festival
cor'rrEer PRE‘JIE'y'J Four Gimps And A Pimp
Think 905 pimp, and recoil at a vision of sordid gangland nastiness. Think 70$ pimp, however, and it's all cuddly kitsch, amusing fashion faux- pas and hepcat slang. Zeron Gibson's flamboyant alter-ego Valentine Flyguy was born of that very contradiction. 'He's a pimp and a hustler; you wouldn’t want to know him, but because it's in 705 dress people are like, "You're so funky!" ' says Gibson.
Valentine is a man with troubles; not only is he occupying the wrong decade, but there’s a price on his afro'd head. ’Valentine's arch-enemy is Lionel Richie, who has a $50 contract out on him,’ deadpans his creator. Valentine is the product of Gibson’s love of biaxploitation films, and his favourite uncle’s wardrobe and has, unsurprisingly, come up against some hassle from the PC faction. 'A white man came up to me and said, "You're stereotyping the black people",' he recalls. 'But it's a satire! You can’t be a 705 pimp and be PC! "Excuse me, I'm going to hit you now".’
Then again, Gibson names Grace
Do the hustle: Valentine Flyguy
Jones as the ideal female adversary for his black Austin Powers. And she's one madam guaranteed to hit back. (Hannah McGill)
Four ( irrnps‘ And A Prnrp (Frrnge) Valentine Flyguy, Gr/ded Balloon // (Venue 36) 2:0 .3 r. :i~fr’r’)/\ug (not re) 70. 75pm, £6 (£5).
V Hrnrte exper‘rente'
That's raw rn the sense of an
; rrrterattrye, all-srnurng, all-dancing,
drsr o spectat ular Wrth a hrstory as tolorrrirrI as rts space-age settrng And (ot‘ktarls on tap (Hannah MCGIII)
; 1.2;: Sat/riy Jack And I he Space erens
(Frrnge) Pleasanrte (Venue 33) 555 (5550 5—30 Aug (not 23) 70pm, [5) 50,05) (7‘8)
COMEDY PREerw Andre Vincent Is Cheeky
At last year's Frrnge Andre Vrncent had a member of the audrence laughrng so rntenseiy that he threw up rnto hrs prnt. 'We had a good frve mrnutes takrng the prss out of hrm,‘ chuckles Vrncent who destrrbes hrs comedy as ‘cheeky' Yet last year he was described as berng 'the new dark vorce of teprcal comedy’ so what happened there, then? 'Nah, I’m Just berng myself', he says Wrth a wave of hrs hand
Andre Vrncent, an expanswe cockney fella wrth a penchant for loud shrrts, began hrs career rn phySrcal theatre and rn rmprov workrng Wrth the lrkes of Mrke Myers Unsurprrsrngly, he has no fear of strayrng from the scrrpt rf rt means gettrng the audrence rntrmately Involved
To thrs end he's gomg to recreate hrs garden On stage thrs year, complete wrth barbeCue and DJ. Should be quite a party (Ross Holloway) e Andre Vrncent ls Cheeky (Frrnge) Andre Vrncenr, Pleasance (Venue 33)
556 6550. 6—30 Aug, 10pm. £8.50/E 750 (F. 7.50/56 50) Prevrew 5 Aug, £4.
THEATRE PREVIEW Topless
'lt's a werrd thrng puttrng your Irfe rnto
your art,’ admits comrc actress Peta Lily. “Sometimes I get pangs. So why did I do it? I had no chorce. It drd me ' The ’rt’ thrs Australian-born former Frrnge First wrnner rs talkrng about rs Topless, a bravely funny and seamless hour of physrcal humour and parnful honesty derrved from her own recent hrstory as a woman fac'rng breast cancer around the same trme as her husband leaves her
'The show has got the brg three sex, money and death,’ states Lrly ’Mostly it's about Identrty, but that doesn't sound as sexy. It's really a coIIectron of subjectrve recollectrons mixed rndrscrrminately wrth some bare-faced exaggeratrons I had so many rugs removed from underneath me but I trred my best to keep laughrng my way through the events That's the way to go through Irfe’ (Donald Hutera) m Topless (Frrnge) Peta Lrly, K omedra (a) Souths/dc ( Venue 82) 667 2272. 6—29 Aug, 77.25pm, £7 (£5)
DANCE/PHYSICAL THEATRE PREVIEW War!
War. What is it good for? Absolutely
1 0pm-Late
theatre ' dance 0 comedy
entertarnment Far from armrnu to shock, WarI rs ultrmately rntendeti as a passronate entreaty for peace
A veteran company of some twenty years experrence, Teatr'o Nlr'llQOIt's festrve nature of the prece, together With Its provocatrve Stlb]t.‘tl matter (and drstrnct lack of prrceI shouIrI make It worthwhrle vrewmu tAIIan Radclrffe) its WarI (Frrnge) leatro A4.Nt’,’l.‘l7 D i? A F w" St Mary's (.‘atlretlra/ (Venue 709) 557 0707, 12~l~'/ltrt1, 70pm, free
nothrng, of c0urse Even worse than the realrty of destructron rs the Cynrcally manrpulatrve use of mrlrtary rmages rn mass Culture, At least, that's the vrew taken by Spanrsh company Teatro Ivtargen, whose rnobrle street spectacular sounds a blast aqarnst the (Tlamcrrsrnt; of conflrtt for mass consumptron
In a year whrt'h has proved fortuitous for lOllldlllIt rsed eprt s Irke Savrng Prrvate Ryan, thrs show employs a (lax/flint} fusion of tar‘nrvai, lrve songs, vrsual rmaues, strlt-walkrnri, frreworks and fire to fort e audrrt-nces rnto examrnrng therr acceptance of war as i
Overdose on laughter
Continued over page
starring
Cafe Royal (venue 47) 17 West Register Street
August 5—30 at 23.00 £7 (£5.50) Tickets 0131 556 2549
SCOTLAND: 2010
AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY a
lira
VENUE 45 10PM (11pm)
AUG 6 — 98 (NOT SUNDAY)
OLD ST PAULS CHURCH HALL
JEFFREY STREET
Box OFFICE: 0131 556 0476 £5.50 (£4.50)
5—12 Aug 1999 THE LIST 61