Posts Tagged ‘fringe’
The Darling Monologues
You’re not likely to meet three much more different women in 50 minutes than Lily, Sadie and Ruby, but all are revealed in acute detail and vivid characterisation by Angela Jackson, until now better known as a writer than an actress. The main character of the Darling Monologues is male – Mark Darling. The clever…
Read MoreIsabelle Georges – Oh Là Là
Oh boy – can this lady sing! And move. Isabelle Georges is a force of nature – and it’s a very specifically Parisian force of nature. From the very start, she dominates the room with her stage presence and her voice and movement. You’re in the presence of a brilliant performer, with a brilliant band…
Read MoreCan I Stop You There?
In this show, the compères interrupt the comedians. Several times over. And every night, it’s a new set of comedians and a new set of interruptions. Add to this the fact you’re in an intimate venue, it’s after 11pm, and many of the audience are ‘quite receptive to laughter’ or ‘a wee bit drunk’ and…
Read MoreJo Caulfield – Pretending to Care
I’m not sure Jo cares about show reviews. And I’m not sure this reviewer cares that she cares. But I have to report that her show is tight, funny, focused, and may occasionally make you snort, titter, wet yourself or cause you to cast your spit on the person in front of you. That is,…
Read MoreChristine Bovill – Paris
It’s a good job it’s dark inside the Spiegeltent, because nobody could see the tears that kept appearing out of the corner of my right eye. Hrumph. Must have been a bit of grit in there. Christine Bovill. Photo by @nazipova Christine Bovill is probably best known for her iconic Piaf perfromances, where she devastates…
Read MoreViv Groskop – Be more Margo
For those young enough not to have seen the TV series ‘The Good Life’, which ran from 1975-1978, this is the Wikipedia entry for Margo Leadbetter. “Margo cannot understand her neighbours’ lifestyle, but their friendship is important to her. As a child, Margo Sturgess, she was bullied at school for having no sense of humour.…
Read MoreTiffany Stevenson: Seven
It’s Tiffany Stevenson’s seventh solo show, and so it’s called Seven. That might seem to lack imagination. But there’s definitely plenty of imagination at work here, and plenty of provocation, insight, mocking and acid observation. Seven is instead a riff pivoting around seven potential tweets that Tiffany considered making after the Battaclan attacks in Paris,…
Read MoreJena Friedman – American C*nt
Dark, dangerous and unexpected. Expect yourself to be shocked by this performance, because Friedman’s humour takes dark, sharp turns and does not flinch from using the word cunt in its full Shakespearean crudity. Friedman apologises from the start about the offensive word in her show’s title – that word of course, she whispers, being ‘American’.…
Read MoreJo Caulfield – Awkward Conversations
Well this is awkward… Jo Caulfield picked me out of the audience and lampooned my lovable, hangdog Humphrey Bogart / Droopy good looks. And then got other people to pick on me. And only later as I left did I whisper that I was reviewing her show. Awkward! But then, that’s what happens when you…
Read MoreLiterary Death Match
This is not an ordinary Fringe show. Four writers read their own work for five minutes or less, and are then judged by three all-star Judges. Two finalists are chosen to compete in the Literary Death Match finale, a vaguely-literary game to decide the ultimate winner. And there’s of course a different line-up every night.…
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