THE DIG
Watching this one-woman play about an archaeologist’s dig into her past, is much like trying to complete a cryptic crossword. At first we see the woman involved in a bizarre and intriguing ritual that involves taking a garden gnome and feeding it from a pint bottle ofmilk. Slowly the woman unearths more clues to explain her crazed state of mind; curlers that she used to roll into her daddy's hair. a bloodied eg that she offers prostrate to her father. The play is overloaded with religious and fertility symbols which. it becomes clear. point to her impregnation by her father.
Despite a riveting performance by Carran Waterfield, the play works on too cerebral a level to be wholly successful. although at the moment of catharsis some ofthe symbols come neatly. even potently. together. (Robert Alstead)
I The Dlg (Fringe) Triangle. The Roxy (Venue 27) 650 8499. unti 5 Sept (not Suns). 7pm. £4 (£2.50).
V OABARET ‘
PHIL KAY AND MR TRELLIS
Phil Kay can impersonate anybody using his hair alone. And what copious locks they are. as animated as the man himself. At a million syllables per second. Kay bounces offthe audience like an Intercity. although he is probably somewhat more reliable. In any case. he takes us to Mr Trellis
vmwne l
on time.
You get the impression that these three lrishmen only have enough time to provide a tantalising
! glimpse of their range. ; They begin as a ' synchronised swim team.
split offinto separate beings with highly individual spots ranging from stand-up to Eurosong. and are drawn magnetically. to become Mr Trellis. the group. once again. Any one of the trio could hold down a show of his own. As isit. Mr Trellis are offering a veritable comedy bargain. (Roberta Mock)
I Three lrishmen andA Scotsman Were on This
7 Train— Right (Fringe) Phil
Kay and MrTrellis. Gilded Balloon (Venue 38) 2262151 . until 5 Sept. 6pm. £5 (£4).
V COMEDY
f AROUND THE 3 WORLD IN 50
MINUTES
Given the plethora of top-class humour- merchants playing at the
Fringe. it‘s hard to i understand why so many . little-known would-be
comics set themselves up for disappointment by putting on a show which is doomed from the outset to draw unfavourable comparisons. Okay. so everyone has to start somewhere. but an entirely derivative and dated combination of impressions. lacklustre one-liners and increasingly wearing nudge-nudge double
' entendres. loosely based
around events that hit the headlines during the past year. hardly seems like the ideal place to choose. Spare yourself this one. (Sue Wilson)
I Around the World in 50 Minutes (Fringe) Graeme
; l
OUT ALL NIGHT AND LOST MY SHOES
- Terry Galloway is deaf and her eye-sight’s not too hot. She is also a
line physical periormer, a natural communicatorand, perhaps surprisingly, a reasonable mimic. And
she’s irom Texas.
I’m not sure what any of this has to do with anything, but it keeps hertaiking
llkeable enough, but her personal history goes all on one meander too
many and by the end, I’d lorgotten why she’d started talking to us in the Iirst place. Not rounded enough tor a story,
not funny enough for comedy and not
cathartic enough for therapy. Out all
Night somehow doesn’t make the most
Fisher)
ior a good hour in a show that’s a cross
between story-telling, stand-up
comedy and therapy.
It is by turns amusing, interesting and tangential, and Galloway herseli is
at Its promising ingredients. (Mark
Out all Night and Lost My Shoes
(Fringe) Terry Galloway, Assembly
Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 5 Sept, 26/27 (25/26).
Coulam. Hill Street
Theatre (Venue 41 ) 225 7294. until 29 Aug(not 23).6. 10pm. £4 (£3.50)
V OABARET
; PAUL MOROCCO
AND THE EC BIG BAND
Three men with guitars and an obsession with fruit — they Clown around a bit. play the guitar a bit. juggle abit and . . . er.that‘s about it. Actually. it’s pretty skilful and quite entertaining.
Morocco and co play a mean flamenco guitar and Morocco is a dab hand at juggling oranges and almost as good with the firebrands. The show is kept bowling along on the wave of Morocco‘s
exuberantdaftness and his
flair for audience
participation. The
embarrassing.
wlt.
It’s not just that c.P. Taylor's previoust unproduced musical comedy is cruder drawn, schematic and not particularly iunny, it’s also that Filth Estate’s production tails to make the most ot its rough and ready elements. Despite Paul Ambrose Wright’s cartoon set design (which in practice looks tacky rather than wacky), this is a ioyless production, painfully thin on character, style and
Admittedly the venue does it no iavours -voices echo coldly round this old corn exchange, depriving the show otany intimacy, but It'd need a big shot
THE BALLACHULISH BEA :
Oh, how depressing. To think that this represents 20 per cent ot the Scottish Input to the Intematlonal Festival. It’s
iiiiifie‘sw
of direction and purpose to enliven this sorry production. Let’s just pretend it never happened, eh? (Mark Fisher)
The Ballachullsh Beat (International
Festival) Filth Estate, Corn Exchange, 225 5756, until 22 Aug, 7.30pm; Fri and Sat mats 2.30pm, £10 (£5).
children in the audience were delighted with the whole thing. especially when Morocco spat ping-pong balls at their father.
Nothing can disguise the fact. however. that this is essentially street-theatre that has been transported indoors and is more suited to half-an-hour on the piazza than an hour on stage. (Frances Cornford) I Paul Morocco and the it: Big Band (Fringe) The Gilded Balloon Theatre (Venue 38) 226 2151. until 5 Sept. 6.30pm. £6.50 (£5.50).
V THEATRE
THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE
So this is young Granville Barker— the ultimate ‘neglected genius‘ dug up and dusted down as part of the McMaster plan. Cynics will say that he should have been left to rot. but I think tha the new Festival supremo is on to something here. Admittedly, Voysey is over-long by today‘s standards, its theme is financial fraud (not the
: most dynamic of topics). it
is set exclusively in a sombre office and an austere dining room, and there is barely a plot.
But. and it’s a monumental but in this year‘s mad. pelvic- thrusting arts jamboree, it’s subtle and gently
rsuasive. There are no Ezroes. no villains. no crazies, just ordinary people being as funny or as sinister as ordinary people can be.
Having, for once. the funds to do full justice to a
quality play, the Lyceum company radiates class, and while this may not have the sudden impact of any amount of shows that you may see this August. it will probably live considerably longer in the memory. (Philip Parr)
I The Voysey Inheritance (International Festival) Royal Lyceum Theatre. 7pm. until 22 Aug (Tue, Sat mats 2pm). £4—£15.
v THEATRE §
REDEMPTIVE
Redemptive is the
I powerfulfinaletolames : O’Brien‘strilogyabout
the miscarriage of justice. This piece is self-contained and VERY LOUD. Four very unpleasant characters are jailed for a murder they did not commit, caught in a web of lies, persecuted by hostility and incompetence. We witness the accusations, arrest, trial, and imprisonment - played like a game of Prisoner’s Dilemma on a stage of smoke, backlighting, and
’ v CABARET
kettle on. . .’
_ McGowan and Two Girls
5 to the playwright for the
5 of his life: this play uses
l l l
ironically. this makes for a
.' emphasises the gulf
strobe lights to the tune of 1
a lone fiddle and VERY LOUD special effects. The show is indeed
| redemptive, or at least
refreshing after an overdose of LA Law. but it misses ironic opportunities inherent in a story about confessed criminals depicted as ‘innocent' men in pursuit oftheir destinies. (Wes Shrum)
I Redemptive (Fringe) Giro Theatre. Demarco's (Venue 22) 5570707. 17—22 Aug. 6pm. £4.50
(£3.50).
.4 excerpts from Chekhov‘s
to each other to explore their revolutionary ideas
sea/8m
7.30 AT THE GALLERY
Why they have to put a ‘what‘ in their name I don’t know, but these girls really can sing. Their witty rewrites are as good to listen to as their straight a cappella renderings of pop classics — and so much funnier than those of the average bawling revue team, because they use the original songs so well. The boy’s not bad either. McGowan is one of the voices behind Spitting Image. Out of the backdrop of his particularly English middle-class urbanity, springs this whole plethora of characters. Gary Lineker. Julian Clary, Antoine de Caunes, the ultimate beer-drinking, pigeon-keeping Northerner. . . He is at his best sliding from one to another — Jonathan Woss into David Bellamy, John Major into Michael Cane — ‘Norma. put the bluddy
Like the girls, McGowan may not be startlingly original, but his performance is so slick he is very entertaining. (Catherine Fellows)
I 7.30 at the Gallery (Fringe) Alistair
What Sing, Gilded Balloon Theatre (Venue 38) 226 2151 . until 5 Sept (not 24), 7.30pm, £5 (£4).
V THEATRE FRESH OYSTERS
Chekhov, Stanislavski and Olga Knipper. the woman who was married
last illness-blighted years
the letters the three wrote
about theatre. Unfortunately. and
static piece: the spotlight on each in turn delivering monologues only
between what the actors are saying and what they are doing. The best scenes, the only really engaging ones, are the few
own wonderful plays. Only here do we get adequate dramatic interaction. not to mention insight into human relationships. and the chance to laugh. (Catherine Fellows)
I Fresh Oysters (Fringe) The Chekhov Players. Theatre Workshop (Venue 20) 226 5425. until 22 Aug. 7pm. £4 (£3).
The List 21 —27 August 1992 39