Finally yesterday morning there were only the lightest of breezes, so I took myself off to the Park and up Moose Ridge. There was a wildfire up over the other side of Arthur’s Seat on Crow Hill a few days ago, great plumes of smoke could be seen for miles! Of course, the most popular joke was that the volcano had come back to life (Arthur’s Seat is a very old very extinct volcano), I had intended to go and check out the damage. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten my water so at the top of Moose Ridge (I’m gonna keep calling it that until it catches on), I took Pipers Walk back down, and home via Old Wood Cafe at St Leonard’s to try their Eggs Benedict, not bad.
The afternoon saw me stepping into the darkness of the Banshee Labyrinth Cinema Room to bear witness to The Night Mouth. I had no idea what to expect, certainly not the Childcatcher! Ye gods, the stuff of nightmares, oh, and two school dinner ladies from hell (Lady Bolognese) popped in. Silly, and comically disturbing, mind, it was Pittman and Hughes behind it; and as you can’t have too much of a good thing, I later popped into Carbon to see God’s Longest again (it was the last of three shows, and being impro it’s always different). Hmmm, some folk’s deepest, darkest secrets really should remain secret!
Evening time found me at that fine old institution the Bedlam Theatre to see Eelmageddon by Intrepid Fools. Yes, it’s as it sounds, the imminent end of the world as we know it, brought about by eels (some days looking at the news, would it be that surprising?!). Only a mad scientist and his assistant stand in their way, one wants to understand them, the other wants to eat them; but they’re running out of time and the super secret underwater science bunker is developing cracks.
Eelmageddon is a laugh-out-loud comedy with a great plotline running through the silliness, and oh, Mother Eel is a fine big bad with a voice to send chills through her enemies (it had me back to watching Dr Who as a young calf). For a small theatre company, they’ve put together a great show, just one thing grated by the end (and if they’re reading this, I bet they know what I’m going to say) – the professor’s voice, obviously a well-travelled scientist as the accent went everywhere and beyond, which, yes does have comedy value, but for me it tipped over into grating. Sorry, that’s just me, but I did love the creativity of Intrepid Fools, their comedy, the sound and lighting (a lot more important to making a production well-rounded than many realise, but then, if you don’t notice, then job well done!), and a cracking song to end on, what great voices! This is grassroots theatre, I look forward to whatever they do next. ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
That’s enough from me for now, I have another show to see. Toodle pip!
[Edit. It helps if I press the Publish button twice as instructed!]
Bruce on the Fringe 