THEATRE
The Donkey Show ***** The Bard goes to Boogie Wonderland
As she purred through ‘I Love The Night Life', her breath came in short hot pants. So did her body, for that matter, and a pair of fetish boots, and very little else. Never was Titania so well named as here, for this unashamedly sexed-up fairy queen was part of Mr Oberon's 70$ disco set, where the body beautiful is pre- eminant. This piece amounts to a version of A Midsummer Night's Dream which retains absolutely none of Shakespeare's text, but a great deal of the spirit of polymorphous perversity and joyous disinhibition of the original.
Neither is Puck as we imagine him, yet his spirit of
COMEDY be a debilitating critique of Boom chicago Is Watching psychological neo-fascism; a **** linguistically non-conformist portrayal
Comedy-impro Big Brother style
You won't see anything else in the Fringe quite like Boom Chicago Is Watching. In a polished new show that, from the outset, oozes charisma, Boom Chicago use digital cameras and big screens to deliver a Who’s Line Is It AnywayP-style performance of the highest quality, with a twist. Picking out targets from the audience to fuel some hilarious rapid-fire routines, Boom’s talented crew offer a combination of sketches and improvisations that, given the medium’s unpredictable style doesn’t
(Olly Lassman)
of a world of ethical subversion and depravity, coupled with an uncompromising proto-feminist chainsaw dissection of physiological and ideological violation.
Either that, or just a bunch of screaming skinheads showing their arses a lot and talking about ’motherfuckers’. You deCide. Alternatively, spare yourself what is i probably one of the most pretentious, tedious and repulsive theatrical experiences on offer this Fringe, and go see something good.
The Zero Yard (Fringe) The Riot
A friendly Titania in the Do I
malign playfulness is retained in the gold painted, rollerblading skinhead of this retake. As the audience stands among the actors on the dancefloor, the general sense of wild abandon takes over, and the shared experience between performer and audience is aided by the thumping, cheesy rhythms of the period. The mechanicals are a pair of lads cruising for Saturday Night Beaver, and are transformed into the creature of the title, while the star-crossed lovers are as wet as ever, but the magical medicines administered are made from more familiar chemical enhancements. This amounts to a truly spendid night of entertainment, for adults only. Just see it. (Steve Cramer)
a The Donkey Show (Fringe) Club P/easance @ Potterow (Venue 23) 556 6550, until 28 Aug (not Tue), times vary, £8.50/f9/in (£7.50/f8/f9).
Of The Dead: The Epic Struggles Of Bishop Be/o Of East Timor suggests a personal history of the leader of East Timor’s Roman Catholic Church. But it’s really an account of the struggle
IMHVII OPM'OPM theatre comedy dance music books
against Indonesian rule in the latter half of the 20th century. Coinciding with the fall of the Suharto dictatorship and the subsequent withdrawal of Indonesian troops, the book met with widespread international interest.
For Kohen, the book carries a message way beyond the borders of East Timor. ’If people keep fighting oppression they can succeed, both in the international sense and in places like East Timor. People have to keep fighting and struggling, and maybe they’ll win.’ (Davie Archibald)
.1“): Arnold Kohen On East Timor (Books) Charlotte Square Gardens, 228 5444, 74 Aug, 7pm, £7.50 (£5.50).
THEATRE Shetland Saga *ir‘k Homesick sailors stranded in Shetland Three strike-bound Bulgarian sailors are in dire straits. For fourteen months, Shetland natives offer the homesick/seasick (i.e. missing the sea) Bulgarians hospitality. As their hard- drinking, hard-smoking visitors' money runs dry, everyone has to face some hard realities. Hotel receptionist Mena and ship's engineer Svetan discover their respective grammars take far longer to learn than the language of love in this contemporary political and domestically human drama. Playwright Sue Glover, of Bondagers fame, skirts around issues of national identity, instead exploring the separation of families through death, career choice and financial and political necessity, all in a lushly melancholic mood. (Gabe Stewart) Shetland Saga (Fringe) Traverse Theatre Company, Traverse (Venue 75) 228 7404, until 26 Aug (not Mon) various times, f 72 (£7.50).
always hit, but never really misses either. Always funny, often hilarious, the name Boom Chicago is a guarantee of an explosive night out. (Olly Lassman)
33 Boom Chicago Is Watching (Fringe) Boom Chicago, P/easance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 28 Aug (not i5, 27) 7.20pm, £8.50/EIO (£7.50/f9).
THEATRE
The Zero Yard *
Zeros or heroes?
It’s always possible that The Riot Group are apocalyptic poet-prophets: ingenious, but cerebrally-bruising, Kafkaesque crusaders of the soul. Likewise, The Zero Yard might actually
Group, The Garage (Venue 87) 227 9009, until 28 Aug, 7.30pm, f 7 (E5).
BOOK FESTIVAL PREVIEW Arnold Kohen On East Timor Documenting the struggle for independence Former NBC reporter Arnold Kohen covered the struggle of the East Timorese people long before it became either popular or fashionable. Since 1975 he's followed the country's fledgling independence movement and established firm ties with one of the movement’s leading figures, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Belo.
The title of his latest book The Place
The Riot Group fail to meet expectations
i 50 THE llST FESTIVAL GUIDE 10—17 Aug 2000