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Before I forget...
This year I saw 14 shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. This is slightly below my average, but not enough to explain my general sense that this year (once the ultra-stressed rehearsal period was over) was less frantic than previous years. That was probably because we had a nicer time-slot - no hurry to roust people out of bed to get everyone to the theatre in time, and we usually managed to get back to the flat for a relaxing cooked dinner before heading out to see a show.
Anyway, here's what I saw:
At Bedlam:
Catchy! - musical about the Great Plague. Fantastic.
Little Red Things - highly contemporarararary puppet show/fairy story type thing. I was a bit too drunk for it.
At the Gilded Balloon:
Puppetry of the Penis - finally I cracked and went to see this. Quite amusing, not too squicky, but I shan't be going again.
Beergut 100 - Bill Bailey's punk cover band. Awesome. Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
weaselspoon for the heads-up!
At the Pleasance:
Chanbara - taiko drumming and katana swordplay. Some very cool bits, but a bit too dark and rhythmic - we found ourselves falling asleep in the middle.
The Receptionists - absurdist comedy from the 13 O'Clock people. Even better than last year, IMHO.
At C:
Top Gun - recreation of the film, with people sticking their arms out and pretending to be F-14s. Great fun.
The Chronicles of Hernia - Cambridge Medics' Revue. Impressive that they managed to do it at all, given that they'd lost 60% of the cast, and they had some great sketches. But not as good as...
News Revue: Pirates of the Cabinet - which was much better than the last time I'd seen them. Triumphant return to form.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - I'd wanted to see this for a while, and was a bit disappointed. My least favourite Stoppard play of the ones I've seen or read, I think. I'd probably like it more if I knew Hamlet better.
At Hill Street Theatre:
Macbeth Re-Arisen - awesomely good. A zombie-movie sequel to Macbeth, in iambic pentameter. My favourite bit was Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's address to their zombie hordes before the "we can't hold them off any longer!" scene in Forres Castle. Shame about the blade falling off the chainsaw...
At some random church in the New Town:
The Screwtape Letters - a bit more overtly proselytising than I'd expected, and not entirely true to the book, but still good. The actor playing Screwtape was brilliant. Asterpsichore1980 said: "We're all going to Hell, aren't we?"
Way out in the sticks:
Kit and the Widow: a Barely Civil Partnership - excellent as ever. Mostly songs I hadn't heard, which always helps.
At the Bongo Club:
Vaudeville Cabaret - not bad, particularly the Canadian stand-up comic we saw. Unfortunately, we got the start time wrong and only got there at 1am (it started at 11pm). The show finished at 2, but we were ready to go home by then anyway. We're getting old, I tell you.
So, a pretty good selection on the whole. Maybe I'm getting better at spotting good things. Or maybe I just got lucky. Or maybe my critical faculties are insufficiently discriminating.
Tonight I'm going to see A Scanner Darkly, which I've wanted to see for ages. Yay! *bounces*
Anyway, here's what I saw:
At Bedlam:
Catchy! - musical about the Great Plague. Fantastic.
Little Red Things - highly contemporarararary puppet show/fairy story type thing. I was a bit too drunk for it.
At the Gilded Balloon:
Puppetry of the Penis - finally I cracked and went to see this. Quite amusing, not too squicky, but I shan't be going again.
Beergut 100 - Bill Bailey's punk cover band. Awesome. Thanks to
weaselspoon for the heads-up!At the Pleasance:
Chanbara - taiko drumming and katana swordplay. Some very cool bits, but a bit too dark and rhythmic - we found ourselves falling asleep in the middle.
The Receptionists - absurdist comedy from the 13 O'Clock people. Even better than last year, IMHO.
At C:
Top Gun - recreation of the film, with people sticking their arms out and pretending to be F-14s. Great fun.
The Chronicles of Hernia - Cambridge Medics' Revue. Impressive that they managed to do it at all, given that they'd lost 60% of the cast, and they had some great sketches. But not as good as...
News Revue: Pirates of the Cabinet - which was much better than the last time I'd seen them. Triumphant return to form.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - I'd wanted to see this for a while, and was a bit disappointed. My least favourite Stoppard play of the ones I've seen or read, I think. I'd probably like it more if I knew Hamlet better.
At Hill Street Theatre:
Macbeth Re-Arisen - awesomely good. A zombie-movie sequel to Macbeth, in iambic pentameter. My favourite bit was Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's address to their zombie hordes before the "we can't hold them off any longer!" scene in Forres Castle. Shame about the blade falling off the chainsaw...
At some random church in the New Town:
The Screwtape Letters - a bit more overtly proselytising than I'd expected, and not entirely true to the book, but still good. The actor playing Screwtape was brilliant. As
terpsichore1980 said: "We're all going to Hell, aren't we?"Way out in the sticks:
Kit and the Widow: a Barely Civil Partnership - excellent as ever. Mostly songs I hadn't heard, which always helps.
At the Bongo Club:
Vaudeville Cabaret - not bad, particularly the Canadian stand-up comic we saw. Unfortunately, we got the start time wrong and only got there at 1am (it started at 11pm). The show finished at 2, but we were ready to go home by then anyway. We're getting old, I tell you.
So, a pretty good selection on the whole. Maybe I'm getting better at spotting good things. Or maybe I just got lucky. Or maybe my critical faculties are insufficiently discriminating.
Tonight I'm going to see A Scanner Darkly, which I've wanted to see for ages. Yay! *bounces*
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* I do so love out-pedanting pedants :-)
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