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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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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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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Last year I was treated to this duo under the moniker of Sabotage. This year they have snuck into the programme with a new show and a new name yet their style remains the same.
Essentially, a quick-fire character bonanza, Mark Chavez and Shanoa Allen once again suck the audience in to their surreal and absurdest [...]

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Anyone vaguely cognisant about comedy over the last 50 years will have known what an impact these two had on its landscape. The Peter Cook film Not Only…But Always at Christmas was another testament to his ”tortured genius”. This production, however, is pulling focus round slightly more to Dudley Moore, showing him to be a [...]

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James is now 28 and he’s getting reflective. Utilising the 7 Up series as a backdrop, Dowdeswell replays the situations of his life to date and contemplates upon their significance in his development.
For those of you unfamiliar with this programme, it charts the lives of people from child to adulthood returning to them every 7 [...]

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“Ladies and Gentlemen, I am David O’Doherty”, shouts O’Doherty as he takes the stage in a confident yet shuffling awkward way. And so begins an hour of absolute joy.
The title of the show is a signpost to his mental state in coming to this year’s festival – he is prepared to take on such heady [...]

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The Tron is a proper comedy venue, thanks to ”the number of street performances and fighting tramps” outside. This is the opening gambit of Alun Cochrane’s show and it is a case in point.
He appears to genuinely revel in aspects of life that other people might find ordinary. The Tron IS a proper comedy venue [...]

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From start to finish this show is vapid, vacuous and verbose… and that’s the point. This is a delightful romp through the murderous intent of a fantastically camp barber towards his wonderfully bigoted mother, which is punctuated by a wonderfully dumb barman with dreams of relocation to Blackpool, an arresting, sexily sluttish Essex girl and [...]

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As we stroll through the doors of the Teviot Nightclub we are greeted with an oblong of black card and, as we sit down, a plume of smoke further mystifies us. With the room and audience suitably prepped for the hour of secret society fun, the lights dim and the investigation begins.
Both McClelland and Leung [...]

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