Theatre and Issue 662

House Cabaret

18 Aug 2010

Getting up close and personal has never been easier with a personalised performance from your house. Host your very own cabaret at your own venue with your own friends. For one night only, a small troupe of dedicated cabaret artists arrives at your…

Gyles Brandreth - middle-aged, ex-MP, author, and Fringe show stalwart

4 Aug 2010

British author-cum-broadcaster-cum-Fringe show stalwart Gyles Brandreth talks about the highs and lows of his festival fortunes. "Edinburgh is a parallel universe. We do things differently here. I was a middle-aged, ex-MP with a tragic comb-over and…

David Benson's Unfinished Business

3 Aug 2010

Award-winning performer David Benson talks to Steve Cramer about a powerful new piece of theatre that explores the Lockerbie tragedy from the point of view of a grieving parent Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic froth at the mouth about the…

Edinburgh Festivals’ Cavalcade

3 Aug 2010

With floats from all aspects of the Edinburgh Festivals, as well as community groups and commercial ventures and the entire cast of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the cavalcade returns to Holyrood Park to kick-start yer official Edinburgh Crazy Season.

Farm Boy wins this week's best bribe by sending a miniature tractor

2 Aug 2010

This week’s best bribe was this charming miniature 1922 Fordson Tractor, sent by the folk behind Michael Morpurgo’s Farm Boy (adapted by Daniel Buckroyd). The play is a sequel to War Horse, which focused on a young boy and his horse on a journey through…

Fringe 2010 cabaret offerings are as colourful as ever

Smoke & Mirrors, Alan Cumming and The Crack

30 Jul 2010

From pared down to jazz-hands up, this year’s variety and cabaret offerings are as colourful as ever. Anna Millar meets the makers to find out why we just can’t get enough It’s a certain man who can shimmy from club door whore to straight-talking…

Kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley at this year's Fringe

The Glasgow comedy queen Jane Godley answer 5 questions

30 Jul 2010

Glasgow comedy queen Janey Godley has pushed all her blue material aside to team up with daughter Ashley Storrie for their kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley. She tells us why we should go along. Give five reasons why people should come and see…

Tuck into the Fringe - five shows you can watch while you eat

See it all without missing a meal

30 Jul 2010

We have compiled a list of shows that you can watch while also being served some delicious shows. Don't miss your dinner without also seeing a show!

Norrington to step in for EIF concert

Conductor to replace Sir Charles Mackeras for Idommeneo performance

30 Jul 2010

Following the sad news last month that Sir Charles Mackerras had passed away, the Edinburgh International Festival has announced that Sir Roger Norrington will now conduct the performance of Idomeneo with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on Fri 20 Aug.

Rhythm Drum & Dance

High-energy show comes to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre

30 Jul 2010

We needed a lie down just after watching the YouTube trailer for this one. A high-energy, high drama drum show which began as a 20-minute show in Berlin (and has since expanded to tour around Europe) – this is a celebration of rhythms. And the RD&D…

The Edinburgh Fringe shows taking human trafficking as a theme

Roadkill and Lost Boy amongst Fringe shows telling refugees' stories

29 Jul 2010

A celebrity endorsement works wonders for your box office and all power to Shatterbox for getting Emma Thompson to put her name to its production of Fair Trade. But that show is only the most high profile in an unprecedented wave of Fringe productions…

Little Black Bastard deals with horrific Australian childhood

Noel Tovey puts disturbing past of poverty and crime on stage

29 Jul 2010

It is the ultimate rags to riches story. Yet the tale Noel Tovey tells about himself is more distressing than any version of Cinderella. It is a narrative that shocked even his closest friends when he chose to tell it to the world in Little Black…

Five of the best interactive musical shows at the Fringe

29 Jul 2010

Baby Wants Candy: The Full Band Improvised Musical A veteran of four sell-out seasons at the Fringe Baby Wants Candy returns to show the young musical pretenders how it’s done. The premise is simple: the audience shout out potential titles and the…

Tall Stories' Twinkle Twonkle secretly teaching kids

Mixing nursery rhymes and adventure with astronomy and science

29 Jul 2010

Known for their respectful and highly entertaining adaptations of popular picture books The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom, sometimes Tall Stories just like to do their own thing. And, as shows like The Snow Dragon and Them with Tails demonstrated…

The Last Miner gives children a history lesson

Underground puppetry tells story from the coal era

29 Jul 2010

Once a vibrant industry, British coal mining has been relegated to museum shelves and miner’s memories. But through its atmospheric new show, Tortoise in a Nutshell aims to evoke the feeling of life underground. ‘There’s something almost mythical in…

Penguin brings interactive puppetry to the Fringe

Polly Dunbar's children books translate easily to stage

29 Jul 2010

When writer and puppeteer Polly Dunbar creates her picture books, she’s got one eye on the page – and the other on the stage. ‘Although I’m not directly thinking of puppets whilst writing,’ she says, ‘I do keep performance in mind. Picture books are…

Wee Willie Gray brings musical storytelling to the Fringe

Andy Cannon's homage to Scotland's Robert Burns

29 Jul 2010

As his witty homage to Robert Burns, Oor Rabbie and re-working of Tam O’Shanter ably proved, Andy Cannon knows a thing or two about Scotland’s bard. Teaming up once again with musician Wendy Weatherby, Cannon is taking on yet another Burns poem, Wee…

White brings a show for toddlers to the festival

Understanding how childrens' minds work

29 Jul 2010

White is a show borne out of an understanding of, and fascination with, the way toddlers’ minds work. Co-creators and performers Andy Manley and Ian Cameron have kept the story and language simple, while the set has been built with award-winning…

Reel-to-Real: The Movies Musical aims for a spectacular show of the best of the genre

Show promises intense live multi-media entertainment

27 Jul 2010

Producer Simone Genatt Haft is utterly convincing in selling Reel-to-Real, the show she and business partner Marc Routh are bringing to this year’s Fringe, and it sounds like she has every reason to be. ‘This is probably the most intense live…

Derevo bring 'real theatre' back to Edinburgh Fringe with Harlekin

Fringe favourites return – and this time it’s war!

27 Jul 2010

‘We just enjoy being in a city where there are more street artists than pedestrians,’ says Anton Adasinskiy, director, performer and founder member of Derevo, one of the most lauded companies to come to the Fringe in the last decade, on his decision to…

Operation Greenfield examines the complications of being a teenager

Risky theatre from Little Bulb’s latest Fringe show

27 Jul 2010

It may sound counter-intuitive, but in an environment like the Fringe, where envelopes are being pushed and boundaries broken in every second venue, a degree of restraint can be the best way to stand out. Little Bulb don’t claim that their folksy tales…

My Romantic History addresses tendency for nostalgia in personal history

Acclaimed Scottish dramatist Daniel Jackson returns with contemporary relationship drama

27 Jul 2010

Perhaps the most interesting contemporary twist on the love story this Fringe will come from the ever-reliable Daniel Jackson. The acclaimed Scottish dramatist is already an old hand at such fare, with the likes of The Wall and The Ducky proving his…

Imperial Fizz delivers comedic take on Hollywood films of the 30s

David Calvitto returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with Brian Parks play

27 Jul 2010

‘It certainly gets into the blood. I’ve performed in ten of the last 11 festivals and this will be my 14th show in those ten years,’ says US actor David Calvitto of his return to the Edinburgh Fringe. ‘While others have been preparing for their…

Whole Lotta Hamlet at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010

Linda Marlowe's five favourite versions of Shakespeare’s text

27 Jul 2010

Director Grigori Kozintsev’s film of Hamlet Made in Soviet Russia in 1964 and starring Innokenty Smoktunovsky as Hamlet, this version is a visual masterpiece with magnificent black and white photography and a dramatic score by composer Dmitri…

Edinburgh Fringe 2010: Guide to survival and reproduction

Baba Brinkman’s top tips on how to survive and reproduce this August

27 Jul 2010

1: To survive, avoid socialising. Meeting people is the best way to catch a disease, drinking will strain your voice box, and staying up late will leave you tired and unpresentable for your shows. To reproduce, stay out until dawn every night without…