Edinburgh Fringe - third day out on the streets

Working it on the Royal Mile

A typical August day at the Edinburgh Fringe seems to be slightly warm and wet but that doesn't stop those who need to sell a show on the Royal Mile from coming out and doing what they do. Not so many punters though on day 3 of our trip so we had breathing space to think about what to do next without too much bustle.

The next on our 'to-do' list was Musical Theatre as Edinburgh together brings Musical Theatre Societies from all over the country.

Members of CUMTS when not in costume...

Most are very young (students still at uni) and they bring bags of enthusiasm and energy to Edinburgh and often showcase from one of the two stages set up for the purpose on the Royal Mile. We didn't see these guys here but who can resist a Stephen Sondheim musical we asked ourselves when we came across the Cambridge University Musical Theatre's Society (CUMTS for short) production of The Assassins on the app. 

This is a bit of an odd musical, telling the story of a nine of those who across the centuries have attempted (and sometimes succeeded) in assassinating a US President. Chronologically Assassins is a bit of a mess but you can't blame the cast who not only sang their hearts out (Sondheim is challenging) but often left the stage to pick up an instrument - what an annoyingly talented bunch. It was a bit raw in places and voices not always as strong as they should be but the two girls in the cast were worthy of extra praise as they were very good indeed. Nice to hear some great music sung with gusto in the afternoon!

Following a musical theme we checked out 'looping artist' Adam Page all the way from Australia. Adam uses looping pedals to record and playback, effortlessly recording the sounds he makes or plays and layering others on top of them to create a wall of musical sound and beat. He also has an extraordinary beard which, with the use of a small microphone, he 'plays', recording the scratchy sounds and layering them into the music.
If you want to catch a bit of Adam yourself then check out the following video...




A brief stop to fill up on pizza and we were off to our third show of the day. The Peculiar Tale of Pablo Picasso and the Mona Lisa is a new piece of absurdist comedy performed by the talented Fourth Monkey Theatre Company. They have been working very hard to establish themselves on the Fringe over the past few years and I have to say this was genuinely one of the best things we saw this year.

Fourth Monkey from Colin Hattersley Photography

Taking Picasso's early life, this tells the story of an outrageous theft of the Mona Lisa and the muses who inspired the young Pablo. Using a simple white set, beautiful costume, this play brought to life the spirit of Paris in the early twentieth century. It's visually arresting and great fun with tons of artistic license and an appearance from the Desmoiselles d'Avignon to help and hinder Picasso throughout the story. It's all a bit mad, farcical and shows Picasso as the egocentric bastard that we can all imagine he was. Gertrude Stein and Georges Braque also make an appearance. We loved it for it's energy, sense of fun and absurd storyline and came out of the theatre smiling and uplifted - what more can you ask?

Final stop of the day was to This is a Damage Manual, a piece of dance with physical theatre thrown in for good measure from BONEdanse. It sounded really interesting, using vintage instruction self-help recordings from the 1950s (all on scratchy vinyl record) to explore how universally damaged we all are and how many of us simply stay that way. All with a lot of satire and wit thrown in.

   

Edinburgh Fringe - second day and things get serious

Supermen and women on The Royal Mile

It's when you wake up in the morning in Edinburgh and realise that there are far too many shows to even begin to get your head around, that you realise that just getting up and out there is the best course of action. Experience tells me that 4-5 shows in a day is hard-core but do-able. I am sure there are those who get to do more, but I find that after 4 my brain gets a bit too full.

So second day on the streets of Edinburgh and what did we see?

Well we saw lots and lots of flyer-ing on the Royal Mile - start from there to get a feel for the atmosphere and what you'd like to see.

Selling a show on the Royal Mile

We had already pre-booked theatre in the form of the world premier of An Actor's Lament by and starring Steven Berkoff after lunch, and Adam Hills in the early evening, so had plenty of hours to fill - but what to choose?

So the first thing to get us in the mood was a comedy showcase Just the Tonic off the Royal Mile. We got to see 4 stand-up comedians plus compare for £5 - a pound a pop which was much cheaper than the laughs which were really rather good. Checking out new comics is best done via a showcase - then you can decide to see a fuller set by a particular comic at a later date should you choose. These showcases are often free but if you want quality then it is best to pay something, even if it's just a fiver!

Photo: Berwickshire News

Steven Berkoff's An Actor's Lament was our biggest ticket in terms of price and it was definitely an event that had to be booked way in advance. Joined on stage by actors Jay Benedict and Andree Bernard, this new play gives us an insight into the world of theatre from the point of view of an actor, director and writer.

Never one to miss the opportunity to have a pop at critics (Berkoff is well-known for his intolerance of critics) which he does vociferously in the opening speech, he also puts actors themselves under his own particular spotlight showing up their ego-centricities, vanities and of course their enormous frailty. He takes on the world of theatre but also can't resist pulling apart TV soaps and films that are churned out for the money rather than the artistic value. We see the frustrations of being a performer laid bare for all the world to see, but in my opinion the star of the show is the language itself which is both melodic and has acerbic wit but above all is really quite funny. If you get a chance to see it at a future date then grab it - a real theatrical treat is in store.

The Dance Dome

The wonderful thing about Edinburgh is that you can go and see things you wouldn't normally and it won't be a costly mistake. Our little group all like dance and physical theatre so DanceDome in particular caught our eye. This 'event' took place in a large inflatable dome at the bottom of Cowgate in Dance Base and is a 360 degree film created by an international crew based in Cardiff. Using digital technology, cinema and some great choreography the dancers leapt and wove in film above our heads while the rain absolutely bucketed down outside. There were three films in total featuring everything from contemporary dance to parkour and breakdance - and all with original music. Explore more at The Dance Dome.

The very funny Adam Hills

Adam Hills was our other hot ticket this trip with Adam Hills: Happyism at The Assembly Hall. He opens his show with an audience member joining him on stage for improvised banter which he clearly loves as much as his set. Off-the-cuff and wonderfully spontaneous, Adam Hills is obviously joyful to be alive and although he has a spring in his step his show is one of many layers covering topics from what's not acceptable in society, drawing on his own experiences on US TV, to the differences between Aussie and British culture. It is far more sophisticated than you first imagine seamlessly switching from one topic to another, but he does make an audience laugh - really laugh. He will soon be up with the greats in terms of stand-up and I'm not surprised he has packed out such a large venue for two weeks here in Edinburgh. He overran by 15 minutes - apparently this happens a lot - which isn't great if you've got another show to catch, but it was obvious that he could have gone on all night if time had allowed, we were all having so much fun.

   

Edinburgh Fringe - first day entertainment, Gretchen Frage and Henning Wehn

The real trick to booking a short break to the Edinburgh Fringe is to have one or two things planned and booked before you go up and leave the rest to chance. That way you're not too overwhelmed when you get there as you will have some structure already in place, but will still have lots of time to take in the shows that take your fancy on the Royal Mile or via the fantastic official Edinburgh Fringe app. The app gives you everything on at every time for the whole month - so if you've got a slot to fill from 3pm - 6pm that day, you simply put in the times and order your tickets directly. Of course you will still need to make sure you can collect tickets from the various Fringe box offices when needs be.

I do realise I am writing this right at the end of this year's Fringe (well there are a few days left but not many) but having made my third trip to Edinburgh I do feel that any snippets of advise I have will be just as relevant next year so get that trip planned!

We arrived (after a 7 hour drive up from London) at around 4pm and our first show, Henning Wehn's Authentic German Christmas Do wasn't until 7ish. So using our app (there's a first time for everything) we went on the hunt for something good to see. Coming across Student Medics performing A Midwife Crisis at Space at The Surgeon's Hall we went down there in the hope of buying tickets on the door. Of course it was sold out but the bright and smiley girl on the ticket office managed to sell us into Love: Gretchen Frage and we decided to take a punt on it. By the way Gretchen Frage is a play on the German 'Gretchenfrage' which means 'crucial question'.

Seeing that we were one of about a dozen audience members, and understanding that this was the opening show, we were a bit apprehensive as to what we would find. Well, let's just say any visit to the Edinburgh fringe when you take a blind punt is always a bit risky, and it wasn't awful. But it wasn't great either. Billed as 'Gretchen Frage is on a quest: to unravel the conundrum that is love in the time of capitalism. A confessional, eclectic and whimsical journey interlacing performance art and folk music by sibling duo Lex and Lian' we were quite excited to see what this was going to turn out like. What it turned out to be was a girl with a very sweet voice and songs she had penned herself, accompanying herself on the lute and being accompanied by her brother on box/guitar/harmonica - or did I dream that. There were a couple of actors supporting the thin narrative who needed a hell of a lot more rehearsal than was evident. We did get to make paper airplanes and play sweet whistles, but I wasn't sure why her clothes were cut off at one point leaving her centre stage in a body stocking that left nothing to the imagination. Hey ho the joys of the fringe - it was only about £6 so can't really complain and it did fill an hour nicely.

The Surgeon's Hall, Edinburgh

This did, however, whet our appetites for something really good, and something really good was what we got. Henning Wehn is 'that German comic' off the telly and radio. And he is very, very funny. We caught his show in London and seeing he had something new to offer decided to book for his Christmas spectacular while up at the Fringe. We weren't let down. He's comical, sharp, has an incredible understanding of the British vernacular and even though we were in the Caves (a large cellar underneath the street) and it was rather hot, the hour absolutely flew. I am sure he will be touring with this show nearer Christmas so I highly recommend booking tickets should it come to a town near you. His whole premise is how our Christmas drags on from January through to the following January whereas the Germans are far more ordered in their Christmas festivities which last a whole two days. The Germans obviously know how to do Christmas properly (well Christmas and a whole lot of other things as well). This show has been reprised from one he did a few years ago which I didn't see, but I can only agree that singing German Christmas carols in August somehow didn't feel wrong in a basement in Edinburgh because of the charm of our host, and the fact that you never know what stereotype he's going to tear to shreds next. I hope we see more of him on our mainstream media as he should be encouraged!

   

The Pride theatre review - London West End

Last night, to get me in the mood for a trip to the Edinburgh Festival (in all it's guises) next week, I went along to the Trafalgar Studios off Trafalgar Square to attend the opening night of The Pride, a play written by Alexi Kaye Campbell and set in both 1958 and the present day.

This often hilarious but also very touching piece of theatre explores themes of honesty and openness in relationships and centres around 3 main characters who are involved in a love triangle. Themes of homosexual behaviour and society's take on what is and isn't permissible are explored through the time shift which is cleverly portrayed both in the performances and the staging.

Given the recent law in Russia forbidding the promotion of homosexuality to anyone under the age of 18, this play is very contemporary and absolutely right for now. The cast even came on stage after the first curtain call with placards stating 'To Russia With Love', a reminder that in some parts of the world the movement for equality and recognition is still as it was here in the UK in 1958.

Image from The Evening Standard

Philip, Oliver and Sylvia are played by Al Weaver as Oliver, Hayley Atwell as Sylvia and Harry Hadden-Paton as Philip. Comic relief was brought by Mathew Horne who made the audience laugh out loud with his characterful portrayal of a role-playing rent boy - this particular role requiring a Nazi military costume, and the effusive editor of a men's magazine (thinks Nuts not Esquire).

All four actors were highly believable and the play itself well-written and thought provoking. Catch it while you can as it is on a limited run until November 9.

The Pride is at The Trafalgar Studios, London.