Archive for August, 2005
Posted in August 22nd, 2005
A group of three new comedians make an appearance at this years Edinburgh festival, bright, fresh and eager to please, but do they keep their promise to bring us ‘a dazzling hour of pure stand up comedy’?
First to take to the stage was Sally Anne Hayward. Her designated task, to warm up the crowd for [...]
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Posted in August 22nd, 2005
With a combination of PowerPoint presentation and straight address, Will Smith takes us on a journey through his teenage years and his enduring love for the band Marillion. Indeed the initial footage of the last 20 years is shown as a comparison between world and band events.
After the video explosion Smith ambles on stage and [...]
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Posted in August 22nd, 2005
Over the last couple years, a certain element of the Fringe has cultivated a growing interest in pirate history. This is not particularly unexpected, as swashbuckling adventures leave plenty of scope for great stagecraft and general chicanery. Last year we had a mixture of pirate education and dancing on the Spanish Main, which guaranteed silliness [...]
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Posted in August 22nd, 2005
I vaguely remember 1984; it was the time I was adjusting to life in London after having moved from the West Highlands. Nothing, however, would have prepared me for the absurdist town of Llanbobel (a fictitious place made up to rhyme with something later in the show), which was where Gilbert’s mind has him trapped.
Coupling [...]
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Posted in August 22nd, 2005
Naked on Stage are a group of creative writing students from St Andrews University who have brought some of their material to the Fringe. Each show comprises of two readings of short stories by the authors, followed by a one-act play. As the title suggests, the line up is different each day, which gives this [...]
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Posted in August 22nd, 2005
Adaptations of Shakespeare’s work are not unusual at the Fringe and A Midsummer Night’s Dream is often a favourite. Sometimes these adaptations slay the Bard’s writings but occasionally, as is the case with the Munich Shakespeare Company, you are treated to something special and magical.
As the audience walks in, the fairies, in their beautiful costumes [...]
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Posted in August 22nd, 2005
Comedy is not a universal language but a dialect formed from individual taste and experience. On occasion though, an act will transcend these boundaries and deliver a show that will bring laughter to all who see it. Kiki & Herb is not one of these performances.
Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman play the parts of Kiki [...]
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Posted in August 22nd, 2005
It must be difficult for an audience not to have high expectations for Porter’s show. In ten years as a successful comedian she has grown from strength to strength, writing and staring in dozens of television shows, even winning last year’s coveted ‘Best stand up’ award. In that time she has built up a huge [...]
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Posted in August 22nd, 2005
After he had treated us to what felt like an interminable shock of opera, Boothby Graffoe took to the stage. It may have been quite apt this was the only show I have seen at this year’s Fringe with an operatic pre-show, as he is now a rather vintage experience – vintage with a twist [...]
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Posted in August 22nd, 2005
Camille has become something of a star at the Fringe, known for her enchanting, if brief, appearance at La Clique’s show every night. However, it is in her solo performances that she really lets rip and what a show she puts on!
Her stage presence really has to be seen to be believed: bold, brilliant, sexy [...]
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