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Edinburgh Fringe
Aug. 28th, 2017 04:00 pmDave and I experienced the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the first time this weekend. We benefitted hugely from expert friends who guided us around the city and recommended shows to go and see. We managed to fit in five shows each day, covering a range of genres and styles.
You Can’t Polish A Nerd:
Tom Crosbie presented a one-man memory/magic show with a geek theme. His persona was very appealing in a self-deprecating way, and the skills he demonstrated got progressively more impressive as the show went on. He finished by producing a double-sided picture of Donald Trump and Albert Einstein using Rubix Cubes. I’ve always had a great deal of respect for people who are prepared to put in the time and work to learn such skills and make them look effortless, since I’m far too lazy. The show was entertaining, if not wildly funny in my view, but I enjoyed it overall.
Crime Scene Improvisation:
This was a troupe of six comedians, who built up a murder mystery story from prompts provided by the crowd. Our case was the murder of hamster trainer, Melanie Fanshawe, killed by a low-flying blimp. As is usual with improvisational comedy, it was very patchy. There were some good bits, but it was rather let down by the woman playing the detective, who interacted most with the crowd but wasn’t very good.
Lula del Ray by Manual Cinema:
This was a shadow theatre show, where the cast projected various backgrounds onto a screen and built up the story with animated cut-outs and the silhouettes of live performers. It was very well crafted, both literally and figuratively, and told a complex story well. I did feel it went on a bit too long, but the combination of live action, cut-outs, music and sound was very effective. It was interesting to be able to see how it was all done in real time, but I did get quite distracted by it and found myself watching the back-stage aspects as much as the finished film.
How To Win Against History:
This was an exuberant, clever, affecting musical about a cross-dressing aristocrat from the 1800s, who squandered his family’s fortune putting on vanity plays. The protagonist was deeply flawed, and his desperation for attention was quite painfully portrayed by the lead actor. But the songs were funny and emotive by turns, and all three cast members did a very good job. This was my favourite show of the first day, in terms of consistent quality and entertainment value.
Elixir:
Extremely attractive half-naked men doing very impressive acrobatics in a comedy fashion with a zombie outbreak framing narrative - what’s not to like? Well, I realise they needed some recovery time between the amazing acrobatic sections, but I did feel some of the comedy interludes went on too long and involved too much standing about and not really doing very much (and the show did over-run). Also, for a venue with entirely flat seating, there was too much obscured floor work. It was mostly awesome, though, particularly the section with the giant metal ring, which combined very funny visual humour with incredible acrobatic feats.
Labels:
Day two started with the best show we saw all weekend. It was a one-man show, telling the story of a man of British and Indian descent, and his experiences of prejudice and ignorance during his life. It was very personal, but also global in theme, with some excellent impressions of various politicians, using real quotes to demonstrate the awfulness of current and historical attitudes towards race and immigration. Joe told his story using sticky labels and multiple signs to great effect, and the show was both moving and funny.
The Great Ridolphi:
Expectations are an interesting thing. When I sat down in the auditorium for this show, I reached into my bag and drew out what I thought was a bottle of Diet Coke. I took a sip and nearly spat it out because it tasted to different to what I was expecting. It was actually blackcurrant squash, which I really like, but in that moment it tasted horrible because it wasn’t Diet Coke. My experience of The Great Ridolphi wasn’t that extreme, but it took me a while to get into the narrative of a middle-aged, dying man trying to come to terms with the death of his father, because I had thought going in that it was going to be a magic or circus show. Still, the central performance was very good, and I thought the plot was intriguing, and the different locations and characters cleverly evoked. But I didn’t feel connected to the main character at all, which meant my emotions weren’t really engaged, and the whole thing left me rather unmoved.
Will Seaward Goes to Eldorado:
This was a one-man comedy show about the history of the search for Eldorado. It was generally amusing, but not as funny to me as the guy doing it seemed to think it was. He was personable and appealing, but I felt there was a disconnect between his affable explorer persona and the language he used at times. His jollity also seemed a bit forced (though it was the last show of the run and he did say he was ill), which made it harder for me to get on board with it. But a lot of the information was entertaining, and it was generally well presented.
Escape From the Animal Hospital:
This was an escape room constructed especially for the festival by a company that is permanently based in Edinburgh. There were two rooms, and a lot of well-conceived puzzles, and we eventually rescued a very cute monkey from imprisonment in the lab. I spent quite a lot of time standing around with nothing to do, but I think that was rather more my fault than the fault of the game, since everyone else in my team seemed fully occupied the whole time. My main role was to spot when we were being given clues (typed onto a screen in the room) and I liked the fact that they just appeared rather than us having to ask for them, as is usual in these games. I also provided a valuable contribution right at the end when Dave couldn’t figure out how to work the winch to get the monkey’s cage down and thought we had to solve more puzzles to get it to work. It turned out he was just misreading the directional arrows on the controls, and I figured it out right away, so was pivotal in gaining Frank the monkey his freedom. We made it out in about 42 minutes, which was pretty good, and it was mostly good fun.
Chris Turner: What A Time To Be Alive:
Our last show of the fringe was a one-man stand-up routine by a comedian who specialises in improvised rapping. His general comedy was consistently amusing, and his presentation was good, and he wove a good framing narrative around the whole show. He did two raps, both of which were excellent. And a lot of the story had to do with liking tea, so I greatly approved!
In general, we both had a good time and would definitely go again. The main drawback was that most of the venues were stiflingly hot, which made it difficult to fully engage with the shows. However, the combination of short bursts of entertainment, interspersed with wandering from place to place all of the city worked very well for me in maintaining good blood glucose levels. If we do go again, we both agreed we would go for longer, but do less on each day, and I would feel confident to research and select my own schedule of shows (incorporating less comedy and more musicals/dance shows). Great weekend, overall, though, bookended by productive train journeys, which I always appreciate.
You Can’t Polish A Nerd:
Tom Crosbie presented a one-man memory/magic show with a geek theme. His persona was very appealing in a self-deprecating way, and the skills he demonstrated got progressively more impressive as the show went on. He finished by producing a double-sided picture of Donald Trump and Albert Einstein using Rubix Cubes. I’ve always had a great deal of respect for people who are prepared to put in the time and work to learn such skills and make them look effortless, since I’m far too lazy. The show was entertaining, if not wildly funny in my view, but I enjoyed it overall.
Crime Scene Improvisation:
This was a troupe of six comedians, who built up a murder mystery story from prompts provided by the crowd. Our case was the murder of hamster trainer, Melanie Fanshawe, killed by a low-flying blimp. As is usual with improvisational comedy, it was very patchy. There were some good bits, but it was rather let down by the woman playing the detective, who interacted most with the crowd but wasn’t very good.
Lula del Ray by Manual Cinema:
This was a shadow theatre show, where the cast projected various backgrounds onto a screen and built up the story with animated cut-outs and the silhouettes of live performers. It was very well crafted, both literally and figuratively, and told a complex story well. I did feel it went on a bit too long, but the combination of live action, cut-outs, music and sound was very effective. It was interesting to be able to see how it was all done in real time, but I did get quite distracted by it and found myself watching the back-stage aspects as much as the finished film.
How To Win Against History:
This was an exuberant, clever, affecting musical about a cross-dressing aristocrat from the 1800s, who squandered his family’s fortune putting on vanity plays. The protagonist was deeply flawed, and his desperation for attention was quite painfully portrayed by the lead actor. But the songs were funny and emotive by turns, and all three cast members did a very good job. This was my favourite show of the first day, in terms of consistent quality and entertainment value.
Elixir:
Extremely attractive half-naked men doing very impressive acrobatics in a comedy fashion with a zombie outbreak framing narrative - what’s not to like? Well, I realise they needed some recovery time between the amazing acrobatic sections, but I did feel some of the comedy interludes went on too long and involved too much standing about and not really doing very much (and the show did over-run). Also, for a venue with entirely flat seating, there was too much obscured floor work. It was mostly awesome, though, particularly the section with the giant metal ring, which combined very funny visual humour with incredible acrobatic feats.
Labels:
Day two started with the best show we saw all weekend. It was a one-man show, telling the story of a man of British and Indian descent, and his experiences of prejudice and ignorance during his life. It was very personal, but also global in theme, with some excellent impressions of various politicians, using real quotes to demonstrate the awfulness of current and historical attitudes towards race and immigration. Joe told his story using sticky labels and multiple signs to great effect, and the show was both moving and funny.
The Great Ridolphi:
Expectations are an interesting thing. When I sat down in the auditorium for this show, I reached into my bag and drew out what I thought was a bottle of Diet Coke. I took a sip and nearly spat it out because it tasted to different to what I was expecting. It was actually blackcurrant squash, which I really like, but in that moment it tasted horrible because it wasn’t Diet Coke. My experience of The Great Ridolphi wasn’t that extreme, but it took me a while to get into the narrative of a middle-aged, dying man trying to come to terms with the death of his father, because I had thought going in that it was going to be a magic or circus show. Still, the central performance was very good, and I thought the plot was intriguing, and the different locations and characters cleverly evoked. But I didn’t feel connected to the main character at all, which meant my emotions weren’t really engaged, and the whole thing left me rather unmoved.
Will Seaward Goes to Eldorado:
This was a one-man comedy show about the history of the search for Eldorado. It was generally amusing, but not as funny to me as the guy doing it seemed to think it was. He was personable and appealing, but I felt there was a disconnect between his affable explorer persona and the language he used at times. His jollity also seemed a bit forced (though it was the last show of the run and he did say he was ill), which made it harder for me to get on board with it. But a lot of the information was entertaining, and it was generally well presented.
Escape From the Animal Hospital:
This was an escape room constructed especially for the festival by a company that is permanently based in Edinburgh. There were two rooms, and a lot of well-conceived puzzles, and we eventually rescued a very cute monkey from imprisonment in the lab. I spent quite a lot of time standing around with nothing to do, but I think that was rather more my fault than the fault of the game, since everyone else in my team seemed fully occupied the whole time. My main role was to spot when we were being given clues (typed onto a screen in the room) and I liked the fact that they just appeared rather than us having to ask for them, as is usual in these games. I also provided a valuable contribution right at the end when Dave couldn’t figure out how to work the winch to get the monkey’s cage down and thought we had to solve more puzzles to get it to work. It turned out he was just misreading the directional arrows on the controls, and I figured it out right away, so was pivotal in gaining Frank the monkey his freedom. We made it out in about 42 minutes, which was pretty good, and it was mostly good fun.
Chris Turner: What A Time To Be Alive:
Our last show of the fringe was a one-man stand-up routine by a comedian who specialises in improvised rapping. His general comedy was consistently amusing, and his presentation was good, and he wove a good framing narrative around the whole show. He did two raps, both of which were excellent. And a lot of the story had to do with liking tea, so I greatly approved!
In general, we both had a good time and would definitely go again. The main drawback was that most of the venues were stiflingly hot, which made it difficult to fully engage with the shows. However, the combination of short bursts of entertainment, interspersed with wandering from place to place all of the city worked very well for me in maintaining good blood glucose levels. If we do go again, we both agreed we would go for longer, but do less on each day, and I would feel confident to research and select my own schedule of shows (incorporating less comedy and more musicals/dance shows). Great weekend, overall, though, bookended by productive train journeys, which I always appreciate.
