Fringe
Fringe Review: PALS
This production is ‘a wonderful way to be entertained and laugh’, says Jeremy Welch. ★★★ This is a funny, slightly chaotic play that will leave you uplifted. PALS is the tale of four Edinburgh girlfriends. Their natural milieu is nail bars, All Bar One and nightclubs so a camping trip organised by the protagonist, Sadie,…
Read MoreFringe Review: Gamble
A bittersweet multimedia show about addiction and its effect on families, friends and communities, says Jeremy Welch. ★★★ This play is dealing with a weighty matter, the consequences of gambling. Not the Grand National once a year flutter gamble but the compulsive, corrosive and ultimately destructive result of gambling addiction. It’s difficult to get the…
Read MoreFringe Review: 1984
Jeremy Welch praises Sofia Barvsevich’s near sell-out production as ‘brave, brutal, disturbing and absolutely relevant’. ★★★★★ ‘War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength.’ George Orwell. Almost everyone knows this dyspotian quote from Big Brother. This production is quite remarkable as in one hour it condenses Orwell’s 1984 novel perfectly. There is almost…
Read MoreFringe Review: Forging the Swords
Adapted from Lu Xun’s novel, Forging the Swords tells the story of a naturally kind-hearted child, who is suddenly entrusted with the monumental task of avenging his father’s murder, says Megan Amato. ★★★★ One way actors can prove their mettle is to carry on in the face of adversity – and that is exactly what…
Read MoreFringe Review: Liminal
Megan Amato enjoys this contemporary dance production. ★★★★ If you didn’t see this show, I’m sad to say that you missed out on a gem. Combining traditional Erhu music with jazz dance, this blend of east meets west was nearly seamless as musician and dancer worked in conjunction to deliver a story about an astronomer’s…
Read MoreFringe Review: Sex, Camp, Rock ‘N Roll
Ailsa Bath on this musical cabaret fantasy that explores sexuality and sex work. ★★★ With star of the show Ryan Patrick Welsh dressed in sheer, glittery assless chaps and not much else, and flanked by two backing performers with an anatomically blunt moniker, this cabaret is not for the bashful. Sex Camp and Rock n…
Read MoreFringe Review: Alison Larkin, Grief… A Comedy
Alison Larkin grips the audience with this production, says Jeremy Welch. ★★★★ Alison Larkin was adopted from America by an English family and grew up in England. Deciding to find her birth mother she returned to America, found her, got married to an American, started a family and then got divorced. In her middle years…
Read MoreFringe Review: Nina Gilligan, Goldfish
Ailsa Bath finds Nina Gilligan ‘achingly relatable and effortlessly funny’ in her performance Goldfish. ★★★ Nina Gilligan’s Goldfish was a humorous meander through the life of a middle aged woman. She openly acknowledged that her target audience were women above 40 and men under thirty which meant several references flew right over my twentysomething head…
Read MoreFringe Review: Rouge
Jeremy Welch samples the circus for grown-ups, with the award-winning Australian circus cabaret sensation Rouge. ★★★★ Rouge is an Australian production with a professional and talented troupe of artists. The show is advertised as ‘….a celebration of the astonishing, surprising, subversive and supremely sexy.’ It is all of the above featuring – circus acts with…
Read MoreFringe Review: Sleeper
Megan Amato takes in the ‘unforgettable’ Korean dance performance Sleeper. ★★★★★ You know you’re in for a titillating performance when you walk into the theatre and a mysterious translucent stand is waiting for you on stage. It wasn’t until the lights dimmed and the show began – five minutes after we entered – that I realized…
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