BEASTS (Owen Roberts, James McNicholas and Ciarán Dowd) return with another (loosely) narrative show, this time they're recording their show for a Hollywood producer.
This year's there bolder and more energetic, they're going into the audience, sometimes even blow-drying them, there's bread galore this year (so much bread - watch it and find out) and Ciarán is indulged by doing more nudity this year.
They don't do conventional sketch; they take an idea and they explode it into a glorious technicolour display of pranks and antics. There are some crude, deliberately cringe-worthy, squirm in your seat moments, there are some moments when it's a bit much and some moments of such sheer silliness it's a joy. Overall a very entertaining show that really embodies the exuberant spirit of the Fringe.
I just feel sorry for the venue staff who have to clean the stage (just go watch it).
Score: 8/10
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard
Dates: 21st-30th August
Time: 16:45
Price: £10 (£9) weekends, £9 (£8) weekdays
Saturday, 22 August 2015
Show 12: Paul Duncan McGarrity: Today is the Good Old Times of Tomorrow
Paul Duncan McGarrity is a tall, energetic, Mumford-and-Son's-looking Yorkshireman (only he had the look first) with a show about nostalgia, history and facts.
He has some nice ponderings based on his time as a professional archaeologist (it's still a proper job), and flights of whimsy when he imagines a hawk army saving him from youths.
He's a charasmatic stage performer with a lot of energy and conviction in his material, but sadly the jokes just don't really hit the mark most of the time.
Plus points for trying though.
Score: 4/10
Venue: Laughing Horse at the COunting House
Dates:22nd-30th August
Time: 14:30
Price: free
He has some nice ponderings based on his time as a professional archaeologist (it's still a proper job), and flights of whimsy when he imagines a hawk army saving him from youths.
He's a charasmatic stage performer with a lot of energy and conviction in his material, but sadly the jokes just don't really hit the mark most of the time.
Plus points for trying though.
Score: 4/10
Venue: Laughing Horse at the COunting House
Dates:22nd-30th August
Time: 14:30
Price: free
Friday, 21 August 2015
Show 11: Comedians' Cinema Club
Comedians Cinema Club is a show where comedians aim to perform a famous movie with guidance by the off-stage director. The challenge being that this is an exercise in improvisation done by those who may never have improvised, and they may never have seen the movie. Potential for disaster, or hilarity (as seems to be the case for most comedic experiments).
Today's show was the Godfather. Edward Aczel brought his characteristic deadpan style to his role as Don Vito Corleone, which worked wonderfully well.
Most of the other cast were part of the free fringe performers but all made wonderful turns as various members of the movie. Paul Duncan McGarrity was especially good as various characters and one of the performers did a nice turn as an unexpectedly Irish character (not sure if he's in the original film).
A nice moment occurred when two women was seemingly being courted in a single scene, yet the excellent planning of the organisers meant there was only one female performers. Thank goodness she could multi-task/multi-characterise.
Overall, a very good show and worthwhile.
Score: 7/10
Venue: Just The Tonic At The Tron
Dates: 12th-29th August (not 18th)
Time: 15:40
Price: £8 (£7)
Today's show was the Godfather. Edward Aczel brought his characteristic deadpan style to his role as Don Vito Corleone, which worked wonderfully well.
Most of the other cast were part of the free fringe performers but all made wonderful turns as various members of the movie. Paul Duncan McGarrity was especially good as various characters and one of the performers did a nice turn as an unexpectedly Irish character (not sure if he's in the original film).
A nice moment occurred when two women was seemingly being courted in a single scene, yet the excellent planning of the organisers meant there was only one female performers. Thank goodness she could multi-task/multi-characterise.
Overall, a very good show and worthwhile.
Score: 7/10
Venue: Just The Tonic At The Tron
Dates: 12th-29th August (not 18th)
Time: 15:40
Price: £8 (£7)
Show 10: Scaramouche Jones
Scaramouche Jones is a theatrical piece about a 100 year old classical clown. For the last 50 years he's been playing a clown, entertaining children and families with his mime and antics. As the clock ticks towards the dawn of a new millenium, he sits in his dressing room contemplating his life. At this point, he turns to us, the audience, his "ghosts" and, at last, tells his story.
It's a fascinating story with great lyrical prose, with lovely acting from Thom Tuck. A very emotional and touching moment towards the end of the play is touchingly and sensitively performed.
Tuck first performed this piece at the Fringe ten years ago, and as an artistic endeavour he's decided to perform this piece every ten years as an exploration of how his relationship with the character changes as he slowly approaches the character's same 100 year old age.
Tuck performs well and has a delightful array of accents. For any theatre drama lovers, it's a great performance and show, but for the pure comedy goers, it's got a smattering of laughs but it's a piece more for the drama-philes.
Score: 6/10
Venue: Underbelly, Cowgate
Dates: 21st-30th August
Time: 12:20
Price: £110 (£10) weekends, £9 (£8) weekdays
It's a fascinating story with great lyrical prose, with lovely acting from Thom Tuck. A very emotional and touching moment towards the end of the play is touchingly and sensitively performed.
Tuck first performed this piece at the Fringe ten years ago, and as an artistic endeavour he's decided to perform this piece every ten years as an exploration of how his relationship with the character changes as he slowly approaches the character's same 100 year old age.
Tuck performs well and has a delightful array of accents. For any theatre drama lovers, it's a great performance and show, but for the pure comedy goers, it's got a smattering of laughs but it's a piece more for the drama-philes.
Score: 6/10
Venue: Underbelly, Cowgate
Dates: 21st-30th August
Time: 12:20
Price: £110 (£10) weekends, £9 (£8) weekdays
Wednesday, 19 August 2015
Show 9: Pajama Men: Pterodactyl Nights
Canadian Graham Clark opens the show with a nice 10 minute set about his life, being a vegetarian and how "apparently drunk Graham isn't vegetarian!". He then promises to pain a picutre using his impressive beard. The challenge: Donald Trump - he actually succeeds with a nice pop-art style picture of Trump!
The main attraction of the show is the Fringe favourites, the Pajama Men. I had been expecting a night of improvisation from this imaginative duo, but alas it was mainly a revisiting of many of their most famous characters.
For people uninitiated to The Pajama Men, it probably would have held greater delight and comedy. For those who had seen their previous shows, it was more a trip down memory lane for the most part, with occasional riffing of new characters, or familiar ones in unfamiliar situations. Sadly, no reappearance of Cute Thing.
There were a couple of improv sets: long-distance love letters and two-headed monsters, which did produce a funny moment ("What's haggis made out of?" "Haggis is made from...bad...dreams").
Overall an entertaining night but a tad disappointing from these geniuses. Maybe best stick to their new material.
Score: 7/10
Venue: Assembly George Square Studios
Dates: 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd August
Time: 22:50
Price: £12.50 (£10)
The main attraction of the show is the Fringe favourites, the Pajama Men. I had been expecting a night of improvisation from this imaginative duo, but alas it was mainly a revisiting of many of their most famous characters.
For people uninitiated to The Pajama Men, it probably would have held greater delight and comedy. For those who had seen their previous shows, it was more a trip down memory lane for the most part, with occasional riffing of new characters, or familiar ones in unfamiliar situations. Sadly, no reappearance of Cute Thing.
There were a couple of improv sets: long-distance love letters and two-headed monsters, which did produce a funny moment ("What's haggis made out of?" "Haggis is made from...bad...dreams").
Overall an entertaining night but a tad disappointing from these geniuses. Maybe best stick to their new material.
Score: 7/10
Venue: Assembly George Square Studios
Dates: 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd August
Time: 22:50
Price: £12.50 (£10)
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Show 8: Joseph Morpurgo: Soothing Sounds for Baby
Joseph Morpurgo had been recommended by none other than the infamous, the genius, Daniel Kitson last year. Morpurgo also had a rather striking poster and the dramatically named Odessa as last year's show. I was intrigued.
As such, I thought I'd check his show out this year. I really didn't know what to expect and I didn't know much about him.
The stage is adorned with a large blanket folded around the perimeter of the stage and a chair and various props. The backdrop is a screen surrounded by dozens of old LP covers. On each chair was an odd looking quiz sheet. It promised to be a very interesting show.
My God, it was so much more.
Morpurgo has carefully spliced snippets of Desert Island Discs so that it sounds like he's the guest. Through the show he and Kirsty tensely discuss Morpurgo's various chosen Discs, and for each record he's created a spectacular sketch, from the slightly mad Joseph Cooper in his leaf-covered suit teaching the audience music to the smarmy lothario Stanley Clarke teaching an unwitting audience member how to woo the ladies.
It's a spectacular display of multimedia comedy, making great use of the projector for a range of visual gags and some tremendous musical tidbits (including a rap about golf!) all woven around the Desert Island Disc interview.
But this is also a show with heart and warmth - the emotions are slipped in carefully by Morpurgo and brilliantly, it doesn't feel cheesy or tacky, instead it's right, it fits in perfectly amongst the madness.
Writing this review three days after seeing it, I can confirm that I'm still dazzled by it, I still think about the sheer brilliance, bravado, tight writing and editing and the technological mastery Morpurgo displayed that night.
It's a perfect venue for his show - any smaller and the energy would dip, any bigger and the intimacy of the show would be lost, and the audience participation (oh there's plenty of it) would go.
This show is exceptional: it's so inventive and creative, it's so joyfully silly and fun and mad, but it's also heartfelt and brilliantly performed by Morpurgo.
The sheer breadth of jokes and the density of comedic ideas leaves you breathless; it's like the show's got ADHD, but it's still coherent and tight.
Few shows are so flawless and make such an impact.
After the show ended, for a brief moment, it was like life just wasn't worth living now that it had finished. But I continue, because the world needs to know about Joseph Morpurgo.
This has been one of the best shows I've ever seen at Edinburgh, and I've probably seen somewhere between 150 and 200 by now.
I look forward to seeing his future work.
Score: 10/10
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard
Dates: 9th-31st August (not 18th)
Time: 20:15
Price: £10.50 (£9) weekends, £8.50 (£7) weekday
As such, I thought I'd check his show out this year. I really didn't know what to expect and I didn't know much about him.
The stage is adorned with a large blanket folded around the perimeter of the stage and a chair and various props. The backdrop is a screen surrounded by dozens of old LP covers. On each chair was an odd looking quiz sheet. It promised to be a very interesting show.
My God, it was so much more.
Morpurgo has carefully spliced snippets of Desert Island Discs so that it sounds like he's the guest. Through the show he and Kirsty tensely discuss Morpurgo's various chosen Discs, and for each record he's created a spectacular sketch, from the slightly mad Joseph Cooper in his leaf-covered suit teaching the audience music to the smarmy lothario Stanley Clarke teaching an unwitting audience member how to woo the ladies.
It's a spectacular display of multimedia comedy, making great use of the projector for a range of visual gags and some tremendous musical tidbits (including a rap about golf!) all woven around the Desert Island Disc interview.
But this is also a show with heart and warmth - the emotions are slipped in carefully by Morpurgo and brilliantly, it doesn't feel cheesy or tacky, instead it's right, it fits in perfectly amongst the madness.
Writing this review three days after seeing it, I can confirm that I'm still dazzled by it, I still think about the sheer brilliance, bravado, tight writing and editing and the technological mastery Morpurgo displayed that night.
It's a perfect venue for his show - any smaller and the energy would dip, any bigger and the intimacy of the show would be lost, and the audience participation (oh there's plenty of it) would go.
This show is exceptional: it's so inventive and creative, it's so joyfully silly and fun and mad, but it's also heartfelt and brilliantly performed by Morpurgo.
The sheer breadth of jokes and the density of comedic ideas leaves you breathless; it's like the show's got ADHD, but it's still coherent and tight.
Few shows are so flawless and make such an impact.
After the show ended, for a brief moment, it was like life just wasn't worth living now that it had finished. But I continue, because the world needs to know about Joseph Morpurgo.
This has been one of the best shows I've ever seen at Edinburgh, and I've probably seen somewhere between 150 and 200 by now.
I look forward to seeing his future work.
Score: 10/10
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard
Dates: 9th-31st August (not 18th)
Time: 20:15
Price: £10.50 (£9) weekends, £8.50 (£7) weekday
Show 7: Tom Parry: Yellow T-Shirt
Tom Parry, one third of the famous Pappy's sketch troupe (creators and stars of Badults, but more importantly the creators of one of the best sketch show of modern times, the 2012 nominated show Last Show Ever) comes to Edinburgh this year with his first show.
It's a show about fancy dress, the joys of silliness, ridiculousness and the importance of just having fun.
A wonderful message, for sure. He starts his set with a comically dubious impression (I shan't spoil the surprise) and follows swiftly with all his comic antics.
He's full of energy and you can tell he loves the stage, but sadly his material just didn't set my laughter furnace ablaze as much as I had hoped.
It's a nicely delivered set with lovely comic ideas and anecdotes, and certainly good value for £5, but there's nothing to really stick in one's mind.
This particular show, however, did rather benefit from some slight derailment when the infamous Dr Shipman was brought up and ended up being a topic much closer to home than anticipated for one audience member (who took it a tremendous humour, it must be said). It was a brilliant reminder that it's the dangerous moments in live comedy when the bizarre comments (some say heckles - it depends on the spirit of things, I wouldn't call this a heckle) or coincidences the audience brings that can make a show just fizzle with tension and attention. Maybe some of the audience members felt uncomfortable; I was reveling in the madness of it all.
Sadly, I doubt Parry will attempt to recreate the weirdness of it.
Still, a decent show overall.
Score: 5/10
Venue: Just The Tonic At The Tron
Dates: 9th-30th August (not 18th)
Time: 18:20
Price: Free or £5 to guarantee entry
It's a show about fancy dress, the joys of silliness, ridiculousness and the importance of just having fun.
A wonderful message, for sure. He starts his set with a comically dubious impression (I shan't spoil the surprise) and follows swiftly with all his comic antics.
He's full of energy and you can tell he loves the stage, but sadly his material just didn't set my laughter furnace ablaze as much as I had hoped.
It's a nicely delivered set with lovely comic ideas and anecdotes, and certainly good value for £5, but there's nothing to really stick in one's mind.
This particular show, however, did rather benefit from some slight derailment when the infamous Dr Shipman was brought up and ended up being a topic much closer to home than anticipated for one audience member (who took it a tremendous humour, it must be said). It was a brilliant reminder that it's the dangerous moments in live comedy when the bizarre comments (some say heckles - it depends on the spirit of things, I wouldn't call this a heckle) or coincidences the audience brings that can make a show just fizzle with tension and attention. Maybe some of the audience members felt uncomfortable; I was reveling in the madness of it all.
Sadly, I doubt Parry will attempt to recreate the weirdness of it.
Still, a decent show overall.
Score: 5/10
Venue: Just The Tonic At The Tron
Dates: 9th-30th August (not 18th)
Time: 18:20
Price: Free or £5 to guarantee entry
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