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music books
DANCE Lady Salsa *‘kt
Dance, music feast let down by inept ’story’
Toby Gough is a man who likes to try things. However, as with last year's Dannii Macbeth, his grand vision becomes so blurred that you are left with two shows taking place in front of you and no hint that they will ever marry happily.
The torrid history of Cuba is brought to you by a salsa band and frenetic dance troupe who keep the excitement high, until the dispatches between our Scotsman in Havana and Lady Salsa herself have it going down quicker than rum cocktails on a Cuban stag night. You have to admire Gough for his ideas but pulling them off is another battle. (Brian Donaldson)
I Lady Salsa (Fringe) Edinburgh ’5 Garden Party (Venue 50) 226 2757/2428, until 28 Aug (not 22—26) 9.45pm; 22—26 Aug, 77pm, £70 (£9).
COMEDY Omid Djalili *** Whirlwind of laughs and politics Omid Djalili, Britain's only Iranian comedian, gets to grip with some serious issues — race, religion - but scrupulously avoids becoming ’heavy'. In fact, when Djalili suspects his act is veering that way, he breaks the routine either by dancing like a wild dervish or laughing maniacally. And Djalili's got the physical presence to pull this off: a big build, hairy and with a set of gnashers that’d send the hardest man screaming for his mother. The show's a chaotic mix of physical comedy, social observation and vocal impersonations, and if it occasionally seems rushed and uneven that’s down to Djalili's winning whirlwind style. (Miles Fielder) I Warm To My Winning Smile (Fringe) Omid Djalili, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 28 Aug (not 22) 8.55pm, £8.50/£9.50 (£7. 50/[8 50).
COMEDY
Who's In It
Anyway? *‘k‘k‘k
lmprov antics without
Clive Anderson
If you’re tired of taking
chances with avant-garde
(unfunny) comics then go
for this tried and tested formula. Steve Frost and a
rotating band of merry
men ask their r
fiv-
audience to write place names on paper, drop them in a box and then the fun commences.
Imagine TV’s Who’s Line Is It Anyway and you get the picture, though Clive Anderson and his buzzer would have been useful when some of the sketches fall flat. But, by the end of the show, the audience shook with laughter as the comics created a new play, ’The Port Of Leith’, performed first in the style of Shakespeare, then Chekov, then Tarantino. Guaranteed laughs. (Louisa Pearson)
I Who’s In It Anyway? (Fringe) Gilded Balloon (Venue 38) 226 2 75 7, until 28 Aug (not 20, 27) 8pm, £8 (£7).
COMEDY
Brendan Burke ht
Ex-lraqi resident’s tired tales Despite his reputation, Brendan Burke is not the comedy god you may have been led to believe. His material is lacking in originality, and he really doesn't seem to be that convinced of its worth himself.
The show is advertised as being inspired by his time living in Iraq during the Gulf War; why then, did the majority of the set consist of tired routines about the differences between men and women? Maybe it was just an off night, but as he limped from one poorly conceived gag to the next, a night in war-torn Baghdad began to look appealing.
(Kirsty Knaggs)
I One Night In Baghdad (Fringe) Brendan Burke, Gilded Balloon (Venue 38) 226 2757, until 28 Aug, 8.30pm, £8 (£7).
COMEDY The League Against Tedium tit
Techno-comedy with a message Simon Munnery has a masterpiece up his sleeve. It just seems that until he has full mastery of his technology (and a larger slice of luck) that is where it will stay. 'Next year, I’m just going to stand and talk,’ Munnery proclaims at one point, frustrated at the loss of sound and the continual slipping off of his keyboard's shoulder strap. At least he could solve
A monstrous evocation of disillusionment
THEATRE
The Second Amendment Club *****
Analysing the real American psychos
If you are unfamiliar with the tragic story of the Columbine High School shootings that dominated the news last year, here's a brief resume. Two teenage boys - part of the misfits known as ’T he Trenchcoat Mafia' - opened fire upon their fellow students, claiming fifteen lives. Subsequent debates focused upon a sector of society that was privileged and well- educated but, more importantly, largely ignored: the white, middle-class, teenage male.
The Columbine massacres and a string of similar but less sensational incidents, alerted an unsuspecting America to a new, previously invisible, but chillingly close-to-home strain of pathological fuck-up. And one that was far from the ghettos or crime-spots of America, but festering upstairs playing Nintendo.
In The Second Amendment Club, award-winning student writer Peter Morris' psychological construct 'Teen', represents an archetypal exploration of the sexual and social inferiority complex symptomatic of the ‘Columbine' persona. Teen is a complex, often sympathetic, character which, thanks to a charismatic and relentlessly energetic performance will have you chuckling one minute, and shifting uneasily in your seat the next.
A monstrous evocation of disillusionment, WASPish xenophobia, intellectual frustration and emotional dysfunction, this is a highly-charged attempt to encapsulate the embittered, misanthropic adolescent that America simply didn‘t see coming.
Morris evidently has not only an in-depth and intimate grasp of the mind- set of ‘Kevin the teenager with a grudge and a sawn off', but also the intellect and theatrical ability to do justice to such a relevant and sensitive subject. The result is a powerful, extremely important and thought- provoking piece of theatre. (Olly Lassman)
I The Second Amendment Club (Fringe) Oxford University Dramatic Society, C underbelly (Venue 67) 225 5705, until 27 Aug, 8pm, £7.50 (£5.50).
Watson after a Martian invasion of Victorian London. Holmes is presumed dead and Watson is left to save Old Blighty.
This rather odd sci-fi/detective hybrid shouldn’t really work but it does. With its tuppence set, camp dialogue and knowing nods to the audience, this is so silly it borders on pantomime and is all the better for it. Writer/director Jonathan Barnes should be commended for a great job on a shoestring as should the jovial cast. Hardly original but definitely one of the less pretentious pleasures this August. (Paul Dale)
I Sherlock Holmes Against The Martians (Fringe) Black Pig Productions, Greyfriars Kirk House (Venue 28) 225 6575, until 28 Aug (not 27) 9.40pm, £6 (£5). I
the latter with a bit of gaffer tape.
It's all such a pity, for the material he has at his disposal is intelligent, provocative and downright funny. A glitch-free League would be a glory to behold. (Brian Donaldson)
I / Am, I Will (Fringe) The
League Against Tedium,
Meadows Big Top (Venue
789) 667 0202, until 27 Aug (not 22) 9.30pm, f 8. 50-£ 9.50 (£7. 50—f8. 50).
THEATRE Sherlock Holmes A ainst The Martians ** Enjoyable Victorian spoof This is a rattling yarn drawn from the supposed reminiscences of Dr. John H.