Edinburgh Fringe Festival – Page 27

Sparrow-Folk: SuBIRDia

By Ron Bingham

Awww, this was so Aussie I almost felt homesick. The stage has a Hill’s Hoist clothesline as the centrepiece and the premise of the show is that we are at a backyard party for the people in the neighbourhood.

Our hosts, Catherine Crowley and Juliet Moody from the lovely little town of Canberra, invite everyone in and entertain us with some deliciously saucy songs on the subject of marital sex, ageing, breastfeeding (which apparently caused a ruckus with the Daily Mail – not hard to do as all you have to say is the word breast and they’ll get offended as an excuse to print ten pages of them), male genitals and female genitals (lovely puppets), squirrels! (with an excellent dancer drawn from the audience), a special costume changing song to the accompaniment of a kazoo, an insight into why and how some people find themselves attracted to the game of rugby and much more.

There is a lot of local gossip and a little bitchiness, some swearing and adult concepts, but the ladies are so lovely and charming that there is no possibility that anyone could be offended by them (well, apart from the aforementioned DM). The fabulous costumes and props for the show are worth the ticket price alone, but you also get an hour of fab songs (google the breastfeeding song for a hint of what’s in store for you). This show is highly recommended and should be on everyone’s list of things to see this festival.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/sparrow-folk-subirdia

Katsura Sunshine – Let Me Tell You a Story About Japan

By Ron Bingham

Sunshine is a funny, friendly Canadian who moved to Japan sixteen years ago, and has since studied to become a Rakugo or traditional Japanese storyteller. This bright, cheerful show is about his experiences in living in Japan and learning the language, as well as the complexities of the social levels in Japanese society. Sunshine also has a storytelling show at 11am for all ages, which this is a little taster.

The show only runs for about forty minutes in the late afternoon, so is perfect for a filler between other shows or something just before dinner. If you are interested in Japan or want to see someone telling Japanese tales (in English and Japanese) very quickly, then I can thoroughly recommend the show. You may also learn to say thank you in Japanese forty seven different ways.

The only problem is that the venue, Espionage, is poorly signed and you need to go through the front door, down the stairs at the back (to the left) down the next set of stairs, across the room to your right, down another set of stairs through another room and down yet another set of stairs and it’s to your left (I think that was the way – probably better to hire a native guide or follow a trail of beans or something. It was like a maze down there).

So, to sum up, it’s quick, it’s funny, it’s educational and it’s free (unless you choose to pay) and it’ll probably tempt you into seeing his proper storytelling show.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/katsura-sunshine-let-me-tell-you-a-story-about-japan

All Our Friends Are Dead – Norris & Parker

By Ron Bingham

Wow! This was brilliant. Katie Norris and Sinead Parker perform a bewildering variety of characters in this show, using a rack of costumes, as well as singing (or butchering in one case) some parodies of songs, and keeping a thread of frustration and need bubbling throughout the show. They take us on a dark journey through history and the minds of some strange people while fighting one another for the love of an audience member and the desperate need for a proper job (rather than the vile demeaning job of a “female comedy double act” which is, apparently, what happens to failed “proper” actors).

The audience, and it was a good sized audience, were in tears at some of the characters, especially the teacher (Miss Cuntingham) and poet (Julie Cooper-Clarke), the How To Make A Man Of You sessions, dragging an (overly enthusiastic) audience member onto the stage and dubbing him Henry the VIII (he was very happy to give them his phone to get their numbers) and the battle between a generic Eastern European dance diva and a generic Southern belle.

There was no break or let up in the comedy and the show was so well structured that the hour just flew by. If you wish to be impressed by a pair of filthy, funny and feisty femmes taking over an hour of your life to make you roll on the floor laughing, then you must book a ticket to see this show. Word of mouth seems to be filling the shows up, so I recommend buying a ticket and getting along to see them ASAP.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/all-our-friends-are-dead

Comedians’ Cinema Club

By Ron Bingham

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

The Travelling Sisters

By Ron Bingham

It’s amazing how much these three young Australian women managed to pack into 45 minutes. We had magic, folk music, a larger than life diva, some improv, a bit of hippie-hop and some very surreal floral dancing. The room is a very weird shape (it is square at the front then seems to sort of bend round a corner towards the back) and I would recommend that anyone wishing to see all of the stage action get a seat as close to the front as possible. The audience interaction is minimal and innocuous, so nervous punters can be assured of their safety.

Hailing from Brisbane Ell Sachs, Laura Trenerry and Lucy Fox bring all their experience and energy into giving the audience a fun time. There was hardly a quiet moment in the whole show, as one sketch flowed into the next (with the performers having deftly co-ordinated the costume changes and personnel, meaning there was always someone on stage). I was expecting more of the cabaret side of the show description, so the amount of comedy in the show was a pleasant surprise. I can’t give too many details about the actual sketches without giving away punchlines, but if you enjoy seeing some very funny ladies at lunchtime, then this is an excellent choice. It is part of the Free Fringe, so you pay what you think the show was worth. My opinion is that it’s definitely worth seeing.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/travelling-sisters-1

Festival of the Spoken Nerd II – Just For Graphs

By Ron Bingham

This is a blockbuster of a show made by nerds for nerds (and those who enjoy the company of nerds, or even anyone nerd-curious). The three hosts of the evening are geek songstress Helen Arney, stand-up mathematician Matt Parker and experiments maestro Steve Mould. I sadly missed last year’s hit show “Frontal Nerdity”, but luckily there is a booth outside where you can, after the show, buy a copy of the DVD, a special limited edition DVD or a download voucher for a copy of this show.

In this year’s show we get a number of fun experiments involving fire, sound, exciting slide shows and pictures of diagrams (the sight of the seven field Venn diagram on the big screen is worth the price of the ticket alone). We also learned of the differences between Venn and Euler diagrams, how to make magic squares, the joy of ploting ones partner’s birth contractions and making Excel spreadsheets of same, how to make a speaker wire using the audience, Mexican waves and anti-waves, and so much more!

If you are a nerd or you find nerds strangely attractive (I’ll avoid any physics jokes here), then this is a show you must see. There are one or two swear words, but the packed audience of people from ten to ninety were not offended (not as much as hearing those dreaded words “health and safety”) and there were plenty of laughs for all. I do recommend you pay attention to everything, as they are not catering for the slow readers with some of their slides, and there are some very funny jokes that may just flash past you (of course, the subliminal nature may mean you start laughing a couple of days later, but….). Highly recommended for anyone who loves science and comedy.

My only complaint about the show is that we were asked to pick up some stickers for X and Y axes (as well as “can’t plot this” stickers) to plot the world around us, but by the time we had emerged from the theatre, there were no X stickers left. So I can make a line. Sure, it’s a plot in one dimension, but that’ too easy. Maybe next show they need to add Z axes so we can try for three dimension graph…..

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/festival-of-the-spoken-nerd-just-for-graphs