ThreeWeeks
WeekThree • 23.08.05
ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for…
Lovers The Edinburgh Makars with some engaging performances but is minor technical glitches let the side
Leave some time to fi nd this venue, it’s let down by some weaker cast members down, in addition to homosexual men
tucked away out of town and then when and some truly awful accents. [ap] being identifi ed by a speech impediment.
you get there it’s yet more of a maze
Augustine’s, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28 Aug, Funny in places and annoyingly clichéd
to fi nd the room. This is a staging of
5.20pm (6.35pm), £6.00, £4.50, fpp 190
in others, the night started out with a
a Brian Friel play in two acts and with
tw rating 3/5
sparkle and so much potential but by the
a runtime of over two hours, a bit of end turned out to be shallow and a let
a shock to my Fringe-trained attention You Might As Well Live Pandora Colin down. [ckn]
span. Luckily, the performances were As admirable and extraordinary was the
Roman Eagle Lodge, 5 – 28 Aug (not 9, 16, 23),
engaging and sensitive. The fi rst act poet Dorothy Parker, so was Pandora
times vary, £5.00 (£4.00), fpp 175.
THEATRE
makes effective use of narration but Colin who played her. The space was so
tw rating 3/5
there is no link between the two acts, intimate I felt completely captivated by
even in terms of staging - the fi rst is a her story. Everything about this play had Sweet Coffee Showcase
bare stage with blocks and the second a been considered to the last detail. Colin’s
Roundham Lock Theatre & Sweet
fully furnished fl at making it feel like two presence illuminated the space and all
Entertainments
completely unrelated plays. Generally a conversations were cleverly illustrated
Not so much comedy as a sampler of the
solid production with some very talented through use of lighting and sounds.
very diverse shows on at Sweet venues
actors. [ap] The play seemed longer than an hour
for the remainder of the Festival. You
Edinburgh Academy, 17-27 Aug (not 21), and when it had come to an end I still
are handed free coffee and chocolate
7.30pm (9.45pm), £7.50 (£6.50) fpp 161 wanted more. The script was inclusive of croissants as you go in, presumably to
tw rating 3/5 humour, plenty refl ection and it allowed wake you up just in case the fi rst act on
complete indulgence into Parker’s
stage doesn’t. Invading the aisle between
When We Are Married Rattlesnake! fascinating life. A real gem. [er]
the seats was black-coated physical
After this play has got going it
Pleasance Courtyard, 7-29 Aug, 12:20pm theatre group Shake-scene doing their
Birth Of The Cool Idea’s Australia Pty Ltd
becomes an entertaining production
(1:20pm), prices vary, fpp 191. tw rating 5/5. fl amboyant ‘Possession: Macbeth’.
“I saw the best minds of my generation, destroyed by madness, starving hysterical.”
of JB Priestley’s play. It is the story of
‘Educating Rita’ then offered a glimpse
The story of the Beat Generation begins in the bebop era, inspired by cool cats like
three couples on their 25th wedding Rom.com
into serious, high quality theatre that
Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, they used the jazz riffs as a foundation
anniversary who discover their marriages
Cambridge University Mummers was excellently acted. Either side of it
for their stream of consciousness writing, the leaders of this movement were Allen
might not be offi cial. At fi rst, however,
The Mummers hit Edinburgh with this was a one-man adaptation of Chekov’s
Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. Electrifying and inspiring, the story
the obviously fake accents and facial hair
original piece where reality TV meets ‘In Moscow’ and a play about teenage
of the Beat Generation and excerpts from Howl, On The Road and Naked Lunch are
are almost too distracting - I couldn’t
choose-your-own-adventure. The Rom. runaways which were standard Fringe
read by John Turnbull and accompanied by an amazing and exhilarating jazz trio. It’s
help but watch a wobbly moustache in
com game allows viewers to actively quality. The down point was a snippet
really hard to talk about jazz and not sound pretentious, but this is something really
fascination for a full two minutes. As it
decide the actions of the characters of a play called ‘Sole Trader’ which
special, leave your prejudices at the door and enjoy. [hks]
progresses, the accents become more
in a ‘The Sims’ fashion with an aim came over as a silly rewrite of the movie
Gilded Balloon, 10 - 28 Aug, 5:15pm (6:25pm), prices vary, fpp 134. tw rating 5/5
intelligible, the actors begin to warm up
of keeping apart Ellie and Trent who, ‘Bruce Almighty’. [sk]
and some of them start to really shine
despite having diametrically opposed Sweet on the Grassmarket, 14 – 29 Aug, This Lime Tree Bower Juliet’s Tomb
with their delivery, mannerisms and
personalities, have magnetic tendencies
10:00am (11:00am), £7.00 (£6.00), fpp 60. tw University College Dublin Dramsoc / Open Fire Grangemouth High School
sense of comedy. This is a fairly solid
towards each other. In what was expected
rating 3/5 Productions This may be a high school production,
production of a well established play
to be a highly polished production,
Three interweaving monologues tell but shouldn’t some of these shows
New Brain Stage by Stage
the story of one week that changes the remain so? The parent - heavy audience,
Writers block has never been so life-
characters lives. Joe is a naïve teenager, whooping and whistling for dear life,
threatening as in this rather random
idolising his undeserving best friend. made for an intimidating opposition to
American musical by William Finn. The
His older brother Frank seeks to heal this sentiment. But I doubt those not
non-stop barrage of melodies generally
the wounds in their unlucky family. related to the cast can be bullied into
resembles annoying jingles and starts to
While selfi sh Ray pompously and enjoying this. The two female leads
grate after a while, despite potentially
pretentiously rebels against pomposity sang well, displaying potential as well-
decent performances. The cast show
and pretentiousness. The three men are rounded pantomime performers. But
signs of fl air, but are let down by
all incredibly funny and sympathetic in lazy character types such as ‘Bazza’ the
technical problems and direction that
their truth as characters. The story that cheeky chappy ‘chav’ have been done
does not take advantage of the obvious
unfolds around them grips as it twists to death by now. The girls are reunited,
talent they possess. Roger is played
and turns, then throws you into laughter from both sides of a busy check-out day
by the most confi dent and controlled
the next moment. The acting seems at Tesco which compels them to start
player in the company, and is the most
spontaneous, and I sometimes wondered singing ‘Don’t Speak’ by No Doubt,
believable character in a cast of oddballs.
if the actors actually knew what each bringing the most bizarre and contrived
This production unfortunately lacks the
other were about to say. Full of human pathos to proceedings. The show is
conviction and charisma in order to truly
spirit. [ep] maudlin beyond belief, and probably best
engage. For those of you who have ever
Greyfriars Kirk House, 14 - 28 Aug (not 22), kept for assembly halls. [gla]
had the nightmare that is writers block
1:30pm (2:45pm), £7.00 (£5.00), fpp 185. The Spiegel Garden, 7 - 29 Aug, times vary, prices
then you could still fi nd some humour
tw rating 4/5 vary, tw rating 1/5
here. [nc]
Stage by Stage Edinburgh Academy, 18 - 25 Aug The Apprentice The Rehearsal Pigeon Theatre
(not 24), times vary, £8.00 (£6.00), fpp 123. tw
Nonsense Room Productions
A cocktail of death, dance and violence
rating 3/5 The squillions of Da Vinci Code fans awaits as you sit comfortably at a
reading this’ll have some idea of how
table in a bar. Starting with a beer and
Life In Show
spectacular Rosslyn Chapel is, famous
conversation, performers Louise Bennett
“It wasn’t rape if she encouraged him”
for its fi fteenth century pagan carvings
and Gillian Knox quickly draw the
– a familiar refrain. Hot property Cat
and Masonic ties – but how many of
audience in. People are happily co-opted
O’Shea’s ambitious piece brings an
you know it’s a Fringe venue? I didn’t,
as actors, a prompter and line testers. It’s
even-handed and inventive approach
and I’m rather glad I found out. The
not a new idea to take apart the theatrical
to questions of intra and extra marital
Apprentice is based on the true story of
process, but this is brilliantly done: the
sexual abuse. Working through prisms
a young stonemason inspired by a dream
show both sticks closely to the script
of realism and dramatised drama, this
to carve the famous Apprentice’s Pillar,
and tears it apart. The movement is also
at fi rst seems another play within a
with love, betrayal, tragedy, and touching
fast, skilled and slightly mad - you could
play... groan. But there is a purpose;
performances in the mix, especially from
say it has gratuitous Tarantino moments,
it affords a subtle historical glance,
Fraser C. Sivewright in the lead role. Not
but the performance somehow seems to
Hollyoaks and Heat magazine-led values
to knock the script, but the story was not
make sense at the end. This show takes
are laid up against traditional mores,
exactly the headliner here; it was the eerie
audience involvement to a new level with
as a company rehearse a play about
grandeur of the Chapel itself. Well worth
a powerful cabaret, a breathless reminder
an abused Eighteenth-century actress.
the ride outside of town. [mt]
of mortality. [cs2]
The remarkable presence of Michael
Rosslyn Chapel, 6 - 27 Aug (not 9, 14, 21),
C electric, 14 - 29 Aug, 6:10pm (7:10pm),
Woolridge threatens to unbalance the
8:00pm (9:15pm), £12.00 (£10.00), ffp 130.
£7.50 (£6.50), fpp 174. tw rating 4/5
show, but is evened out by the equally
tw rating 4/5
exciting Alice Truman, whose singing
alone would make any show worth a
even more reviews???
visit. An hour of all round talent. [tcb]
yep, even more reviews every day until the end
Baby Belly, 4 – 28 Aug, 1:15pm (2:15pm),
£8.00 (£7.00), ffp 159. tw rating 4/5 of the festival at www.threeweeks.co.uk
page 18 www.threeweeks.co.uk
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