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Theatre and Miles Fielder

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Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn

Howard Brenton's iconoclastic historical drama is a hands-down crowd-pleaser

(4 stars)9 May 2012

You can see why the original Globe theatre production of Anne Boleyn sold out, and why Howard Brenton’s iconoclastic re-imagining of Henry VIII’s second wife was subsequently sent on a tour of the UK: the show is a hands down, no-arguments…

The Hot 100 2011: 100-40

The Hot 100 2011: 100-50

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

100: Gordon Ferris. Kilmarnock crime author makes good. The already packed Scottish crime writing field has finally found a bit of elbow room for another burgeoning talent. Joining the likes of Rankin, Brookmyre, McDermid and co is this Ayrshire-born…

HOT 100 2011 - 49 to 1

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

Jus’ Like That!

Jus’ Like That!

Recreates Tommy Cooper's final performance

(4 stars)16 Aug 2011

Eschewing a biographical narrative, this show about stage magician and comedian Tommy Cooper simply recreates his final performance in all its balmy, cheeky glory. It’s a crowd-pleasing celebration of the utterly unique variety show talent, and Clive…

The Wright Brothers

The Wright Brothers

Conquest of flight given lively treatment

(3 stars)16 Aug 2011

An interesting subject is given lively treatment in this show about American bicycle manufacturers-turned-amateur aviators Wilbur and Orville Wright’s conquest of the skies. The story of their protracted attempts to construct a powered flying machine…

You Once Said Yes

You Once Said Yes

Exhilarating interactive experience

(4 stars)12 Aug 2011

This one-on-one interactive show is initially – and purposefully – disconcerting, but it swiftly becomes utterly thrilling, mysterious, funny and finally really quite sweet. It begins at Underbelly Cowgate, where single audience members are equipped for…

2401 Objects

2401 Objects

Remarkable neuroscience story

(3 stars)8 Aug 2011

This piece of devised theatre tells the story of the man with the most famous brain in the world, Henry Molaison, or patient HM as he became known to the international medical community that studied him for decades before he died. Molaison was born in…

Wondrous Flitting

Wondrous Flitting

Absurdist parable that doesn’t quite work

(2 stars)8 Aug 2011

Inspired by Edinburgh College of Art teacher Ed Hollis’ book The Secret Lives of Buildings, Lyceum artistic director Mark Thomson’s first play for the Fringe since his much lauded Moving Objects is an absurdist-realist parable that doesn’t quite work.

One Night Stan

One Night Stan

Excellent one-man show based on life of Stan Laurel

(4 stars)8 Aug 2011

This excellent one-man show written and performed by Miles Gallant dramatises the life of Stanley Jefferson aka Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy fame. With his partner taken ill on the penultimate week of their 1954 UK tour, Stan looks back on his…

One Under

One Under

Energetic piece of devised theatre based on London Underground

(3 stars)8 Aug 2011

Inspired by interviews conducted on the London Underground, this energetic piece of devised theatre looks beneath the sweat and stress of the cramped carriages to unearth the inner lives of people travelling on the tube. Their stories are variously…

Adrian Howells bring May I Have the Pleasure and The Pleasure of Being to 2011 Edinburgh Festival

Adrian Howells bring May I Have the Pleasure to 2011 Edinburgh Festival

Adrian Howells creates exchange between performer and audience

27 Jul 2011

Glasgow-based performer and the Arches artist-in-residence Adrian Howells has two shows debuting at the Fringe this year: May I Have the Pleasure...? and The Pleasure of Being: Washing, Feeding, Holding. In the first, Howells muses upon the irony of…

Edinburgh show Snails and Ketchup keeps focus on storytelling

Edinburgh show Snails and Ketchup keeps focus on storytelling

Darkly comic story told through aerial choreography

27 Jul 2011

‘For me the narrative and the characters are crucial,’ says Glasgow-based Singaporean physical theatre performer Ramesh Meyyappan. ‘I’ve got to be able to see how their journeys would work in a theatrical setting.’ Meyyappan’s set himself quite a…

Too Middle Class for Chlamydia

Too Middle Class for Chlamydia

Fairly pedestrian – not to mention misogynist

(2 stars)25 Aug 2010

Curiously, this one-man show in which a young middle class lad recalls the variously difficult girls he’s been romantically involved with is delivered as a comic monologue, though the material is probably better suited to a stand-up routine. A few…

Frances Ruffelle: Beneath the Dress

Frances Ruffelle: Beneath the Dress

Cheeky, sexy and surprising cabaret-esque show

(3 stars)23 Aug 2010

Given Ruffelle’s showbiz background – she’s the daughter of London theatre school founder Sylvia Young and a Tony Award-winning star of West End and Broadway musicals such as Les Misérables and Chicago – it’s unsurprising that her cabaret-esque Fringe…

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Critical commentary on mankind's hypocrisy

(4 stars)23 Aug 2010

Writer/actor Pip Utton follows his challenging one-man shows Adolf, Chaplin and Bacon with another deftly scripted and vividly performed drama, this one about Victor Hugo’s deformed Parisian bell-ringer. Taking the form of a monologue delivered by…

Naked Live and Never Again: My Last Discourse on Dramatic Method

Naked Live and Never Again: My Last Discourse on Dramatic Method

Witty monologue about an acting guru

(4 stars)23 Aug 2010

Andrew Hawkins (son of veteran British actor Jack, star of Zulu and Ben Hur) gives a terrific performance in this witty monologue. Hawkins plays an acting guru named Jack Treadwell who, having had enough of coaching celebrities and politicians, is…

The Flat

The Flat

Spirited if amateurish production

(2 stars)16 Aug 2010

The typical domestic dysfunction endured by a group of young people sharing a flat in London explodes into something altogether more disturbing with the arrival of a new flatmate, an apparently shy Goth girl who has some serious anger management issues.

At Home with Mrs Moneypenny

At Home with Mrs Moneypenny

Smart and funny

(3 stars)14 Aug 2010

Mrs Moneypenny is a former investment banker who writes a column for the Financial Times. She is a staunch defender of bonuses for the likes of Fred Goodwin, an attitude that will appeal to some tastes and not to others. Whether you find that sweet or…

Running on Air

Running on Air

Charming road show in a camper van

(4 stars)12 Aug 2010

Your ticket for this site-specific show directs you to the rear of the Pleasance Courtyard, where a bright orange French VW camper van is parked in the corner. Writer and performer Laura Mugridge turns up in welly boots and a flowery summer dress…

Up 'n' Under

Up 'n' Under

Enjoyable revival of John Godber’s lively romp

(3 stars)12 Aug 2010

Yorkshire playwright John Godber’s crowd-pleaser is celebrated with a new production marking its 25th anniversary, directed by the author himself and starring celebrity-turned-actress Abi Titmuss. It’s the story of five disillusioned working class lads…

The Fragility Of X

The Fragility Of X

Blurring the boundaries of behaviour

(4 stars)12 Aug 2010

You could be forgiven for assuming that a play about the relationship between a single mother and her autistic teenage son would be very worthy and pretty heavy going. The Fragility of X is those things (in a good way), but it’s also incredibly funny…

Meow Meow - Feline Intimate

Meow Meow - Feline Intimate

Cabaret will never be the same

(4 stars)12 Aug 2010

The former star of La Clique, who counts David Bowie among her fans, strips away the mystique of cabaret in this riotous postmodern deconstruction of her art. That’s literally the case when during the first few minutes of the show she’s interrupted by…

Call Mr Robeson

Call Mr Robeson

Inspirational story of legendary singer

(3 stars)12 Aug 2010

Having suffered a setback by losing his voice during the world premiere run of this show in Edinburgh three years ago, writer and star Tayo Aluko subsequently took it on tour around the world. This year the monodrama about the life of African-American…

The Virtuous Burglar

The Virtuous Burglar

A clever and lively performance and beautiful design: a winner

(4 stars)11 Aug 2010

This splendid production of Dario Fo’s farce is a joy from start to finish. When a cat burglar breaks into an apartment he unwittingly precipitates a crisis involving himself, his suspicious wife and three adulterous couples. It’s a clever pastiche of…

Lovelace: A Rock Musical

Lovelace: A Rock Musical

Respectful tribute to the Deep Throat porn star

(4 stars)10 Aug 2010

This rock opera goes a long way to rescuing its subject, Linda Boreman, from the ignominy of being forever associated with her screen persona, Linda Lovelace, and the 1972 porn film Deep Throat. The film made history for being the first to become a…

Hamlet for Girls

Hamlet for Girls

A swift, nicely performed, play about juggling work and relationships

(3 stars)10 Aug 2010

Invoking the procrastinating Danish prince for this intimate drama about two couples juggling work and relationships is a neat conceit. It’s nicely performed, too, by a charismatic cast. The crosscutting between various combinations of characters…

Clint’s Reality

Clint’s Reality

A spirited performance but somewhat lacking script

(2 stars)9 Aug 2010

Here we have a Simon Cowell-alike suffering a meltdown after it emerges that his latest talent show was rigged. Things come to a head in his luxurious flat, from where Clint is sure he can manipulate the truth to his own ends. The performances are…

Beautiful Burnout - knockout collaboration a success on all fronts

Beautiful Burnout - knockout collaboration a success on all fronts

Raging bulls come to the Fringe

(4 stars)8 Aug 2010

The new play about aspiring young boxers by Bryony Lavery (author of last year’s Kursk and Tony award nominee for Frozen) is a heavy-hitter in more ways than one. It’s a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly that…

Pedal Pusher is a journey inside riders’ heads

Pedal Pusher is a journey inside riders’ heads

Physical theatre show takes on the Tour de France

(4 stars)8 Aug 2010

This very, very physical theatre show does justice to the toughest sporting event in the world, the Tour de France, with a muscular production that’s quite exhausting, in a good way, to watch. It tells the story of the decade-long battle between top…

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

Sibling rock ‘n’ rollers with retro leanings

3 Aug 2010

‘I’m really looking forward to it, because we haven’t done Scotland yet,’ 17-year-old Kitty Durham says about playing Edinburgh. Durham fronts the youthful retro three-piece, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, with her brother and sister. The north London trio have…

Wolf

Wolf

Richly atmospheric exploration of human-wolf relations

26 Jul 2010

Inspired by current proposals to reintroduce wolves into the Scottish highlands (the last wolf north of the border was killed back in 1769), the debut production by director Kath Burlinson’s Authentic Artistic Collective (drawing performers from Cirque…

Macbeth for kids aims to charm the Edinburgh crowds

Macbeth for kids aims to charm the Edinburgh crowds

Just Macbeth takes Shakespeare to children

16 Jul 2010

Macbeth for kids: you’ve got to be joking? How on earth do you make the Bard’s bloodiest play palatable for wee ones? The apparent inappropriateness of staging the infamous Scottish play for young audiences, however, perfectly suits the remit of…

Up

Up

Crisp and elliptical with a killer closing line

(4 stars)26 Aug 2009

Edgy production about a young gay teacher who’s in hospital recovering (or perhaps not) from a mental collapse. There he recalls a haunting incident from his youth, involving a student and a pair of sharpened pencils. Debut playwright James Ley’s script…

Kursk

Kursk

Awesome voyage to the bottom of the sea

(4 stars)24 Aug 2009

Anyone who caught this immersive drama set aboard a submarine at London’s Young Vic in June were knocked out by the scope of the staging. Given that so much Fringe theatre is necessarily scaled down in terms of sets, costumes and technical…

The Cubicle

The Cubicle

Riotous mix of comedy, dance and audience participation

(3 stars)24 Aug 2009

This energetically performed lav-based farce is more entertaining than any number of shows at major venues. Devised from graffiti found on the back of bog doors, it’s a riotous mix of comedy, dance and audience participation (the latter involving a pair…

Words of Honour

Lifting the lid on the Italian mafia

(2 stars)21 Aug 2009

This exposé of the inner workings of the Sicilian mafia is a frustrating failure. Based on Attilio Bolzoni’s Parole D’Honore, it uses the testimony of an investigative journalist and a handful of criminals to lift the lid on life inside the Cosa Nostra.

You Fancy Yourself

You Fancy Yourself

Evocative immigrant experience

(4 stars)20 Aug 2009

It’s amazing what one woman armed with just two costumes and a wooden trunk can do. During the course of just over an hour Maja Ardal very convincingly recreates Edinburgh of the 1950s through the voices of 11 distinct characters. The central one is a…

Porn: the Musical

Porn: the Musical

Misses the money shot

(3 stars)19 Aug 2009

Conceived in Malta, this bawdy sing-along tells the story of a native nerd who trades his small island for the Big Apple and finds happiness making skin flicks in the US. The parody of stage musicals is energetically performed, but it’s too raucous for…

Don Quixote – Theatre of the Blind

Don Quixote – Theatre of the Blind

Audio-aural experience works pretty well

(3 stars)19 Aug 2009

Given the constraints involved in putting on a Fringe show, blindfolding the audience and performing to their other senses seems an eminently sensible idea. How else would you stage Cervantes’ classic on a budget? Here the audio-aural experience works…

And All the Children Cried

And All the Children Cried

Provocative stuff

(3 stars)19 Aug 2009

This hard-hitting and heartfelt drama deals with what society considers the most transgressive act of all: the sexual abuse of children by women. Set in a women’s prison, two of the inmates confess their crimes and tell their sorry stories to one…

Pythonesque

Pythonesque

And now for something completely different

(4 stars)14 Aug 2009

This superb celebration of the great surrealist-absurdist comedy troupe is so much more than a straightforward homage to Monty Python. Aptly named playwright Roy Smiles has constructed a very clever narrative that’s playfully self-referential, loaded…

The Montana Ranch

Conscience infected con-men lack real hustle

(2 stars)12 Aug 2009

A pair of con-men take advantage of President Obama’s green initiative to relieve the environmentally concerned public of a cool $2 million, but come unstuck when one of them gets a conscience after spending a month up a tree with a sexy activist. It’s…

Morecambe

Morecambe

Show-stopping comic tribute

(4 stars)10 Aug 2009

This funny-sad account of the life and death of the man who was dubbed Britain’s ‘comedian of the century’ is already a big hit with Fringe crowds. It’s fair to assume that the prospect of seeing the late, great Eric Morecambe brought back to life on…

Gagarin Way

Gagarin Way

Comics successfully revive Fringe hit

(4 stars)10 Aug 2009

At first glance, the decision to revive Gregory Burke’s heavy-hitting play about labour unrest and kidnapping might appear to be an act of folly on the part of the Comedians Theatre Company. Burke’s debut was first staged to great acclaim at the…

Becoming Marilyn

Becoming Marilyn

Norma Jean and Marilyn Monroe become Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

(3 stars)10 Aug 2009

It’s a neat concept presenting Norma Jean and her screen idol alter ego Marilyn Monroe as a showbiz Jekyll and Hyde, and having the dead blonde bombshell narrate her/their story to that effect. And Issy Van Randwyck does a very presentable impersonation…

Tuning in: music's influence on theatre

Tuning in: music's influence on theatre

Miles Fielder asks what inspires theatre-makers to create plays based on popular music

24 Jul 2009

The Fringe always arrives with a ready-made soundtrack composed of musicals, opera and gigs as well as the tuneful accompaniments to theatre shows, to say nothing of the raucous racket generated morning, noon and night by street performers. This year…

Stefan Golaszewski is A Widower

Stefan Golaszewski is A Widower

Golaszewski returns to the Fringe with a new semi-autobiographical futuristic monologue.

23 Jul 2009

Last year, young London lad Stefan Golaszewski knocked out Fringe crowds and critics alike with his mercurial semi-autobiographical one-man sleeper hit show, Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About a Girl He Once Loved. Unsurprisingly, he subsequently had a…

Life studies

Life studies - Biographical shows at the Edinburgh Festival 2009

Five of the best biographical shows at this year’s Fringe

22 Jul 2009

A Tribute – Gielgud’s Ages of Man Experience Shakespeare via Johnny Gielgud in this celebration of the late great actor’s crowning achievement: his one-man recital of excerpts from the best of the Bard. Performed throughout the 1950s and 60s, the…

Don Quixote - Theatre of the Blind

Don Quixote - Theatre of the Blind

Don your blindfolds and experience Cervantes’ classic about seeing

20 Jul 2009

At first glance, it’s a simple trick, performing Cervantes’ classic to a blindfolded audience. But as the show’s originator Charlie Ward points out, his blacked-out Don Quixote is no gimmicky scratch-and-sniff sensory experience. ‘This is an attempt…

East 10th Street

Edgar Oliver - East 10th Street: Self-Portrait of an Empty House

A one-man show about madness, invisibility and murderous intents

13 Jul 2009

In New York City’s avant garde theatre circles, Edgar Oliver is known as the Poe of East Village. Forenames aside, it’s easy to see why. Born half a century ago in Savannah, Georgia, Oliver is a self-styled bohemian who affects a gothic southern states…

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