Theatre: Dragged Kicked and Screaming
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: John HeinCategory(s): Theatre: Dragged Kicked and Screaming
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Mister Meredith
Theatre
****
Dragged Kicked and Screaming
The Vault
A well known face on London’s cabaret scene, Mr Meredith leads his audience on a frank and biographical journey charting his growth into adulthood and the embracing of his sexuality. Combining laugh out loud humour with the exploration of the darker sides of sex and morality, this show moves from highly philosophical to irreverent at the flick of a switch, never sacrificing the quality of entertainment for the audience.
Mr Meredith demonstrates the ability to draw on a myriad of genres during the show from burlesque to dramatic monologue, skilfully maintaining a delicate balance between lascivious and erudite. Comedic musical numbers performed by Mr Meredith on the piano give the show a level wit and style. Of all of the show’s musical numbers, the tongue in cheek burlesque finale is the highlight, though other notable performances include ‘The Dalek Song’ and ‘I’m Lovely’. Sidekick David Somerset Barnes, member of the London ‘Bearlesque’ troupe also displays his vocal talents during solo acoustic numbers including some promising self-penned pieces.
Dragged Kicked and Screaming is, all in all, a funny, pensive and entertaining show, albeit with some issues detracting from the final product. The venue was clearly not best suited to a cabaret style act, which would have been far more appropriate in a café or bar style venue. Being the first run of a new show, there were some minor issues relating to the technical details which, once addressed would give the performance some further slickness. A generous and giving host, Mr Meredith maintains a warm relationship with his audience, interacting with them in a self-deprecating manner which allows him to show his comfort and skill as a comedian and compere. With plans for both performers to return to the festival next year they are definitely ones to watch.
Comedy: Mark Thomas – The Manifesto
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: Martin WalkerCategory(s): Comedy: Mark Thomas - The Manifesto
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Mark Thomas
Comedy
*****
Mark Thomas – The Manifesto
The Stand
Anyone on the left will be familiar with Mark’s product. He’s a campaigning, investigative journalist and writer – his books sit alongside Naomi Klein, John Pilger and Tony Cliff on the shelves of progressives. But he is also a polished and professional stand up comedian, and so accessible to the masses.
In The Manifesto, he seeks to set a new political agenda by using policy suggestions from the audience. At the end of the show the audience votes, and the winning policy – alongside those of the other thirteen shows – get to be debated with MSPs at a special event held at the end of the run. Fourteen shows. Fourteen audiences. Fourteen policies. An innovative idea.
Mostly though, Mark and the audience are playing it for laughs. “Ban the Labour Party and other right wing groups”, and the winner for tonight: “Require the Daily Mail to print the following on every front page: ‘This is a fictional representation of the news. Any resemblance to real life is purely coincidental’ ” are typical of the fare on offer from us, the audience. Mark’s prepared material though, of which there is plenty, is exceptionally good stuff. This is genuinely hysterical campaigning satire which finds the funny in the absurdity of capitalism – with multinationals, MPs, the police, Bob Geldolf and arms dealers all getting the treatment. Where he is different – and better – than any other popular satirist around today, is that we are left with no doubt about WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.
This show, laugh for laugh, has to be, for me, the best of the best on this fringe. The fact that it’s also a call to arms has to mean that five stars aren’t enough.
MW
Musicals & Opera: Vision
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: Andrew DoyleCategory(s): Musicals & Opera: Vision
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Two cast members from VISION. Are these boys really old enough to purchase alcohol?
Musicals and Opera
*
Vision
Sweet ECA
Jesus once said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me”. But he didn’t have to sit through Vision by St Ives Youth Theatre. If he had, he might have reached a different conclusion.
For a company that claims to have no religious affiliation, this musical retelling of the story of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes seems an odd choice. The songwriting is patchy, the dialogue embarrassingly weak. It’s the kind of show that would be passable for a provincial amateur production in a church hall, but its inclusion in an arts festival seems utterly incongruous. And at £10 a ticket, there really can be no excuse.
You might think it cruel to criticise a group of teenagers for their efforts. Maybe so. But if you found a cute little kitten dying at the side of the road, the responsible thing to do would be to swiftly apply the heel of your boot to its furry face.
The main problem with Vision is that the premise is overly didactic. Two fourteen-year-old backpacking lads happen upon a youth hostel in Lourdes, having been out the previous night “getting mashed”. (This is the first of many grating playground colloquialisms in the piece, presumably to remind us that Christianity doesn’t have to be stuffy and old-fashioned.) The residents of the hostel discover that these boys are “Lourdes virgins”, and proceed to act out the story of Bernadette in musical form. By the end of this excruciating display, one of the boys has decided to stay with the hostellers so he can sing and dance some more in celebration of this long-dead hallucinating adolescent. He assures his friend that he still enjoys getting drunk and hanging out with girls, but that there’s also a place for religion in his life. You see? Christianity can be cool.
The kids aren’t to blame, really. If you’re going to bring a group of young people up to Edinburgh to perform for a month, you need to prepare them properly for the run. I saw this show on day six of the festival, and already some of the principals were showing signs of losing their voices. They desperately needed some vocal coaching, preferably months in advance, to ensure that their voices were properly supported.
And it’s not as though the adults in the orchestra are any better. If musical instruments are going to be out of tune, they should at least be out of tune in the same way. But when one violin is a semitone flat, and the other is a semitone sharp, those ballads begin to sound like Freddy Krueger caressing a blackboard.
I realise that watching a group of singing, dancing, smiling kids should be a joyous, inspiring experience. But all I could think was: where’s Ian Huntley when you need him?
AD
Theatre: Rick Lau – My Queer Valentine
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: Tony ChallisCategory(s): Theatre: Rick Lau – My Queer Valentine
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Rick Lau
Theatre
****
Rick Lau – My Queer Valentine
Universal Arts @ St George’s West
Rick Lau is a dynamic, tuneful and enchanting performer of songs, many from the musicals, and all written by gay men. He introduces the songs warmly and wittily and develops a good rapport with his audience.
I very much enjoyed “The Boy from Fire Island”, and I loved “Looking at Me”. Rick really brings this one to life and I almost thought I was there in the showers! The mood changes for “Quiet Love” and “Yard Sale”. Rick is not afraid to remind us of those health problems of the 80s that some young gays now lack awareness of – and don’t always take sufficient care about.
Ignore the photo on the flyer. Rick Lau is much better looking and more animated than that photo suggests! Get down to the venue, flow with the music and let Rick Lau massage your emotions.
TC
Comedy: Four Poofs and a Piano – Smoke and Mirrorballs
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: Joe DanielsCategory(s): Comedy: Four Poofs and a Piano – Smoke and Mirrorballs
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4 Poofs and a Piano
Comedy
**
Four Poofs and a Piano – Smoke and Mirrorballs
Pleasance Courtyard
One thing must be made clear about Four Poofs and a Piano: the audience here does not consist of gay men; it mostly comprises middle aged women who like to laugh at the queer boys on the telly. As such, this is not gay interest – it’s almost offensive to the gay community – but is instead populist entertainment which, when taken with a pinch of salt, is amusing enough.
The humour is crude, and there are cringe-making puns, plenty of stereotypes, and ridiculously short shorts. However, this is all a knowingly tacky affair, and providing you leave your brain at the door, it’s entertaining enough.
JD
Comedy: Helen Keen – The Primitive Methodist Guide to Arctic Survival
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: Jodie FlemingCategory(s): Comedy: Helen Keen - The Primitive Methodist Guide to Arctic Survival
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Helen Keen
Comedy
****
Helen Keen: The Primitive Methodist Guide to Arctic Survival
Gilded Balloon
Helen Keen is effervescent in this bubbly, enthusiastic and very enjoyable exploration of survival. The show is packed full of facts, like how arctic travellers prevented their food from freezing before they could eat it, or how to avoid wolf attacks. Keen teaches us about Napoleonic retreats, how the anaesthetic properties of cold were discovered, and the radical ways of primitive Methodism. She draws parallels from all these subjects to our own lives now, and affords us an opportunity to hold up a mirror to ourselves.
Keen is contagious with her cheery, matter-of-fact narration and her quirky home-made set. This is a show that’s had a lot of love put in, and in return a lot of fun is given out. Definitely one to be seen!
JF
Theatre: Been So Long
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: Victoria CookeCategory(s): Theatre: Been So Long
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Been So Long
Theatre
***
Been So Long
Traverse
An evening of soulful blues, reggae, and rap is combined with a very modern interpretation of lust and love. The singing is outstanding; the power of Cat Simmons’s voice is intoxicating. It is unfortunate, then, that the script lets down a dazzling cast.
The urban story is set in Barney’s bar, which is due for closure due to its competitor (“fucking Jake’s”) across the road. Yvonne and Simone are out on the town, hoping that love can conquer all. Simone has been hurt by a previous lover and is not interested in romance, though she falls for the bad-boy-turned-good Raymond. Yvonne is just after sex, which is all she seems to talk about, recounting dreams of men with penises for tongues and so forth – probably best to mention here that this isn’t really a play for Grandma! But Yvonne somehow gets away with it, her earthy voice is enchanting, she can sing about her fantasies of a “tree branch for a dick,” and no one bats an eyelid. However, in the end it is the character of Gil who generates the laughs; a young lad scorned by Raymond for stealing a girl that he had never spoken to. His voice is Mike Skinner-esque and he wonderfully glides between his two personas; a hard man gangster, and a soppy lovesick teenager.
Frankly, it’s a story we have all heard before, but this is redeemed due to the company’s professionalism and a few hilarious songs. All in all, it’s a fun, soulful evening’s entertainment, let down by the assumption that swearing in every line makes a play contemporary.
VC
Dance & Physical Theatre: Luxuria
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: Martin PowellCategory(s): Dance & Physical Theatre: Luxuria
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Luxuria
Dance & Physical Theatre
*****
Luxuria
Zoo Southside
Choreographed by Liv Lorent, who has been based in Newcastle since 1996, this piece was commissioned by Scottish Dance Theatre and first performed in 2004. I’m not quite sure how I missed the show first time round, for when Scottish Dance Theatre are at their best they are spectacular.
Luxuria begins with a series of five male dancers coming on stage in tasselled garments. They are followed by four female dancers in wedding dresses. Gradually they form up into couples leaving one lone man standing at the corner of the stage.
A series of beautiful dances follow, each involving one or more couples reflecting on relationships and the loneliness that can come from not being in one. All of this is accompanied with excellent music by Tsabropoulos, Richter, Silvestrov, Calexico, Morelenbaum, and Pinto.
Absolutely superb.
MP
Comedy: Luke Wright – The Petty Concerns of
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: Martin WalkerCategory(s): Comedy: Luke Wright - The Petty Concerns of
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Luke Wright
Comedy
****
Luke Wright – The Petty Concerns of
Underbelly
The overused term ‘fringe favourite’ aptly applies to stand-up comedian and poet, Luke Wright. It’s not that he’s improved with age – his ability was clear when I first saw him around eight years ago – it’s that every year he has consistently produced strong and memorable shows.
In 2009 his theme is ‘petty concerns’, a self deprecating look at being a ‘nearly famous’ poet who, even though he knows it’s wrong, can’t help but ‘Google’ his own name when alone.There is plenty of comedy to be had from the outcome of these searches, in a set that would be strong if stand-up comedy were the sole attraction. The fact that the gags are interspersed with sharp, intelligent, often satirical self penned poems serves to enhance the show further.
For those that think poetry is boring, I challenge you to see Luke Wright and not be entertained.
MW
Theatre: Blondes
Date: August 31st, 2009 Author: Andrew DoyleCategory(s): Theatre: Blondes
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Denise Van Outen
Theatre
*
Denise Van Outen’s Blondes
Udderbelly’s Pasture
This show is a mess. Denise Van Outen has a strong singing voice, and her appearances on The Big Breakfast all those years ago proved beyond doubt that she could raise a smile. But this mishmash of songs and banter is a vacuous and mind-numbing way to spend an hour.
Part of the problem is that Van Outen is simply not an effective joke-teller. There are a few humorous lines lurking amongst the mire of inane wittering, but from her lips they invariably fall flat. The script has been cobbled together by Jackie Clune, a stand-up comic who, in contrast, has excellent comic timing. With Van Outen trying to deliver Clune’s jokes, the effect is rather like hearing a poem by Yeats being read aloud by a man with a mangled tongue.
Jackie Clune is unquestionably a brilliant stand-up, so the laziness of the writing in Blondes is all the more vexing. There are also some jokes at the expense of lesbianism, Van Outen at one point miming a vomiting action when she describes lesbian sex. In the context of the humour in this show, which is about as anodyne as it gets, it seems unnecessary to single out gay women as objects of ridicule. It seems particularly rich given that Jackie Clune was herself a self-proclaimed “radical feminist lesbian” for a period of twelve years, until she “came out” as straight in 2002.
Of course, Clune’s sexuality is her own business, and no one has the right to pass judgement. But what is slightly galling is that Clune subsequently sold her story to the Daily Mail; the result being an odious, overtly homophobic article that played directly into the hands of those right-wing bigots who believe that same-sex orientation is a choice. I presume this was for financial gain, but when you consider that recent research has demonstrated that homophobia is on the rise is schools, and that gay teenagers are six times more likely to commit suicide that their straight peers, is it really worth contributing to this culture of hate? Still, I hope she enjoyed the money.
Gay-bashing aside, the show has some other cringeworthy low-points. There’s the karaoke-style projection of lyrics onto a screen, with Van Outen urging a reluctant audience to sing along. There’s the scripted audience participation, which sees Van Outen slagging off her audience members in a witless and contrived manner. Most aggravating of all is Van Outen’s feigned corpsing whenever she says something that she deems particularly amusing. At least someone’s laughing.
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