The Fringe is always portrayed as a somewhat quixotic challenge… many an interview I do could easily be summed up as one question - “Why?” - but Tim Fitzhigham takes personal challenges to a different level. Having previously rowed across the English Channel in a bath, lived in a cave, and ran up the side of a volcano, his latest show talks about his quest to Morris Dance from London to Norwich in nine days.
Every artist and performer looks at Edinburgh as a challenge, and both Rosie Wilby (with her comedy show) and Emma Hutchens (with the one-woman show Not Stalking David Tennant) have taken on the endeavour in their own respective ways.
And the Fringe continues. It doesn’t matter what happens around Scotland’s capital - the show goes on, so you might want to pick up The Guardian’s tips to get through any dark mental moments you might have. if that doesn’t work, there’s always the tiny hope of an awards nomination over the weekend…
Matt Kirshen has made his name in the US, with an appearance on Last Comic Standing, but can that translate to a good time at the Fringe? I ask him in today’s show. Someone who has name recognition (albeit from an appearance in Kill Bill) is Samurai Master Tetsuro Shimaguchi, who has brought the impressive Samurai Spirit show to Scotland. Topping out today’s trio, Sowerby and Luff talk to Free Fringe performer John Cooper on the hilarious topic of eczema.
I know I promised something a touch different today, but the torrential rain yesterday meant that I couldn’t get any outdoor recording done. No matter, the Fringe is nothing but coping with problems as best you can - that show may well be here tomorrow, for now, it’s another packed list of guests.
The recently married Ed Byrne and I sit down to talk about the delights of building a home, and his return to the Edinburgh Fringe at the Assembly Rooms, while Brian continues to find the smaller comics who are on the way up. And Showstoppers put together one of the best improvised songs I’ve heard in a long time - but do leave their fascination with Sondheim unanswered…
The Frigne podcast is a lot of work (I’ll do a recap at the end of the month for you all, right now I’m jsut avoiding the obviousness of the work levels) but the reaction it gets, from private mails and recognition around edinburgh is lovely. And the world likes it too… with a Festival pick in iTunes, and it’s currently climbing up the ‘Arts’ chart in iTunes.
Currently it’s sitting at #6 (from the position of #24 earlier this morning), with only the might of the Guardian (one podcast) and The BBC taking in the five slots above me. I think it’s an almost impossible task to get on a par with The Archers at #1, but I’d love a top five chart place this year (I saw a peak of #8 last year). If you’re listening to the show, then point everyone at the iTunes URL or the natural RSS feed!
I went to this show with a 6 year old and four old. Both followed the story, laughed out loud and joined in the audience participation – the elder more eagerly than the younger, which is partly to be expected. I enjoyed it too. I have never seen a show with such improvisation.
A number of children’s stories were covered in the hour-long show. The wardrobe and scenery was minimal but effective. Some stories had 4 main characters such as the Three Little Pigs; Goldilocks and the Three Bears (I don’t remember a wolf in that one) but the cast of three managed this well apart from the Daddy Bear/Baby Bear double act. That was a little confused. Introducing a hand puppet to replace the hapless Trev Pig (the one who built his house of straw) worked well even although it was Trev Pig, who was now Jim Pig the Pig, and was now a ventriloquist.
In The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Flossie the Sheep was excellent. She held her facial expression well and her Baa’s were perfectly tuned. The Wolf was quite personable and convincing in his role as misunderstood.
This show has it all – a good storyline; singing and dancing and audience participation. Despite only a handful of children in the audience the actors still managed to create an atmosphere that was entertaining to both children and adults. In addition the cast and crew were interested in the children outside of ShowTime, chatty and listening to what they had to say. I hope Act II will return to the Edinburgh Fringe next year. I would certainly take my grandchildren to see their next production.
My only criticism would be that the music was louder than the singing and it was difficult to hear the lyrics.
Tomorrow is the half way point at the Fringe (so it’s going to be a different type of show, and long time listeners will know what to expect), yet there’s still so many people and shows to get around, to raise a laugh, get you thinking, to cry and smile, to just totally enjoy the one-of-a-kind nature that is Edinburgh in August.
Today sees Edinburgh based puppetry company Pangolin’s Teatime talk about The Last Yak, Brian catches up with Mersey based comic Ste Porter, and formerly of The X-Files star Dean Haglund chats about improvising an entire episode every night in one of the most haunted locations in Edinburgh.
To put everything in perspective, there are still two weeks of the fringe to go, but now the wheat is being sorted from the chaff, as Mark Shenton, over at The Stage’s blog points out. Everyone has a story to tell about Edinburgh, and that’s one of the goals for the podcast - to get the real Edinburgh to you.
Today see’s the delightfully gothic Terrible Infants, the incredibly popular Rob Paravonian, and the wonderfully nice Sarah Millican, as well as the daily look around Edinburgh at the events and news that the citry runs on in August.
David Benson is a Fringe regular, and his show “My Life with Kenneth Williams” has played here for many years. in 2008, he has brought a new solo show to the Assembly Rooms, “…sings Noel Coward” continues to showcase his impressive talent both for vocal acting, but for carrying off the solo show with experienced ease. Here he sits down with Alex Hastie to talk about that show, his own career path, and his direction of “My Grandfather’s Great War.”
Alex will be back next week with another guest for Sunday Brunch.
Can you catching lightning in a bottle twice? I think you can. Dan and Jeff, the brains behind Potted Potter (All seven Harry Potter books in about an hour) turn their attention to the world of piracy, and their look at the greatest pirates in history.
Accomplished chidlren’s entertainers, they follow the time honoured double-act route of a lanky silly one with the best ideas, and the short one with hairy legs who runs all the clever bits. Of course they’re going to get in each other’s way, egged on by the audience, and everyone knows where this is going to end up (want a hint? It’s a big song and dance number at the end). Polished, funny, and subtly educational as well, there’s little wrong with this.
The one caveat hanging over Dan and Jeff’s latest show… their other show. Potted Potter can rely on the audience to be fully engaged with the source material, making the humour that much more easily targetted. With Potted Pirates, there’s a tendancy to rely on Disney’s Pirates of the Carribbean films… all well and good till you realise that those films are rated 12 in the UK, and thus the foundations of the show are slightly shakey.
But that seemed to matter very little to the audience pretending to be the Armada sinking the Spanish Galleons, shouting ‘Yaar!!!’ as loudly as possible, and creating the noise of seagulls on cue. Dan and Jeff know how to work a young (and young at heart) crowd. This show is a great first step away from the shadow of Harry Potter, and long may their adventures continue.
Charlie Victor Romeo, the phonetic spelling of CVR, the cockpit voice recorder, is not an easy piece of theatre. Taking the transcripts of six aircraft incidents (a number of which are fatal) may seem ghoulish, but under the nature of the incidents lies the human spirit of teamwork, spirit, and a sense of always trying to do something, even in the face of hopeless odds.
While the stories have much more history both before and after the events depicted on stage, restricting the performances to only the cockpit action, and only up until the point of impact, brings a clarity of vision from this highly recommended show.
My one worry was the dense and technical nature of the language, although it was familiar to me, would it be accessible to a general audience? I needn’t have worried, as the tension in the air, and the number of audience members on the edge of their seats holdign their breath as the six vignettes reach their peach amply prove.
The Edinburgh Fringe 2008 Show #15 - The Glory Of Madness [36:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
