Edinburgh Fringe Festival – Page 26

Aisling Bea – Plan Bea

By Ron Bingham

This show is selling out so I recommend getting a ticket before reading any further (actually you may be too late, although Aisling has added some extra dates….). Aisling Bea won ‘So You Think You are Funny’ in 2012, was a nominee for Best Newcomer at The Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 and won a British Comedy Award for best female comedic on TV in 2014 so her star is shooting up pretty fast right now (she has a sitcom in the works). In this, her second festival show Aisling gives us a little of her life story about growing up in rural Ireland surrounded by women and with only US TV shows to keep her company, moving to London to study drama and becoming a fine actress, finding love and losing it again. There is a through line about the importance of following ones dreams.

Aisling is a very fast talker (and quite the dancer as well) and there is an amazing amount of material packed into the hour. We don’t hear much about her role in the Sky TV series Trollied or her appearance on such venerable institutions as 8 Out of Ten Cats, QI or Would I Lie To You, (material she might be putting aside for future shows) but we do get a glimpse into her first acting role and the circumstances surrounding it.

An hugely entertaining hour of comedy and storytelling from a bright and slightly unhinged Irish lady, who also made some lovely fans handed out to the audience members for some welcome relief in this hot hot room. This is one of the highlights of the festival. The pre-show entertainment is also excellent but you will melt just watching it.

Now go on with you and grab a ticket.

It’s in the Pleasance Dome.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/aisling-bea-plan-bea-1

Cheeky Irish Pups

By Ron Bingham

This show is a free show at Dropkick Murphy’s, which is an Irish sports pub just up from Cowgate or down from the Pleasance/Gilded Square. The room is like one of those old army huts, with a curved concrete roof, which drips constantly if it’s been raining. Definitely an interesting place to visit for the atmosphere – especially if its not been raining and you like sport.

The comedy, which I believe changes each night, was very patchy on the night I was there. I afraid I didn’t catch any of the names of the performers and there is no way of finding out who they were (probably just as well for most of them), but there was a host and five people (four men and one woman) who came and did about ten minutes each. So you’re getting a lot of performers for your no money, but is it worth it?

Hard to say. Most of them didn’t seem to care about their routines or the audience reaction, which was muted to hostile for the most part, and only one or two showed any real passion about their act. One performer kept telling us how last night’s audience LOVED this joke and that joke (not really going to endear him to us, is it?) I got the impression most of them were just practicing for a proper gig or were there for the (maybe) free drink.

It’s in a handy location, so if you’re looking for somewhere to have a sit and a beer and possibly a laugh, then you could do worse than this. Oh, and the girl on the poster, Niamh Marron – the advertised host of this show, wasn’t there.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/cheeky-irish-pups

Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre – Minging Detectives

By Ron Bingham

Becoming a bit of an institution at the Edinburgh Fringe, this year in Minging Detectives the socks are tackling the world of crime, going back through all the great detectives in history and showcasing their skills. The Socks sing some enchanting songs – about racism in the police force and a jihadist lament to name the two most potentially offensive ones. They impress us with a little piece of Shakespeare, a lot of “there’s bin a murdurrrr” ala Taggart and manage to handle a few extremely mystifying interjections from the audience when asked for crimes or crime shows. We get references to most of the great Scottish detectives, some Sweeney, a dash of Morse, a touch of Juliet Bravo, a little bit of Scandanavia and a smattering of the States, but it’s mostly gangsta and Dixon of Dock Green. As always they dazzle us with hard hitting groaner puns, amazingly fast costume changes and very silly jokes.

A thoroughly enjoyable hour of entertainment provided by the astonishingly talented Kev F Sutherland, who writes and performs the puppet double act stuck in a sweaty box on stage. He’s been doing this for about ten years now and you can check out their fabulous videos online which will really whet your appetite for seeing them live which is a fabulous experience.

This show starts at 10.30pm and it starts ON TIME. I rushed from another show upstairs and got in three minutes after the official and actual start time. Whatever happened to late night shows starting half an hour after their official time? Get a ticket, get there early and get ready to laugh at some very offensive jokes and songs performed by some cute (grey wool blend, I’d say) Socks.

At The Gilded Balloon

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/scottish-falsetto-sock-puppet-theatre-minging-detectives

Backwards Anorak – Winter Is Coming, Again

By Ron Bingham

This is ostensibly a workshop to cast the roles for a production of Winter Is Coming (ie Game of Thrones). The four main cast members (and the keyboard player) give a musical history of Game of Thrones with a little Harry Potter, Narnia and Lord Of the Rings added to the mix. It probably would have helped if I had seen the TV series (I’d read the first book ages ago but I have no time for long TV series’). Anyway, while the cast is singing songs and re-enacting scenes from the series, there is also a battle to see who gets to play Khaleesi. There are also roles for various members of the audience (I was nominated to play Hodor, but was sacked after the first sex scene and replaced with an understudy, thankfully).

I enjoyed the proceedings (apart from my acting, which was terrible) and even for those who have no knowledge of GoT, there is a lot of humour and music and silliness and surprise costumes and violence and simulated sex in the hour to leave you feeling that you had seen an actual episode on the TV show. The cast, Michelle Brasier, Vince Milesi, Leo Milesi, Laura Frew and the piano player (or Jon Snow) are energetic and funny and talented. Just try to avoid sitting down the front if you’re a bit shy. There are dragons and some swearing as well as the above mentioned naughtiness. It’s loud, funny and violent.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/winter-is-coming-again

Hunt & Darton Cafe / Scottee’s Social

By Ron Bingham

This is my third visit to the bohemian and increasingly hard to find, Hunt & Darton cafe. Each year, like a Gypsy caravan cum food truck, they move further away from the Fringe hub and into more and more secretive locations. They are part of the Forest Fringe, which is separate to the Edinburgh Fringe, (a sort of Fringe of the Fringe) and happens down towards Leith, as it did last year, but this year they have moved from the Forest Fringe main venue to a new location further into Leith. The venue, the Old Biscuit Factory, is next to a 36 bus stop but to get to the cafe itself you need to enter the venue (past the one small sandwich board advertising the cafe) up two flights of stairs, along a corridor, double back and up yet another flight of stairs and through a side door (there are tiny signs pasted on the walls and there may be someone at reception. By the time you arrive in the large airy cafe, you’ll feel like part of a secret society committed to overthrowing the establishment.

You’ll also feel like something to eat and luckily it isn’t just all Avant Garde art installation & comedy, Jenny Hunt and Holly Darton run a genuinely decent Cafe too. I can definitely recommend the roast dinner sandwich, a three layer mountain of bread, vegetables, stuffing, sauce, gravy, crisps and your choice of either chicken beef or nuts. Other more traditional food and drink is available, and your order will invariably be served by either the hosts or one of the revolving cast of celebrity waiting staff, who will also be happy to chat with you.

The cafe has many fun games and small entertainments to help you while away your time, with songs, dances, challenges and puzzles. Scotee’s Social is the evening show. The atmosphere is welcoming and you will find it hard to leave, once you’ve settled into your chair. If you’ve been working hard seeing shows and need a couple of hours to wind down, relax and meet some fabulous new friends. Or you might just want to experience one of the coolest artiest alternative travelling cafes with guest hosts every day, then get your map and compass (or search it on your smartphone) and come on down. It’s open every day from 12-4 and evening 7-11 until the 26th – except Saturday night when there is entertainment of a more 50 Shades style planned….

Hunt & Darton Cafe is at The Biscuit Factory, 4-6 Anderson Place, Edinburgh EH6 5NP

http://huntanddartoncafe.com/

Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe

By Ron Bingham

Mervyn Stutter’s shows are an Edinburgh institution and at least half the audience appeared to be regular attendees (judging by the enthusiastic hand raising when he asked the question). Mervyn has a team of elves out checking all the shows on at the Fringe and picking a select few to appear on his stage for our pleasure. Today we had seven acts as well as a quick turn from our host, who deviated from his own script to stick the boot into the current government and celebrity paedophiles with a few well chosen song parodies. The audience loved the material, partly because there has been little deviation from the script by the media and no way for people to express the anger they feel at the lies being fed to them (well, that’s what I think, anyway). Please note that the order of the shows may not have been the actual order, but I’m forced to rely on my festival fuddled memory.

The first official act was Jess Robinson, who is a petite vocal impressionist. She has starred in the stage version of Little Voice and is appearing at the festival in a cabaret game show called The Rise of Mighty Voice, where there are two wheels of fortune (one with eight random singers and one with eight random songs) so there are 64 different tunes you can hear. We had a compilation of Marylin Monroe, Barbra Streisand, Cilla Black, Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland in Jess’ spot.

Next was The Terrible Tale of the Twiddly Widdlies, in which two gentlemen wearing dinner suits and bandages covering their heads (imagine The Invisible Man) told a story in poetry. It was very well done and darkly comic, but in the actual performance, the bandaged heads have images projected on them and the gents stand in front of a screen with further images to enhance the story, so what we saw was only a fractured piece of the show. It did look very good and they ended their story on a real cliff-hanger. If I had enough time, I’d be adding them to my list…

After this was Elf Lyons, who is appearing in Being Barbarella. She was wearing a futuristic silvery top, with plastic glasses and a perky little hat. We were told about her job writing erotic stories and how she managed to crowdfund a trip to the Adelaide Fringe last year, before finishing with one of her stories, which involved living in Stockwell, South London, with a vegan boyfriend in a share-house that housed thirty other people if I remember right. Very funny and perky and probably another show to add to my list of “get a ticket for”.

Following Elf was Jamie Wood in O No, who perfomed a surreal and hilarious series of pieces around the stage and into the audience. He was such a lovely, joyous person that everyone was happy to join in with his antics. He was dressed in a nappy/loincloth and had a great mane of golden hair and a beard, so perfect for leading a cult, I’d say. The show was loosely based on the teachings of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and looked like the perfect show for anyone who was feeling a little down and needed something mad and funny.

After this was a drum/tap duo from La Clique and The Famous Spiegeltent presents VELVET!, which was loud fast and very rhythmic. The board the tap man used was almost destroyed by the end of the routine and there was a huge pile of dust under the board as he had pulverised the timber.

Next was Danny Ward, who is performing St Vitus Dance, he took us (well the old people in the audience) back through time as he recounted a visit to the Science Museum and was horrified to find most of the fabulous technology of just a few years ago encased behind glass as exhibits including mobile phones with aerials, walkmans (walkmen? walkpersons?), computer game consoles etc. Some very funny stuff.

The finale of the ninety minute spectacular was one of the performers from Wings In My Heart, a sophisticated circus show in the style of Cirque du Soleil. He did some awesome work with a whole bunch of hula hoops, finishing with what I can only describe as a human slinky. Apparently most of the rest of the show involves flying stunts and huge set-pieces.

To summarise, this was an invaluable introduction to the enormous variety at the Fringe, a good way to get a whole lot of acts ticked off your list (or added to the must-see list) and an excellent way to start the day, after you’ve had your wake-up lunch. Just book early for this one, as it is a sell-out show.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/mervyn-stutter-s-pick-of-the-fringe