Theatre, Issue 583

La Didone

16 Aug 2007

‘I developed special software for the last couple of pieces,’ says Elizabeth LeCompte, artistic director of New York avant-garders the Wooster Group. ‘Final Cut Pro and Isadora, you know, I was the initial developer.’ Actually, she was nothing of the…

Age of Angels

16 Aug 2007

This piece explores one cataclysmic moment during which ten lives collide. The school kids’ ball goes over the fence and across a busy road, beginning an unstoppable chain. One actor tells the story from multiple perspectives, creating each character in…

American Poodle

Miles Johnson

16 Aug 2007

Guy Masterson is, as ever, a man with his fingers in many pies at this year’s Fringe, working on no less than six shows. This particular outing, billed as an exploration of the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and its American chums so discussed…

An Air Balloon Across Antarctica

16 Aug 2007

We all cope differently with grief, however we can probably assume that very few of us are likely to grab a hamster, jump in a hot air balloon and journey across Antarctica in the style of this slightly surreal play’s protagonist. Talking hamsters with…

An Audience With Adrienne

16 Aug 2007

This show makes for an endearing evening with an extremely personable performer, which, within Theo Clinkard’s fluffy, camp lounge room set, is likely to bring you some pleasant memories and the odd melancholic thought. In it, performance artist and…

Anti-Ageing, Look Better, Feel Better, Live Better

16 Aug 2007

Has Scotland spawned its next Gillian Mckeith? Join Elizabeth Roddick for this seminar that tells you all the things you know already and choose to ignore about living a healthy life. It’s not easy to take what someone says seriously while they’re…

Apollo/Dionysus

16 Aug 2007

‘Naked’, is the first word that springs to mind but prurience is slowly replaced by curiosity as philosophical questions are posed; about right and wrong, good and bad, religion, love and family. This piece examines the age-old relationship between man…

Attempt 3.4

16 Aug 2007

A group of enthusiastic young actors attempt to create their own city from nothing. Their high energy levels and creative characters are fun to watch for the first ten minutes, but you can’t help but feel they are enjoying themselves more than we are as…

Basic Training

16 Aug 2007

The humour we associate with issues of belonging can be very powerful, mainly because it instils a kind of panic in people as who we are, where we are from, and where we are going are thrown into question. And panic is always funny. Kahlil Ashanti’s one…

Dead Living

16 Aug 2007

Multinational corporations usually come under fire in climate change debates, but just last month, one such giant, Coca-Cola Enterprises, announced plans to cut down the amount of water it uses by six percent and reduce energy used for lighting by 50…

Denied

16 Aug 2007

The continued threat of terrorism across the UK, combined with a heightened awareness of honour killings, form the basis for a play that attempts to question the beliefs that cause some Islamic women to be denied what most would consider basic human…

Dickens Unplugged

16 Aug 2007

Unless you were brought up in a workhouse, you’ll be familiar with at least one of Dickens’ many tales. Beginning with Oliver Twist, this musical, is not quite as Dickens intended. We embark upon a full speed tour of his books, ending with A Christmas…

Emergence-See!

16 Aug 2007

Set on an otherwise unremarkable day in 2006, slam poet Daniel Beaty’s one-man show Emergence-See! begins with New York City’s descent into chaos as a slave ship floats up from the Hudson Bay. Bobbing just below the Statue of Liberty and stacked with…

Famous Last Words

16 Aug 2007

Two poets and a soldier face their mortality as an angry mob draws ever closer to the castle in which they are hiding. The soldier wants to die fighting and the poets wish to die writing, but before they go, they all want to tell their stories and leave…

Fatboy

16 Aug 2007

John Clancy, writer/director of returning show and 2005 Fringe hit Fatboy takes on the challenge of our Festival questionnaire

Follow Me

16 Aug 2007

While the recent executions in Iraq shone a light, briefly, on the issue of capital punishment, there hasn’t been much public discussion of the matter since Mrs Thatcher lost her free vote on the subject in the late 80s. This, along with the relative…

Greedy Scratchers

16 Aug 2007

From stone age to space age, this piece examines human life through the ages by focusing on one family. Beginning as homo sapiens relying on primal instincts, like sex, food and power, the piece explores how humans have evolved physically, emotionally…

Habagat

16 Aug 2007

Four sisters have just buried their father in a banana box and are facing life together on an island, which is deserted save for its angry natives. Dealing with sisterly love and hate, greed and colonialism, the play explores the devastating effect the…

Hamlet Solo

16 Aug 2007

To do justice to Hamlet is no easy task, but to render the Danish play as a one man performance is almost laughable in its ambition. There is, of course, the obvious novelty value to witnessing Hamlet being performed by one man. But Hamlet Solo is far…

I Am My Own Wife

16 Aug 2007

Is it right for us to turn someone’s life, warts and all, into art after their death? When Doug Wright set out to write this play, he intended to create an appreciative portrait of a person he admired, however when he discovered discrepancies in her…

I, Lear

16 Aug 2007

Two bumbling actors (Andrew Jones and Ciaran Murtagh) share their wisdom of the theatre, including tricks of the trade such as Marmite up the nostrils for upset and spray cream foaming at the mouth for anger. They teach us techniques from the likes of…

IS THIS ABOUT SEX?

16 Aug 2007

Christian O’Reilly’s contemporary sex farce isn’t a lot more than the kind of piece we saw from Brian Rix in the 70s, which, in those days, attracted pop cultural phrases like ‘adult’ and ‘sophisticated’. Even so, it contrives to be amusing from end to…

James II by Douglas Maxwell

David Laing

16 Aug 2007

This tragic tale features a schizophrenic king who recounts the events leading up to the murder of the eighth Earl of Douglas. Based on historical facts, the action unfolds as James’ wife plays a pseudo Lady Macbeth, encouraging the King’s dire deeds.

Jihad: The Musical

16 Aug 2007

The magic of the musical genre is that you can get away with so much. If you can’t say it, sing it. This show is a perfect example. Catchy songs like ‘The Jihad Jive’ whisk us through Sayed’s story. In it we follow a young naïve Afghan flower seller who…

Johnson and Boswell – Late But Live

16 Aug 2007

We’re presented with a modern day chat show starring James Boswell, whose guest is none other than his revered Dr Johnson. He gives an account of the pair’s Highland tour of 1773 quite at variance with Boswell’s. We might speculate about the question of…