As we file into our seats, Alice is sitting on the stage chatting to audience members and being very sociable. It certainly gives a captivating first impression of the comedian who exudes warmth and a cheery welcome.
To officially start the show, Alice sings a delightful little song accompanied by her trusty banjo. After enchanting us with her musical comedy skills, she proceeds to impress us with her take on the ways in which the coronavirus and collapse of live comedy affected her (a very popular topic this year) and indeed this very show, which premiered in Glasgow in March 2020 before being locked down. She riffs on the limitations of Zoom comedy shows, and the dangers of a regular topical news comedy podcast (you may have heard her on The Bugle or The Gargle), which had me empathising strongly with her description of the horror of having to read all the newspapers all the time as a part of one’s job. Chronos is not all harrowing news though, Alice is a master at finding humour in the horrors of life.
Alice then takes us back in time and through the chaos and joy of the process of creation, of being inspired by the people on her train up to Glasgow from London, as she tries to write this very show in four hours while they distract her. We meet some really entertaining and hilarious characters that she describes in great detail. Alice works her way back further in time into more personal spheres describing the strength shown by her mum, the importance of connecting with other people and her struggles with whether she should help create the next generation of humans.
Alice is a seasoned performer with an assured professional delivery, genuine charm and some killer jokes. Mesmerising us with intelligent comedy that is gathering an appreciative following of fans, she also has a way of subtly giving the audience ideas to think about once they have stopped laughing.
The 75th Edinburgh Fringe Festival begins this week and, after a bit of an enforced break, there will be a strong contingent of Australian acts (as well as Aussie Expats and adopted Aussies) back in Auld Reeky town raring to tread the boards again. Here is a list of those we could find along with any reviews we have previously written.
Our British Correspondent Ron will be seeing a whole slew of shows and reviewing them for us.
To all those performers in Edinburgh, Chookas from The Squirrels and have a wonderful Fringe.
Scotland’s capital city is bursting at the seams with talented artists as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe begins this week. As is usual many Australian acts are heading up to “sunny” Edinburgh to show the world what they’ve got. If you’re in town, be sure to check out some of these fabulous funny folk listed below.
We’ve compiled a list of all the acts we could find, along with links to the reviews of those shows that our Squirrel writers have seen at previous festivals. As usual we give the disclaimer that Festival shows are ever evolving beasts so the show that we saw could be rather different to current iteration.
If we’ve missed anyone, feel free to drop us a line (or contact us on social media)…
Alice Fraser is performing in one of the new rooms under George Square; comfortable chairs, clean, good line of sight to the stage. Very nice venue. Not really what one usually expects in an Edinburgh Fringe show but it is a room that suits this exceptional performer.
Ethos explores the modern world and the nature of humanity, through the use of the comedian interacting with an artificial intelligence called “Ethos”. So this is not about the big laughs, more an amusing deeply thoughtful reflection on existence. It’s still funny and engrossing, but don’t come expecting an hour of one liners and a laugh a minute.
Alice’s AI alter-ego works something like a virtual assistant such as Alexa, asking questions of our host, searching the ‘net for answers when Alice is unable to explain concepts such as love or sarcasm, even trying out a few jokes of its own on the audience. We also hear a little about Alice, her family and friends and some entertaining stories, as she tackles racism, sexism and human nature.
Fans of The Bugle (with Andy Zaltzman) podcast (or indeed her own Tea with Alice podcast) will be familiar with her style of comedy. I enjoyed Ethos immensely (as did most of the full house), but this style may not be to everyone’s tastes. If you’re after puns, slapstick or scatological humour, you’re probably going to be better served elsewhere. If, however you’re after an hour of thought provoking comedy from a very smart and engaging comedian, which will still have you pondering deep thoughts days later, then this is definitely the show for you. Oh, there IS a dick joke, but I’ll let you discover it’s relevance to Alice’s Ethos.
It’s not long now until the world’s largest fringe arts festival begins in warmer climes and again a massive contingent of Australians and expats are headed to The Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Many have traveled the Australian festival circuit and have been whipped into shape for international audiences. Some have been previously reviewed by Squirrel but remember they will have been further polished and may have been revised and reworked.
Hannah Gadsby
Last year Australian, Hannah Gadsby won Best Comedy at the Fringe, she’s had to cancel her Edinburgh Fringe run this year but there’s a lot more amazing comedy talent coming up from down under. If you are travelling anywhere near Edinburgh this August, have a look at the following list of shows and consider going to see an Australian act.
Melbourne Fringe Festival is Whizzing towards us at great speed. It starts on Wednesday 16th of September and we are looking forward to seeing lots of interesting and funny things.
We are also really looking forward to bringing lots of reviews for you.
Meanwhile there are some shows at this year’s Fringe that we’ve already reviewed and so to whet your whistle here are some shows we recommend. They were all pretty popular with us and you can read our reviews from the links below . Remember that the performers would (and should) have updated, strengthened and developed their performances since their first outing, which is, of course, what makes live Performance so wonderful