Tag: Fringe

Quantum Magic – 2015 Edinburgh Fringe

Kevin McMahon was a physicist until ten years ago when he went on the last programme of the 'Faking It' TV series and, after four weeks training, successfully convinced Paul Daniels that he was a professional magician. That convinced him to change careers.

I don't know what he was like as a physicist, but he's a very good magician. I know enough to be looking in the right places at the right times, and sitting in the middle of the front row, I only spotted the trickery some of the time.

As ever, the tricks vary in impact – this was a preview and apparently one that won't be in later shows has recently been spoiled on CBBC, so didn't impress some of the children in the audience as much as it would have done last year. But the card forces lead to a lovely effect at the end.

I enjoyed every minute, as did the almost sell-out audience apparently achieved without 'papering' the room with free tickets. Definitely recommended and I suspect you'll have to book in advance to see this once word gets out.

5/5

Sex Rated G – 2015 Edinburgh Fringe

Lisa Verlo uses things starting with G – from genitals to getting off – to talk about sexuality, especially in an American context. Her parents didn't like nudity, but she discovers masturbation; her first partner isn't really into her; her second (a famous but unnamed director) is, but also likes other things etc.

The main thing I learnt is that sleeping with directors doesn't guarantee a career – looking her up reveals three entries in imdb: 'song performer' in a film described as "unwatchable" at times because of bad sound and vision, a character in a soft porn film (tags 'female nudity' and 'full frontal female nudity') plus the title character in an episode of its TV series spin-off.

The show itself is worthy rather than good. I can't disagree with anything she says (or sings) but it didn't feel like they were the most interesting things she could have been saying.

I am not asking for the director to be named, but there's not much about how she felt during their relationship, until she wonders how many others are seeing the doctor he recommends when he thinks she might have caught gonorrhoea from him. That's not one of the G's and, for someone her age, it's very noticeable that there's nothing on any other STI. Did HIV have no impact on her?

The format of the show, sometimes talking to a recorded voice, doesn't help make it more of a story than a performance either. It has some good moments, but overall, a disappointment. Sorry, Lisa.

2.5/5

… And This is My Friend Mr Laurel – 2015 Edinburgh Fringe

Arthur Stanley Jefferson, better known to the world as Stan Laurel, is visiting his old friend Oliver Hardy. 'Babe' has recently had a stroke, cannot speak, and is represented by the frame of a bed (too small for the real Hardy!)

The show is a mix of reminiscences from Stan about the boys' career, from start to end, and some reminders to the audience of some of their routines, with Jeffrey Holland doing both of them.

It's a bit of a mix: there's not enough of the routines for casual fans, and not enough insight for the more dedicated ones. I enjoyed it, but as a biography piece, I didn't learn anything new.

3/5

(Seen 'in preview' but this show has been touring for two years.)

Very, very lucky or what?

Another website, Fringe Review, has 210 reviews from this year's Edinburgh Fringe at the moment.

69 shows – just under a third – are "Recommended", 122 shows are "Highly recommended", and 19 shows are "Outstanding". That leaves exactly zero shows which, apparently, could not be recommended or need to be actively avoided.

Sadly, I saw none of the ones Fringe Review saw, so I don't know if "Recommended" is their way of saying 'it's sort of ok'. Of the thirty I saw, three shows were just that, and two positively stank. That's a sixth of them.

So were they extremely lucky with the choice of shows, or very easy to please, or is this a desperate attempt to get some publicity by at least recommending everything they get a ticket to in the hope that the website's recommendation is plastered on posters?

2014 Edinburgh Fringe summary

There was one more thing to see: a free film supposed to start at ten past midnight. If that was no good, or something I just didn't want to see, I could still get to a couple of other things.

But the previous act – I'm not sure who it was, but it wasn't the person in the listings – over-ran and then was more interested in counting his collection than getting changed and out of there. There were also some technical issues which meant it was nearer 1am when the film started and was revealed to be the My Bloody Valentine remake.

I hadn't actually seen that one, despite having the DVD, and the opening thirty minutes is entertaining if you like splatter films. But then the noise from outside – which idiots think that the open door to a cinema is the place for a loud chat in a venue with more private corners than many parliaments? – and some remaining technical issues meant that I left for bed early. (I've since seen the rest of it, and the first half hour is better than the rest…)

So, what did I learn?

1. I really have missed the Fringe and it's been far too long since I was able to do it. I've had a wonderful few days here.

2. There are some remarkably good female comedians out there.. Of the twelve things I rated four or five out of five, one was a large ensemble, four were by men and seven by women.

3. .. but they get much less attention than male ones. Even if you look at the 'pick of the Fringe' shows, they're mostly men.

4. The 'free fringe', particularly the original genuinely free one founded by Peter Buckley Hill, is fabulous. The people making most money out of the Fringe are not the performers, but by not charging performers or venues the PBH Free Fringe makes them more than most promoters. You feel a lot better putting money in a bucket rattled by them, because it goes directly to them. Plus as well as enabling the cash-strapped me to see so many things, it also means that if something really is not to your taste, you can walk out without thinking you'd spent a tenner on that piece of…

5. You cannot see everything. Or even everything good. I knew that already, but it doesn't stop me regretting not being able to see dozens of things. Some weren't on yet, some were too expensive, and some just clashed with too many other good things. Plus had I not skipped most of one afternoon to do a museum with a date, one evening to see the TV debate, and had a long lunch with another friend, I'd have been able to see more than 30 shows. (OK, 28 shows and too much of two others!)

6. As an audience member, you will get much more out of the Fringe if you don't just sit there. Join in.

Oh, at one point, the free film was possibly going to be Terminator 2, so…

7. I'll be back.

Rainbow Rabbits With Rabies – 2014 Edinburgh Fringe

Nicole Henriksen was another one of the six comedians that night at Pandamonium, so it was only right that the last live show I see be hers.

RRWR is a mix of stand-up, created characters (MC Misogynist was my favourite), songs and video. Although some of the material is a bit patchy, the best bits are as good as anything else I've seen at the Fringe.

Nicole's a complete star even if some of her self-description of "all-round mad bitch" refers to her being a One Direction fan. (Still, why be in denial when Niall could be…?) If you get a chance to see her do a guest spot, jump at it. YOLO, after all…

3.5/5

On at 11pm at Bar 50 / Smart City Hostel (venue 151) until 11th August.

Arrest That Poet! – 2014 Edinburgh Fringe

This is what I had been on the way to see before being conned into seeing the start of Deep Throat Live!. Fortunately, because it started fifteen minutes later and wasn't very far away down a hill, I only just missed the start of the show.

Danny Chivers was a nice middle-class young man who got involved in protests against climate change. He couldn't do some of the more practical things needed in the various protests, but he could write poetry… The show is the story of his radicalisation in the face of police violence, undercover police undermining their 'friends' and 'partners', and some of the reactions – from Richard Madeley and others – to the protests.

Amongst the politics, there are some particularly amusing moments – when spotted near to a gas-fired power station near Nottingham after the famous attempt to close down the nearby coal-fired power station, the EDF security team assumed the protesters were attempting to do the latter again, leaving their real target unprotected. That action lead to being sued for £5m by EDF for lost – in reality, only delayed – profits, and one of the proudest bits of the show is the way that was EDF shooting itself in the foot. The case was dropped in exchange for a promise not to trespass on EDF property again or to encourage other people to do so, but you can definitely see why someone might want to…

Had I more time and money, I'd also have seen Mark Thomas's show on having a campaign infiltrated by someone working undercover. Although that one has had a lot more coverage and will doubtless get a much bigger audience, it probably isn't much better than this one. Arrest That Poet! is certainly infinitely better than Deep Throat Live! and is definitely recommended.

4/5

On at 6:15pm at The Stafford Centre (venue 175, and with a nice cafe) until the 13th August.

Deep Throat Live – 2014 Edinburgh Fringe

After the comedy films, I was on my way to another show via a supermarket to get some snacks. On the way out clutching my purchase, I was seduced by a masked man into going to see this. He turned out to be in it and lied about the content.

What it was supposed to be was "the most outrageous sex comedy you'll ever see", a direct spoof of the infamous porn film. What it actually is is a series of poor jokes silently projected on a screen – because of the equipment used, one third of the audience will have the light of the projector reflected into their eyes – followed by what's best described as a mix of modern dance and bad dialogue. Some couple started to act out a rape fantasy; someone did something while a man mimed giving a woman oral sex; something else happened under some unwarned-about flashing lighting. It was at this point that I left.

Each of the performers wears a mask, and I can see why.

0/5

On at 6pm at Chalky's (venue 219) until 24th August.

Brainwrap Short Comedy Films – 2014 Edinburgh Fringe

Twenty two films, at least seven of which I thought were great. It was also interesting to see that two were filmed very close to where I used to live in London: Balotelli Postman in Brockley and Smell Investigators in Peckham.

Particularly good for a wet afternoon going between two shows.

3/5

On at 4:45pm at Pivo (venue 24, and really on Calton Road rather than Leith St) until the 9th August.

Mae Martin's Workshop – 2014 Edinburgh Fringe

When Oh Boy! finished, it was in the middle of a thunderstorm outside so any plans to leave the building got cancelled. Fortunately, the venue has six performance spaces, what's on?

Mae is a young Canadian bisexual / lesbian woman (she's had both boyfriends and girlfriends in the past, and is currently in a relationship with another woman, but says she is beyond "labels", so I'm going to say 'bisexual'…) Interestingly, this probably had the biggest audience of anything I saw at the Fringe this year and only Magic and Tea With An Evil Genius filled a higher proportion of the available seats. Was this because she's got a popular YouTube 'channel'?

The show is a 'work in progress' which meant that this afternoon, it was a mix of stories about her family (particularly her mother's odd announcements), some name-dropping, and some audience suggestions. I missed the chance to join in with the latter, but others had put some short phrases on pieces of paper and she drew out some of those out of a bucket and talked about them.

It's all fine stuff, but I did leave wondering why this had a bigger audience than shows I think are much better.

3/5

On at 3:30pm at Cowgatehead room 4 – not room 1 as on the flyer – (venue 32) until the 24th August. No show on Wednesdays.