Vulvarine: A New Musical

By Ron Bingham

I was intrigued by the posters for this show and I’m glad I succumbed to my curiosity as to how they could make a musical about a superhero called Vulvarine. Funny and a lot of fun, with a bright and vivacious cast.

The show starts in the town of High Wycombe, a very posh but boring town just north of London, where we meet Bryony (Allie Munro) and her friends who work in the local tax office. Bryony is a single girl with an apparently hopeless crush on the office IT expert Orson, who is accidently given a file which appears to show the Tampon Tax is being siphoned to a secret account. At the same time an evil professor is using that very money to create an independence sapping potion to subdue all womankind. Bryony receives a dose of the potion but thanks to a fortuitous lightning strike (as happens in these sorts of Superhero Origin stories) is transformed into Vulvarine, defender of all women. The evil scientist, realising he has created a formidable enemy, changes his name to the Mansplainer and comes up with a cunning plan to rob Bryony of her powers.

Along the way we are treated to a number of peppy songs, a talking cat ( Robyn Grant), a little cross dressing, a lot of very hammy acting, a multitude of laughs and a thrilling story.  The venue is a large lecture theatre with a table in front of the seats, it takes away somewhat from the sexy alt cabaret vibe, but at least there’s somewhere to rest a drink during the show.

The audience at my showing seemed to be having a great time and were really getting into the action. I enjoyed this one too. Silly, nerdy, feminist fun with a message of empowerment.

Just be warned that the show run’s over by five to ten minutes.

Vulvarine is on at Assembly George Square Studios until August 26
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/vulvarine-a-new-musical

Robin Ince – Chaos of Delight

By Ron Bingham

Imagine if you will, a man whose mind works like a roulette wheel which lands on a different number every minute. Each number corresponds to an idea, thought, interesting story or fact which are all totally unrelated to each other. That is how Robin Ince’s amazing show manifests itself before a delighted and mesmerised audience.

We started late due to a technical problem and the person organising the queue caused chaos by trying to move everyone about (we weren’t delighted). This may have been disaster for another kind of show. Robin came out while we were shuffling about, apologised, chatted to various people and wandered round until everything was ready. Then, as the audience was getting seated Robin started showing slides of interesting things and people while repeatedly explaining to the new arrivals that this was not the actual show yet. The irony of the show’s title became so amusing, that you could occasionally wonder if it was all planned.

It turned out that the actual show was indistinguishable from the walk-in chat, as Robin reminisced about working with Brian Cox, opened up about getting older and his father and mouse problems,  discussed marshmallow tests, fascinating mathematicians, knitting paintings, the worries that his wife had when he announced he was having a year off from comedy, going into psychotherapy, walking on the moon and, *breath*, so much more.

As Robin explained, every show is different as he randomly chooses slides and stories for each performance. Chaos of Delight wasn’t all hilarious but it was all entertaining. When I saw it the Audience were riveted. If your idea of fun is a massive amount of random facts and stories about the world and its inhabitants, this is a must see show. As Brian Cox would say: Brilliant!

Chaos of Delight is on at Gilded Balloon at the Museum until August 26
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/robin-ince-chaos-of-delight

Birthday Girls – Late-night Comedy Party

By Ron Bingham

One of my favourite comedy acts is back in Edinburgh for a strictly limited run of four shows. The Birthday Girls, Beattie Edmondson, Rose Johnson and Camille Ucan, have been playing Edinburgh for a decade now (starting in sketch troupe Lady Garden). This year they have returned with Late-night Comedy Party which is a selection of their favourite sketches, a couple of new ones, some guest comedians as well dancing, drinking and molesting the late night audience.

I was very happy that they performed one of my favourite sketches, which involved the continued use of the word Kofte, something which still makes me giggle when I visit my local Turkish supermarket. There was also a very funny, and creepy, sketch involving a babysitter for Jamie Oliver.

I can’t recall the names of all the numerous guests on the night I was there but some of the guests who stood out on the night I attended were sketch duo Lazy Susan, Lou Sanders and Suzie Ruffell. The audience were pumped, a little drunk (helped by a number of free shots from our hosts) and very vocal in their appreciation of the comedy on offer.

This really was like going to a wild wonderful party. A loud, raucous and filthy ninety minutes of comedy from some talented women out to share a great time with their many friends.

Late-night Comedy Party was on at Pleasance Courtyard
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/birthday-girls-late-night-comedy-party

Lucy Porter – Pass It On

By Ron Bingham

This is Lucy Porter’s twelfth show at the Edinburgh Fringe, and Pass It On focuses on ageing, especially menopause and the steady inevitable approach of death for all of us. Lucy explains in her introduction that this is not really a show for the younger people but is perfectly suited for a middle-class middle-aged audience demographic. I can’t help but take this a little personally but I really enjoyed Pass It On.

Lucy is very comfortably dressed in a top, sparkly cardigan and relaxed jeans – this is all intentional of course – and there is a lot of explanation, particularly about the jeans. On the stage are some knick knacks which are also explained as the show progresses. We hear about Lucy’s kids and other parents at their school, the recent death(s) of her parents and her work. We are treated in great detail to the symptoms and effects of menopause in a middle aged woman with latent anger issues. Middle age sucks, but despite the scary sounding subject matter, Lucy makes it all bloody hilarious.

Lucy is a very skilled story telling comedian. Her style is a bit like she’s invited us all over for coffee and cake and we’re hearing all the latest gossip from her. Lucy’s very relaxed and flowing style, brimming with confidence, and some very funny stories, made the hour fly by. Always a must-see performer, and this show is selling out fast.

Pass It On is on at Pleasance Courtyard until August 26
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/lucy-porter-pass-it-on

The Pretend Men – Police Cops in Space

By Ron Bingham

The Pretend Men – Zachary Hunt, Nathan Parkinson and Tom Turner – have been playing these characters in Police Cops (which is on earlier in the evening in the same venue) for a few years now, but in this show they have added a new dimension, by taking their story out of the atmosphere to new and exciting worlds.

The story line involves one Sammy Johnson, the son of Jimmy Johnson, the greatest Police Cop in space, who was killed by an evil robot. Sammy is the last space cop but he’s ended up as a space bum and now the robot is coming after him because he is the only thing standing in the way of ultimate robot domination. Can Sammy get to Earth with his slightly warped pilot and a demented service droid, get the training from the Police Cop sensei, and defeat the evil robot? Only the narrator knows.

The energy this trio expend in Police Cops in Space is just mind blowing and the props are brilliantly imaginative. There is a lot of physical comedy, some role swapping, a couple of scenes with very tiny costumes, a bit of dancing and an action packed finale.

The Saturday night audience were raucous and only too ready to laugh and even gave the show a standing ovation at the finish. I haven’t seen the original Police Cops so I don’t know if there is much crossover and there were some in-jokes/references that went over my head, but this show was a masterpiece of top notch action comedy that I would heartily recommend.

Police Cops in Space is on at Assembly George Square Studios until August 26
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/police-cops-in-space

Demi Lardner – I Love Skeleton

By Ron Bingham

Come into the warped and crazy world that is the inside of Demi Lardner’s mind. The music is loud (very loud), the props are unusual (to downright weird) and the star of the show has some boundary issues (expect audience interaction at any time).

While I Love Skeleton is obviously very carefully structured, Demi has the skill to hide this and give off a sense of unpredictability and is at times just plain mystifying for the audience. It is also hilariously laugh out loud funny which goes some way to explaining the number of awards Demi has been given and why everyone is flocking to see this.

I would try to describe some of the sketches, but I fear they will make no sense written down. Demi’s charisma, delivery and physical punctuation is a big part of the act. Expect rude words, very close contact with the comic and a sore stomach from all the belly laughs.

I Love Skeleton is on at Assembly George Square Studios until August 26
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/demi-lardner-i-love-skeleton