Archive for August, 2010

Edinburgh Fringe: JIMEOIN – SOMETHING SMELLS FUNNY

August 29, 2010 at 2:31 pm · Filed under Edinburgh Fringe Festival ·Tagged

Comedy
Venue: E4 Udderbelly
Stunning show of world class stand-up from one of live comedy’s masters. No gimmicks, purely and simply about having a laugh.
www.jimeoin.com

Jimeoin, based in Australia, has performed at the Fringe festival for going on 17 years now.  You can really get a feel for his experience in his craft, as his timing is dead on. He minces few words but in an almost lackadaisical way he goes right for your funny bone as he unsuspectingly cajoles the audience into giggling fits. He can carry on a complete conversation with his eyebrows alone.  My favorite bits of the show were his interpretations of reading in bed, and having to make the bed up late at night, as well as his many varied facial expressions.

He also engages in banter, back and forth, with his signer, who translates the show for those with hearing difficulties.

Brought up in Ireland, Jimeoin McKeown moved to Australia 23 years ago and it is there that he found his greatest success.  He has co-written and starred in two feature films and has his own comedy television programme.
Recommended! Catch him on tour at the venues below.

4th September 2010    Dublin Academy    Republic of Ireland Customers – 0818 719 300
Northern Ireland Customers – 0844 277 4455

http://www.ticketmaster.ie

7th October 2010    Wrest Point Entertainment Centre, Hobart    1300 795 257 or

http://www.wrestpoint.com.au/shows

8th October 2010    Country Club Showroom, Launceston    1300 795 257 or

http://www.countryclubtasmania.com.au/shows

9th October 2010    Devonport Entertainment and Convention Centre    6420 2900 or

http://www.decc.net.au

21st October 2010    Galway Comedy Festival

http:// www.galwaycomedyfestival.com

22nd October 2010    Strule Arts Centre, Omagh    0 28 8224 7831 or

http://www.struleartscentre.co.uk

23rd October 2010    An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny    074 91 20777 or

http://www.agrianan.com

26th October 2010    Glee Club, Birmingham    0871 472 0400 or

http://www.glee.co.uk

27th October 2010    Comedy Store, Manchester    0844 826 0001 or

http://www.thecomedystore.co.uk

28th October 2010    Glee Club, Oxford    0871 472 0400 or

http://www.glee.co.uk

29th October 2010    The Tron, Glasgow    0141 552 4267 or

http://www.tron.co.uk

30th October 2010    The Market Place Theatre, Armagh    028 3752 1821 or

http://www.marketplacearmagh.com

31st October 2010    Grand Opera House, Belfast    028 9024 1919 or

http://www.goh.co.uk

2nd November 2010    Riverside Theatre, Coleraine    028 7032 32332 or

http://www.riversidetheatre.org.uk

3rd November 2010    Glee Club, Cardiff    0871 472 0400 or

http://www.glee.co.uk

4th November 2010    Glee Club, Nottingham    0871 472 0400 or

http://www.glee.co.uk

5th November 2010    Millennium Forum, Derry/Londonderry    071 264455 or

http://www.millenniumforum.co.uk

6th November 2010    Live Nation, London

http://www.live.nation.co.uk

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Edinburgh Fringe 2010: HITLER ALONE

August 26, 2010 at 9:52 pm · Filed under Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Politics ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Hitler Alone ****

Venue 257

Interlingua, 29 Hanover Street

21-26 August

Reviewed by David Kerr

This year seems to be the season for one-man-shows about monstrous dictators. Choose between Mussolini at the Hill Street Thratre and his protégé and successor Adolf Hitler at Venue 28.

The scene is set in the doomed fuehrer’s bunker a few hours before his death as the Red Army battles for control of Berlin. The simple stage in a tiny room draws out that bunker-like sense of claustrophobia. In front of a huge swastika banner, sits a single chair and a small table on which sits a framed picture of Hitler’s mother.

Paul Weston’s Hitler rants and raves, then calms down for a bit as he recalls some of his triumphs and disasters. At times, Weston’s Hitler comes across as vunerable and human; the rest of the time as the demonic monster of legend.

Webster’s intense performance is chillingly mesmerising and even at times sympathetic as the Great Dictator walks out the door to meet his final destiny.

**** four stars

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Edinburgh Fringe: SCOTTISH FOLK ROOTS AND OFFSHOOTS

August 24, 2010 at 6:51 am · Filed under Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Folk, Music ·Tagged , , , ,

Edinburgh Fringe 2010: SCOTTISH FOLK ROOTS AND OFFSHOOTS   ****

DAVID FERRARD

23-30 August 18:30hrs
The Royal Oak, Infirmary Street    TICKETS

David Ferrard spent his youth travelling between Scotland and Pennsylvania where his mum comes form.  His music embraces both sides of the Atlantic.  He traces many of those songs that began in Scotland and set down roots in North America, particularly in the Appalachian Mountains. On most of this show, he accompanies himself on an acoustic guitar, but he holds his notes well enough to sing two ballads a capelo.

He learned one fine son from a 93-year-old lady who has since died..  Wistfully entitled, Oh, I wish I was Single again, the song contrasts the hopes and dreams of a courtship and a future marriage with the less pleasant realist.

Ferrard has a quiet engaging style that allows him to win over reluctant audiences, most of whom tend to sit well back in fear of being picked on to do something embarrassing.  In the space of an hour the international audience in the intimate venue were cheerfully joining in the choruses.

Much of the material, though sadly not Oh, I wish I was Single again, is on Ferrard’s new album, Across the Troubled Wave.  If you can‘t make the show do get hold of this CD.  You won’t be sorry.

**** four stars

www.davidferrard.com

The Royal Oak

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Edinburgh Fringe: Mussolini: a one-man political farce *****

August 21, 2010 at 6:36 pm · Filed under Edinburgh Fringe Festival ·Tagged ,

RGR Productions

Venue 41

Hill Street Theatre

5 – 30 August        TICKETS


“The country is on the brink of bankruptcy and divided by a disastrous war. Parliament stinks and no-one knows what to do. Sound familiar? This is Italy in the 1920s. One man has the answer – unfortunately it’s Benito Mussolini; the devout socialist who invented Fascism.”

Ross Gurney-Randall portrays the former Fascist dictator of Italy as both a hunted and a haunted man as the Allies and partisans close in on him.

In turn he is bombastic and vainglorious when he thinks that the Italian people are unworthy of his great genius; or he is full of self doubt as he cowers from Allied aircraft. At times he comes across as an ineffective teacher of an especially rowdy class.  He recalls his early lifte, his commendation as a socialist leader by Comrade Lenin and his transformation from socialist agitator to Fascist dictator.

This powerful one-man-show gets right inside Mussolini’s head. The humour is dark but not forced as the depressed Duce recollects significant events in his life; the March on Rome, the murder of socialist leader Matteoti, his son-in-law’s treachery which led to his removal from office and his arrest and imprisonment on the orders of the King,

Gurney-Randall brings to life his mixed feelings about being rescued on Hitler’s orders, his installation as head of state of the puppet Salo republic and how his hand was forced to have his son-in-law shot for his treachery. Regrets?  He had a few as all his hopes and dreams came crashing down around him.  This fine play tells all.

Reviewed by David Kerr

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Edinburgh Fringe: BARB JUNGR With Simon Wallace on piano ****

August 21, 2010 at 6:13 pm · Filed under Edinburgh Fringe Festival ·Tagged ,

ASSEMBLY @ George Street, Supper Room

16 – 22 Aug       TICKETS

Barb Jungr comes across as very chatty jolly lady; your best friend’s talented mum.  This easygoing manner doesn’t apply when it comes to delivering her songs.

In this show Barb, accompanied by Simon Wallace on piano, has a wonderful knack of bringing new depths of meaning to songs you already love and think you know. Take the Monkees song, I’m a Believer.  Barb’s interpretation wrings every syllable of pathos from what is normally just hum-along background wallpaper.  It’s electrifying.

This pure, simple entertainment is a condensed version of her new album, The Men I Love.  These songs cover the whole gamut of  reality: love, hope, dashed expectations with covers of songs by Bruce Springsteen, Gram Parsons and the place where Barb goes for redemption, Leonard Cohen.

If you enjoy the show, and you’d have to have a heart of stone not to like it, you can get the chance to buy a CD afterwards.

Reviewed by David Kerr

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Edinburgh Fringe: ALEISTER CROWLEY A Passion for Evil ****

August 21, 2010 at 5:54 pm · Filed under Edinburgh Fringe Festival ·Tagged , , ,

C Central Venue 54, Carlton Hotel North Bridge

6 – 28 Aug (not 22nd or 23rd)  16:15hrs  TICKETS

Aleister Crowley was better know as “the wickedest man in the world”, the Great Beast but he saw himself as the greatest poet since Shelley and much more than a conjurer who pulled rabbits out of hats.

He had been brought up by his father as one of the Plymouth Brethren and delighted to hear his dad preach the Word of God each Sunday.  This play suggests that he turned his back on these teachings when his father died when he was eleven.  He was deeply and adversely affected by well-meaning Brethren who said ‘Praise the Lord’ as his dad was carried out of the house to sit on the Right Hand of God.

He decided to become the greatest sinner the world had known.  Instead of serving God he made an art out of blasphemy. Instead of the Black Book – the Bible – he would write his own Book of Law. Instead of unquestioning devotion to a god, he would espouse his own philosophy of self love, in the slogan ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law’.

Crowley was a complex character who claimed that he could summon the ancient Egyptian deity Horus. This one-man production takes the form of reminiscences of his life as a young boy, a mountaineer, a traveller to Egypt, his touring magic show in the north of England and as the founder of an Abbey of Thelema in Sicily.

Was he really the Great Beast or just a charlatan with a flair for publicity? John Burns, the writer and star of this compelling production brings this colourful character to life but the question of whether the real Crowley was a charlatan, a devil or a prophet is left hanging. You decide.

Reviewed by David Kerr

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Edinburgh Fringe: Singin’ I’m no a Billy he’s a Tim *****

August 21, 2010 at 5:32 pm · Filed under Edinburgh Fringe Festival ·Tagged ,

Assembly @ George Street

Date    20-30 August

Time    15:45     TICKETS

Sectarianism isn’t just a problem in Ulster; it’s big in Scotland too, as this powerful no-holds-barred comedy reminds us.  Rangers – Celtic rivalry is heavily underpinned by deep sectarian attitudes; as one of the characters tells Harry the screw, ‘There’s more to football than football, Harry.’

On the day of an Old Firm match, Celtic fan Tim finds himself banged up in the same cell as Billy, who follows Rangers.  The fast-paced script takes the pair through their initial hostility, fighting and point-scoring against one-another, to a realisation of some of the things they have in common.

This 85-minute play could easily have been a complacent smug middle class holier-than-thou, let’s-all-laugh-at-the stupid-sectarian-bigots artifice. The writer Des Dillon managed to avoid that pitfall.

Dillon’s script allowed people to laugh at some of the absurdities of their own attitudes and face the fact that in reaction to events, each of us have our own inner bigotries waiting for an opportunity to come out in all their ugliness.

Dillon also demonstrated that most of us also have our own inner decency and sense of empathy for individuals who face problems with which we can relate.  Both Billy and Tim had small children and each of them was able to offer sympathy for the screw Harry and prayers for his dangerously ill grandson.

This message isn’t at all heavy-handed.  The interaction between the cast members is sharp and above all that, the script it is very, very funny.  You might want to think twice about bring your maiden aunt along, though. She might find some of the language offensive.

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Edinburgh Fringe: Baby wants Candy *****

August 21, 2010 at 5:13 pm · Filed under Edinburgh Fringe Festival ·Tagged

17:35 hrs

Assembly @ assembly Hall Rainey Hall   TICKETS

5 August – 30 August (not 23rd)

Have you a brilliant sure-fire idea for a top-notch musical comedy?  Have you a title worked out?

Well, now’s your chance to see your great idea on stage; for one night only.

The talented team from Baby Wants Candy specialises in improvised musical comedy.  All the team need is a previously unused idea from the audience and tyey’re off!  I wanted Fluffy Kittens Rule the World but I was beaten to the posu by an audience member behind me with, Help, I’ve Lost my German.

This young team are magnificent.  They are so comfortable in one-another’s presence that the cast members pick-up quickly on the cues thrown their way. Now and then a cast member will bowl another a googly for fun just to see how they cope with it but nobody was ever left speechless.

This kind of spontaneity need to be well-orchestrated.  Baby Wants Candy elevates the format pioneered by Whose Line is it Anyway? to new heights.

This show packed in the punters.  It’s easy to see why?  This is pure entertainment gold.

Reviewed by David Kerr

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Edinburgh Fringe: Taking Liberties

August 21, 2010 at 5:04 pm · Filed under Edinburgh Fringe Festival ·Tagged ,

The GRV Venue 274, Guthrie Street

5-29 August 2010 (not 17 August)  TICKETS

What’s funny?  What has one person rolling on the floor holding his sides with riotous laughter will leave another person fuming.  What can you laugh about?  Are their any limit? Are jokes about the Pope or paedophiles funny?  How about the prophets, Moses or Mohammed, or Jesus?

In this show Sanderson Jones tests out his notions of freedom of speech with some startling examples.  It was too much for one member of the audience who walked out.  Most folk loved the show and even joined in at times in some-quick back-and-forth banter.

Sanderson Jones is extremely funny but it’s not for the easily offended.

Reviewed by David Kerr

*** three stars

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Edinburgh Fringe: Firing Blanks

August 17, 2010 at 9:35 am · Filed under Drama, Edinburgh Fringe Festival ·Tagged , , ,

WORLD PREMIERE

FIRING BLANKS ****

Written and directed by Tom Spencer

Underbelly, Cowgate, 56 Cowgate, Edinburgh

Aug 7-8, 11-12, 18-19, 25-26 @ 15.35 (45min) £8.00

Aug 9-10, 13-15, 20-21, 27-29 @ 15.35 (45) £9.00

Aug 16 -17, 23 – 24 @ 15.35 (45 min) £6.50

Buy tickets here

Reviewed by Jacqueline Sharp

Men tend not to speak about the subject of male infertility with their partners, or their friends, perhaps out of fear, embarrassment, or ridicule. Some may avoid the issue choosing instead to banter about football over a pint of lager.

I was curious as to how this story would be told. The script is first class as it tackles this taboo subject head on.  The banter and dialogue between an older man and a younger woman is excellent.  It’s refreshing how one feels better when speaking to a stranger about one’s problems.

The two characters have no romantic involvement, just the basics of a good friendship.

Holly Beasley-Garrigan, as Kate, is pretty, with a lovely smile; which helps ease the pain for Richard.  Robin McLoughlin, as Richard, seemed wooden. I didn’t think he was right for this role.  He needed to be more comical, inject more comedy into the role, loosen up, have a laugh and let it all go.  He seemed too stern, angry, anxious, annoyed; all feelings anyone would feel at being infertile. However those feelings were inappropriate for the Fringe.  He was far too serious. Comedy helps to tease pain. Laughter is therapeutic!  It is always better to laugh at ones problems, than to dwell or cry.

Perhaps the Director Tom Spencer was hoping to raise awareness about male infertility. This play still has potential, though.  I could see this first class script turned into a television show with a different male lead, though!

Anyone looking for more information on this subject please check out following links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_infertility

http://www.malefertility.co.uk/

http://www.womens-health.co.uk/infertility7.asp

http://www.infertilitynetworkuk.com

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/837147-rise-in-male-infertility-linked-to-plastic-food-and-drink-cartons

http://www.malefertility.co.uk/statistics.html

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