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on the cathartic sideThrough monologues, songs and sketches his inner puppet tries to deal with how surreal and horrible the real world actually is.

Just in case the world of comedy fails to fulfil his puppet needs, he’s already got his eye on a similar public sphere. 'If entertainment doesn't serve my purpose, I can always have a career in politics.’ How true. (Dawn Kofie)

I Shadow Puppets (Fringe) Phil Nichol, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550. 6—30 Aug (not 9) 8.45pm, £9/E8 (E 8/1; 7).

FESTIVAL 8-10pm continued

COMEDY PREVIEW Shadow Puppets

THEATRE PREVIEW Out Of The Dolls House

Childhood is all too often refered to as the best years of your life - a heady whirl of sherbet fountains, comics and discos. Negative Equity beg to differ and they should know they are kids.

What started out as a Summer School project in Tamworth ('somewhere near the middle of nowhere') has grown into a sixteen-strong cast of teenagers who have developed a series of sketches with the project's leaders Rebekah Fortune and Peter Machen. Out Of The Dolls House will blow any romantic preconceptions you might have about growing up in 903 suburbia. All aspects of teenage life are dealt with, from prostitution, pressure and pills to bullying, pulling and puberty.

Muppet show-off: Phil Nichol

Phil Nichol is comIng out of the closet . . . as a puppet. A marionette to be preCIse.

’I can’t wait to get to Edinburgh and tell everybody. Instead of pretending to be human, I can feel a weight off my shoulders,‘ says the winner of this year's Time Out Comedy Award.

Accordingly, the former Corky And The Jurce Pigs gurtarIst's show is a bit

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HlLL STREET THEATRE. Venue 41 7-30 August (not 8. 15 or 19) 7.55pm-9.15pm

Box office 0131-226 6522/ Fringe Box office 0131 226 5138

This is as real as theatre gets ’The play is all based on the personal expenence of those actIng it,’ explains Fortune, 'So it’s like life really ~ sad, touching, funny and shockmg.’ Your parents would hate It.

(Victoria Nutting)

I Out Of The Dolls House (Fringe) Negative Equity Theatre Company, Chaplaincy Centre (Venue 23) 662 8882, 7-73 Aug. 8.30pm, £5 (£3 50)

COMEDY PREVIEW Norman Lovett

'Mark Thomas was so exCIted: 'YOU SUPPORTED THE CLASH?’ I said, 'That’s right, Mark, I did loads of punk bands.’ Wow. Forget the image of the avuncular stand-up, fame as Red Dwarf’s Holly or his status as Comedy Store veteran (along wrth the lIkes of Alexei Sayle, Keith Allen and Arnold Brown). Norman Lovett Is rock 'n’ roll incarnate. Well, almost.

’I didn't speak to them,’ he adds, somewhat sheepishly. 'They just sad hello to girls tall girls in leather, groupie types.’

'I had a guitar then. I used to do John Peel impressions. Then I went to the Comedy Store and saw what they were doing. That's how I developed my style.’

And such Style. Whether explorIng the angst of the Ikea shopper or encountering scary Steven Berkoff In the sports department of John LeVVIs, Lovett's delivery is as dead as pan can be. Mock the casbah. (Rodger Evans)

I Norman Lovett (Fringe) Pleasance Over The Road (Venue 33) 556 6550. 6- 75 Aug. 8.30pm, £8.50 (£7 50).

DANCE PREVIEW I Can't See A Thing It's So

Dark

Big Onion from the Big Apple In the

States have as many multimedia

textures as an onion itself has layers. Founded nearly four years ago, thIs

' collective of theatre, film and video

artIsts began developing this particular prece In mid 1995. It's an hour-long collage of physical improvisation, music, sound and text, telling the st0ry of a day spent at the beach by three women; a day that never happened. Director and one third of the cast, Alison Russo is Incrediny enthused about their premiere performance in the UK: ’lt's a piece that has been workshopped and all told, we’ll get the chance to perform it more times

. during the Festival then we have

altogether in the last three years in the States. Being director I’m pretty Involved in the piece, It’s close to my heart so it will be fantastic to show it to a completely new audience.‘ Challenging the traditions of physical theatre, this visceral and visual piece promises to be an esoteric and emotionally uplifting experience. (Tracy Griffen) I / Can ’t See A Thing It '5 50 Dark (Fringe) Big Onion, The Famous Grouse House (Venue 34) 220 5606, 6-29 Aug (not 76, 23) 9.30pm, £ 7 (£5).

THEATRE PREVIEW

Saving Grace

New Zealand actor and director Dale Corlett Is nothing if not versatile. He's appeared in the camp classic series, Xena The Warrior Princess, he's a regular in a TV cop show, and is currently developing a feature film to be shot early next year.

Corlett is in Edinburgh as producer and director of this award-winning play about a homeless 19-year-old girl and her encounter with an unemployed carpenter twice her age. The show has received massive acclaim in its home territory for its collision of intense subject matter and dark comedy. There's even a screen version doing the rounds of the film festival circuit.

He Is clearly delighted to be involved: 'With the ability of the actors and the

Spring onions: I Can't See A Thing It's So Dark by Big Onion