This year, I introduced P to the Fringe and we took in the last weekend. It was a great vibe in the city and being the end of the Fringe the venues were running very slickly compared to last year. However, despite better weather, there was a slight lack of enthusiasm from the flyering team. We took it easy with four shows a day and so we saw:
Early Edition at Udderbelly
P and I saw the Early Edition a few years ago at the Udderbelly on the Southbank and we loved it, so this was at the top of my list to see. I love the fact that the team bring today's papers (and the Daily Mail) to the table and strating with the headlines you watch the conversation take tangents in every direction. Andre Vincent's Oli Mugabe was perhaps a little close to the line but Marcus Brigstocke's middle class outrage kept the conversation on track. this was laugh out loud funny and a great way to start our Fringe.
G star rating: 4/5
P star rating: 4/5
Nik Coppin's Caricatures at Laughing Horse Free Festival at City Cafe
We had a good break after Early Edition and lunch at Mum's on Forrest Road, so we wandered along the Royal Mile. We popped in to the Fringe Friends' booking office, worth paying for this to skip the queue! Then as we passed the City Cafe we were handed a flyer for Nik Coppin's free show. The Free Fringe can sometimes be a risk but Nik Coppin was one worth taking. Nik's a stand-up comedian with a real skill for drawing caricatures. His pictures ranged from his family to Spiderman and President Obama, we had an education in Caribbean accents, found out who would win a fight between Spiderman and Wolverine and much more. Some light bribery with Haribo kept the audience guessing, even if responses were sometimes bizarre, his girlfriend was identified as his brother!
G star rating: 3/5
P star rating: 4/5
Thom Tuck at The Pleasance Dome
I loved Thom Tuck's stand up piece last year and so we had to go see his show again this year. This year Thom managed to appear even more eccentric and strangely middle-aged. A mixture of rambling and ranting, with some very loose connections this piece was perhaps not for everyone. But Thom plays with words and grammar with great comedy effect and he's still on my must see list for next year.
G star rating: 4/5
P star rating: 2/5
Tricity Vogue's Ukulele Cabaret at Laughing horse Free Festival at the Counting House
My friend C had read good reviews about Tricity Vogue and a cabaret sounded like fun. Unfortunately it didn't stand up to the review. The acts that were on were pretty good but there was too much talking and not enough performance. The highlight was the final performer who sang 'When I'm screening Winders' a play on George Formby's original. There was also a girl up from Bristol, straight off the plane who did an amusing Star Wars turn. The audience seemed to be enjoying it but I will not be going back next year.
G star rating: 2/5
P star rating: 3/5
Lights, Camera, Improvise at Underbelly Bristo Square
I love improvised comedy and this appealed in the programme and then we got a recommendation from a girl at work so that sealed the deal and off we headed. So it was down to us to choose the movie of our choice from the host's vast collection. The audience managed to come up with a challenge that seemed impossible: a Roman Epic, set in the Senate, with a scene in the dressmakers called 'Rome Wasn't Built in a Sleigh'. The performers then proceeded to make their task even harder by getting confused about whether Brutus (played by a girl) was in fact a woman or a man. They placed her eldest daughter in Jewish boarding school and then killed her off. The host made their lives even more difficult by picking up on every slip and forcing a 'directors cut' to explain it. But the highlight was the mournful gravestone, the most expressive inanimate object I have ever seen.
G star rating: 4.5/5
P star rating: 5/5
Frisky and Mannish: Extra-curricular Activities at Assembly on the Mound
I had already seen this in London along with a Fringe preview of their 27 Club. I'd found the 27 Club to be too dark for me and I was keen to see this again. It was well worth it from a Grime version of The Carpenters: On Top of the World to the Northern Pussycat Dolls. I still wonder how Frisky makes it through the whole Fringe with her voice intact, given the amount of high pitched screeching in the show. But once again Frisky and Mannish were a Fringe highlight and a high energy, professional performance that got our final Fringe evening off to a positive start.
G star rating: 4.5/5
P star rating: 4/5
Jonny and the Baptists at Underbelly
We loved their song of the day 'Not a pub' at the Early Edition and our friend C knew Jonny from her venue a couple of years previously. So we headed off for a little bit of satirical, musical fun in an exceedingly hot and sticky venue. There were a few last night high jinks and I'm surprised that Jonny didn't fall flat on his face, climbing all over the collapsible chairs. Mildly amusing Jonny and the Baptists are lovely way to spend and hour and they coped admirably with all sorts of technical mishaps and what looked like Jonny heading off in his own directions.
G star rating: 3/5
P star rating: 3/5
Spank! at Underbelly
We ended our Fringe with a night at Spank, an essential part of my Fringe. James and Leon were on form and Leon might say it was a long Fringe, but it didn't show. I can't really remember the acts which isn't a great sign, although one of the staff got his stag-night strip from a burlesque dancer in front of a raucous crowd and the final act of the night was successfully bullied into doing most of his act in his underpants. The biggest thanks of the night go to the Underbelly tech choosing the tracks after the show, my best ever post-Spank sound track, finishing the Fringe on a high, with just a touch of tinnitus.
G star rating: 3/5
P star rating: 1/5
For me, the Fringe was lacking a real five star performance this year, but we still had lots of fun and hopefully we will be heading back next year.
