hairline.org.uk » Free Fringe 2008

Waxing Cynical

Martin Miller — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:28:20 +0000

Anna Victoria has been gaining much praise for her writing and acting on, ‘I kissed a frog and it gave me herpes’ and shown later that day is her second production, ‘Waxing Cynical’ a semi-sequel about the elusive hunt for the perfect man.
If you can ignore the aggressive air conditioning on one side and the still audible pub music on the other, there is lots of fun to be had in this free production.
Full of witty and sharp lines, we follow a call centre worker who associates an embarrassing incident involving her dad drunkenly stripping at a family party when she was a child. She wonders if this explains her bad relationship with men, or were they all just rubbish anyway.
Ronan Summers plays the men in her life and he delivers some great and wonderfully inventive characters.
At thirty minutes run time this is an enjoyable and fun production that is just good as it predecessor.

3/5

Topical Scurvy: For Lunch

Nik Breslin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:25:50 +0000

In their fast-paced show, the three team members throw up stand-up comedy, comedy sketches and comedy songs, all held together with sound effects, costumes and a dizzying range of characters including John McCain, Mary Magdalene, a vaguely Scottish Obama and an unapologetically Scottish Jesus.
The show embraces the comedy behind such politically correct topics as racism and religion, and while the themes may run close to the bone at times, they never overstep into ’shock tactics’. This is a show which takes delicate, topical issues and turns them into quality comedy material, making the audience laugh hard on subjects they would expect to feel guilty about doing so.
This is clever, adult humour with a number of scenes, songs and segments that contain moments of near-genius festival comedy. Each of these devices would struggle to carry a show on its own and the blend between the three offers the variety and depth to make this a very successful comedy show.
Topical Scurvy, however, is not a polished performance, with some timing and technical glitches needing ironed out, although these do not detract too much to cause serious problems to the show’s success. The material and its delivery are strong enough and certainly funny enough to carry them through such problems.
Topical Scurvy also has the additional attraction of being FREE comedy – a rare festival gem. Although definitely “best not to bring the kids” as the flier says, this is a show certainly worth trying to catch during their short Festival run.

4/5

Dance Base Presents… Enclosure 44 – Humans

Gareth Braddick — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:16:46 +0000

Not quite a free show (you still have to pay the entrance to The Zoo!), but certainly another good reason to visit Edinburgh Zoo this summer. Putting four female dancers in an animal closure might sound like a gimmick or cheap stunt, but unlike David Blaine, who had eggs and rotten vegetable thrown at his cage, these captives are viewed with genuine inquisitiveness. A few parents are clearly sceptical, but they have a hard time dissuading their young children from trying to communicate (physically) with the silent dancers- and this of course is the point. The show is not a live view Big Brother or animal rights protest, but an exploration of physical movement, as the protagonists play with each other and the audience, who can teach them dance moves from in front of the glass. Take your family along soon as the absence of an alpha male means Dancise Tiptapicus, as dubbed by their keeper, are an endangered species.

4/5

I Kissed A Frog And It Gave Me Herpes

Martin Miller — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:29:15 +0000

One of the main excuses that the average person of Edinburgh avoids the Fringe is the tickets prices. Granted even the worst of the Festival will set you back at least ten pounds for your curiosity. Full marks then to Espionage night club who, throughout the day, have dozens of musicians, comedians and actors performing for free, and if the shows are anything like ‘I kissed a frog and it gave me herpes’ then it will be well worth spending most of your days there.
Anna Victoria has written a sharp, funny, touching play about looking for romance in modern life and how you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your Prince Charming. Performed with just three actors, the 35 minute show, while brief, packs in songs, social poetry and many romantic accounts that we can all identify with.
A show so good you would happily pay to see again.

4/5

Caldwell & Rowntree’s Gibbon Rally

Azalea Gras-Velazquez — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:21:19 +0000

After being asked to act like a gibbon, you really hope it is just a bad start to a good comedy act. But your hopes are shattered after Toby Caldwell’s physical comedy begins. His impressions of evolution have all been done before, including the use of Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra (in English, Thus Spoke Zarathustra) for the transformation of ape into man. It is very much a been there, done that, I didn’t even buy the T-shirt, situation.
You can forgive his all too frequent mess ups with the audio equipment, but his facial expressions and body movements become repetitive. You are amused the first time around… after less than half an hour, not so much.
Salvation seems possible with the beginning of the second half of the show: some good old stand up comedy led by Joe Rowntree. But his hit and misses and somewhat less than memorable jokes make you wish you hadn’t been one of the last people to walk into the venue, for first row seats mean you are in for polite smiling and fake laughter against your will. You would even throw in a couple of standing ovations if that could get you out of there faster.
One good thing? Rowntree’s imitation of a mate’s “I got f***ing wasted the other night… sweeeeet” monologue. But then again, anyone can do a better impression.

1/5