Squirrel writers’ 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Round up

So that was the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Fringe and Festival. Once again the weather was changeable, with reports that it was the wettest summer in Scotland for 80 years. We arrived in the rain, but the frequent showers were never enough to dampen our enthusiasm. There were four Squirrels in Edinburgh this year and all of us have written below about shows we’ve loved, or not loved, or not had the chance to write about previously.

Hannah GadsbyThe Big news to come out of this special anniversary festival is that Australia’s own multi award winning (The Barry, The Helpmann, Adelaide Best Comedy) comedy champion Hannah Gadsby has won the Best Comedy Show Award at Edinburgh. It was a joint win with John Robins and my impression is that their shows are a sort of yin and yang, with John’s show The Darkness of Robins being an anguished cry of help from the depths of a breakup with his more famous girlfriend Sara Pascoe (who was doing her own take on the breakup in an equally well reviewed but not nominated Fringe show Lads, Lads, Lads) and Hannah’s being a powerful, rallying rant of revelation against the apocalypse, Nanette. Previous Australian winners of Best Comedy at Edinburgh Fringe are Los Trios Ringbarkus, Lano & Woodley, Brendon Burns and Sam Simmons.

Other nominees for the 2017 Edinburgh Best Comedy Award were Ahir Shah, Elf Lyons, Jordan Brookes, Mae Martin, Mat Ewins, Sophie Wilan and Spencer Jones.

Best Newcomer Winner at Edinburgh Fringe was Natalie Palamides for Laid. The Nominees for Best Newcomer were; Chris Washington, Darren Harriott, Ed Night, Kwame Asante, Lauren Pattison, Lucy Pearman and Rob Kemp.

Rob Kemp did win Comedians’ Choice Award for Best Performer and Mat Ewins Presents Adventureman 7: The Return of Adventureman won best Comedians’ Choice Award Best Show.

Hannah will bring Nanette for its premiere season at the Sydney Opera House from  September 27 – October 8, before a string of encore performances at the Arts Centre Melbourne from Nov 18 culminating in Hamer Hall on Dec 1. I shouldn’t have to urge you to see it, if you’ve missed out on it so far.

Squirrel writers’ Edinburgh Fringe Round up

Colin Flaherty

My highlights at Fringe happen to be ones that I have reviewed, in particular Big Howard Little Howard

Big Howard, Little Howard (Howard Read) – Man and Boy

Andrew O’Neill’s Black Magick Fun Hour

Simon Munnery – Renegade Plumber

I also enjoyed Stuart Goldsmith – Like I Mean It, a hilarious hour that follows on from his previous show Compared to What where he continues to explore life with his new wife and son. He presents plenty of brilliant observations and plays around with the bird with clipped wings husband angle perfectly.

One off event WiFi Wars was a hoot, even though many of the games refused to play correctly on my underpowered tablet (I was only expecting to word process and web surf on it after all!). This late night, tech heavy show had punters competing individually as well as in teams. We laughed, we cheered and we got our geek on!

I had high hopes for Boris & Sergey’s One Man Extravaganza, an ambitious show featuring complicated puppetry, a crazy blurb and some wacky characters but I found it overlong and not enough laughs to hold my attention. Apart from the wonderful voicing of the characters, the expressionless puppets failed to connect with me.

Lisa Clark

I loved all the shows I reviewed with Jayde Adams (Is Jayded) being the exciting new discovery of the Fringe for me. The following are shows I loved but did not get a Squirrel write up.

Craig Ferguson ShowCraig Ferguson – The Craig Ferguson Show. All the Squirrels saw Craig’s recording of his live radio show and we all enjoyed it. Starting at 11.30pm to go live for drive time in the USA as well as Canada and Mexico, it went for 2 hours and consisted of two very entertaining in-depth chats with performers who were old friends of Craig. In our case an old close friend impressionist/comedian Jan Ravens and Scottish writer Iain Rankin.

Chris Coltrane – Make Love & Smash Fascism – a rather lovely, warm and approachable political comedian who taught me about the evils of Neo Liberalism which is extreme capitalism & pro privatisation of everything which basically seems to be the road to anarchy.

Dave Johns – I, Fillum Star. Dave Johns has been a jobbing comedian all his life and just as he was planning his retirement (he was going to give kids donkey rides at the seaside), he got a part in a film. On the 1st day director Ken Loach said, oh by the way the film is named after your character because you are the lead. I, Daniel Blake won a swag of awards taking Dave to Cannes and the BAFTAs and giving him a cracking tale to tell, and being a great comedian means Dave knows how to tell it for maximum laughs. This was a joy to experience with the message that it’s never too late.

Yianni Agisilaou – Pockets of Equality. As the title suggests, it’s about sexual politics and pockets. More importantly it was a very personal heartwarming show about love and family and one of the best shows I’ve ever seen Yianni do.

Disappointing shows were; Boris & Sergey’s One Man Extravaganza, a puppet show where three puppeteers per puppet failed to give the faceless repulsive puppets any personality, or make an interesting show. Then there was The Great Comedy Cooking Challenge which in no way described the show at all. The two guys had not planned their Festival show at all leaving the audience more bemused than amused and the main one telling the story of how he fell in love with cooking kept saying “I think that might’ve gotten a better laugh”. Nup.

Back to other highlights for me which were the inimitable and indefatigable Doug Anthony Allstars – Near Death Experience, Wifi Wars live online gaming which was a completely different kind of Festival show and finally, Simon Munnery doing a gorgeously crafted show about fixing things, bookended by two great songs. I was lucky to see Simon when Renegade Plumber had been bedded in and found it to be the tightest show I’ve seen of his in years, it was a beautiful blend of the personal and political, with the title perfectly describing the show.

Phoebe O’Brien

Fringe Shows that were highlights not formally reviewed

2 Become 1

The Swipe Right Theatre Company have created a fun and fabulous night that will capture your heart with its upbeat mix of 90’s music. It will also hit you right in the funny bone with A grade performances from a heavenly cast.

The cast of four stunning vocalists sing the hits; from Destiny’s Child to Des’ree to the Spice Girls and so many more! The 90’s bangers are intertwined within a story of friendship and heartbreak, as one of character’s, Jess breaks up with her boyfriend. After the news, her best gal pals do the only thing that would obviously ‘help’ Jess from a breakdown due to the breakup
speed dating.
At its core ‘2 Become 1’ is heartfelt and funny. You can even have a little boogie and sing-a-long of your own while you’re there. Now tell me, what more could you want? Could you really, really want?

David Quirk – Cowboy MouthDavid Quirk Cowboy mouth

After missing David Quirk during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, there was no better option than to catch his show ‘Cowboy Mouth’ at the Fringe. Quirk is the king when it comes to long form narrative story-telling, his tales from his childhood and the awkward meeting with his neighbour were tops.

Amongst the anecdotes, the show was knitted together with audio clips of the recollections of dreams people have had about him.
ps. Quirk performed on a bus and had an excellent jacket. Very cool.

Britney – John
A hidden treasure amongst the thousands of incredible Fringe shows was the sketch duo behind John. Charly Clive and Ellen Robertson are two 20 something year old mates from the UK, who make up ‘Britney’.

In their show ‘John’, the pair reminisce about the time they were just out of high school, exploring America and working on a documentary about president of Congress; John Hancock. For the documentary, they filmed interviews around America with other men with the same name. Their trip abroad became the centre for the show, with critique of the footage and their interviewing technique strong points of the show. Their ability to create stand-alone vignettes and natural storytelling was a highlight, revealing the effort both Clive and Robertson put into their follow up to their previous show ‘Britney’
which is also now the name of their duo, not confusing at all. I strongly believe we will be hearing big things from these two talented performers.

Alice Marshall – Blood
In her show solo show Blood, Alice Marshall captivates her audience with wonderfully executed character sketch comedy. Marshall has great comedic timing, while delivering a punchy hour of pure joy. I can’t wait to see more of her work further down the track.

Ron Bingham

My Squirrel fest started with a couple of excellent Aussie acts which turned out to be highlights Laura Davis (Cake in the Rain) and the Doug Anthony All Stars (Near Death Experience).

The three other shows that made me laugh out loud the most were:

Lucy Pearman – Maid of Cabbage Look What Youu Made Me Do

Demi Lardner – Look What You Made Me Do

Mark Steel – Every Little Thing’s Gonna Be Alright.

Lucy and Demi for their props and general air of controlled chaos, and Mark for his political insights and honesty about his recent marital troubles. I also enjoyed Muriel -(Bad Master) for their use of multimedia and fun sketches and The Canon -(A Literary Sketch Show) for their literary humour

I saw some fabulous new talent (two were deservedly nominated for best newcomer – Lauren Pattison and Lucy Pearman) and caught up with some excellent established acts. Saw some early shows and some late ones, drank a little too much of the free alcohol early on, nearly got blown off the top of Arthurs Seat after seeing a show up there called This Arthur’s Seat Belongs to Lionel Richie, and missed a lot of acts (ones I regret most not managing to fit into my schedule include Sarah Kendall, Ingrid Oliver and Hannah Gadsby). Importantly I only saw two shows which didn’t achieve the high standard I expect. Met a lot of lovely people, as always, and have already pre-booked for next year.

Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe

By Ron Bingham
mervyn stutter
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

Comedians’ Cinema Club

By Ron Bingham
comedians cinema club
It’s here at the festival again. The maddest silliest most anarchic group of randon comedians acting out a cinematic blockbuster that they, and possibly you, haven’t seen. Last year I saw Aliens and Back To The Future II. This time I was lucky enough to see a film that I had not seen on the big screen (nor, apparently, had the cast or most of the audience – it appears to have been popular only with people without a sense of humour?), AVATAR.

The board out the front of the venue told us that the cast for today consisted of Yianni Agisiliaou, Kai Humphries, Milo McCabe, Steve Bugeja, Stephen Bailey, Elf Lyons and Will Seaward. I know Elf hadn’t turned up (having seen her an hour earlier) and someone else was a no-show as there were only five “stars”. I’d try and give the plot of the film but, if you’ve seen it, you know it better than I do and, if you haven’t, you wouldn’t believe me…. although they kept referring to Fern Gully and there was something about plugging hair into trees and jumping onto flying lizards and floating rocks. the cast dragged a couple of young lads out of the front row (yes the audience WILL be part of the action, so get your acting boots on or hide down the back) to play their avatars. We had to be trees and make jungle noises and stuff, there was a lot of running round the little room and much hilarity was had by all.

If you get a chance to see it, or you would like to see one of your favourite films butchered beyond belief by a bunch of (slightly tipsy) comedians, then this is the choice you have for the rest of the festival:

21st Lord of the Rings trilogy
22nd Hunchback of Notre Dame
23rd Cool Runnings
24th Silence of the Lambs
25th From Dusk ’til Dawn
26th Free Willy
27th Interview with a Vampire
29th Saving Private Ryan
30th The Wizard of Oz.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedians-cinema-club