foxesfringe

Being away has thrown the count and me off and I no longer quite know what day it is or what we are doing, but nonetheless a fair range of shows today: Triple Buse, 10:45-11:35, Assembly Rooms box., 12:05-13:10, Space Surgeons Hall Chalk: A Silent Comedy, 13:55-14:40, Greenside Infirmary Knot, 14:45-15:45, Assembly Roxy To Move In Time, 16:05-17:05, Summerhall  Hello? Hello, 17:35-18:25, Space North Bridge  Coma, 19:00-19:30, Summerhall  Sugar, 19:45-20:45, Sweet Novotel More Fool You Part 2, 21:10-22:25, Paradise Augustine’s  Gigolo: Bold, Beautiful, Bizarre, 22:35-23:35, Space Surgeons Hall After bombing up and down to Summerhall twice in a row, today was also a fairly tiring day! Some quality stuff; pick of the day was Knot, which it turned out won a (well-deserved) award.

Nine shows today, not counting one free that we missed getting into; a middling sort of day. Man Number 5, 10:15-11:15, Greenside Infirmary Holy Sh*t, 11:30-12:25, Space Surgrons Hall The Biggest Problem in the World, 13:15-14:15, Sweet Grassmarket  Arrivals, 15:30-16:30, Space on the Mile Drunk Lion, 17:00-18:00, Laughing Horse Newsroom Liminality, 18:10-18:55, Space North Bridge The Hospital, 19:20-20:20, DanceBase Ejaculation, 20:55-21:55, Summerhall  Die or Run, 22:05-23:05, Greenside Nicolson 

People arriving all over the place and a morning of work so only a few shows today: The Penguin Tango, 15:00-16:45, Space North Bridge Comedy In The Dark, 18:10-19:10, Just the Tonic Grassmarket  Bring Back the 80s, 19:20-20-20, Just the Tonic Caves Under The Floorboards, 20:30-21:30, PQA Riddles Court

Today’s selection, while also preparing for a house full of visitors: Butterbum J, 14:25-15:10, Space Surgeons Hall Leopold Vindictive, 15:20-16:10, Space North Bridge My Name is Irrelevant, 17:45-18:45, Summerhall  Being Norwegian, 18:55-19:35, Venue 13 Conversations With Myself, 19:50-20:50, C Cubed Contra, 21:10-22:10, Summerhall Les Quizerables, 23:00-01:00, Just The Tonic Marlins Wynd

Some great picks today including truly impressive circus. Also a long day with our last show finishing at half-past midnight! Starting to feel a touch of Fringe overload... 00, 10:50-11:50, Pleasance Dome Birth, 12:00-13:15, Pleasance Courtyard  War of the Worlds, 15:20-16:40, Pleasance Courtyard  Backbone, 17:00-18:10, McEwan Hall Circa Humans, 19:00-20:00, Underbelly Circus Hub Hold On Let Go, 20:40-21:40, Summerhall  The Bacchae, 22:50-00:30, Paradise in the Vault  Best of day for me was Backbone with incredible feats of strength, balance and control. Running total of shows seen: 55.

Assembly George Square Studios, 12:30-13:30 As everyone knows, the most natural setting for humour is an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scot in a bar. A close second, though, is an Irishman and a Welshman in a funeral parlour! Conor and Eric are two undertakers, conversing over a coffin about such everyday topics as bestiality, drowning kittens and erectile dysfunction, while they wait for a client to arrive. But who is this mysterious client, and what is really in the box? What are they waiting for? What, indeed, are we all waiting for? Putting the “dead” into “deadpan”, the two actors deliver a performance ripe with bathos and irony that will leave you questioning the meaning of life, death, and well everything really — with several laughs along the way. Recommended!

Pleasance Courtyard, 18:00-19:00 Sharp-edged queer feminist comedy at 150wpm. For me this was pitched just right between the sweet, the sour and the serious. Plus  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ! A top comedy pick for this year.

Pleasance Courtyard, 19:25-20:15 Comedy that genuinely made me laugh. Although a bit on the shouty side at times, Adam Hess delivers a solid hour of random, wide-ranging, at-times-unexpected humour. I’m not sure I can remember a single specific joke, but I was smiling the whole way through!

Today was the first of the early Fringe 2-for-1 specials, where a load of shows have (you guessed it) two-for-the-price-of-one tickets available, to encourage audiences and give sales a boost. This turns what might otherwise be a quiet Monday and Tuesday into some of the busiest days of the Fringe, and today was no exception with almost-full houses at many of the shows we saw today. A fairly tight schedule with a couple of Uber rides between venues allowed us to fit in ten shows, spanning everything from farce to tragedy (sometimes in the same production!): Umbrella Man, 10:00-11:00, Summerhall  On The Other Hand, We’re Happy, 11:20-12:30, Summerhall  Wireless Operator, 12:40-13:40, Pleasance Courtyard  Catching Comets, 13:45-14:45, Pleasance Courtyard  Endless Second, 15:10-16:10, Pleasance Courtyard  Bedlam, 16:30-17:20, Sweet Grassmarket  Everything I See I Swallow, 18:00-19:00, Summerhall  Just Like A Woman, 19:10-20:00, Space Surgeons’ ...

You can tell I’ve started to lose track of what day it is, both of the week, the month and the Fringe. Today was a late start for me due to some Festival singing in the morning; this finished in good time to get down to George Square to start the day’s programme. One fairly major overrun by Back of the Bus (though totally worth it) meant missing one of our booked shows, so the final line-up was: Shaving the Dead, 12:30-13:40, Assembly George Square Studios The Gray Cat and the Flounder, 14:05-15:05, Assembly George Square Studios Yuck Circus, 16:00-17:00, Underbelly Circus Hub Back of the Bus, 17:30-18:30 (but more like 18:45), various locations (we planned to see Drawn and Quartered at 18:40, but BotB finished late enough that we figured it wasn’t worth it) Goddess, 19:45-20:35, Sweet Novotel The Giver, 21:20-22:40, Central Hall

20:15-21:15, Pleasance Courtyard  After seeing the Wigan-postman-turned-comedian at last year’s Fringe, we were lucky enough to score tickets to the preview of his show this year. Notwithstanding the continued absence of pies (we can but hope) this year’s show did not disappoint, with Washington’s trademark brand of low-key, bloke-next-door humour that makes you want to take him down the pub for a pint. Good stuff. With mashed potatoes and mushy peas!

12:30-13:40, Assembly George Square Studios As everyone knows, the most natural setting for humour is an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scot in a bar. A close second, though, is an Irishman and a Welshman in a funeral parlour! Conor and Eric are two undertakers, conversing over a coffin about such everyday topics as bestiality, drowning kittens and erectile dysfunction, while they wait for a client to arrive. But who is this mysterious client, and what is really in the box? What are they waiting for? What, indeed, are we all waiting for? Putting the “dead” into “deadpan”, the two actors deliver a performance ripe with bathos and irony that will leave you questioning the meaning of life, death, and well everything really — with several laughs along the way.

12:30-13:30, Pleasance Dome A touching, whimsically-told story of courage, Arctic exploration and love. What really makes the performance sing (sometimes literally) is the rapport between the four performers as they traverse the frozen wastes and high seas of imagination. With a polar bear tango!

Assembly Rooms, 14:00-1500 The Fringe is full of stories, real, imagined and in-between; thus we as audiences are, for the month, in a perpetual state of suspended disbelief — and happily so. But what is ‘real’ and what is not? What is true — and is the opposite of truth a lie, a story... or something else? A cleverly-constructed solo performance that plays with our expectations of story-telling, exploring the fickleness of memory and the fragility of human experience. What happens when our stories are stripped away and we are left only with the things we never told ourselves?

Starting to get into the swing of things now, my calves and quads are feeling the burn but fitness and endurance are beginning to increase to meet the demands of the high-intensity interval workout that is Fringe season. Quite a few 5-minute sprint gaps today... most of which we made! My Love Lies Frozen In The Ice, 12:30-13:30, Pleasance Dome The Things I Never Told You, 14:00-15:00, Assembly Rooms The Professor, 15:20-16:20, Assembly Rooms An Evening Without Kate Bush, 16:40-17:40, Voodoo Rooms Metamorphosis, 18:45-19:45, Sweet Grassmarket  xoxo Moongirl, 19:50-20:50, Assembly Checkpoint  Honeypot, 20:55-21:55, Greenside Nicolson  My Father the Tantric Sex Masseur, 22:10-23:10, Assembly George Studios Again some good variety but today’s top show was probably An Evening Without Kate Bush, for a beautifully balanced tribute act with just the right amount of fan service, audience participation and spotless performance.

Inadequate preparation for the Fringe season began to take its toll today, as we ran from one show to another without sufficient time for pit stops. The radishes I had tucked in my bag for snacks didn’t provide much fuel meaning I was running (literally) on empty by the time we had to dash from Cowgate to Summerhall in 15 minutes. Nonetheless we managed to get in a respectable 8 shows: The Fires Our Shoes Have Made, 12:00-13:00, C Aquila  She Sells Sea Shells, 13:30-14:30, Underbelly Cowgate Spray, 14:35-15:35, Assembly Roxy Such Filthy F*cks, 16:10-17:10, Pleasance Dome The Letter, 17:30-18:30, Pleasance Dome Bismillah, 18:40-19:40, Underbelly Cowgate Wild Women and Oneironauts, 20:50-21:20 Boar, 21:45-22:45, Pleasance Courtyard A wide variety of genres and it was hard to pick an overall best-of-day... possibly The Letter, for being something rather different to what we’ve seen so far?

A bumper haul of comp tickets meant we only paid for one show today! Heroin(e) For Breakfast, 10:30-11:45, Pleasance Dome Mengele, 12:05-13:05, Assembly George Square  George, 13:30-14:30, Pleasance Dome I Lost My Virginity to Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat Minor, 15:00-16:00, Pleasance Courtyard  Fags, Mags and Bags, 16:40-17:40, Underbelly George Square The Noise Next Door Comedy Lock-In, 22:50-23:50, Pleasance Courtyard  And while I was at choir rehearsal Lee also scored comps to Jonny and the Baptists; Darren Harriott; and Nina Conti. Not bad going! The start and end of the day were probably my highlights, with Heroin(e) for Breakfast just pipping the very solid Noise Next Door as my favourite of the day.

Pleasance Courtyard, 15:45-16:45 Deftly executed improv show featuring all the best period tropes and conveniently coloured costumes. As with the best improv, the moments when it fails are even funnier than those when it succeeds. A satisfying hour of Edwardian entertainment!

Drowning Pleasance Courtyard, 14:30-15:30 “Waiter, there’s a nurse in my bathtub...” *drip* *drip* *drip* A disturbing glimpse into the darker side of human nature. Some touching human moments provide all the sharper contrast to the chilling themes of this new theatre work that asks: what’s the difference between mercy... and murder? 

Fishbowl  Pleasance Courtyard, 13:00-1415 For anyone who has ever lived in an apartment or shared flat, or been to a student house party! Acutely, sometimes painfully funny, Fishbowl opens a window (at times literally) into the lives loves, trials and tribulations of three neighbours each living in tiny top-floor city centre flats. We’ve all met these characters — or perhaps we ARE them...? Superb comic timing and expression combine with an ingenious set and delightfully whimsical staging for a hilarious portrayal of domesticity in all-too-close proximity. Highly recommended — 5 stars!

The Desk Summerhall, 11:35-12:35 Power, politics, propaganda and pecking order — all are at stake here in this thoughtfully crafted piece of physical theatre. Through clever choreography and sleek ensemble, the six performers explore aspects of ideology, conformity and difference. I was especially impressed by a central sequence that showcased impressive levels of strength, control and precision; and a puppetry segment later in the piece that demonstrated impeccable coordination. Lovely stuff!

Buzz (Summerhall, 10:00-11:10) The year is 1999. In the remote Faroe Islands, a man is found in the middle of the road. But who is he and how did he get there? A gripping tale with hints of Scandinavian noir, brought vividly to life through a masterful monologue performance that effortlessly handles shifts in pace and character. Effective use of video projection and a pre-recorded soundtrack plus skilled atmospheric and musical effects performed live on stage make for a compelling theatrical experience — with a surprisingly uplifting ending. A strong start to our Fringe 2019! 4 stars — recommended!

While the Fringe is synonymous with August in Edinburgh (at least in my mind), this year’s Fringe’s official unofficial preview days began on 31 July. Between some booked shows and some opportune preview comps, we saw 10 shows on Day 0 covering a great mix of drama, physical theatre, improv and comedy. Day 0 (reviews to be linked as they go up): Buzz (Summerhall, 10am, 70min) The Desk (Summerhall, 11:35am, 60min) Fishbowl (Pleasance Courtyard, 13:00, 75min) Drowning (Pleasance Courtyard, 14:30, 60min) Murder, She Didn’t Write (Pleasance Courtyard, 15:45, 60min) Catherine Bohart: Lemon (Pleasance Courtyard, 18:00, 60 min) Adam Hess: My Grandad Has A Fringe (Pleasance Courtyard, 19:15, 60min) Chris Washington: Raconteur (Pleasance Courtyard, 20:15, 60min)  Moon: We Cannot Get Out (Pleasance Courtyard, 21:30, 60min) Jamie Loftus: Boss, Whom Is Girl (Pleasance Courtyard, 22:45, 60min) And the winner for Day 0 was: Fishbowl, for making me laugh even as I wondered if any...