Episode 2: Fringe Show Reviewing!

Oh, hello! It's been a while...

However... instead of the 4000 word apology/procrastination explanation post I have in fact written about why I haven’t updated this in… er... 17 months (oh geez), I’m going to just breezily put this post up instead and see if the crushing guilt of 'should-have' goes away if I ignore it entirely instead of feeding it with attention and making it bigger. That always works, right?

Also, doing otherwise would mean I need to re-edit my 4000 word apology/procrastination post again which somehow for me always makes things longer instead of shorter, and no one needs to read a 6000 word apology/procrastination post. So you're welcome.

Right! Without further almost-apology, I have tried my hand at reviewing some Fringe shows this year, which I have never done before, at least in writing. If you saw any of these and have other thoughts, or saw things you think I should have seen too, please comment below and let me know!
 
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EDINBURGH FRINGE 2024

August in Edinburgh is the best kind of insanity.

I love the Fringe festival. Of course, like all locals, I reserve the right to complain about the packed buses and the £12 pints and all the rest, but the complaints are as much a love language as anything. Edinburgh turns mad for a month, and I like mad. When else can you walk down the street and see a woman in a sequined cocktail dress carrying a fake corpse with no head blithely running for a bus, as you pass someone in a potato costume handing out flyers while spouting endless vegetable puns while on your way to have a drink with pals where one of their pals comes by and tells you how he’s been eating a kilogram of cheese on stage every night except twice a week now when he has to disappoint the audience and eat lettuce instead, on new (and may I say very understandable) doctor’s orders?

Some years I Fringe intensely and see loads of shows and other years I might only catch one pal’s performance and that’s it, just soaking up the atmosphere instead. This year was in-between but closer to the former, despite working full time, and I did most of my show-seeing in one glorious heck of a week. Naturally, I made it worse by booking the wrong date for something the first weekend, which had a knock-on effect of making three already bought tickets very difficult to rearrange, which I solved by running for a tram after one show like I was in Trainspotting, then leaping on my bike, pre-parked by the tram stop, to absolutely fly to the next show starting a few minutes later on the other side of town. That was almost a show in itself. But I made it!

Anyway, I thought I might try, for the first time, reviewing what I’d seen. I always like to dissect things afterwards with whoever I’ve seen it with, but I’ve never written it up before, so here goes… I’ll start with the bottom and work up, so stick around (or scroll down to the end) for the best!
 
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9) 10 Party Games – Jollybox! – PBH Free Fringe, Liquid Rooms - 2 stars

This was a late-night quiz type interactive show, where the audience logs in to a site on their phones and puts funny answers to questions like ‘What would make you panic at a disco?’ and then votes on the funniest answer, read aloud by the host, whose main job seemed to be ignoring drunken hecklers. Unfortunately, the entire show depended on both the technology working smoothly and the audience being funny, and neither one remotely happened the night I was there. The hosts did soldier admirably through regardless, but I hope on average they had better nights. But, hey, it was free, so that’s Fringe!
 
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8) Sam Hurst – Magic Mayhem and Memes – PBH Free Fringe, Liquid Rooms – 2 stars

To be fair, my friend and I were not the intended audience for this show, but on the other hand, I couldn’t figure out who was. We went because the show we’d meant to see had ended the day before so we thought, heck, why not, we’ll play the Fringe lottery and see whatever’s on instead. It was a one-man magic show, and his sleight of hand was very impressive. Everything else was… well, seemingly not sure if it was for kids or adults. The adult jokes that were meant to go over the kid’s heads weren’t over enough, and the kids’ jokes fell pretty flat on the few children that were there. The screen of memes wasn’t cued well and kept misfiring, and the show would have been as good or better without that altogether. (And I *like* memes). But the effort he put in to keep it going regardless was admirable.

Overall, the magic itself was good, but the surrounding show felt like it needed some firmer direction.
 
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7) Dan Leith - Moonshine in Leith – PBH Free Fringe, Brewdog DogHouse – 3 stars

A songwriter comedian. A fairly smooth set peppered with songs on such various topics as wanting to have sex with ghosts, wanting to have sex with cartoons, and wanting to have sex in general. Unfortunately, the first song was all about what a promiscuous <insult of choice> his ex was for having sex with other people, which for me set the tone as ‘ugh’ and seriously undermined the ‘no, but really, consent is important cause I’m a feminist’ type sidebar lines in later songs that might have otherwise made him out as, y’know, actually a feminist.

Some of the lines were clever, the audience interaction was well handled, and the songs were catchy enough. If all you think about is sex with exes and various other unattainable beings, you might relate, but I must admit it didn’t do much for me.
 
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6) The Thermos Museum – PBH Free Fringe, Satyr Bar – 3 stars

Despite the title, there was nary a Thermos in sight unless you went past the pub early to catch the performer out flyering on the pavement with a suitcase of them. This show was absurd, in a nice way. It was extremely hard to tell where the show ended and the dry wit of the man performing it began, but that made it work. My pal and I were first to arrive, welcomed in by the man, then ushered out after all, then told an off-the-wall story about an uncle just outside the venue room, which could have been part of the show but wasn’t (I think), then when we were welcomed back in, the show felt like just a continuation of chatting to him in the pub, but with more hilarious drawings.

The audience was picked on in terms of being asked to help lift things and so on, in an enjoyably weird way. The stories were absurd but engaging, about things like a man charging too much to fix a door. (Bizarrely relatable in Edinburgh.) It felt, afterwards, like we had Fringed and Fringed properly. Would go see another Thermos Museum show, but would definitely need to be in that dry, absurd mood.
 
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5) OH OH – Compagnia Baccalà, Underbelly – 4 stars

This was adorable. Really adorable. I had seen the duo’s last show many years ago, Pss Pss, and had been blown away. Pss Pss was a perfect half-and-half mix of ostensibly simple but very polished clowning and death-defying acrobatic stunts randomly thrown in as if they were equally simple. OH OH was in the same tradition, though weighted more towards clowning than acrobatics. But still darn impressive. There were several seriously skilful stunts on a rope ladder as well as a concertina-trumpet duet happening whilst one performer maintained a headstand balanced only on the top of other performer’s head.

If I was a kid, I would have immediately gone home and begged my sisters to try imitating the whole show with me. The clowning was brilliant. Very reminiscent of old silent movies with Buster Keaton (who I love). I’ve never smiled so much watching someone put on and take off a coat for ten minutes. As a whole, the show took away the real world for an hour and made it sweet, no small feat in these times.
 
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4) Queer Bait Cabaret – PBH Free Fringe, Banshee Labyrinth/Leith Arches – 4 stars

One of my favourite events, this cabaret runs occasionally year round, and I always love it. The Fringe version was no exception. Curated and hosted by the formidable Suky Goodfellow (a good friend, full disclosure, but an objectively impressive one), every performance had a different lineup. I’m certain though that all were as eclectic and entertaining as the one I caught, which included hilarious comedian/rapper/poet Queen Queerlysh, poet Beth Macdonald (one of whose beautiful poems made my accompanying friend cry, which you’ll have to trust me is a feat), comedian Richard Duffy (who managed to entertain us solely by sleeping on stage), and two high-contrast drag performances by Grimin Evil (a sexy, dark, goth whip demon) and VUJO (a Legally Blonde-inspired bit of light, feathery joy).

 Even just being in the audience was a delight, as it was full of queer folk reveling in the creativity of their own, and the atmosphere Suky always manages to create at her shows is that of an inclusive, supportive, joyful community. It was a great hour. Highly recommended, especially for any LGBTQ+ folk out there looking to feel fully at home.

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3) Cash Out of Hand: A Convict’s Tale – The Hár, Leith Depot – 4 stars

The only thing wrong with this show was that it was criminally undersold. The audience was tiny in number at the one I went to, and I can only desperately hope the numbers were better for the subsequent performances because it was an absolutely wonderful hour of music. Brilliant four-piece band The Hár from Australia played all the Irish trad tune hits between snatches of a real historical convict’s journal from the 1800s compellingly narrated by local pub music hero Dominic Blaikie.

The musicians were highly skilled, and more importantly, just clearly love playing together which was utterly infectious. The set had dynamic ups and downs to match the story’s arc, with each musician being featured here and there, and the hour went very fast, and I was sad when it ended. I wish the band lived in town, because their pub sessions must be an absolute blast. I very much hope they’ll return and perform again.
 
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2) The Bookbinder – Trick of the Light, Till’s Bookshop – 5 stars

A friend asked me to see this with her, and had she not raved about their last show, I might have been sceptical. A one-man shadow puppet, art, music and storytelling show about bookbinding and fairy tales suitable for both children and adults sounded like it might be trying to do too much at once. Friends, it wasn’t. It was amazing. It was transporting. It was magical.

The venue was absolutely perfect. Floor to ceiling books behind a desk with a man behind it in an apron. A huge pop-up book of the most fantastically intricate line art drawings and paper mache figures and shadow plays inside the light fixtures of the shop were combined with a masterful storyteller and actor and suddenly books became buildings and paper figures became alive and we all became children again, genuinely drawn deep into the magic of a good story, as cliché as that sounds.

It worked SO well, and almost the best part was afterwards being invited to come and see the props up close in detail. They deserve their own art exhibit, honestly. It was incredible. It was what storytelling aspires to be. Go see it next time it’s here.
 
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1) 22 Mirrors: A Musical Journey Through the Tarot – Giulia Drummond, The Speakeasy at The Royal Scots Club – 5 stars

My favourite show this year. Billed as a musical journey through the tarot deck, this was so much more affecting than I was expecting. Giulia is a local songwriter with an incredible voice and amazing percussive skills, so I thought it would be a handful of her original songs on a theme, with some backup musicians added in here and there. It was so much more than that. It was, as promised, a full-on journey.

The costumes and set were beautiful, and set the tone well. They were almost reminiscent of a school pageant (a highly polished one), but that suited the show perfectly, making it accessible instead of intimidating, and allowing the audience to be drawn in without effort. Before we knew it, we were utterly enchanted.

22 songs in an hour, and all distinct. That is seriously impressive. Giulia managed to embody every single character/card in a different way, by cleverly changing one costume piece, or one instrument, or inviting a new collaborator onstage. The tone or accoutrements or music or artistry of every song was different enough that it never once felt repetitive, and the journey really felt like a journey; it started simply with just Giulia, and ended with five characters on stage, all playing parts that wove themselves together into a veritable tapestry of musical enchantment.

Emma Capponi’s strong stage presence and ethereal harmonies and Eddy Hanson’s soaring, emotional fiddle both lifted Giulia’s music to new heights. The further addition of the two dancers brought it up to yet another level; the bright joy of Gaby Albornoz and solemn grace of Thara Wicramasinghe worked perfectly together to seamlessly encompass what felt like every emotion at once, allowing everyone in the audience to be drawn in, whatever their mood or feeling of the moment. Combine the considerable skills of these four with Giulia’s astonishing vocal talent and brilliant performance charisma and the result is an entrancing, all-encompassing magical world that everyone’s soul has a place in. (And for the record, knowing nothing about tarot cards didn’t matter at all.)
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Honestly, this show filled a bit of my heart I didn’t even know existed. Go see it if it ever shows again! I certainly will.

Recap:
New Thing: Fringe Reviewing
Overall Rating: 7/10
Thing’s Closeness to Expectations: 10/10
Success at Doing the Thing: 10/10 (though slightly late, as usual)
Surprises: None, really. Writing reviews is unsurprisingly surprise-free.
Would Try Again: Maybe? Not sure anyone cares much about my ratings, to be honest, but it was good critiquing practice anyhow
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