FESTIVAL THEATRE
DABARET
Hanger is all about multiple personalities. (No— I didn't think doppelga'nger meant that either). It‘s one ofthose dramas where the characters conclude by informing us that the entire proceedings have. in fact. just been a play — ie the performance has been a complete waste ofthe audience's time. Apparently. their material is by a light entertainment scriptwriter. Imagine a Two Ronnies sketch stretched to an hour. The two actresses deserve better. A few embarrassed titters punctuate this ritual slaughter. It ruined my night. (William Cook) I Doppleoénger Aircraft Hanger(Fringe) Edward the Deckchair. Roxburgh Theatre (Venue 27). 556 6869. until 2 Sept. 9.45pm. £3.50 (£3).
— MARK MIWURDZ
A comedian in an intimate setting has to be the sort of person you don‘t mind having a drink with. With Mark Miwurdz you could have several quite happily. Essentially a very personable bloke with a non-stop quick fire line of jokes. he pays lip service to the major current bugbears carried around by comedians. such as ecology and sexism, but never kow-tows to them. Appearing like one ofthe Specials on speed. he gets belly laughs from his gut reactions. In the crowded Comedy Boom venue not a single joke was allowed to slip past. Though his lcxicographical wit is sharperthan ever (borrowing a dictionary off ‘Collin‘ for the evening). his act has expanded and now explores other comic avenues. Mark my words he's a bloody good laugh. (Ross Parsons)
I See Hitlist for venue
details.
I ‘ - \ AAAAAAAAARGH! THETUNNEL CLUB CDMESTD EDINBURGH
The celebrated (now defunct) Tunnel Club from London was greeted by a dismally small first-night audience. but a
week later the place was bursting and host/ compere Malcolm llardec in fine outrageous form (first sight ofa naked man on the Fringe — not a pretty sightl). First act John Moloney. ‘the angry young accordianist' combines— bizarrely — Irish melodies and throwaway angry mutterings. Less desultory jokes this second time and more laughter. ‘a full pair of cars is the equivalent ofa tuxedo in Deptford‘. Ventriloquist Terri Rogers and friend Shorty Harris were brilliant — mesmerisingly funny and well worth seeing. Open-mike spots for the daring (a 13 year old William Langton last Friday was wierdly funny). and hecklers are positively welcome. (Lily MacGillivray)
I Tunnel Club Comes To Edinburgh (Fringe). Pleasance (Venue 33). 556 6550. until 2 Sept (not Thurs). 11.45pm. £5 (£4).
A BIT OF LATE BELIEF
A Bit of Late Reliefisa thoroughly apt title. The show is a double bill . with comics Dreenagh Darrel and Finlay Michaels sharing the limelight. and for the first half of its one hour it is awful. Thisis because Darrel comes on first. Supposedly outrageous and hilarious. she is in fact only outrageous in the degree of brass neck it must take to stand on stage for thirty minutes with so little talent and, essentially. only three jokes.
Michaels. when he finally comes on. is a welcome relief. In appearence and delivery he is a sort of young, funny. manically depressed David Steel and. with a spot of polishing, seems set to be one of those very slick. introspective comedians beloved ofthe late night cabaret set. (Iain Grant) I A all of Late Rellet (Fringe). Greyfriars Kirk (Venue 28). 225 3626, 27 Aug-2 Sept. 10.30pm. £3.50 (£2.50).
ONE MAN AND HIS SHOW
I suppose it gets dull. standing behind a microphone every night doing a straightforward comedy routine; but when it's well done. there's not much to beat it.
This show features two very able stand-up
comedians. Stephen Frost ,
and Sean Hughes. and has basically one joke. which I shall not reveal. It's well conceived and well performed. Imagination. energy and originality have been employed. But the fact is that it's irritating. It‘s meant to be irritating. ofcourse. but it‘s meant to be amusineg irritating. and although the irritation amuses most ofthe time. at certain points it just irritates. There‘sa highly amusing stand-up routine fighting to emerge. but because it only gets out in dribs and drabs. it never builds momentum. which I can‘t help feeling isa waste. I admire the bravery of a show like this. but I don't think it really paysoff. (Andrew Burnet) I One Man And His Show (Fringe) Stephen Frost and Sean Hughes. Gilded Balloon Theatre (Venue 38) 2262151 . until26 Aug. 11pm.£4.50(£3.5()).
— TONY ALLEN
I imagine Deacon Brodie looked like him: tall. craggy. black-clad. half-bearded. Respected councillor by day. knocking them dead at night. I also suspect that the Deacon would have selected the Comedy Boom as his Venue. by far the best in Edinburgh for this flushed and fast-paced variety of standup. Mr Allen began by canvassing the crowd for subjects. He doesn‘t quite trust the bouncers at church. but exempts them from his Can't Pray. Won't Pray campaign. This surprises, because he is merciless on scientific subjects. from tropical savannah wasps to Heisenberg to New Guinea anthropology. As the folks next to me said. ‘Was that really 90 minutes?‘ It was. We weren‘t at all sorry we missed Lenny Bruce. (Wes Shrum) I See Hitlist for venue details.
_ BHUTEFARCE
Four young men take on the troubles. fads. attitudes and idiocies of our age. They tackle. torment and tear at anything and everything from the Channel tunnel to mortgage martyrs. turning lots ofstandard repsonscs on their heads. It‘s mordant. it‘s witty. it‘s slick. it's snappily-drcssed — though the odd sketch demands donning a bin-liner. Some shorties breathe new fun into old gags. such as Frankenstein. the breed
of racing commentators. the menacing bank-manager. the lines the Beatles rejected — others are zanily inventive and satirical. especially the virtuoso piece about an actor collecting his award. A topical running-in-and-out gag about impenetrable American accents keeps punchin punctuating the piece. Good to see a wide variety ofcontemporary issues bitten into so sharply and accurately. (Tinch Minter)
I See llitlist for venue details.
— EDDIE IZZARD
Eddie Izzard starts his show in the snack bar. buying coffees all round in a vain attempt to ellicit any scrap of conversation from his bemused audience. After all this hospitality, his stand up set feels like something of an afterthought.
Silver service catering behind Vietnamese lines and Church of England fundamentalists are his funniest flights offancy. But while his humouris rich. and his style friendly. his delivery is woefully woolly. As with so many comedians on this year‘s fringe. he‘d excel in a twenty minute slot. but hasn‘t enough quality material for a whole show. He makes a little go a long way, and it shows.
Eddie Izzard deserves a slap on the back for debunking the mystique of the stand-up comic. He‘s a smashing bloke . but there are a good few shows you should catch before his one. (William Cook)
I Eddie Izzard (Fringe) Greyfriars Kirk House (Venue 28). 225 3626. until 2 Sept. 11.25pm,£3 (£2.50).
KIT AND THE WIDOW
From their opening number— ‘Please, Not the Perrier Award‘ — totheir second encore, this duo exhibit a mastery of material and audience. If you have perchance avoided a visit because of their reputation as a posh, spit-and-polished English act you owe them alisten. You will find their show greener and more relevant than nearly every other act on the Fringe — and they don‘t simply preach to the converted. (Wes Shrum)
I Kit and the Widow (Fringe). Cafe Royal Bistro Theatre (Venue 78), 557 4792, 21 Aug—2 Sept. 6.15pm and 8.15pm, £5 (£4.50).
STOP PRESS
SLEEPING BEAUTY
When set against theatrical heavyweights. a show put on by a Young People's Theatre and Dance Company might sound no more attractive than a revue by a hospital comedy group or an Oxbridge footlights outfit. Well. when it comes to Notts Education‘s Sleeping Beauty. any disparaging prejudices should be treated with the contempt they deserve.
Adapting the well-known tale to incorporate a few neatly-crafted comments on the environment. a skilfully-constructed script provides the teenagers with an opportunity to present a show which is thoroughly entertaining. Some ofthe one-liners are priceless. and whilst the children in the audience are unreserved in their appreciation, the adults are not that far behind either.
Perhaps productions such as this have the stamp of a committed group of behind-the-scenes administrators. but in the case of Notts Education their effect has obviously been inspirational. In response. the cast put on a show of considerable quality. (Mike Wilson)
I Sleeping Beauty (Fringe) Nottinghamshire Education. Davie Street (Venue 16) 667 2388. until 24 Aug. 10.45am. £2 (£1). Diverse Attractions (Venue 11) 225 8961 . until 25 Aug, 10.15am, Free. . 3., a" I. may.“ - g
AND THEN THEY CAME FOR ME
The play takes its title from the East European poem about the man who fails to speak out when the secret police round up his dissident neighbours and raises the issue of personal responsibility within a command structure.
The responsibility addressed in particular is that ofthe subordinate soldiers in the Nazi death camps who carried out their superiors' orders to execute the victims of the concentration camps. Interspersed with factual information about the atrocities are mock
interrogations conducted on the doctors and soldiers who compromised themselves through fear and unquestioning dutifulness.
The production is at its strongest when it involves audience participation of a particularly brutal kind: ‘Simon says clap' a slide demands ofa silent audience at the end; and at the start an SS officer segregates men and women into different sides ofthe auditorium. The rest of the piece could have been more valuably directed in this direction. (James Penn)
I And Then They Came For Me (Fringe) Oxford College Players. Festival Club. Chambers Street (Venue 36) 225 8283. Until 2 Sept. 8.30pm £3 (£2.50)
BEAUTY DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMDRE
This immensely talented London company has plenty of meat on its bones. Beauty follows the growing awareness of Billy. an ardent and affable chap ofmixed parentage whose aspirations are higher than his current job at Mario‘s Marital Aids. He‘s an idea man. eagerto learn. But an unfortunate run ofluck takes him to Rotterdam as a driver for a gentleman in an uncertain business. while a bemused narrator looks on to some neat blueswork. Dave Fishley (Billy) gives us an ebullient Tom Jones for the 19805 in Simon Blake‘s well-tempered drama. (Wes Shrum)
I Beauty Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Fringe) Change In Speak. Mandela Theatre at the Wee Red Bar (Venue 79). 229 1003. until 26 Aug. 3pm.£3.50 (£2.50).
— BLOOD FEUDS
This is a hard-hitting play about sexual politics. Fast moving, funny, and tragic, Blood Feud: exploits a Disneyland mentality that conditions us to expect a happy ending, as it moves, and inevitably, towards the final, traumatic conclusion. (Vicky Senior).
I Blood Feud: (Fringe) GW Theatre Company, Hill Street Theatre (Venue 41), 225 7294, until 26 Aug, 9.15pm. 28 Aug--2 Sept, 12. 15pm, £4 (£3.50).
16 The List 25 — 31 August 1989