from the queue outside and then brings a microphone so you
can ask Trump yourself.
This show constantly breaks the fourth
wall. Audience participation, through clapping, cheering, booing, questioning,
cheerleading and occasionally insulting Trump happens at regular interval.
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| Photo: Carliol Photography |
This Trump is not as nasty as the
real thing. The trouble with the source
material is that real life is producing unthinkably surreal moments so sticking
with real events produces the craziest material. The thin line between fiction
and reality is blurred. The line between theatre and stand-up is equally
blurred. Questioning is broken up with theatrical moments which reflect the
bizarre nature of Trumps’ behaviour. The
use of a rear projection and sound design supports the madness on stage. This
results in a show that is both very funny and equally shocking in equal measure.
This show has matured and is even better than the original.
Is satire dead?
Not yet, it isn’t!
Review by Stephen Oliver, with additional material
from Joanne Oliver and Wee-Man.
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