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COMEDY REVIEW Noise And Other Announcements
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Boyz certainly has a problem with noise. It seems that it fails to arouse his ire sufficiently to fire enough fury to give his observations a great deal of bite. He's certainly a gifted comic and mimic, but his relaxed good humour often holds him back from attacking the chosen subject at hand with the necessary venom.
This show sees him successfully trying his hand at character comedy —airline pilots and railway station announcers are nifty little vignettes of everyday irritations and his dead-on impression of Dave Allen is also a wmner. Not just for laughs, it makes you realise who Boyz has been reminding you of all this time. (Rory Ford)
e Noise And Other Announcements (Fringe) Geoff Boyz, Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 37 Aug, 70. 75pm, £9/f8 ([8/f7).
THEATRE REVIEW Pumpkin Pie Show
is“ a,» 7%
By turns eerie, fasCinating and funny, this strenuous reading of three short stories, set largely in the American deep South, Is a genumely bizarre experience. Accompanied by nerdy accordion player Thomas Aldrich, reader and author Clay Macleod Chapman gyrates his way through his tales, with rolling eyes and flailing limbs. There's a touch of Jack Nicholson in his v0ice, which captures Southern popular idiom to good effect. Perhaps the highlight is the first story, ’The Pool Witch’, a hilariously earnest account of three adolescents' obsession wrth a young female pool attendant, but all are effective. (Steve Cramer) fi Pumpkin Pie Show (Fringe) Fractured Atlas Productions, Garage Theatre (Venue 87) 227 9009, unti/ 31 Aug, 71.15pm, [5 (£4)
THEATRE REVIEW The Case Of The Wandering Corpse 'fir air air For those in search of a campy C/uedo or a warped whodunnit, look no further than Canadian spoof-meisters, Solar Stage A detective is on a murder case which becomes more confused by the minute, With a houseful of psychos, misfits, drunks and harlots. Identities are forever shifting and clues dropping as death becomes plural. Part high socrety satire, part film nOIr homage and wrtli the odd nod towards Dal/as-esque American soaps and the underlying incest therein, The Case Of The Wandering Corpse is fun and fluffy, if just a little insubstantial. (Brian Donaldson) % The Case Of The Wandering Corpse (Fringe) Solar Stage, Hill Street Theatre (Venue 47) 226 6522, until 37 Aug, 70pm, £6. 50 (£5).
1OPm—Late
COMEDY REVIEW Gawk-A-Go-Go! :5: we '5':
This show is made possible by fluorescent marker pens, an Itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny leopardskin bikini, 3-D glasses, a pair of leather trousers and far too many years spent watching trashy movies featuring freaks, geeks and mountainous twin peaks. We are talking trash-culture obsessions played out on a tiny stage with a very large imagination indeed.
For an hour of glorious B-picture homage, Miss Vixen van Voom and Mr Skink Fink (not forgetting The Gimp) take you to a whacked-Out place you ain't gonna find nowhere else on the Fringe. Fans of any mOVIe with Return Of in the title may add an extra star to the above rating. (Ed Wooden)
‘35 Gawk-A-Go-Go.’ (Fringe) Brand X, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 37 Aug, 77 35pm, [6.50/[6 (£5.50/f5).
COMEDY REVIEW Stay Alive Pepi eeee
When Bob Mortimer loves you and George Dawes pays to see you, chances are you’re dOIng something vaguely right. Yet, despite such lofty endorsement Stay Alive Pepi are struggling here. Much of the crowd look bored, vexed by the seemingly laboured irreverence on offer which is a shame given the trio's uniquely irrational charm.
Much of their plain daft skits may well be sheer nonsense in search of a punchline but there's enough raw madness here to gurde them through. Even in spite of their often wrlful absurdity. And as for George Dawes? He loved it. (Barry Mcpherson)
53?. Stay Alive Pepi (Fringe) Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 5 Sep, 77. 75pm, f9 50/[850 (£8.50/f750)
THEATRE REVIEW
Great Monsters Of Western Street
Murder in the dark was always a top party game. Here in the stage version,
we find a bizarre tWIlight zone peopled by SOCIal misfits. After being Visited by
night-callers, a gay couple haunted by paranOIa, gudt, fear and prejudice, find themselves thrust centre stage into a horror story of epic proportions.
A first play from writer John Myatt, the piece bristles wrth ideas but too many undeveloped threads make for a splintered, unclear whole as the action lapses into a farcrcal blood bath, Attempts at controversial social comment are caCk-handed, while neither characters nor plot are conVInCIng or engaging on any level. Shockingly bad. (Claire Prentice)
m Great Monsters Of Western Street (Fringe) Throat, Famous Grouse House (Venue 34) 220 5606, until 30 Aug, 70pm, [7 ([5)
Assembly Rooms
Aug 1 - Aug 30 @ 11:45pm Box Office
Aug 31 - Sept 5 @ 10:00pm 0131 226 2428
Except Aug 17, 24. Sept 1
'Full of raw talent... an original comedic voice" - Time Out- NY
“Hysterical...
Demented "
- New York Daily News
UPSTAIRS
fiExtraordinary late night cabaret"
Calj. ‘.'.al
’w54 George St. Edinburgh
27 Aug—10 Sep 1998 THE ”ST 49