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Barry and Stuart: Show and Tell

Martin Miller — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:22:52 +0000

Look out Paul Daniels, avert your hypno-eyes Mr Piffles, for Barry and Stuart are back to bring their dark magic tricks to the Edinburgh crowds and this time they are going to show you just how they do it. With blatant disregard to the magician’s code, Barry and Stuart are going to perform two shows tonight, one “The Show”, a gloriously inventive hour of entertainment and, a little later, you have the option of returning for “the tell”, an in-depth blow by blow account of how every single trick is done. It’s one hell of a gimmick and with magic like this you simply have to return to find out how on Earth they pull it off.
The show itself is as playfully macabre as ever, as blood trickles down their back after sitting on a nail bed, they really have created a suspenseful hour of magic where you aren’t sure just what will happen next.
Barry Jones and Stuart Macleod are brilliant front men, funny and charming yet managing to keep the illusion of danger at the forefront of the audiences mind. But it’s the involvement of modern technology that makes them stand head and shoulders above the rest. They encourage the crowd to go to Twitter and Facebook during the show to aid them in tricks and have a genius use of 3D glasses, were wearing them will, quite literally, make the world Rose-tinted, allowing the coloured powerpoint in the background to show how the trick is done.
It is clever stuff but it does seem a little odd to reveal the tricks during “The Show” and then later in more detail with “The Tell”. However those who choose not to return for the second portion really will miss out. For the “The Tell” is an excellent show in itself, combining new tricks with detailed reveals that really show the huge and impressive knowledge they have for magic.
A thoroughly entertaining, blisteringly energetic show that manages to shock and thrill even at the cost of the mystique.

4/5

Hex

Martin Miller — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:48:04 +0000

‘Hex’ is fast becoming one of the hottest word-of-mouth shows around. The production team have done a fantastic job of keeping under wraps just what is about to transpire, keeping the ace up their sleeve with a deliberately vague plot synopsis in the Edinburgh Fringe Program and some vaguely related artwork on the flyer. If like many of tonight’s crowd you have managed to avoid the spoiler and are only aware of the stellar reviews it has been getting, then you are in for a treat.
The play, at its heart, is a humorous and fun comedy which centres around Toby (Ben Clifford) a cynic to all forms of alternative therapy and his new-age hippy partner Gwen (Sarah MacGillivray) who believes in everything and anything that is slightly out of the norm. She has invited two healers to come to their home to fix a little problem with the sofa, much to the irritation of Toby.
The first half is a thoroughly enjoyable and smartly written play, it is light, fun and very funny as the two argue as only couples can, but hidden in between the laughs, they are dropping tiny clues to the narrative U-turn ahead. For Hex goes in a wonderfully insane, crazy direction that manages to be gloriously bonkers yet so, so right. Once it heads in that direction it keeps pushing the absurdity in a number of inventive and imaginative ways that has the audience both shocked and roaring in laughter.
The writer, Sam Siggs, has created something very interesting indeed, with some great jokes and ideas. It is just a shame that at fifty minutes run time it does feel like an extra ten minutes could have been used to give the play a more clear cut ending, instead of its slight finale which deliberately leaves the problem unresolved.
Nevertheless this is a wonderfully funny production, and you’ll be cursing yourself if you miss it.

Hex

Nobody’s Home: A Modern Odyssey

Adrian G. Velazquez — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:09:50 +0000

Cleverly setting Homer’s Odysseus in contemporary times, ‘Nobody’s Home’ is an original and inventive play which considers the problems soldiers – and their loved ones – face upon returning home.
The plot sees Grant, a soldier in Afghanistan, unable to leave the war behind, so mentally scarred is he by the war’s atrocities. This leaves him hiding in the bathroom, unwilling to face ‘real life,’ while his wife Penny patiently faces her own battles as she waits for him to truly return.
The subject matter is handled with sensitivity and respect by the writers and cast, who brilliantly convey the different emotions the characters go through. Dorie Kinnear is superb in the different roles she plays. Her Penny is full of compassion and desperation, often at the same time, while Will Pinchin (who is on stage at all times) carries the role of Grant with strength, grace and aplomb.
Visually, the play is simple yet extremely inventive, using a scarcity of props to good effect. A bath in the middle of the stage succeeds in perfectly recreating a boat adrift on the seas, a psychologist’s office and even a secluded river in a deserted Afghanistan location. It is to the credit of the actors that they make these sets feel real and the dilemmas, hopes and concerns of their characters utterly absorbing. Never once do they hit a false note or lose our attention.
Some might feel ‘Nobody’s Home’ is slightly over-cooked in places and that it tries too hard to make a point that war is bad (as if we didn’t already know it), but if you immerse yourself fully in this well-crafted play, you leave with a sense of having seen something truly inventive and original.

4/5

Mr Benn: The Extraordinry Adventures of an Ordinary Man

Adrian G. Velazquez — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:56:21 +0000

Mr Benn is your average, ordinary, man, living an ordinary life, in his ordinary house, with an ordinary job… But then, on an ordinary day, an extraordinary thing happens: he receives an invitation to a fancy dress party. What is he going to wear? He never goes to parties – he is far too ordinary for that! And so he ends up in a fancy dress shop, where strange things start to happen…
With extremely catchy songs, and some cleverly simple stage designs, Tall Stories theatre group has created a visual treat for young and old(er) alike. Paul Curley is magnificent in the title role – the perfect Mr Benn. His curiosity and enthusiasm is utterly appealing as he learns that he isn’t so ordinary after all. He is aided by a fantastically talented cast who sing, dance, and clown around to great effect, ensuring lots of laughter from children (and more than a few parents).
There’s much to enjoy here. A bit more audience participation would have been welcome though, as the kids adore it when asked to scare away an underwater monster hunter by pointing and screaming at him. And more could have been made of a funny, adorable battle between Mr Benn and a dragon, which is skimmed over but which could have been a truly brilliant set-piece. These are but niggles though and by the time the ending arrives, the audience is left wanting more, and wondering whether – in this age of sequels, prequels and reboots – Tall Stories could bring another installment of Mr Benn in 2012. Now that would be a welcome sequel.

4/5

I Love You Because

Keira Farrell — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:55:42 +0000

A musical about loving people not despite their flaws but because of them, ‘I Love You Because’ is a sweet tale of losing and finding love in New York.
Austin and Marcy are all wrong for each other, but they are learning that it is this which makes them perfect for each other. This storyline is a little dull but there’s much more fun to be had from the other characters. Jeff and Diana are in a friends-with-benefits relationship which is evolving into more. They spend a lot less time agonising and a lot more time getting it on; their first sexual encounter is an absolutely fabulous piece of physical comedy. Effortlessly stealing the show out from the main characters, however, are the narrators/ cupids/ chorus played by Helen Coad and Jimi Mitchell. The latter is particularly impressive, going from camp barista to butch barman in the blink of an eye.
The songs vary from comedic to ballads, and from the banal to the brilliant: the best by far is ‘But I Do’, which involves all six cast members. Other highlights include ‘Alone’ which sees Marcy trying to convince herself that she doesn’t need Austin, and ‘That’s What’s Gonna Happen’. Cute and charming if not exactly ground breaking, this production is well worth seeing.

4/5

Me, Myself and Miss Gibbs

Anna Price — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:00:07 +0000

Intrigued by this message on the back of a second hand postcard from 1910, Francesca Millican-Slater becomes a “historical stalker”, obsessed by finding out the identity of the woman it was sent to. What began as a video project for her theatre degree became a journey which took her from a psychic reading in Lincoln to newspaper archives in London, with some genealogy and a bit of playing private detective along the way.
As Francesca shares her discoveries, we gradually piece together details of Miss Gibbs, the recipient of the postcard. Francesca tells the story with a warm and engaging style, bringing to life the characters she meets along the way. Photographs and documents are projected on the backdrop, along with Francesca’s video diary from her original project so the audience becomes immersed in the story, witnessing every new piece of information as the tale unfolds.
The audience are engaged throughout, caught up in Francesca’s determination to find out who the mysterious Miss Gibbs was, and why she had to be careful. It is well worth seeing the show to find out.

4/5

Dr Phil’s Rude Health Show

Martin Miller — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:30:16 +0000

Coming dangerously close to breaking a substantial level of client confidentiality, Private Eye writer and still practising G.P Dr Phil Hammond is here at the Fringe to bring a gloriously entertaining mix of politics and true life recollections.
Pity the poor man or woman who ‘accidentally’ manages to get a foreign object lodged inside themselves, for they will be fair game for his comedy accounts as he rather graphically explains some of his funnier patients and the rather clever methods of removing such objects as a turnip, glass light bulb and a ketchup bottle. Far more than just a recount of patients poor decisions, though, this is actually a very funny and intelligent show, also concerned with the politics of the NHS, covering such themes as alternative therapies, the Scottish death rate, political red tape and the ever increasing costs.
This all could be a bit heavy were Hammond not such an endearing watch. Intelligent and likeable, with just a hint of smut, he keeps the show rattling along at an entertaining pace. Mixing just the right level of puerile humour with chin-stroking thoughts it makes for a thoroughly good show that will make you laugh and cross your legs in horror.

4/5

Turandot

Benn Beaton — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:50:38 +0000

Opening with a hanged corpse surrounded by darkness, Turandot is the tale of Puccini the composer of the unfinished opera Turandot. It seeks to uncover the autobiographic relationship between the composer and his creation.
Using a spectacle of carnal reds and spectral whites accompanied by soft choral singing this play knows how to impress. The variety of mixed media is incredibly complimentary to the plays vision and each of the effects adds to the dream like quality. This play does an excellent job of simulating Puccini’s creative process at work.
As phantoms of Pucchini’s thought process the actors are never required to be believable in their roles allowing them to be slightly incongruous in their performances. They take up multiple roles with little to change their character but their posture. The cast makes the transition between multiple roles very easily and without their quality of acting this could have been very confusing.
This is not a traditional play in any sense of the word. It styles itself as an opera for deaf people but it is more akin to an Opera by David Lynch. An excellent play for fans of dark surrealism or those curious to learn of Puccini’s sad fate.

4/5

The Screwtape Letters

Keira Farrell — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:15:00 +0000

Theology and black comedy combine in ‘The Screwtape Letters’. Based on an epistolary novel by C.S. Lewis, this is the tale of two demons, a professor and his student, engaged in tempting a soul. The tone is no nowhere near as heavy as the subject matter might suggest, however: there are lots of moment of dark humour to be found, as well-known hymns are rewritten to forward the demons’ plans and polite language is subverted by the demons. The way Screwtape answers the phone is worth the price of admission all by itself.
That is not to say that this is an entirely comic piece. Screwtape and compatriots enunciate their ferocity with a vigour the Royal Shakespeare Company would envy, marking them as the educated kind of evil. Consequently there are many interesting points made as Screwtape explains to his student how to exploit the foibles and the hypocrisies of human souls in order to lead them to damnation. There is a lot of food for thought here even for the unbeliever as the demons discuss the ways in which people can be diverted from the things that are truly important to them by the pressures of the world, social, economic or even physical. The climax of the play comes, however, when the audience understands that Screwtape is as much to be pitied as feared: the root of all evil is here the inability to comprehend or feel love.

4/5

The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart

Sam Laydon — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:43:31 +0000

Think a contemporary version of ‘Tam O’Shanter’ which, instead of the usual drunken ne’er-do-well stars a buttoned-up Edinburgh academic, throw in some Scottish folk music, karaoke and a little audience participation, and you’re somewhere near the spirit of this weird and wonderful curiosity from the National Theatre of Scotland. It’s a flamboyant, theatrical piece, performed with great flair by a five –strong ensemble, which makes full use of its pub setting, even including free whisky and sandwiches all round (bargain!).
The play itself is inspired by Scottish Border ballads and seeks to emulate them by, for much of the play, telling the story through verse and song. In addition, the actors take it in turns to act as story-tellers as well as characters in the story. If the first quarter is occasionally slightly too clever and stays rather earth-bound – it is so successful at parodying academia, it rather too closely resembles it at times – it is with the arrival of the karaoke and a loosening of the bounds of the story and the verse style, that the play really begins to fly. The energy of the performers is terrific and the audience are involved throughout from clapping along to football chants to even (in at least one case) taking a minor role in the story itself! If you know your ‘Tam O’Shanter,’ you’ll have a fair idea what to expect but it’s a great piece of theatre which doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a whole lot of fun.

4/5