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The Ducks

Martin Miller — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:00:29 +0000

This is a dark and fascinating play based around one of the hottest issues- the ever spiralling numbers of youth unemployment.
The play revolves around two men, one volunteering, the other forced to join at a work scheme they work together to clean out the local duck pond. Dean Ashton and Thomas Morrison both excellently bring to life the characters of R, an aggressive, beer swilling mans man and K who in turn is a quiet and awkward with a passion for being a DJ. The two slowly befriend one another before things become much, much darker as R, angry, lost and alone forces his way into K’s world where he bullies and manipulates his friend.
This is a dark comedy that explores the notion of masculinity in modern man. Both characters as they become locked in a power game is an intriguing and compelling watch. Made all the more effective by the little drips of information about the two men that forces you to speculate and ponder over the events that have brought them to this point.
Wonderfully written, it manages to be both jet black and yet hold some great funny moments, like a fantastic, heated argument over penguins. Made all the better by two accomplished actors who do a great job of making these characters feel totally real.
As K slowly begins to fight back, the tension slowly builds and it really feels like it is heading towards a jaw dropping climax. Sadly, the only shock is the fairly mundane finale. A pity as this is a smart, subtle and intelligent look at two men, who could be any one of the 2.5 million unemployed in Britian today.

3/5

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

Matt Green: Too Much Information

Douglas Calder — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:45:46 +0000

The premise of “Too Much Information” is the best of stand-up hooks, a topic to work around without closing off any material. Green has the advantage of being endearing and likeable. He is the sort of person that people want to find funny, which carries him through his stumbles.
The traditional ceremony of bonding with the crowd is performed, although this time round (either due to a bad night or a bad audience) the warm up doesn’t take. Matt evokes a steady stream of chuckles, and there are a moments of brilliance that almost succeed in tipping the room over the edge. Unfortunately, he never quite finds his tempo. His stage persona is slightly befuddled and disorganised, but he seems to have confused acting scatterbrained with being scatterbrained. The theme of the act is “distraction”, which the audience is constantly reminded of when he wanders off a thread into a snort worthy one liner.
Matt Green is certainly capable of telling a story, but many do not end in punchlines. It’s clear that he is passionate about the subjects of his rants (the Olympics and the banking crisis being two), but they aren’t funny.
As a comedian Matt Green shows signs of having great potential, but he has not matched his act with his stage personality. Too Much Information features a talented stand up with workable material, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

2/5

Tom Price: Say When

Lee McRonald — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:44:04 +0000

Actor and comedian Tom Price is an engaging, funny stage presence and on the evidence of this show, has considerable potential for a bigger comic career.
It takes him a while to hit his stride. He covers his childhood in small-town Wales – schoolyard pranks, driving lessons, and his mum’s eccentricities – and though the material is nothing special and lacks impact, Price coasts by on a high likeability factor.
A self-confessed attention seeker, Price in fact comes across as sincere, even self-deprecating. He gets some comic mileage out of being a posh-boy in modern life – notably a funny gag about how this makes talking dirty quite ridiculous – ‘splendid!’ – but it’s a well-worn comic groove. Again though, his enthusiasm and congeniality win us over.
The second half is stronger. Price gathers momentum and seemingly random anecdotes and observations from the first part are woven into the material as effective one-liners. One punchline even involves an unexpectedly poignant moment about his cerebral palsy-suffering mother, providing some depth and an appealingly human counterpoint to the comedy.
The highlights of the show are undoubtedly two set-pieces about his acting experience. The first involves an incident at a Torchwood convention in Chicago, in which an accident, medical services, painkillers and photos with sci-fi fans combine to memorable effect. The second sees Price end his show with a bang, drawing on his own very British embarrassment at having to strip on a film set and simulate sex with Billie Piper. Price delivers both tales with skill and ease. He has the audience in the palm of his hand and then tops it all off with perfectly timed and hilariously funny photographic evidence.
Overall it’s an entertaining show, lacking in enough original material but so warmly and engagingly delivered that Price succeeds in bringing it to comic life. One to watch.

3/5

Flawless: Intergalactic Dream

Martin Miller — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:15:32 +0000

Winners of Britain’s Got Talent and stars of StreetDance 3D this all male, ten piece group are back and ready to back-flip, street dance and body pop the Edinburgh Fringe crowd into a state of amazement once again.
The boys in previous years have blown the audience away and gained excellent reviews right across the board. So it is refreshing to see that rather than rest on their laurels they have produced a much stronger show than in previous years.
Based around a loose narrative about being abducted in an spaceship, they must for some undisclosed reason choose a ‘talisman’ (looks like a prop to me) and perform to a bodiless floating alien head. Each talisman, such as a familiar leather jacket and glittery white glove lead to some highly enjoyable movie homage to be performed in Flawless’s unique dance style re-imaginings of the Matrix, the Mask and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker.
The story, besides some impressive CGI, projected on to the back wall will keep the younger fans entertained but rarely makes the most of its potential, acting as little more than a backdrop to hang each of the stunning dancing segments together.
But the dancing is why the cheering crowds are here and no one can question that these boys can throw some impressive shapes on the stage. Fast, fun and flawlessly performed this is a thoroughly enjoyable hour that suffers from a nonsense story and a lack of any genuine surprises.

4/5

Russell Kane: Manscaping

Lee McRonald — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 07:30:49 +0000

Russell Kane is quite simply one of the most naturally talented comedians to hit the Fringe in recent years. From the sublime to the ridiculous, he mines a rich vein of humour from his own life, which he delivers with more energy and wit than almost any of his peers.
Manscaping sees Kane exploring modern day masculinity, at the centre of which is his own search for a stable identity. Sounds pretentious but he does so with such questioning sincerity, self-parody and – most importantly – on-the-button humour that it works. There are also hilarious diversions along the way, and much of the show’s success rests of Kane’s ability to move breathlessly between scripted material, audience interaction and brilliantly funny asides, all the while spontaneously dipping in and out of an array of hilarious accents.
Kane fans will be familiar with some of the show’s themes – the class divide, his relationship with his father, serial monogamy, and the male / female divide when it comes to emotional articulacy – but the energy and spontaneity with which he delivers his observations keeps things fresh.
Highlights include a parody of R&B video misogyny, a hilarious aside about how people from Morningside have sex, and a brilliantly delivered account of a one-night-stand gone wrong.
Kane is also a great physical comedian, constantly on the move. It works to great comic effect but it’s no surprise when, two-thirds of the way through, he starts to wane – the energy levels dip and the material similarly loses its momentum, as if it’s this very energy which keeps him on track. Things build up again, though, with a closing tale of class war on a train, which is again so engagingly delivered that he has the audience in the palm of his hand.
All in all it’s a very funny show, with an incredible amount of incident and observation relayed at breakneck pace and with the wit and energy to bring his material to life.

4/5

Jessica Ransom: Unsung Heroes

Adrian G. Velazquez — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:30:11 +0000

There are heroes everywhere we look. Jessica Ransom isn’t just talking about celebrities but the lollipop lady you see every morning, or the fitness instructor who’s getting you into shape. These are her unsung heroes, people who get on with their jobs without expecting any kind of public acknowledgement, and Ransom has decided to create a whole show about them.
Ransom interprets an array of different characters in a number of sketches. She is, on the whole, good at her impressions, but the problem is that her material is just not funny enough. Sketches drag on for too long, while jokes and gags that are slightly amusing to begin with end up being irritating after constant repetition. Ransom’s heart is in the right place but when the routines are disjointed and fail to raise many laughs, the result feels like a missed opportunity without much point.
One distinct positive, though, is her interaction with the audience, as she breaks from character and you see her true self shine. It’s in these moments that you wish Ransom would drop the character gimmick altogether and throw herself into a full hour of stand up, at which she has real potential.
As it is, we’re left with a number of character sketches that are sometimes amusing, but more often lacklustre.

2/5

Ford and Akram: Humdinger

Adrian G. Velazquez — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:15:48 +0000

Billed as the Morecambe & Wise of their generation, and with comparisons to the Mighty Boosh, expectations are high for Ford and Akram’s show – and they do not disappoint.
Akram presents a confident Irish persona, playing the beautiful, successful one who belittles her friend throughout the show. Ford, on the other hand, is the shy and awkward one who tends to faint
on stage if the pressure gets too much. There is a warmth to their interaction, both with each other and with the audience. Indeed, the pair’s most endearing trait is how comfortable they are with each other.
Comic highpoints are when Ford seeks a new love among male audience members, or when they both sing an incomprehensible song together. They raise a lot of laughter, too, from their mistakes and ad-libs, their own laughter and improvised enjoyment of the experience infectious. You cannot help but laugh along with them.
A range of simple yet effective short sketches, with basic props and accessories, explore their friendship, their loves and dreams (themes at the core of their show), to amusing effect. The material may not be groundbreaking but, again, their engaging personas and jovial delivery make the material soar.
While not quite filling Morecambe & Wise’s shoes – then again, who does? – there’s undoubtedly potential in this double act and we certainly look forward to their return next year for another infectious dose of laughter and joie de vivre.

3/5

Skittles

Keira Farrell — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:30:32 +0000

Love is messy, complicated and painful, and Richard Marsh evokes all of this and more through his one-man show. Brutally honest, the show opens with the announcement, “Hi, I’m Richard and I’ll be playing a character called Richard!” How many relationships start that way…
Richard tells us the tale of his relationship with Siobhan which begins with friendship and moves towards more. It’s a true romance, filled with the development of in-jokes and punctuated with moments which are not Hollywood-perfect but real. He ably conveys a sense of her personality, flaws, quirks and all, giving us a thorough picture of why he has fallen for her. His rapid-fire delivery of his poetry combined with his often deadpan punch lines elicits a lot of giggles, and his portrayal of their wedding dance is positively hilarious.
It is refreshing to find a male voice willing to address themes of heartbreak without flinching away from his own emotions. As their relationship disintegrates, Richard relates his own faults, his own shortcomings just as he is able to see hers clearly, and describes the impotence we all feel when a lover leaves very eloquently.
Skittles is honest, raw and absolutely relatable, challenging the audience to compare the love we romanticise to the love we stumble into.

4/5

Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut

Keira Farrell — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 07:30:48 +0000

All movie lovers have a soft spot for Casablanca, and the writer and cast of this production certainly seem to be film lovers themselves. Casablanca is here re-imagined with a cast of three and, needless to say, silliness ensues.
Given that the source material is from the 1940s, it is hardly surprising that a lot of the jokes are older than the hills, but that is part of the show’s charm. One actor with a coat on each shoulder plays two characters having a conversation. It’s hilarious, and a truly impressive feat of both voice and physical acting. Performances are camped up, the restrictions of the setting are played with and a running gag about the smoking ban raises at least a smile every time. The depiction of Sam is in questionable taste, but is ultimately so funny that it ceases to matter.
This show is just plain fun, pure and simple. The cast love every minute and give it their all, and the audience is invited to participate as Victor Laslo encourages everyone to sing La Marseillaise and drown out the Nazi anthem. Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut is likely to confuse the uninitiated, but it is thoroughly delightful.

4/5