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Reviews from the Edinburgh Fringe

Waiting for a review of your show?  We have a handful still to publish this year, mainly of shows we reviewed over the closing weekend.  They're coming in the next couple of days.

Looking for a particular review?  Find it in our A-Z list >>



 
The Kilted Tommy
Published on Sunday, 17 May 2015
3

3 stars

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall (venue website)
Theatre
5, 9 Aug, 10:20am-11:35am; 7 Aug, 2:20pm-3:35pm; 8 Aug, 12:20pm-1:35pm
Reviewed by Ellen Macpherson

 Recommended for age 16+ only.

Being FringeGuru's resident Shakespeare specialist, I've seen a lot of it – so I know that the Bard did write some amazing strong female characters. Desdemona is not one of them. Desdemona has frustrated and enraged me since the tenth grade, and I spent the majority of my studies of Othello screaming at her simpering, apologetic dialogues. Unfortunately, Paula Vogel's 1994 play Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief does her very few favours, even if she does get a bit of a backbone. It makes for very entertaining viewing, nonetheless; if you're a Shakespeare fan you should see this play at least once in your life, and the International Collegiate Theatre Festival group does a good job with the material, though some problems with timing mean they it’s a solid performance rather than an exceptional one.

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It's Only Life
Published on Sunday, 17 May 2015
4

4 stars

C venues - C (venue website)
Music
31 Jul, 1-13 Aug, 3:30pm-4:20pm
Reviewed by Ellen Macpherson

 Family-friendly. Suitable for all ages.

The thing about the University of St Andrews, which the Alleycats hail from, is that there's more a capella competition than at any other university in the country. So the groups that do emerge from there need to be excellent to stand a chance, and the Alleycats are no exception. Dressed in their trademark suits white hi-tops, they charmed everyone in the room with a mix of RnB, Top 40 pop, indie anthems and Motown classics – and yes, even the forty-something Glaswegian man sitting next to me cracked a smile.

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You
Published on Saturday, 16 May 2015
3

3 stars

Assembly George Square (venue website)
Comedy
31 Jul, 1-9 Aug, 7:30pm-8:30pm; 10-11 Aug, 3:30pm-4:30pm, 7:30pm-8:30pm
Reviewed by Mathilda Gregory

 Recommended for age 14+ only.

What life is like for the famous – the premise for this show – is a rich seam for David Baddiel to mine, even as a man less famous now than he once was. Despite some enjoyable set pieces, Baddiel isn’t really willing to let go of his laddish 90s comedy shtick to make this the thoughtful show that this could have been – and that’s a shame.

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Mad Women in my Attic!
Published on Saturday, 16 May 2015
2

2 stars

Sweet Grassmarket (venue website)
Theatre
1-11, 13-25 Aug, 5:40pm-6:30pm
Reviewed by Jane Bristow

 Family-friendly. Suitable for all ages.

A one woman play involving origami, a teapot, and audience participation sounded like it could stand out from the three thousand shows vying for attention in this year’s Fringe. Sadly, it failed to live up to its promise, and instead became a little too reminiscent of an angsty drama project. Still, there were some interesting aspects of I Want To Tell You Something – and the play showed real potential to bring a character to life.

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Collections
Published on Friday, 15 May 2015
4

4 stars

Pleasance Dome (venue website)
Theatre
31 Jul, 1-11, 13-25 Aug, 12:25pm-1:45pm
Reviewed by Richard Stamp

 Parents or guardians should consider the content of this show if children are attending.

A collaboration between theatre-makers from Scotland and Finland, Preen Back Yer Lugs! is a cheerfully far-fetched take on national identity, set in a future independent Scottish state. It’s the early 2100’s, and an unspecified apocalypse has finally occurred – rendering England (and, as a footnote, every other country in the world) a burning, inhospitable desert. So the huddled English masses have travelled north, to a Scotland ruled by a triumphant and egotistical dictator… a man who bears a striking physical resemblance to a certain politician of the present day.

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Wolf Meat
Published on Friday, 15 May 2015
5

5 stars

C venues - C nova (venue website)
Theatre
31 Jul, 1-26 Aug, 8:30pm-9:35pm
Reviewed by Jane Bristow

 Family-friendly. Suitable for all ages.

Like many, I was disappointed to see that Fringe veterans Belt Up Theatre were missing from 2013’s line-up – and a little investigation on their website suggests that, for the foreseeable future at least, that’s how it’s going to stay. So far, so bad. But all is not lost; there are some new projects for fans to enjoy, which brings me to The Bunker Trilogy. These three plays, reimagining the legends of Agamemnon, Morgana and Macbeth against the backdrop of the First World War, are all put together by Belt Up’s producer Jethro Compton and writer Jamie Wilkes, and having seen Agamemnon it’s fair to say there are a lot of familiar traits to be found in the production – not least its outstanding quality, on every level.

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Macbeth
Published on Thursday, 14 May 2015
3

3 stars

theSpace @ Jury's Inn (venue website)
Theatre
2-3, 5-10, 12-17 Aug, 6:20pm-7:10pm
Reviewed by Richard Stamp

 Recommended for age 16+ only.

This praise-worthy three-hander from Newcastle University begins with its tongue firmly in its cheek – but, as befits its blood-spattered genre, it slowly evolves into something rather darker. The action takes place on the set of a slasher flick, Porkiez (“with a Z!”), which we learn is being filmed at a predictably-isolated location somewhere in Estonia.

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All Change
Published on Thursday, 14 May 2015
4

4 stars

Pleasance Courtyard (venue website)
Theatre
31 Jul, 1-13, 15-19, 21-26 Aug, 2:30pm-3:30pm
Reviewed by Ellen Macpherson

 Parents or guardians should consider the content of this show if children are attending.

When I arrived at the Pleasance Courtyard fully fifteen minutes before I Need A Doctor was scheduled to start, I found myself already at the end of a mammoth queue. Regrettably on my own, I joined the line of fans – mostly between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five – harmoniously engaged in a group singalong of the Doctor Who theme song. In hindsight, the cheery throng outside was much better at ooo-eeeee-ooo-ing than the two people actually performing the show. Considering that the show is an intentional parody of its own lack of funding, however, I guess I shouldn’t hold that against them.

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Stalin's Daughter
Published on Thursday, 14 May 2015
4

4 stars

Pleasance Courtyard (venue website)
Theatre
31 Jul, 1-14, 16-26 Aug, 2:00pm-3:00pm
Reviewed by Richard Stamp

 Parents or guardians should consider the content of this show if children are attending.

In a vaulted cellar beneath the Pleasance sports hall, a spooky-looking man in a Victorian tail-coat wants to talk to us about ghosts. He’s a tour guide, we’re told – one of those portentous men with an arsenal of tall tales, who lead gaggles of tourists around the city at night. We’ve joined him in the pub, unwinding after a tour and supping a pint of ale. As time wears on and the beer slips down, our host shares his secrets and the tricks of his trade… and inevitably, before the hour is up, his monologue takes a scarier and more personal turn.

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Point and Shoot: A New Musical
Published on Wednesday, 13 May 2015
3

3 stars

C venues - C nova (venue website)
Theatre
31 Jul, 1-17 Aug, 12:15pm-2:00pm
Reviewed by Ellen Macpherson

 Recommended for age 12+ only.

With four separate productions of Titus Andronicus in this year's Fringe programme, you’d be forgiven for thinking the arts community seems a little maniacal and angry this year. And there's no shortage of old-school fake blood effects in this production: set against the gloomy backdrop of Soviet Russia and staged as a graphic novel, this is Shakespeare meets Sin City. Titus Andronicus will never be a pleasant play to watch (as the shocked and appalled first-timer sitting next to me attested to), but the performances in this production make it an entertaining adaptation.

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