Theatre

As promised last time, and more

bruceonthefringe 2025, Edinburgh Fringe 2025, Fringe reviews, Stand-up comedy, Theatre, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Heading towards Bristo Square, I overheard two older gents behind me discussing where to go for a drink, Bristo Square?Too noisy and plastic. Teviot Row and the Library Bar? Much nicer. I did briefly consider not saying anything, no, no, come on now; so I turned round and mentioned it was closed for renovation, they thanked me and headed elsewhere to find a pint in a glass. Ah, good deed done for the day!

I was actually going to the Mosque Kitchen for a chicken bhuna and rice (rather nice!), then across to the Counting House for Stand-up Philosophy with the most genial of hosts Alex Farrow with guest stand-ups Omar Badawy and Daman Bamrah. An entertaining and interestingly informative hour.

I had already seen Alex Farrow: New Order and, as usual, thoroughly enjoyed myself (Stand-up Philosophy is like a diluted version of Farrow’s own show), as we were treated to a flowing stream of philosophical thoughts with babbles of hilarity. There’s always some cracking anecdote from Farrow’s teaching days, this one’s a real doozy! His broken vacuum cleaner story had me nodding in recognition, he is one of us. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

How happy was I to see Rob Kemp was back with a new show, Beatlesjuice? And how happy am I that he’s putting on a one-off performance of the Elvis Dead this afternoon at four thirty? Very, very happy! But Beatlesjuice, oh my heartses, it’s soooo good! Now I should clarify, this is very much a WIP (Work In Progress) but I loved it with all it’s flaws (I actually saw it last week when Kemp was still figuring a lot out, I expect by now it’s a lot smoother, but more fun? nah).

If you’ve seen The Elvis Dead, it’s a similar premis with Beetlejuice retold through Beatles music with Kemp’s lyrics and onscreen moments from the film. Kemp’s lyrics are so bang on, you’re laughing at the humour and marvelling at his genius wit at the same time. Yes, it has a way to go, but it was perfectly imperfect! Beatlesjuice had my face grinning and my soul singing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Just time to mention another show, saw it last night, another bullseye for my Fringe-dar. Iago Speaks is Shakespeare Meets Meta. It has the wordplay of a Shakespeare play, wonderful comic acting and a tricksy meta-ness that kept me enthralled. The Jailer was a wonderful character, yin to Iago’s yang, and he does talk an awful lot, well, the play does start after Iago swore he’d never speak again, but like Gromit he doesn’t need words for us to know he’s thinking. Oh, Iago does eventually speak but definitely with a forked tongue. I knew how it would end, yes, the end and then the very end, but the journey there was amazing theatre ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Time for a spot of lunch, methinks. Should I cook or go out?

Toodle-oo for now!

Puffins, potatoes and a fish called Swimothy

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When I saw the puffin on the poster I knew I’d go see Stuart Laws Is Stuck, yes, I’m a sucker for a puffin, and a comedy/murder/mystery with a puffin? I immediately thought, the puffin did it, why? Did you see Dr Dolittle Kills a Man last year? The puffin turned out to be the big bad, so this time round I’d be ready.

Our guy is the only human on an island inhabited by 1004 puffins, he took the job of caretaker after a bad break-up; but one of the puffins is missing, Titus. Oh yeah, they all have names, and he can talk to them, and they talk back (Kate Hammer is hilarious as puffins Milo, Angie and D’Angelo). Missing becomes possibly murdered as Stuart investigates and soon things start to unravel…. And if you’re not 100% paying attention you may get lost in it all!

The show swaps between the story on Puffin Island and stand-up in the Fringe Venue; there are prompts to know the swaps, not always obvious to folk sat further back (another time when a slightly higher stage would help!) As the puffin mystery is being solved we start to become aware that there’s something else behind it all, the clues are in the stand-up. Oh, there’s more levels here than first meet the eye, all well constructed and well written, and Laws and Hammer are great together. If you do see this, don’t just put aside the cards on some seats, it’s excellent artwork depicting the characters, Milo is adorable! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

From puffins to potatoes, Batisfera are back with another short play Tale of a Potato to enchant, bemuse and leave us mulling over our own human nature. The stage is a square wooden table with just one light, Valentina Fadda presides over all as narrator, voices, puppeteer and knife-wielder (some of those veg are trouble!), oh, and bringer of sight (nails for eyes! ironic for a potato). She had the audience spell-bound as she told the story of a potato called Protagonist.

We follow Protagonist’s through his life, loves, trials and tribulations, and by god, we feel for that little fellow before the end. There’s a supporting cast of a variety of vegetables, including an antagonistic aubergine. The show may only be half an hour long but there’s a lot packed in there; Fadda’s voice and this little table-top world, take us through a gamut of emotions. It’s profound and whimsical and will dwell with you long after ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Batisfera are also performing The Gummy Bears’ Great War again – and you thought vegetables were small to perform with! I loved it, but be warned, if you felt for Protagonist, those little bears may leave you floored.

Time for one more before I head out to Binkies for some late night sounds. A fish called Swimothy, no, it’s not called that, mind his role has gotten rather bigger than it was in Moon Team IIIV at the start of the Edinburgh Fringe in 2024, he even has a song this year (I’m pretty certain that wasn’t there last time!?). Will BF has said that this is a fully finished copy, hmmm, we’ll see. Moon Team IIIV has been tweaked, rejigged, upgraded, but it’s still as silly and bonkers as it was, still with the talking head mockumentary parts intertwining with the action on stage. Will Will ever truly settle on a completed version? Will Swimothy become tyrannical and take over the whole film? It’s funny, it’s highly entertaining and totally Fringe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Next time, a little philosophy and a guy into a black and white striped suit. Toodle pip!

A Barr, a king and a clown

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So far Edinburgh has had pretty good temperatures this Fringe (touch wood!), but I do wish all the crazy winds would calm down. See, I like to have my windows open a smidgen in summer, but even only having the top sash down a wee bit will result in all my Fringe cuttings being strewn everywhere whenever I’m out awhile. No, I can’t put them away, really. Back home from the Farmer’s Market, I picked the latest windfalls, oh, the picture of James Barr looked reproachfully back at me, oops. It had been right at the front to remind me, yeah, let’s do it….

James Barr: Sorry I Hurt Your Son (Said My Ex to My Mum) was at the Fringe last year, I remember pondering on seeing it, but never went. Time to give it a shot, and yes, another success for my Fringe-dar! James Barr opens up to the audience about his life and the domestic abuse he suffered in a four year relationship; it sounds like quite a personal and harrowing subject for a Fringe comedy show, but Barr injects plenty of quips and wit into his narrative. This is his story and he tells it well; he would take us down into the darkness, then neatly bring us back up with a deliciously funny quip, a roller-coaster of a show! I walked out feeling quite buoyed up, and I got a badge too! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

How times change, in years past the Pleasance Courtyard and Dome were regular features on my Fringe Calendar, especially during the previews, but last year I saw nothing at all at the Pleasance Dome and this year there’s been one (I’d say, so far, but that could well be the only one). Mind, that one was great fun! Up the stairs in the King Dome is Alasdair Beckett-King: King of Crumbs, oo, three kings there! Wow, an hour packed full of laugh-out-loud one liners, surreal silliness, a dollop of whimsy, and, as he called them, some “sad jokes”. There were plenty of nice little call-backs and a continuing phone gag that just kept on giving! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

It’s late, again, but I mentioned last time that I’d report on Scaramouche Jones – it’s brilliant! And it’s on until the very last day of the Fringe (excluding Monday 11th), I may well be back, ‘twould be a great way to round off my Fringe. The part could have almost been written for Thom Tuck, he inhabits it so well; and the Big Yurt, with it’s makeshift nature, is the perfect setting for this picaresque tale. It’s a story that spans the twentieth century, an old clown has just come off stage from his final performance and speaks for the first time in fifty years as the time ticks towards the final midnight of 1999, the first stroke of which will be exactly a hundred years since Scaramouche’s birth on a fishmonger’s slab in Port of Spain.

The script is full of vibrant descriptions of the places and people in Scaramouche’s life, and Tuck’s lustrous tones paint them even more vividly, his talent for accents comes in as Scaramouche journeys around the world meeting all manner of people. When Tuck expresses young Scaramouche’s delight in knowing his father was an Englishman, his youthful pomposity is sweetly hilarious. There’s so much to love about this production – I’m already looking forward to seeing Scaramouche Jones in ten years time! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Toodle pip!

An impersonator, a barista and the real deal

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Sunday was ladies day, not that I planned it like that, but casting an eye over my Fringe calendar I realised I had three one woman shows in a row (hmmm, another trio)…

I had Motorhome Marilyn as a possibility but really wasn’t sure, until Gilded Balloon once again had their Locals offer, yay. I was intrigued, it’s always interesting when someone so well-known from the telly comes to the Fringe. I mean, why? Will they feel very exposed in a small venue with the audience up so very close? What were they expecting? Is it a lifelong dream they’ve finally gotten to do?

Wow, Motorhome Marilyn is great, Michelle Collins plays a Marilyn Munro impersonator, getting on a bit, realising it’ll never get any better, especially with her past catching up to her. She may be in Vegas but she’s still a Southend girl and a survivor, with a snake called Bobby for company; we’re listening in as she tells the snake all her dreams and darkest secrets. Collins’ voice rings perfect in this, but then it was she who came up with the original idea and the part was written for her; of course, that’s not to say it would necessarily be any good, but by’eck, it bloody is!!

Motorhome Marilyn is a duck with the eye in the right place (to paraphase David Lynch) – it’s funny, it’s dark, it’s poignant, it’s sharp. And what a set, the motorhome interior is so well realised. It was a feast for the eyes with all the kitsch Marilyn Munro paraphernalia. Collins sashays through the story and gets to sing too (with a couple of costume changes thrown in); with a wonderful script to work with, Collins brings out Denise’s vulnerabilities as she lives defiantly independently, oh, and there’s the odd interesting reveal about Denise along the way! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Confessions of a Redheaded Coffeeshop Girl was previously performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2015, writer/performer Rebecca Perry has brought it back for tenth anniversary run and why not? It’s a funny, playful hour’s escape. Our barista, Joanie, (like many others who work in coffeeshops) is a graduate hoping for better, wanting to use that degree in Anthropology, wanting to be like her hero Jane Goodall. We hear about life at the coffeeshop, her daydreams, her crush!

She’s a joyful soul, happy to burst into song (like musical interludes to gently break up the monologue), and what a voice! Of course, it had to be in there, Black Coffee (no, not the All Saints song, the one written back in 1948), a favourite of mine and boy, she did it justice, wowzah! Like I said, a sweet, joyful hour ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ve saved the best for last, The Other Mozart, an incredible production about the life of Mozart’s older sister, Maria. I wasn’t even aware he had one, nevermind that she too was a brilliant musician and composer, were you? Sylvia Milo became aware of her existence and created this work so that others could know about this extraordinary woman. And wow, I was blown away by it all; first off, the incredible dress that covers the stage, the music (new compositions for the show and music from the time period), the lighting and sound, all perfectly complimented and brought a deeper richness to the performance and story.

Maria tells us about her life from before her little brother was born, how the two of them toured and performed across Europe with their father whilst quite young, but then societal mores saw her left behind, expected to be respectable and marry. Sylvia Milo shares the part of Maria with Daniella Galli (who I saw in the role), alternating days, well, at seventy five minutes long, solo on stage, it makes sense! Not that it felt that long, Maria’s life was so fascinating (the play uses historical facts, and letters sent between the family); Galli was stunning in the role, really bringing it to life. Probably one of the best things I’ll get to see this Fringe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💛

A few happy returns to the stage

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I have a table covered with cut-outs from the Comedy section of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival programme, but before that, a few more theatrical musings….

I knew I recognised the name, yup, three years ago I gave him five stars, so I reckon I’ll give Ben Moor: A Three Thing Day a go; I remember he had a wonderful voice that whisked you away into his stories. Henry Naylor is back with a new play, Monstering the Rocketman which sounds interesting; as the name gives away it’s about Elton John, him and that big kerfuffle with The Sun, could be pretty juicy (Naylor does do his research).

Looking back through my Fringe diary (I must remember to buy a new notebook, the last one’s full), it was also 2022 when I saw Space Hippo, an epic sci-fi adventure told in the medium of Japanese shadow puppetry. I notice the company name is different, has the story also had changes made? It was a wonderful experience last time, I am rather tempted, maybe late on, see how things go.

And a few pages later I wrote about Neil Frost: Nan’s House of Fun (omg, this is getting silly, it was also the year I last saw one of Henry Naylor’s plays!) A wonderfully silly, but bittersweet, show that’s morphed into The Door (well, that is the very disturbing Ricky Mouse in the picture). I gave the original 4½ stars, if I only had Hermione’s watch I’d go see Mr Frost again, truly a joy. Mind, he’s here for the whole month so I’ll keep an eye out for him popping up elsewhere, he’s that type, you know!

Those defiant wee bears are back and they’ve brought a bag of tatties with them. Yay, Batisfera are back with two short plays this year; The Gummy Bears’ Great War was one of my highlights from last year’s Fringe (4½ stars), can Tale of a Potato possibly be as good? I’ll let you know, I already have a ticket for this one! I also have my ticket for that great Fringe institution Shakespeare For Breakfast, always entertaining, okay, so some years have been better than others, but I wouldn’t miss it (or the croissant and coffee).

One last happy return, Scaramouche Jones is back, as Thom Tuck said, ten years later (he first performed it twenty years ago and declared that he intends to perform it every ten years, maybe even reaching the clown’s old age if he’s lucky). Scaramouche Jones is a 100 year old clown, born on the stroke of midnight 1899 and now a hundred years later on the eve of a new century, after not speaking in fifty years, the old clown speaks to tell his life story before he dies. Ten years ago I wrote “Thom Tuck at his very best” and gave him five stars.

I’m starting to get a bit excited about this Fringe. Toodle pip!

Starting at the beginning

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Edinburgh is very, very warm, has been for a while now, it really can’t last much longer. I predict cooler, wetter weather in sixteen days time, certainly lots of sudden, torrential downpours; it’s just too nice now, I know how those weather gods think, lulling us into a false sense of summertime. Anyhoo, time to crack on with some Fringey moose musings.

I have fifty-odd possibles cut-outs from Theatre (only one accidentally cut for my mark-up programme so far! there’s always a few), but as I don’t have Hermione’s watch, many will end up screwed up and tossed aside. I thought I’d be way more back to my old usual this year, but it seems different yet again, my old urgency to create structure just hasn’t turned up this year, it’s mildly unsettling. I have them all in front of me now, challenging me. Okay, who’s first for closer scrutiny?

Pirates Carrying Beans sparked my curiosity, the bumpf bit in the programme just says, “Pirates and coffee. What more is there to say?”, erm, well, as they’ve classed it as New Writing, saying a comedy, a melodrama or an action-packed thriller, might have been helpful (I’m assuming comedy). Only four performances at the start of the Fringe, they’re away before the first week is over, aww, seems a shame, just as the party is really getting underway. I think I’ve just talked Pirates Carrying Beans into definites.

Oo, more pirates early doors, The Comedy of Err-ARRS! and err, the four performances are at four different times, did they book late and have to take the scraps of time that were left?! We’ve seen Shakespeare done many ways at the Edinburgh, this time it’s piratical. Continuing on a Shakespearean theme, there’s a short (and apparently slightly drunken) five date run through the first week of Rattlepole! Improv with live music, hmmm, we’ll see.

Then there’s the first week shows; the occasional one runs into the start of the middle week, possibly a tactic to take advantage of less competition, as many full run shows take that Monday or Tuesday off. There are, of course, new shows starting on the middle Monday, always check the dates of anything you fancy seeing!

I have eleven cut-outs clipped together from Theatre as final week possibles, but that’s a looong way off yet. Will my Fringe Fund last out? Next time, some very welcome returns.

Toodle pip!

The possibilities seem endless

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I did intend to post about all the possibles I’ve cut out of the Theatre section of this year’s Fringe programme. Instead I’ve taken an impromptu roadtrip! Well, you only live once, unless you’re a cat, and it seemed like a good idea, still is, apart from langostines I had for tea (tasty but a very messy affair). I should be back in Auld Reekie by Friday, mainly because there’s a band in at Stramash that I fancy seeing.

So, nothing really to say yet, but I did take this picture of all my theatre possibilities…

There are some groupings in there, lefthandside is the start of the Fringe, righthandside are all the last week of the Fringe, go figure what’s in the middle top! There’s clusters for the big venues. I couldn’t resist putting Pip Utton’s Lear at the bottom right, well, he is quite the last word in Fringe theatre.

Obviously, plenty will be whittled away for one reason or another. Some more may be added to the mix, and I’ve not a proper, thorough go through of Comedy yet!!

Anyhoo, it’s very late and i need my beauty sleep. Sweet dreams!

An apple, an ironing board and a very bitter man

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Just now, as I sat to write this post the heavens opened, it’s bucketing down outside! Such a change from yesterday with blazing hot sun and a balmy breeze, that’s Fringe weather for you.

It’s the middle Thursday, some shows only have a few performances left as they finish this weekend. Some shows only come to the Fringe for a week, some for two weeks; there seem to be a lot more finishing this weekend than last weekend – is the third week pricier than the other two? Mind, the third week happens to coincide with the Edinburgh TV Festival, maybe some shows only want to bother doing the third week so’s to catch the attention of all the TV people up.

Ironing Board Man is one that finishes on Saturday. Oh, not just one ironing board, he has eight of the things (including two small ones as his children). The manoeuvring of so many ironing board characters did seem a bit clunky to me, but that will have gotten slicker as the show progressed (I saw it on the 3rd) and it gives a certain rough’n’ready charm, though some of the front row looked a tad alarmed at times at the proximity of the moving objects with their faces (they were very close to the action, it’s on in The Crate).

Ironing Board Man has a plot like a nineties movie, and the soundtrack to match. When the hero puts on the red jacket you know arses are gonna get kicked. It’s all great fun, hats off to Jody Kamali for such a wonderful creation; whilst anyone will enjoy this, I reckon a certain generation will embrace it a little more (and wonder that they didn’t see the original with Bruce Willis, on a rented video). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Saturday is also your last chance to spend An Evening with Dame Granny Smith a wonderful feisty old antipodean, oh, and her assistant David Salter (I can’t be the only to have thought there’s a shade of Dame Edna in there). Those who’ve followed me a while will know my love of all things antipodean, well that now includes talking apples!

What a lovely, lovely show! Sweet but with plenty bite, old but still sassy, hilarity and bittersweet poignancy. The mention of Dame Maggie Smith was an utter joy, had me in stitches. Oo, now that would be fun An Evening with two Dames called Smith! I’d definitely go to that! Having written this, I’m actually tempted to go see her one more time, she’s worth it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Time will also stop for The Whirligig of Time on Saturday. I caught this yesterday with a Half Price Hut ticket, bought because the one man in this show is Robin Leetham who was excellent as Shakespeare’s Fool. This time he plays Malvolio, a few months after the events of Twelfth Night; remember how he swore revenge on all?

This tells how he did it – and how eloquently he tells the tale! The wordplay is a treat, sharp and droll; I wish I had a brain capable of recalling swathes of great lines (like that friend who can blithely quote from films seen just once!) I shall count this as part of my Shakespeare for this Fringe, I’m sure the bard wouldn’t mind ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The sun is now vaguely out, though the traffic outside sounds like the roads are still pretty wet. I should step out and see what delights are on offer today, or, first just check the Half Price Hut tickets online in case there’s something there. Wow, so many shows on the list, Dame Granny Smith is on there, but at the same time Aidan Sadler: Melody is also a HPH in the Voodoo Rooms. Or, I am intrigued by Bad Clowns: Hostage, another overlap. Decisions, decisions.

Toodle pip!

A few more I’ve see…

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Late last night I put up couple of pics on my Instagram story, I suppose I should say something to support them. Okay, there were three pics but I’ve already told you how great The Gummy Bears” Great War is (4½ stars, in case you missed it).

Ah, looking again I didn’t put any stars on the Shadow Necropolis pic. Another excellent production by the Mochinosha Puppet Company, revisiting some of the characters from last year’s Shadow Kingdom. This time our young heroine Minerva goes to Necropolis to rescue a new friend from the clutches of Oizys (new fact for the day, Oizys is the Greek goddess of anxiety, distress and misery).

If you’ve never seen Japanese shadow puppetry before (yeah, there’s a good chance of that), it’s not just dark shadows – there’s plenty of colours! The story is told using hundreds of colourful shadow puppets projected on to a big screen. The artistry is breathtaking and will sweep you up into the story, which fair cracks along from the off with the two puppeteers supplying distinct voices to each character.

There’s plenty of humour, intrigue and storyline to enjoy, but I did feel that some of the references to coping with anxiety were too heavy-handed and bogged the story down; a show like this is a great way to highlight anxiety issues and I applaud the company for doing this, just a lighter touch would have worked better for me. Apart from that, a top show for me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

The third pic is the flyer for Hughie Shepherd-Cross’s latest play Gang Bang about a mafia gang, not an orgy as some may wonder by the name! Okay, so I did titter when the call was made for the queue to start. I may have to enquire why the author chose the name, if I do I shall let you know.

Gang Bang is an awful lot of fun, the three actors morph perfectly between the multiple characters, delivering the laughs that just kept piling up. Well, Lancashire is just a funny place anyway, stick a sicilian mafia guy Don Lambrini in there (he thought he was on a boat sailing to America), next thing it’s nearly thirty years on, time to name his successor….

Okay, so I may be a bit partisan for things set in the North of England; Blackpool is the particular setting here. The accents were delivered with gusto, like I said, there’s an awful lot to enjoy with this production. Shepherd-Cross’s writing just gets better and better, he’s definitely one to watch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Just one more mention for the night, Napoleon’s 100 Days written and performed by Andy D in one of my favourite venues Paradise In The Vault. Last year he successfully transplanted Mark Twain’s The Stolen White Elephant to England, plenty fun there, but a show about Napoleon?! Surely a tad on the dry side? Never fear, this is the story of Napoleon’s escape from exile on Elba and return to Paris and power with a just small army, his friend Stanley from Lancashire (see why I included this here?!) and a dog called Fido – some elements may be more fictional than others, but it’s all delivered with a dry but fuzzily warm northern humour.

Annoyingly, just like back in my schooldays, the historical dates, names, places refuse to nestle in my brain, but I enjoyed being along for the ride. You don’t have to be a history buff to enjoy this show, just an enquiring mind and love of a semi-factual tale ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Goodnight, sweet dreams

Shakespeare, Gummy Bears and a Gang Bang?!

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This is going be short and sweet, like myself! It’s very late but let’s do a quick trawl through more cuttings, tomorrow is going to be busy so that could be another non-blog day. Crikey, this time next week this year’s Edinburgh Fringe will be properly underway. Aargh.

I did have my cuttings neatly sorted, yeah, that was doomed; so what’s at the top of the heap? Aha, first a slight correction, David Alnwick has a third show, it’s listed under Theatre that’s why I missed it earlier, The Mystery of Dracula. I saw it last year and enjoyed it, he knows how to tell a story!

The coffee and croissant crew are back, yay, Shakespeare For Breakfast and I am still without a ticket! That ten o’clock start is hard work, but on average it’s been well worth getting up for. The talented Hughie Shepherd-Cross is bringing another play up, that’s three in three years! I enjoyed the previous two, Out to Lunch and Ringer so I definitely intend to see Gang Bang.

Great poster applauds for Plotters and Corpse Flower, the blurbs are quite enticing too; and looking closely second time round The Gummy Bears’ Great War has me intrigued. I suspect its a show worth queuing early for to get a front row seat – those dudes are really small!

And last for tonight two possibles, largely helped by being at one of my favourite venues Paradise In The Vault. Now I must away to my bed.

Toodle pip!