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Rank that Year
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Review
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Venue
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Year
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Date Seen that Year
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1
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The Nature of Forgetting (*****)
On his 55th birthday, we see what is going on inside the mind of a fellow
with dementia. The rapid, precise, complex
choreography of the four cancers created an amazing live dreamscape. The first scene with him unable to find the
proper black suit with a red tie in its pocket because search missed the red
tie was a perfect introduction for the rest of the play.
|
Grand at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
18
|
|
|
2
|
Ordinary Decent Criminal (*****)
Mark Thomas plays all of the parts in a story of a former political protester
who finds himself in a model prison for importing marijuana, and must
navigate its powerful men. Whether
playing a Belfast IRA convict, or the little kingpin of the prison, he imbues
each with unique characteristics that obviates the need for him to use
costume changes to indicate which character he is inhabiting. Many of his characters have a vitality that
makes their interactions tense and riveting for us.
|
TechCube 0 at Summerhall
|
2025
|
1
|
|
|
3
|
Red Like Fruit (*****)
A journalist/playwright sits mostly silently in a chair while a man reads
aloud her script about her sexual encounters.
The range and ambiguity of her encounters creates the shades of gray
of her reality that are vexing for the journalist who needs some right or
wrong answers. The use of a male
reader makes it easier for the script to remain more dispassionate than if a
woman added her voice to it.
|
Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre
|
2025
|
-31
|
|
|
4
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RIFT (*****)
Four years after his brother’s sentencing, a grad student of English finally
visits the murderer in prison. I was
rivetted throughout the play as it explored prison life, racism, sexual
abuse, and family dynamics. As the
play proceeds, the turbulence of their relationship facilitates a range of
perspectives of the issues.
|
Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre
|
2025
|
-31
|
|
|
5
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Casablanca: The
Gin Joint Cut (*****)
This homage is a remarkable mix of reverent recital and play-within-a-play
antics. I’ve seen Casablanca countless
times, and I was amazed how the cast of three would play every touching scene
straight, but then add every sort of high jinx to the other scenes. I should warn the uninitiated that many of
their funny touches, such as air freshener sprayed all over the set to
simulate fog in the airport scene, will make little sense to you. Note: I saw this play in 2011 with the same
Bogart actor, and thought it the best play that year, and feel uneasy about
not rating this #2 this year.
|
Auditorium at Ghillie Dhu
|
2025
|
2
|
|
|
6
|
1984 (*****)
A cast of three, using life-size puppets at times, produce a thorough
recreation of Orwell’s dystopian book.
Winston Smith, Julia, and various supporting characters are here to
suffer the history twisting ever watched world from love to torture. I was truly amazed how they crammed all of
the atmosphere and events into 70 minutes without it feeling rushed.
|
Above at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
22
|
|
|
7
|
Personal Statement (*****)
A huge cast of high schools students attend training program where each
offers at least two different college personal statements before the
instructor accepts the last one. Both
the script and the actors were exceptional with only a few weak voices and
offkey statements. This brought tears
to my eyes on several occasions, and is the best high school production I
have ever seen.
|
Auditorium at Central Hall
|
2025
|
6
|
|
|
8
|
The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show (Menu 2)
(*****)
This great set of five sketches were about: a man’s plan to propose on a
Ferris wheel; as a volunteer, an actor offers to apply his craft to a food
bank line; a mundane package delivery initiates mayhem; the last wishes of
their close friend reveal the latent differences among three longtime
girlfriends; and a climate changing denying American TV news duo contends
with an English weatherman who is a scientist. Each of the five evolves in a funny but
reasonable fashion. There were all
humorous through and through.
|
Pleasance One at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
3
|
|
|
9
|
Locusts
(*****)
A gay man must deal with a his former pastor who had tried to convert his
sexuality. This four-hander delicately
deals with this topic in a way that allows each character a chance to express
their motivation and emotional states without being preachy. The
Christian protagonist does a great job of being tender, and conflicted.
|
Studio at theSpaceTriplex
|
2025
|
5
|
|
|
10
|
Do You Accept These Charges? (*****)
A woman describes her real relationship with a convict while he is in and out
of prison. Her acting skills combined
with a screen showing photos from her life and copies of their texts creates
a powerful show. Whether trying to
sneak marijuana into prison, or having phone sex, her recreations are sincere
and heartbreaking.
|
Below at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
14
|
|
|
11
|
World's Greatest Lover -- The New Musical
(*****)
Five famous lovers from history set about saving love by learning from their
mistakes. The lyrics are good, the
music and singing great, and the choreography top notch from this
professional company. Normally I don’t
like audience participation, but when they chose a woman to come on stage and
be serenaded by them it suited the romantic theme of the show.
|
Pleasance One at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
21
|
|
|
12
|
Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier (*****)
Bailey covers a lot of ground in the two hour show by combining stand-up with
playing an amazing range of musical instruments. The topics of his stand-up routines ranged
from pallbearer in Indonesia to nuclear science. He was accompanied by drums, bass, and
violin as e played instruments ranging from Turkish lute to piano to musical
rubber bouncing balls to laser beams to the audience itself.
|
Edinburgh Playhouse - Auditorium
|
2025
|
23
|
|
|
13
|
We'll Get Back to You (*****)
When a free spirited woman attends a job interview, it takes an odd
turn. Her approach to life has a
different, but positive impact on each person she meets. Every scene is heartwarming, well
written,and well acted with only a meeting with a salesman missing a
connection in her reasoning.
|
Sanctuary at Paradise in Augustines
|
2025
|
9
|
|
|
14
|
Flush (*****)
We watch five women play 14 roles as they recreate the events in a bathroom
of a night club where a hen party, office party, and three high school girls
are drinking. With three different
groups interacting there was plenty of room for interesting
conversations. While all of the
intra-group conversations worked, it was the high school girls dealing with
their elders that provided an opportunity for unique topics.
|
Upstairs at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
14
|
|
|
15
|
Mark Thomas: WD40 (*****)
Thomas combines quips with tales of his rough grandmother, and tirades
against the government and right wing politicians. I suppose I think he is great because I
agree with his politics and love his passion.
His over-the-top zeal carries us over some of his more unrealistic
suggestions with its hilarity.
|
Stand 1 at The Stand Comedy Club
|
2025
|
16
|
|
|
16
|
Mariupol (*****)
An Ukrainian merchant seaman and a Muscovite college student meet at a
wedding in Mariupol, Ukraine in 1992, and have their lives cross until
2022. There is not a false note
anywhere as their relationship changes with each meeting, though some of the
scene changes were a bit long. The
plotting that has them meeting during wartime is a natural confluence from
the previous events.
|
Beneath at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
20
|
|
|
17
|
Out of the Blue
(*****)
I traditionally see Out of the Blue on the last day of the Fringe because
they never disappoint me with their great singing and exuberant
choreography. This version fulfilled
my expectations. This year they again
had some newer songs that I hadn’t heard before, but they were still fun, and
seemed well justified by the age of the performers.
|
Gordon Aikman Theatre at Assembly George
Square
|
2025
|
25
|
|
|
18
|
Bairns (*****)
We hear of the pregnancy of a young woman who has reluctantly agreed to be a
surrogate for sister. She describes
her indecision and the whole process from the implant to birth with honesty
and humor. Her ambivalence adds the
sincere emotional elements that trans forms this from stand-up comedy to a
thoughtful play.
|
Bunker Three at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
23
|
|
|
19
|
Strangewife (*****)
A desperate actor is hired by a woman to spend the evening with her. The complex interplay between her
perfectionist requests and his struggle to please her is engrossing. The last act works perfectly.
|
Front Room at Assembly Rooms
|
2025
|
14
|
|
|
20
|
Body Count (*****)
This solo show has a woman become a vigilante who attacks men when she hears
of how they abused her friends. Her
righteous anger is difficult for her to control as we silently cheer her on. As the play continues it becomes darker,
but her perfect characterizations of the offending men kept us on her
side. The final, somewhat fantastic,
part of the plot veers into an alternative world that some would wish for,
and would disgust others.
|
Coorie at Gilded Balloon Patter House
|
2025
|
25
|
|
|
21
|
A Gambler's Guide to Dying (*****)
A young man recounts his grandfather’s gambling philosophy, and how it
influenced their close friendship. He
described how to prolong a dream, and allowing a bet to energize a cancer
ridden walk to death. The tale of his
Scottish grandfather’s mob beating in a bar after betting on England revealed
a realist who was willing to accept both the winning and losing in life. Note: I saw this in 2015, and gave it 5
stars, but my poor hearing now meant that I missed much because of his brogue
and would have given it 4 stars.
|
Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre
|
2025
|
-31
|
|
|
22
|
Chokeslam (****)
A young woman tells how she came to love pro-wrestling, then vividly
describes famous bouts. She and her
friends hold parties to watch wrestling, her wedding had a wrestling theme
with a ring announcer, but the story of her divorce from the man who turned
her on to wrestling shows another side of her. I saw this last year, and now realize what
a great job of acting this is with her infectious enthusiasm, pain of an
unsatisfying marriage, and surprising confession.
|
Daisy at Underbelly; Bristo Square
|
2025
|
10
|
|
|
23
|
Giselle: Remix (****)
This queer interpretation of the classic French ballet has lip syncing drag
queen as the protagonist with four supporting dancers. The dancing is usually fast and sensual
accompanied by loud rave music.
Similar to the ballet, one scene has the ensemble frantically dance
until Giselle must drop from exhaustion.
|
Forth at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
17
|
|
|
24
|
Refuse (****)
In Ukraine just before the Russians invade, an affable garbage collector
helps his wife and a beautiful woman on his route. The show offers a window into normal life
in Ukraine, and then instances of how they react on the first day of the
invasion. I thought a scene where he
appreciates the offer of a shower demonstrated the purity of spirit of the
individuals involved.
|
Studio Five at Assembly George Square Studios
|
2025
|
16
|
|
|
25
|
I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical (****)
Four singer/dancers take us from auditioning through moving up the ranks to
star in musicals. This clever show has
solo and/or group songs about some less obvious aspects such as understudies,
dealing with divas, and the physical and mental strain of dance numbers. The show had everything you could ask for:
good voices, lyrics, music, and plot.
|
Auditorium at the Museum
|
2025
|
23
|
|
|
26
|
#Hysteria: A (History of Human Sexuality with
Callaghans Questions (****)
A Victorian woman/man expounds on the approaches that various civilizations
have taken to sex with particular attention to Victorian values regarding
women’s sexuality. The energetic
performer/writer combines props and frequent screenshots of historic
documents to create a vibrant, satirical lecture that alternates between
myths of the past and real facts. The
show is delightful with just the right amount of audience participation.
|
Ruby at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower
|
2025
|
-30
|
|
|
27
|
Down to Chance (****)
Based on a true story, a radio journalist steps in, and assumes an important
part in aftermath of the 9.2 earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska. The breadth of the scenes is heartwarming
as we see how many groups steeped up in the crisis. Her argument for withholding some
information has us on appropriately on edge.
|
Beside at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
24
|
|
|
28
|
Out of My Head -- Alan Watts is Alive and
Well... Dead (****)
An actor bounces between being himself, and portraying the 1970s Zen guru
talking about life and philosophy. We
even had a chance to put questions to “Watts”. As someone who listened to Watts each
Sunday in my late teens, I found his answers to our questions remarkably in
tune with that of Watts himself.
|
Upstairs at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
25
|
|
|
29
|
Same (****)
Two young best friends, one with a single mother, and the other with a golden
boy for a brother, don’t share their troubles with each other. The story deftly shows how two such men
would end up hiding the depth of their issues whether due to timing or
shame. The plot smartly provides clues
to the other’s problem that troubled person denies in some way.
|
Olive Studio at Greenside @ George Street
|
2025
|
16
|
|
|
30
|
One Man Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart and The Pit
and the Pendulum (****)
The actor conveys all the macabre atmosphere of both stories as he portrays
their protagonists telling their tales.
Whether bragging murderer or terrified prisoner, Poe has us tense
throughout each story as we relive their dark lives. With nary a prop, the actor transports us
with his nuanced storytelling.
|
Willow Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
22
|
|
|
31
|
The Lolita Apologies (****)
An actress notes that adaptations of Nabokov’s “Lolita” ignore that Humbert
Humbert is an unreliable narrator, and treat Lolita (nee Dolores) as a
seducer rather than the victim of child sexual abuse. As the actress seeks apologies from an actor who is portraying men who were
involved with the adaptations his responses are varied and spot on. I was particularly pleased with the
accuracy of the portrayal of the
feisty New Yorker Stanley Kubrick who, like Trump, would never give an inch.
|
Muse at Braw Venues @ Hill Street
|
2025
|
14
|
|
|
32
|
Trouble; Struggle; Bubble and Squeak (****)
An activist/writer tells of the true story of how she joined a Civil War
battle re-enactment group, and then tried to help a town re-claim a plot of
land for allotment gardens. The
interplay between her two roles makes for an entertaining and uplifting
story. Her description of the
embattled amateur soldiers facing a defiant crowd is priceless.
|
Above at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
16
|
|
|
33
|
Matt Forde: Defying Calamity (****)
The comedian/political commentators lampoons various current political leaders
and parties with wit and great impressions.
While I didn’t know all the British political leaders at the
beginning, by the end I felt I had a pretty good understanding of Keir
Starmer and why he deserves Forde’s ridicule.
I certainly laughed whenever
Forde addressed Trump’s antics, but I was most impressed by how Forde
was able to find so much humor in his own erectile dysfunction and cancer.
|
Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
21
|
|
|
34
|
Smile: The Story of Charlie Chaplin (****)
A mime recreates Charlie Chaplin in parts of the1925 film “The Gold Rush”,
and then enlists audience members in portraying Chaplin’s life in
silence. He has Chaplin’s physicality
down pat, and covers all of the big events of Chaplin’s life. My pet peeve is that using audience members
takes time away from the story and is easily avoidable in this instance in
all but the case of a Keystone Kop chase and battering.
|
Below at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
21
|
|
|
35
|
Dial 1 for UK (****)
An illegal Indian immigrant finds that life in the UK is not what he dreamed,
partly because gangsters asked exorbitant
fees for illegal student visas and then took away his passport so the
could abuse him. The actor/playwright
makes good use of the 8’ x 8’ stage to provide a compelling story using
photographs and his trusty I-phone, Selena.
The plot twists nicely as the happy go lucky former customer service
operator becomes desperate and uses his skills from India to get by.
|
Pickle Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
2
|
|
|
36
|
The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show (Menu 1)
(****)
These premises of these five sketches are: a status concious couple are
burglarized; two nearby people having different phones conversations sound
like they could be conversing with each other; at the FA CUP at Wembly, a
head coach suddenly has doubts; when a woman is summoned to A&E she
discovers that she is still the emergency contact for her former lover; after
a murder, the leader of an improv troupe is grilled by two cops. We enjoyed all but the twin phone call
sketch because we couldn’t hear the woman.
The denouement of the burglary is particularly clever and funny.
|
Pleasance One at Pleasance Courtyard (Menu 1)
|
2025
|
5
|
|
|
37
|
One Man Poe: The Black Cat and The Raven
(****)
Without histrionics that others might read Poe, the actor delivers the two
stories with all the underlying terror they can engender. The slower, subdued cadence of this
performance adds the appropriate dread to the whole show. When he tackles the second story, his
makeup adds subtle, dark, references from “The Black Cat”.
|
Willow Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
9
|
|
|
38
|
King Lear (****)
Pip Utton edits the lines from all characters of King Lear, and added a few
Shakespearean lines of his own so that his King Lear could perform the play
alone. His work as a playwright is
true to the spirit and text of the play while making it more accessible. His work as an actor gives us a Lear who
is, in turns, naďve, aggrieved, crazy, and grief stricken in this wonderful
interpretation.
|
Baby Grand at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
23
|
|
|
39
|
The Essence of Audrey (****)
An actress portrays Audrey speaking with her delicate, precise diction of the
events of her whole life. Despite the
small stage, she frequently moved to provide a sense of smooth flow the suits
the former aspiring ballerina’s life.
Nonetheless, we learned that the physical and emotional trauma in the
Netherlands during the Nazi occupation as well as her strict mother imbued
her with a physical and emotional fragility that was evident in many of her
roles.
|
Cellar at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
23
|
|
|
40
|
Wodehouse in Wonderland (****)
Set in his 1950s Long Island house, P.G Wodehouse tells of answering the
questions of his biographer. We learn of
his friends, family, and Jeeves while he occasionally provides snippets of
some of the memorable Broadway songs for which he wrote the lyrics. He spent a lot of time defending his four
notorious appearances on Nazi radio in the USA and UK while he was imprisoned
in France.
|
Studio Three at Assembly George Square Studios
|
2025
|
-30
|
|
|
41
|
Hold the Line (****)
We watch a day of calls for a fellow who mans the NHS non-emergency phone
line. The range of calls was well
selected to reflect the pressure and occasional impotence for situations that
range from minor to deadly serious.
The key call that overarches the whole show works well to highlight
the difficult position such workers are in.
|
Bunker Two at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
24
|
|
|
42
|
3 Chickens Confront Existence (****)
This bit of existential fluff has three actors in chicken suits in three
cages in a broiler house who spend their days chatting while watching other
chickens being taken away to their deaths.
The script does a good job of mining their predicament for many
different topics, including trying to predict when their row will be called,
and writing a creation story for chickens.
A wonderful sequence occurs when a blue feather floats down and lands
on the comb of one of the chickens who immediately assumes that it is a sign
that he should be the leader of the chickens, and proceeds with all that
entails, including sycophants and spies.
|
Belly Button at Underbelly; Cowgate
|
2025
|
1
|
|
|
43
|
Bury The Hatchet (****)
A guitarist, fiddler, and singer provide all the facts and rumors surrounding
the murder of Lizzie Borden’s parents in 1892. Between scenes, they combined to sing songs
of that era. In the end, virtually all
of the evidence, and theories point at her guilt.
|
Queen Dome at Pleasance Dome
|
2025
|
13
|
|
|
44
|
Ego Show (****)
A talented singer presents a show about how our egos affect our lives with
emphasis on his ego. His approach that
alternates between an egotistic self, and a more grounded self allows him to
really display his talent at song writing and performing. As a fellow with a degree in psychology, I
found that I missed at least a mention of actual Freudian purpose of the ego
to mediate between the id and superego.
|
Thistle Theatre at Greendside @ Riddle Court
|
2025
|
9
|
|
|
45
|
She's Behind You (****)
A famous Scottish Pantomine Dame named Dot Trot tells of how his role has
evolved over time to modernize and improve pantomime. The audience really got into the pantomime
spirit with its call and responses, and had great time. Unhappily, with my poor hearing and lack of
context much of the fun was lost on me, but the finale brought tears to my
eyes.
|
Traverse 1 at Traverse Theatre
|
2025
|
1
|
|
|
46
|
Miles (****)
This two-hander has Miles Davis talking about his in general, and the making
of the 1959 ground breaking “Kind of Blue” jazz album owhile also critiquing
the playing of a livetalented trumpeter.
The play covers the significant events of Davis’ life as well give us
some insight into his thought process when recording that album in just two
days with some of the greatest jazz musicians of his day as side men. The accomplished trumpeter, Jay Phelps, is
indispensable as he provides snippets from Davis’ development as as the
album.
|
TechCube 0 at Summerhall
|
2025
|
5
|
|
|
47
|
Pretty, Witty Nell (****)
Speaking in iambic pentameter, an actress portrays Nell Gwyn, Charles II long
time mistress, as scribes her life from orange girl on the floor of the
Theatre Royal to mother of a duke and a lord.
She does a remarkable job of covering the ups and downs of the whole
of the witty woman’s life. I found the
competition among the king’s mistresses, and the king’s concern for her
welfare a revelation.
|
Bedlam Theatre
|
2025
|
13
|
|
|
48
|
The Birthday Party: A Theatrical Catastrophe
(****)
A veteran actor, and fine storyteller, relates his experiences while
participating in producing Harold Pinter’s “The Birthday Party”. This engaging piece gave me a much better
understanding of the steps of preparation of a play, and just how they can go
terribly wrong. He describes the
clashes between the director William Friedkin and the villainous actor Steven
Berkoff with wonderful detail.
|
Theatre 1 at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
6
|
|
|
49
|
Fuselage (****)
With the help of two other actors, a woman who was a college drama student
tells of the college lives of her friends, particularly her best friend, who
were on the Pan Am 103 flight that exploded over Lockerbie. Though part of the story is about the
impact of the bombing on the performer, most is bringing to our attention the
lives of those college friends. The
recurring snippets of news broadcasts of pertinent events from the previous
decade really added to the production.
|
Above at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
12
|
|
|
50
|
Nowhere--Here & Now Showcase (****)
Using an extensive multimedia presentation, a man of Egyptian descent tells
of his family, the Arab Spring particularly in Egypt, and the Gaza war. I found his story touching, and most of the
presentation top notch. The show
seemed too long, with too much time wasted watching him dance.
|
Traverse 1 at Traverse Theatre
|
2025
|
12
|
|
|
51
|
Three Can Keep a Secret (****)
A mob money man invites two gangsters to a poker game who have other
ideas. This show has the audience vote
on how the story should proceed at various very critical points, and then
obey their decision. It is obvious
that the cast is well prepared for the various possible choices, and the
whole show proceeds with an interesting well told story.
|
Space 3 at theSpace on the Mile
|
2025
|
6
|
|
|
52
|
K Mak at the Planetarium (***)
A band composed of drums, keyboard, cello, and violin play atmospheric songs
while complex computer videos play on a huge wall behind them. The videos varied from kaleidoscopic to
microscopic to time lapsed flowers.
This is one of the few shows that worked well in the circular
Demonstration Room at Summerhall with its strong reverberations.
|
Demonstration Room at Summerhall
|
2025
|
20
|
|
|
53
|
Managed Approach (****)
After Leed’s created a Red Light district in its Holbeck district, a mother
who lives there becomes very protective of her daughter and
neighborhood. Instead of a common
expose of the lives of prostitutes, this is a story that digs into a homelife
with no direct connection to prostitution.
The mother-daughter see saw relationship works well, except that the
young mother actress belied her role by wearing the jewelry of twentysomething
girl.
|
Coorie at Gilded Balloon Patter House
|
2025
|
9
|
|
|
54
|
Amazons (***)
An indigenous Amazon woman just days ahead of receiving her British
citizenship talks about famous indigenous women from the time of the arrival
of the European colonizers, and tries tracing her female lineage back a few
generations using tales, miniature models, maps, and photos. I was impressed that the natives were so
fierce that the colonizers had to resort to importing African slaves to work
their farms. Categorizing from a chart
the different types of curly hair she, her mother, and grandmother have
served to highlight the historical mix of bloods that now is common in the
Amazon.
|
Former Gents Locker Room at Summerhall
|
2025
|
25
|
|
|
55
|
Mrs Roosevelt Flies to London (***)
A senior actress plays Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin
Roosevelt, describing her trip around England in 1942 intermixed with other
events of her long life. Her whole
life is interesting, but it loses much of its power by dashing back and forth
chronologically. I was surprised to
learn that she headed the United Nations commission that wrote the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights despite the many objections of the Soviets.
|
Drawing Room at Assembly Rooms
|
2025
|
17
|
|
|
56
|
Once Upon a Bridge (***)
Based on a true story, three characters involved in a jogger pushing a
pregnant woman out of his way tell of their lives before and after the
incident. The individual lives cross
for only a moment, and so the tales are separate and more about their lives
than the incident. I was surprised
that the incident made front page news, and that the final, coincidental plot
twist has no basis in reality.
|
Stephenson Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons'
Hall
|
2025
|
22
|
|
|
57
|
Consumed (***)
When the four generations of women come together for the great grandmother’s
90th birthday their grievances come to the fore. While there are surprises galore, and each
criticism has merit, the lack of true love and understanding makes it
unpalatable. The final revelation just
seems too unreal.
|
Traverse 1 at Traverse Theatre
|
2025
|
19
|
|
|
58
|
Motorhome Marilyn (***)
An aging Marilyn Monroe street imitator in Las Vegas auditions for a new show
composed of past celebrities lives. As
events from her past come back to haunt her ties to Marilyn take a back seat. She is a good performer who warmed to the
role as the show continued, but, based on other reviews, I had expected more.
|
Doonstairs at Gilded Balloon Patter House
|
2025
|
25
|
|
|
59
|
Kirsty Mann -- Corpse (WIP) (***)
This solo show had a married couple finally getting to buy a Victorian house
she loved, and find that there are many disquieting reminders of the old
woman who had lived there for many years.
Between the old woman sister’s grizzly revelations and the flickering
lights there were plenty of hints of ghosts in this well told tale. The doctor’s graphic description of the
5-minute time-of-death routine that she had often carried out provided an
extra connection to death that pervaded the whole show.
|
eFormer Gents Locker Room at Summerhall
|
2025
|
7
|
|
|
60
|
An American Love Letter to Edinburgh (***)
An American ex-pat combines a story of his own exploration of the UK with
that of Benjamin Franklin’s. His tale
works well as we hear of highlights from both the past and the present. When he lists the men that Franklin met
when he came to Edinburgh, and their accomplishments, it easy to see why
Edinburgh had earned the title of Athens of the North.
|
Netherbow Theatre at Scottish Storytelling
Centre
|
2025
|
18
|
|
|
61
|
F.U.D.S (***)
Three twenty something mates share camaraderie, marijuana, and
dissatisfaction with their place in the world. Despite not being able to understand some
of their brogue, I found that I understood enough to enjoy the eff and flow
of their tale. Originally I was upset
at the yelling of one actor, but, in hindsight, I realize that his volatile
character would shout his convictions.
|
Nip at
Gilded Balloon Patter House
|
2025
|
11
|
|
|
62
|
Operation Blank (***)
When a nuclear bomb destroys Copenhagen, an advisor to the UK prime minister
joins a video meeting of the top officials of the country. From the minute we see the young PM propped
up on pillows while laying in bed on the call, we expect this to be a wild
satire on how a modern government may deal with such an emergency—with
evasion and procrastination. For some
reason, I just bought into the concept, and joined with the frustrated
advisor as he repeatedly rejected the ineffective solutions offered by the
cabinet.
|
leming Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
7
|
|
|
63
|
The Beautiful Future Is Coming (***)
Three couples from past, present, and future deal with climate change. By intermixing their tales, each story
loses much of its impact. Many times
we couldn’t hear the wife of the present which made her story even weaker.
|
Traverse 1 at Traverse Theatre
|
2025
|
Traverse 1 at Traverse
Theatre
|
|
|
64
|
Thanks for Being Here (***)
This unusual show relies on videos of the audience with actors mixed in them
to completely demolish the fourth wall.
The constantly panning cameras never focus on anyone in particularly
so no one seemed embarrassed. It is a
unique, albeit a little over long, experience that is well worth visiting.
|
Main House at ZOO Southside
|
2025
|
17
|
|
|
65
|
Adrienne: An American in Paris (***)
Set in the 1920s, a self-described bibliophile from New Jersey finds herself
in Paris among the literati of the time.
While she ends up living with a man, it is books that are always the
focus with sex and love never even mentioned.
This lack of passion outside of books puts a limit on the thrill of
her experience and the play.
|
Pickle Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
16
|
|
|
66
|
Dracula's Guest (***)
A lawyer is sent by his company to stay with Dracula for two months. The new story maintains its tension
throughout, including it ending. The
lawyer is perfect, and Dracula is appropriately large and scary, but he
doesn’t speak loud enough.
|
CC Bloom's (Free Fringe)
|
2025
|
11
|
|
|
67
|
Air Heart (***)
This show has Amelia Earhart talk about her whole life from breaking her
younger sister’s front teeth on backyard roller coaster that Amelia had
built, to her platonic marriage to her beloved manager. Throughout the tale she keeps coming back
to her love of flight. I am not sure
how they know the verbatim contents of the letters she had with her on her
doomed solo Pacific flight.
|
studio at C ARTS | C venues | C alto
|
2025
|
10
|
|
|
68
|
Tadiwa Mahlunge: Hakuna Ma Tad Tad (***)
Mahlunge starts off by describing how his family fled their mansion and
servants in Zimbabwe for council housing in Cardiff after death threats from
Robert Mugabe, and then relates tales mostly of his family life, with a few
notes about racism in the UK. While he
has had many funny experiences, his presentation needed work. His ethnic joke about his assimilated
sister’s choice of New Balance shoes fell flat, and he failed to thoroughly
mine the humor of trying to fake that he has a baby to quiet his downstairs
neighbor.
|
The Tron at Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Tron)
|
2025
|
-29
|
|
|
69
|
Liberace -- In His Own Words (***)
A fine pianist emulates Librace’s style both in flamboyantly playing the
piano, and then congenially speaking of Liberace’s life. His blending of songs from classical to pop
matched that of the entertainer. As a
former pianist, I sat in the front row left so I could watch his fingers fly
over the keys.
|
Ballroom at PBH's Free Fringe @ Voodoo Rooms
|
2025
|
15
|
|
|
70
|
Chunky Jewellery (***)
Two middle aged women provide an hour of song and dance of pop tunes. One had a great voice, and the other had a
good voice and was surprisingly good at dancing. The dance where she slowly throws pieces of
chunky jewellery off was a great symbol for finally dealing with her grief.
|
Music Hall at Assembly Rooms
|
2025
|
15
|
|
|
71
|
Almost Everything (***)
A fellow gets a new, attractive housemate.
There is a certain predictability to the story, but his bond with a
later character seems poorly justified.
The final act seemed straight out of a soap opera.
|
Alba Theatre at Braw Venues @ Hill Street
|
2025
|
16
|
|
|
72
|
In the Land of Eagles (***)
A English woman tells of joining with her father in a return to the village
in Albania of his birth. Despite her
being a good storyteller, and my companions enjoyment, I found that my
attention wandered for some reason.
Nonetheless, her description of their final destination made want to
visit Albania.
|
Baby Grand at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
18
|
|
|
73
|
Brits Abroad: Banned (***)
A guitarist accompanies three actors who populate sketches veering from
Cockney rhythm slang to British airline tourists modifying hell to dancing to
disco tunes. As you can imagine, this
Yank did not get many of the British references nor the songs, but my English
wife loved it, and helped decide its rating.
The guitarist did a great job of providing the wide range of music
asked of him.
|
Baby Grand at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
12
|
|
|
74
|
Death on the Clyde (***)
This tale of murder in a remote Scottish hamlet at a time when Christianity
still battled river spirits has a wonderful mixture of dance, song, and
criminology. Though the accidental
dropping of a ring seemed a bit contrived, the investigation still was
satisfying. While speaking in a
softer, understandable brogue, the whole play did a great job of keeping the
other possible anachronisms at bay,.
|
The Speakeasy at The Speakeasy at The Royal
Scots Club
|
2025
|
7
|
|
|
75
|
Ghost Light (***)
A new wardrobe assistant in a very old theatre finds that she sometimes can
interact with the ghosts of long dead performers. This strange combination of production
dance numbers from popular plays, and a story of murder would work well but
for the fact that we often could not understand the lines. The production of “One (Singular
Sensation)” from “A Chorus Line” was great.
|
Pleasance One at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
3
|
|
|
76
|
Lost Paws (***)
Two cats escape from their owners and explore London while their two owners
search for them. The interactions
between the cats with each other and their owners are cute, and the slowly
developing romances are heartwarming.
This is just a good, solid, fun Fringe play that doesn’t ask too much
of the audience.
|
Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
20
|
|
|
77
|
People We Bury Alive (***)
This solo show explores two aspects of social isolation: self-enforced, and
that instituted by a friend or family member.
She does a good mixing her own experiences with that of others shown
in video snippets. On the whole, it
was a quite satisfying show.
|
Playground 3 at ZOO Playground
|
2025
|
3
|
|
|
78
|
The Infant (***)
A mother is interrogated about the death of her baby using a mind
reader. While I liked that the play
made me think about some problematic ethical questions, it does have two
flaws: 1) in America, when a suspect asks for a lawyer, any interrogation
must stop, or else nothing said, nor based on what is said may be used in
court; and 2) the twist at the end weakens the play by adding confusion to
the whole previous experience. The
whole play would be better served if it was set in a psychiatrist’s office,
or after a guilty verdict.
|
Theatre 1 at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
20
|
|
|
79
|
Seizure (***)
This play within a play has a little sister of a powerful attorney invited to
come back home for a big company party.
The interactions between the outer and inner plays are a bit
confusing, but, unlike some other audience members, I found that
intriguing. The late reveal does tie
up all the loose ends, but the final event is a little over the top.
|
Grand Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
6
|
|
|
80
|
Cold; Dark Matters (***)
A storyteller tells of an author who became interest in a shed on common land
in a Cornwall field. The fellow was
winning as was the story. Only the
last revelations hurt as they didn’t make sense in the context of the
previous story.
|
studio at C ARTS | C venues | C aurora
|
2025
|
5
|
|
|
81
|
Lost Property (***)
Every Fringe I get behind in writing my reviews, and one play is so
unremarkable that I cannot remember it.
This is that play for this year.
It was neither great, nor terrible.
|
Theatre 3 at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
15
|
|
|
82
|
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
(***)
A large cast of adults portray a spelling contest among primary age
kids. The cast is quite capable, and
the plotting good, but the music and lyrics are pretty worthless. The aggressive nerd with his spelling foot
is unforgettable.
|
Forest Theatre at Greenside @ George Street
|
2025
|
18
|
|
|
83
|
Tilly No-Body (***)
This solo show has the early 20th century
German theater star, Tilly Wedekind, talking about her life married to
a famous but overbearing playwright/director. From teen to senior citizen the
actress ably conveys the fragility and prowess of the actress. However, the lack of chronological
signposts severely weakens the power of the play—we cannot tell whether
months or years have passed between critical events.
|
Bramley at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower
|
2025
|
-30
|
|
|
84
|
The Last Rites (***)
A prisoner facing execution today argues with a priest who is there to save
the condemned man’s soul. The two
actors were very good, but I have heard their debate many times before, and
only a late plot twist piqued my interest.
An incomplete costume change in the last scene really distracted me.
|
Theatre at Bedlam Theatre
|
2025
|
-30
|
|
|
85
|
A Gerry Christmas Carroll (***)
The actor abridges the book to be a one hour tale. He does a fine job of choosing those
aspects of the original that give a real feel for early 19th century
London. With nary a missed line this
as good a performance of the off-season tale as one could hope.
|
Just the Attic at Just the Tonic at The Mash
House
|
2025
|
7
|
|
|
86
|
The Speakeasy Experience (***)
A French woman offers two cocktails in a small room decorated as hidden bar
while talking about their origins and how speakeasies came to be in
America. The two cocktails were
delicious, and she was entertaining.
While she was making the cocktails we had a real speakeasy experience
as we chatted with a fellow from Brazil, and another from Yorkshire at our
table for four.
|
Summerhall Distillery at Summerhall
|
2025
|
20
|
|
|
87
|
Horny for the End of the World (***)
After her boyfriend breaks up with her a young woman hears the news that the
world will end in two weeks. The short
play works well as she responds to several former boyfriends’ telephone calls
trying to hook up with her before the end.
It was a cute bit of fluff to end the day with.
|
Stephenson Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons'
Hall
|
2025
|
1
|
|
|
88
|
Do Astronauts Masturbate in Space? (***)
In the future, a couple discovers that she is pregnant, and they must spend a
week enduring a state test to determine if they may have the baby. The early scenes well establish their
fitness, but some of the tests seem fantastic. There some chaotic scenes that seemed
absurd, and detracted from the poignancy of the play.
|
Willow Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
15
|
|
|
89
|
Newsrevue (***)
Four comedians and a keyboardist produced a few short skits and a lot of
ditties lampooning mostly politicians.
Since I could understand little, and Debbie could only understand
half, neither of us enjoyed the show.
Based on the muted response of the audience, we were not alone, and
think that even people with good hearing would think this an unexceptional
show.
|
Ballroom at Assembly Rooms
|
2025
|
24
|
|
|
90
|
A Murder in Motley (***)
A pub owner and shareholder in the Globe theatre in Shakespearean times is
murdered, an unidentified boy in a jester costume was seen near the crime so
two jesters are tried for the murder.
The initial scene confused me because of my poor hearing and dense
writing, but after that I did a little better despite some unintelligible
lines. The pub dance that became
rowdier as it progressed was perfect, I just was frustrated that I didn’t
hear some crucial lines used to determine guilt.
|
Willow Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
2
|
|
|
91
|
Dead Air (***)
This dense solo show has a troubled young woman talking to her mother, lover,
stepfather, and an AI generated version of her dead father. While she was a tour de force of acting the
show seems overlong. I did think the
AI was well done as she keeps tuning its personality, though his amplified
voice was often hard to understand because of the reverberation of the
bunker.
|
Bunker One at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
-30
|
|
|
92
|
Charming (***)
Cinderella’s fairy godmother delivers a list of demands to modernize that
Prince Charming must meet, or she will divorce him. This slight play has fun with the concept
of an 18th century senior citizen royal who is reluctant to catch-up with the
2020s. Even though the plot has a nice
twist, the twist was not explored in a way that justified 55 minutes.
|
Forest Theatre at Greenside @ George Street
|
2025
|
2
|
|
|
93
|
A Dress (***)
This large high school cast portrays life outside the classroom while
following a girl preparing for her senior prom. We see all the stereotypes and cliques, but
in the hands of this troupe their words and actions ring true. The comments from fellow students after the
show confirmed this, and the depressing fact that the students are quite
aware of gun violence in American schools.
|
The Great Hall at Nicolson Square Venues
|
2025
|
6
|
|
|
94
|
A Lie Club (***)
A fellow joins a group meeting for people who are habitual liars, and is
attracted to one woman there. The
pranks together work well, but the play has trouble dealing with the problem
of two liars forming an honest romantic relationship in a satisfying
manner. Without a backstory, the woman
seems a cypher with an inexplicable condition.
|
Studio at theSpaceTriplex
|
2025
|
14
|
|
|
95
|
Bloomsbury Bell (***)
Vanessa Dell literally paints a portrait of her dead sister, Virginia Woolf,
while relating tales from the Bloomsbury group of artists and
intellectuals. She covers the liaisons
and belief in the arts of the group without much nuance in her
presentation. Though their stories
were interesting, m attention often strayer to watching her water color
painting.
|
Cellar at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
13
|
|
|
96
|
Good For You (***)
Three women lawyers are all vying to handle a big case for different
reasons. Three of the four characters
are well drawn, but the youngest is too antic to be real. I found the finale quite satisfying.
|
Space 3 at theSpace on the Mile
|
2025
|
21
|
|
|
97
|
Tom at the Farm (***)
A close friend of fellow shows up at the farm run by his brother and mother
for his funeral. The dark, physicality
of this supertitled show is impressive, but I found the story too slow. The ferocity of the brother, particularly
during the fights, cannot be denied.
|
Lennox Theatre at Pleasance at EICC
|
2025
|
15
|
|
|
98
|
The Time Painter (***)
Five young Korean women quietly mostly use paper, scissors, and apples to
allude to the Gwangju Democratic Uprising 0f 1980. While some of their performance was
interesting to me, the bulk was too esoteric for me to understand. Their use of paper razors to create a town
was the highlight for me.
|
Studio Three at Assembly George Square Studios
|
2025
|
22
|
|
|
99
|
I'm Ready to Talk Now (***)
A personable fellow asks about your presentation preferences, then
accommodate any of your needs, and has a multi-presentation derived from his
long stay in a hospital. I think I
spent more time chatting before and after than experience the
presentation. He is warm and engaging,
and the presentation felt low key.
|
Traverse Foyer: Meeting Point at Traverse
Theatre
|
2025
|
8
|
|
|
100
|
Sponsored by The Void (***)
A submissive woman is offered a chance to have help with a Halloween
party. Although we see how many people
take advantage of the protagonist, I never felt that she had the strength of
character to make her momentous decision.
Though the Void was literally characterized, somehow it felt like a
thing from a horror story rather than real.
|
Thistle Theatre at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
9
|
|
|
101
|
The Scold's Bridle (***)
This short two-hander has a 17th century misogynistic husband subjecting his
submissive wife to all sorts of physical abuse, including a scold’s
bridle. Part of the play tells of the
witchcraft prisons and test like other such plays, but stepping into a
commoners homelife offers something unique that is well explored. However, a scene with a knife is either out
of place chronologically, or completely unnecessary and confusing.
|
Willow Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
6
|
|
|
102
|
Almost Famous (***)
A senior actress who has returned to England from Hollywood is about to
audition for a part in a touring play.
As she recounts her career, she takes the opportunity to demonstrate
that she can still dance like she did decades ago. After a life as a single, estranged mother,
we realize that she is a totally self-centered person who never thought of
others in her whole life.
|
Theatre 2 at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
12
|
|
|
103
|
The Thistle and the Rose by Linda Gates (***)
Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots pass correspondence back and forth
as Mary tries to secure her position among the Scots, and, later, the
English. I was impressed by how
cordial they were until almost the end.
The staging was pretty static, but that suited a straightforward,
factual exchange of letters.
|
Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
12
|
|
|
104
|
Small Town Boys (***)
A gay young man leaves his small town for a big city and its vibrant gay
scene. Unhappily, after having just
seen “Giselle: Remix”, the dancing seemed stale. I am afraid that the whole production felt
workman like.
|
Main House at ZOO Southside
|
2025
|
17
|
|
|
105
|
Read My Lips (***)
Four roommates must all deal with one of them who is the troubled girl friend
of another roommate. Sexual contact
unnecessarily permeates the show when the focus should be on the troubled
woman’s backstory. The romantic
interchanges are a bit quiet, but the physical contact avoids studiously
erogenous zones.
|
Studio at theSpace @ Niddry St
|
2025
|
11
|
|
|
106
|
Proust Effect (***)
A Korean magician starts by creating an amazing number of playing cards out
of thin air, and then moves on to do magic tricks themed on different
countries of the world. His sleight of
hand is fantastic, but I had seen his magic tricks before, and he didn’t have
the entertaining patter to save them.
His final trick of having provided the results of several audience
participations to us before the show started, only highlighted how little
spontaneous magic was involved.
|
Temple at WU Asia Pacific
|
2025
|
1
|
|
|
107
|
Body Count (***)
This feminist show about unsatisfying sex and male abuse has a woman post an
ad that she wants to have sex with 1000 men, and will do anything each
wants. The actress gave her all
interspersing early disappointing introductions to sex with a variety of
mostly despicable encounters with the thousand. The main problems wer the chotic plotting
and her poor ability to differentiate between the characters.
|
The Green at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
24
|
|
|
108
|
The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show (Menu 3)
(***)
This five sketches of this menu have: a woman waiting for her date defending
a second chair in a pub; a woman asks her brother to be her sperm donor; at
the end of their first date, a woman sets an unusual rule about becoming more
intimate; a woman is nervous on a flight; a successful apple farmer uses an
unusual planting technique. Unlike the
other two menus, I only found two of the sketches really funny. Working around the dating rule proved the
to be a treasure trove of humorous efforts.
|
Pleasance One at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
10
|
|
|
109
|
Articulate (***)
Two teams of three get together for their not so friendly yearly game of
Articulate. The overarching theme of
biting rivalry casts a pall over the whole show. The youngest member’s contribution to the
story seemed an afterthought.
|
Theatre 2 at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
8
|
|
|
110
|
Pride and Prejudice (***)
This high school troupe tackles Austin’s book about five sisters contending
with the conventions of early 19th century England. The cast was capable, and carried off the
dance sequences well, but their director let them down. Besides allowing some of them to speak too
softly, the director chose caricature over character for Mrs. Bennett, Lady
Catherine’s daughter, and Mr. Collins that detracted from the whole
production.
|
The Great Hall at Nicolson Square Venues
|
2025
|
1
|
|
|
111
|
The Sculpture (***)
After a sensational beginning to her movie career in 1928, actress Molly O’Day
went to extreme lengths to lose the weight required by her contract. In addition to standard life portrayals,
the large cast also uses songs, poems, and spoken chorus to convey the
dissatisfaction of the public and studios with her. Between the overload recorded music and
asynchronous vocals much of the show was lost on us.
|
Just The Fancy Room at Just the Tonic at The
Caves
|
2025
|
3
|
|
|
112
|
Iago Speaks (***)
After the events in “Othello”, we find a jailer dealing with Iago in a prison
cell living up to his promise to never speak again. The first half of the play is slow as the
jailer rails about his life, but the second comes alive as the two interact
more. The later events are true to
form and satisfying until the last five minutes where the play steps into
farce and a superfluous final plot twist.
|
theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
21
|
|
|
113
|
Matt Winning: Solastalgia (***)
A personable PhD pontificates about the planet’s petroleum peril. He covers both the history of the oil
industry, focusing particularly on John D. Rockefeller, and the global
warming crisis while intermixing a tale of waiting for his wife to give birth
to their son. As a former banker, he
pointed out that the companies of the financial industry wont switch their
support to energy alternatives until they all agree to do so. The big problem with this play is that
Winning has not taken enough time to learn his lines, and spends a lot of
time reading them his script.
|
Studio Five at Assembly George Square Studios
|
2025
|
-30
|
|
|
114
|
Lucky Tonight! (***)
A Manchester-born Bangladeshi woman combines tales from her life with a pub
quiz on I-pads supplied to the audience.
She makes the show fun at times, but often her show wastes time on
things, a dance sequence for example, that seem too self-centered. With its concentration on her world of the
1990s and 2000s, England, and Bangladesh, I was of no help on the pub quiz.
|
Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre
|
2025
|
-31
|
|
|
115
|
Lunchbox (***)
In a Glasgow high school, a Pakistani girl is subject to bullying while a
Scottish boy is a bully. The play does
a good job of looking into how home life and teachers can have an impact on
dealing with bullying. She is an
engaging performer.
|
The Green at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
14
|
|
|
116
|
Whisper Walk (***)
Armed with a link to a webpage, I followed its instructed path to six sight
where I listened to four-minute spoken word taled related to the the specific
location. I had visited most of the
sites before in my travels so the lack of information about them was only a
bit of a disappointment. But, hey,, it
was a beautiful day for a relaxing walk that took me 75 minutes partly
because of poor coverage on Cowgate.
|
Meeting point at Assembly George Square
|
2025
|
25
|
|
|
117
|
Sam Blythe: Method in My Madness (A One-Man
Hamlet) (***)
A fellow in pajamas wakes up, puts on a red clown nose, and then presents “A
One Man Hamlet” that he supposedly wrote purely from Hamlet’s
perspective. There were certainly many
beautiful passages from Shakespeare’s play, but without contributions from
the rest of the characters the play is almost incoherent. The actor’s sleight of hand with the foam
red nose is amusing, but adds nothing to the story.
|
Studio Four at Assembly George Square Studios
|
2025
|
24
|
|
|
118
|
Mushroomification (Legs; Legs; Legs) (***)
A mad scientist and his brother/partner must deal with an unusual
mushroom. The musing mushroom character
is wonderful as it grapples with its situation throughout the play. However, the insane brother lacked
consistency and pushes the absurdity to humorless incoherency.
|
Just the Bottle Room at Just the Tonic at The
Mash House
|
2025
|
5
|
|
|
119
|
Myth Adventures -- Five Greek Classics (***)
This high school troupe of a male Dionysus narrator and the rest girls
tackles these five myths: Midas’ golden touch, musical Orpheus retrieving his
lover from Hades, Echo and Narcissus paying their prices, Daedalus and Icarus
flying, and Theseus killing the Minotaur.
The group was competent with no missteps nor missed lines, though a
few need to learn to project better.
The cast has a couple of strong actresses that seemed to live their
roles.
|
Hall at Central Hall
|
2025
|
2
|
|
|
120
|
Transfers (***)
This show is composed of eight scenes where 500 pounds is transferred from
one person to another in various ways.
Though we do see the same 500 pounds transferred in some scenes,
others are completely independent. The
motivations varied, and the acting fine, but the show just felt like nothing
special.
|
Space 2 at theSpace on the Mile
|
2025
|
15
|
|
|
121
|
1612 (***)
In 1612, in Lancashire, based on the bribed testimony of a very young girl
several women were tried, found guilty, and hung for witchcraft. Most of the play has the women pleading
their innocence which grows tiresome.
The costumes of the poor accused women were too clean, as was that of
original state of the little girl.
|
Space 1 at theSpace on the Mile
|
2025
|
21
|
|
|
122
|
City of Incurable Women (***)
This devised one-woman show investigates the concept of hysteria from ancient
to modern times. Though some of the
history was interesting, there were a lot of superfluous scenes. She took the time to silently peel and eat
a lemon as well as drink an entire bottle of water for reasons that were
unclear.
|
Upstairs at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
14
|
|
|
123
|
Drama Girls (***)
Three young women in drama school train for a showcase show while helping and
criticizing each other. Due to my poor
hearing, two of the three spoke so fast that I could rarely understand what
they said. As such, most the play was
lost on me.
|
Annexe at theSpace @ Symposium Hall
|
2025
|
23
|
|
|
124
|
Jack Offerman's Big Uncut Flick (***)
A cast of four recreate a 1950s local TV show that showcases a B film noir
movie using a smarmy emcee. Some of
the audience like their broad, almost slapstick, humor, but much lacked
originality. As with many farces, the
director seemed to believe that louder is funnier.
|
Downstairs at Assembly Roxy
|
2025
|
10
|
|
|
125
|
Big Little Sister (***)
A 26-year old woman describes her life in a family with a brother seven years
older than her who was born with severe cerebral palsy. It was surprising to hear of the mix of
meanness, love, and caring that she exhibits.
The short video of him late in the show helped to better understand
his disability, but a song he wrote and the mention of college for him left
me confused.
|
Playground 2 at ZOO Playground
|
2025
|
13
|
|
|
126
|
The Strongest Girl in the World (***)
A 28-year old woman performs a play about her life before and after her
father died of kidney cancer when she
was 10. She has a nice singing voice,
and created wonderful pop-up books.
However, the show never escapes being another vanity Fringe show by a
twenty-something woman who believes her story is unique with the telltale
repetition of her name.
|
Snug at Gilded Balloon Patter House
|
2025
|
11
|
|
|
127
|
I'm Trying, Please Clap (***)
This very personal show has a fellow reading his poetry and singing songs
drawn from small, mundane events in his current life. This is definitely a work in progress by a
performer who is learning what it is like to perform. His poem about his effort to learn to swim
particularly touched me.
|
Satyr Bar
|
2025
|
6
|
|
|
128
|
Standing in the Shadows of Giants (***)
An aspiring actress, who is the older sister of a rock star, finds the pills
and alcohol of his parties a fine refuge from her dissatisfying life. From the initial breaking of the fourth
wall this came across as an all too common Fringe vanity piece that had
nothing to offer but self-pity, and by the time of her big revelation occurs
I no longer cared. While she seems a
capable actress with a decent singing voice, as a playwright her talents are
wasted in such a banal piece.
|
Traverse 2 at Traverse Theatre
|
2025
|
-31
|
|
|
129
|
Courier (***)
A bike courier has numerous troubles making his one delivery. The play doesn’t work well because the actor does a poor job of
differentiating the different characters he plays. The big plot twist at the end doesn’t fit
with some of the previous events.
|
Playground 1 at ZOO Playground
|
2025
|
24
|
|
|
130
|
David and Katie Get Re-Married (***)
As the title indicates, this zany show has a late 30’s couple re-marry at the
end of a show after spending an hour abusing each other and then making
up. While there were a few fun parts,
most of the songs and antics were sophomoric at best. The one saving grace was that it was clear
that the two actors enjoyed working together.
|
Friesian at Underbelly; Bristo Square
|
2025
|
-30
|
|
|
131
|
LA Baby (***)
An out of work actress in Los Angeles takes the job of nanny for three
children while dealing with her unstable lover. The central problem with the play is that
the protagonist is a complete narcissist who never cares for anyone else but
herself, and thus I had no emotional link with her. She only uses the children as sources of
information about their father, and she says openly that the three little
words she cares about are not “I love you,” but instead “Live with me.”
|
Playground 2 at ZOO Playground
|
2025
|
1
|
|
|
132
|
The Dropbox (***)
On the last spaceship to travel from the AI-dominated Earth to the planet
Utopia, the ship’s doctor and its five passengers must deal with unexpected
events. This feels like a re-make of a
common sci-fi plot of something dangerous on board a spaceship with an overly
evil leader and impossibly naďve heiress thrown in. The meaning of the contents of the drop
box, and its connection to the others is left unexplained though they are
critical to the plot.
|
Venue 45 at theSpace @ Venue 45
|
2025
|
6
|
|
|
133
|
Stuart Laws is Stuck (***)
Laws is a standard stand-up comedian who produces material that appeals to
people much younger than me. Though he
made me smile a few times, the material just didn’t suit me. The crowd laughed, but were not thrilled.
|
Monkey Barrel Comedy - Monkey Barrel 4
|
2025
|
15
|
|
|
134
|
I Was a German (***)
After Brexit begins, the English granddaughter of a Jewish man who emigrated
from Nazi Germany finds out that she can for German citizenship based on her
grandfather. The show is a mish mash
of short vides and live action depicting Nazi Germany and episodes from his
and her lives. I was bored during
virtually the whole show as there just wasn’t enough new and/or interesting
information, and her character felt one dimensional.
|
Studio at ZOO Southside
|
2025
|
1
|
|
|
135
|
The General Will (***)
This comedy has two parts: despite having a knowledgeable aide, an
incompetent UK clown prime minister cannot figure out how to address any of
the countries troubles; and two young woman cannot figure out how to make a
play that addresses those troubles. In
either case, posing problems without solutions doesn’t make for good
theatre. The clown noses were
superfluous in the obvious satire.
|
Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
11
|
|
|
136
|
W3: Filthy Filthy Witches (***)
A fellow who has invented a way to create drinkable water using garbage
interacts with three witches. Though
there was enthusiasm galore here, I couldn’t make out heads or tails of what
was going on. Most of what was said
seemed like nonsense to me.
|
Banshee Labyrinth Chamber Room (Free Fringe)
|
2025
|
20
|
|
|
137
|
Love Is the Greater Labyrinth (***)
In modern times, the college age daughter of King Midas of Crete and her
sister both have their hearts se on the Athenian hero Theseus, and are
waiting for him to choose. My
knowledge of Greek mythology is limited so I do not know who the two men were
supposed to be, and if this story was supposed to be based on some obscure
Greek myth. Without that knowledge, it
seemed to lack much plot other than to make the pursuit of love difficult
like the Labyrinth.
|
Ballroom at PBH's Free Fringe @ Voodoo Rooms
Free Fringe)
|
2025
|
11
|
|
|
138
|
Split Ends (***)
A woman has an unusual relationship with a vacuum cleaner, and a talking pair
of scissors. Her sexual interactions
with both seem to be a bizarre reaction to rejection my men. Though she does explain that cutting split
ends supposedly prevents other split ends, we are left wondering why such a
play came to be created.
|
Below at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
16
|
|
|
139
|
The Lost Priest (**)
A Jewish fellow talks what it is like to be brought up in a practicing Jewish
family, but not taking his religion seriously. Not having read a synopsis, based on its
title I kept waiting for instance of a Catholic priest to show up, and was
confused when that never happened. The
title really spoiled the whole play for me.
|
Theatre 1 at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
14
|
|
|
140
|
#CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The play that Trump does
not want you to see! (**)
An Indian graduate student in drama created this play as her master’s thesis
that highlights her dramatic art skills as well as her complaint against her
chairwoman all at the expense of the time spent on the tragedy of a right
wing driver running down protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia. I felt like this was a variation on the
classic Fringe vanity play when she chose to show a video of a speech by the
prime minister of India with no translation.
Her fake “special report” videos purportedly from CNN and NBC,
complete with logo microphones seemed like fraud.
|
Bunker Two at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
24
|
|
|
141
|
I See You Watching (**)
This devised play has a woman dressed in a baton twirlers costume is at an
audition as asked to do increasingly more demeaning things by a
director. The acting is great, but her
acceptance of his orders goes on way too long when the time could have been
used for more of her backstory or turn the tables on him to see some
sensitivity. I was impressed with her
facial contortions, but thought her later costume unnecessarily revealing.
|
Doonstairs at Gilded Balloon Patter House
|
2025
|
22
|
|
|
142
|
I'm Not Saying We Should; But What If We Did?
(**)
Two women with radical political ideas appear on a local TV interview
program. The chaos of the studio, and
their repeatedly ducking of questions about the implementation and
justification of their policies reinforced the feeling that the show never
answers the question of its title.
This devised show has the women slowly over-applying their make-up to
make them look like clowns in the end.
|
Studio at theSpaceTriplex
|
2025
|
13
|
|
|
143
|
Soul Sucking (**)
An unsuccessful, self-centered young woman decides that the way out of her
rut of failure is to stage her funeral, rebirth, and baptism. The cast had clearly not rehearsed with the
four cooling fans running because all but the protagonist rarely spoke loud
enough. With her primary
characteristic of self-pity, and much of the dialog missing, I never grew to
care about her of the play.
|
Willow Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
11
|
|
|
144
|
How Not to Fund a Honeymoon (**)
This show opens with a woman casually talking on the phone with a friend
while two almost dead bodies lie at her feet, and then starts of the
beginning of the burglary. Between
inaudible burglar whispering, unexplained captures, caricatures, and lots of
shouting, the story just fell apart for me.
Somehow they thought it would enhance the show by having a policeman
repeatedly try to find an appellation that would satisfy the picky victim.
|
Studio at theSpaceTriplex
|
2025
|
11
|
|
|
145
|
The Unstoppable Rise of Ben Manager (**)
A fellow acquires a lanyard that allows him to step into the role of manager
in a large corporation. His constant
spouting of teamwork slogans grew quickly boring for me. The show seemed to be a one trick pony that
was beaten to death.
|
Above at Pleasance Courtyard
|
2025
|
17
|
|
|
146
|
The Bacchae (**)
From the very start, when the actor recited part of the play in Greek(?), I
should have known that he valued authenticity more than entertainment. Though he covered the important events of
the play, there was a never a time when I was interested. Even the horrific events were bland.
|
Upstairs at Assembly Roxy
|
2025
|
10
|
|
|
147
|
Orpheus (**)
This interpretation of the Greek myth has a fellow walking back and forth “reading”
from his notebook on the myth interspersed with a guitarist singing original
songs somewhat related to the story.
While the rest of the late night audience seemed to enjoy the show, I
was bored. Both the music and lyrics
were mediocre, and the story was nothing.
|
Dissection Room at Summerhall
|
2025
|
5
|
|
|
148
|
Harriet the Spy (**)
Eleven-year old Harriet is always writing in her notebook about the people
around her. The plot revolves around the
two friends and nanny who support her and two enemies who work against
her. We left halfway through because
both the reverberation in the massive auditorium and the director’s choice to
have her often speak at the back of the huge stage made understanding the
actors quite difficult.
|
Auditorium at Central Hall
|
2025
|
3
|
|
|
149
|
Jimmy Made Parole (**)
On his first day out of prison, a young fellow tries to raise enough money
for a date by any means possible—both legal and illicit. Some of the scams are fun, but the constant
use of audience participation grew tiring, and slowed the show. His scam to obtain better shoes was
inspired.
|
Snug at Paradise in Augustines
|
2025
|
8
|
|
|
150
|
misSfits (**)
A real sixth grade teacher tries to use sixth grade techniques to teach us
about various non-cis pupils. The
problems are that we are not children, and already accept gender-diverse
people. There was little here of
interest except as reminder of the methods of a sixth grade teacher.
|
Studio at theSpaceTriplex
|
2025
|
3
|
|
|
151
|
Semi-Automatic SmokeShow (**)
When her hosting app is bought, a make-up influencer is told that by
modifying her life she can achieve her goal of the American Dream. The metaphorical tale of gradual
disillusionment never lets us identify with the real woman before she steps
into her unreal world. Her treating a
blow-up doll as a real person is a step too far as a test of cognitive
dissonance.
|
Lime Studio at Greenside @ George Street
|
2025
|
18
|
|
|
152
|
Railway 200: The Show (**)
This group of railway enthusiasts present a series of scenes from the past
200 years of English railroad history.
What I could heard was fun and interesting. The two stars is because they had not
prepared for the very noisy environment of Waverley Station with some sort of
amplification, and I could rarely hear them.
|
Performance Space between Platform 2 and 3 at
PBH'S Free Fringe @ Edinburgh Waverley Station
|
2025
|
8
|
|
|
153
|
Be It (WIP) (**)
This initial attempt at a Free Fringe show seemed to be a dream come true for
the performer who had little sense of the task at hand. This was the first day, and it seemed that
he entered with a few ideas written on a sheet of paper, and planned on
playing the bulk of the show by ear.
There was a five minute section where he exhibited a quick wit that
had the rest of the audience laughing at his spontaneous quips, but, unhappily
I could not make them out because he spoke them while hiding behind an air
conditioner.
|
The Snug at Laughing Horse @ Bar 50
|
2025
|
10
|
|
|
154
|
A Monkey Trial: The Gameshow or The True and
Tragic Passion of Pauline Campbell (**)
A tattooed man in a wig and prison inmate jump suit argues the case for
eliminating prisons to address the problem of women committing suicide in
prison. His choice of portraying the
argument in front of a high court composed of scenes of judicial monkeys from
old PG tips TV commercials was ill conceive as it satirized the judicial
process rather than addressing the question of the efficacy of prisons. The actor/playwright was clearly sincere,
but he needs to provide a realistic alternative to prisons.
|
Muse at Braw Venues @ Hill Street
|
2025
|
2
|
|
|
155
|
End of the World FM (**)
After some cataclysm, a radio host continues to broadcast even though there
may be no listeners left. He rambles
on aimlessly for the whole show. My
mind would drift away, but each time I returned he was still spouting drivel.
|
Theatre 2 at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
14
|
|
|
156
|
Human Nature (**)
The mayor of a small town decides that she should investigate a murder in a
park by calling all of the suspects together instead of calling the
police. The play doesn’t work on many
levels: it is illegal to not call the police immediately; virtually all of
the evidence is unsupported and circumstantial at best; the method of the
verdict is absurd, and many of the characters were not believable. In particular, the priest suddenly offering
candy bars to the happy suspects was weird.
|
Theatre 2 at theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall
|
2025
|
20
|
|
|
157
|
Aether (**)
Four leotard clad young women address physics and the universe. I know that is vague, but their racing
through the text and frequent loud volume combined with the reverberation of
the Anatomy Lecture Room made it virtually impossible for me (and others I
spoke to afterwards) to understand them.
This was another example of a show not quieting their performance to
accommodate the unique acoustics of the two Summerhall lecture rooms that
were designed for a time before amplification.
|
Anatomy Lecture Theatre at Summerhall
|
2025
|
5
|
|
|
158
|
Murder, Oops! (*)
In this one woman show, she plays all the characters in a story about a young
woman coming home to her dead lover and his murderer, and then falls in love
with each new visitor to the apartment.
Combining endless simulated solo French kissing, tuneless songs,
re-takes because she forgot a visitor, emotional flights, and grotesque
simulated sex took this from absurdist to amateur drivel. Her father was the techy, and I was
impressed with support of his daughter.
|
Clover Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court
|
2025
|
22
|
|
|
159. *
|
Italian Horror Stories (*)
This show applies Italian pantomime to three horror stories: woman in black,
vampires, and Frankenstein. None of
them followed the traditional story lines, and a ton of time was spent with
the actors growling and shrieking at the top of their lungs. Between the overriding semi-plot of trying
to scare a Catholic priest, and gratuitous sexual content this was just a
jumble of noise and unmotivated actions with a few interesting facts thrown
in to give it the gloss of preparation.
|
Just Up The Stairs at Just the Tonic at The
Caves
|
2025
|
3
|
|
|
1
|
Royal
Edinburgh Military Tattoo (*****)
This huge gathering of bands and dancers warrants seeing if you have
not. The production values are high,
the bands first rate, and the dancers fun.
The rifle twirling and tossing of the United State Nave Ceremonial
Guard had the audience regularly gasping in awe. Note: I realize that comparing the Tattoo
with Fringe shows is like comparing ripe apples to young oranges, but I had
to mention it, so I have restarted the ratings below.
|
Edinburgh
Castle
|
2024
|
1
|
|
|
2
|
Edinburgh's
Old Town--History and Tales (*****)
Our guide, Kofe, gave us a thorough tour, starting with a view of Carlton Hill,
then High Street and two of its closes, then Grassmarket, and finishing in
Greyfriars cemetery. He was
knowledgeable, well spoken, and personable.
As a former teacher, I appreciated how he used cliffhangers to prepare
us for an upcoming highlight. Note: As
with the Tattoo, comparing a tour with shows doesn’t make sense so I
restarted the numbering below.
|
Hot
Toddy
|
2024
|
18
|
|
|
1
|
Cyrano
(*****)
This updated version of the long nosed master orator has a woman playing the
lead, and the references firmly grounded in the 21st century. The chorus of three disparate actors is a
constant source of wit besides. From
the beginning to end this is a joy to watch, though the last few minutes lack
some of the wit of the rest.
|
Traverse
1
|
2024
|
6
|
|
|
2
|
A
Knock on the Roof by Khawla Ibraheem (*****)
A Gazan mother repeatedly practices trying to evacuate her seventh floor
apartment to prepare for a potential Israeli bombing. Though we also hear of regular Gazan life
with its privations, it is each unsuccessful attempt to reach safety in five
minutes that ratchets up the stress in the play. We cannot but help but sympathize with her
as the little things she easily forgets would leave her in stranded as her
apartment collapses.
|
Traverse
1
|
2024
|
13
|
|
|
3
|
David
William Bryan: In Loyal Company (*****)
After the blitz of Liverpool, a young man joins the army, fights in
Singapore, and becomes a Japanese POW in a “Bridge Over the River Kwai” camp
building a railroad in Thailand. The actor proves up to the task
of blending the roles of the soldier, narrator, and a few secondary
characters into a powerful whole. While the privations of the POW
camp take up much of the play, it is his tales of the air attacks on his
transport that stand out for me. Note:
I had seen this twice before, and recommended it to my wife, and feel it
deserves another entry here.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
20
|
|
|
4
|
David
William Bryan: Fragility of Man (*****)
A 12-year-old orphan, with a devastating right hook, spends much of his life
in and out of prison. This is a
literally a tour de force as the actor/playwright muscles his through his
alliterative script of fights, drugs, prison, and love. Whether fighting a ferocious man or drug
addiction there are no cheap shots here—it may be a one man show, but it
fills the stage.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
19
|
|
|
5
|
Dissociation
(*****)
This clever play is about the competing aspects of a person’s personality,
and their relative strengths and weaknesses.
From the initial mime sequence through real and dreamed scenes, it
consistently explores the issue without psychobabble, nor easy
solutions. The simple use of sweaters
and coats served to unobtrusively and effectively differentiate the
characters and personalities.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
2
|
|
|
6
|
Alice
Diamond and the Forty Elephants (*****)
When her brother and his London gang leave to join the World War I British
army, at the behest of her mother, Alice takes over his criminal territory,
and uses the women left behind to shop lift and steal instead of armed
robbery. The leads and huge cast all
flawlessly recreated the many crimes and parties of the historical gangs and
their “queen”. The family dynamics and
her relationship with her second-in command added depth to the story.
|
Pleasance
Dome
|
2024
|
4
|
|
|
7
|
/ and Her
(*****)
This lovely show follows the lives of two girlhood friends, one of whom is Jane
Grey, the betrothed of King Edward VJ, and destined to rule England for nine
days before being executed because of her religion. From Grey’s initial, shy introduction to
her new friend to sharing a love of Plato to the effort of tightening each
other’s corsets we feel their times and their love for each other. The scene of a tween Grey baptizing two
dolls sets the tone for much of the rest of her life.
|
C ARTS | C
venues | C alto
|
2024
|
22
|
|
|
8
|
Casting
the Runes (*****)
A professor who prides himself on debunking supernatural frauds seemingly
accidently comes to posses a paper containing some unusual runes. This big show in a small space combines a
cleverr set, scattered full size puppets, fine acting, and a properly
mysterious plot to give you would want from a spooky Fringe show. The changing image in a book was a simple,
but effective trick, but having lamps go out as he walks by seemed inappropriate
to the supposed level of supernaturalism.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
-31
|
|
|
9
|
Polishing
Shakespeare (*****)
Based on a true story, an American billionaire offers a theater’s artistic
director and a playwright a grant to “translate” Shakespeare’s plays into
“American” English. The show uses
finely wrought prose to explore the unavoidable battle between a donor’s
power of the purse, and art’s criticism of such power. I appreciated that the playwright character
provides a legitimate, albeit short, example of a proposed adaptation of “Henry
VIII”, which was Shakespeare’s own homage to his benefactor’s family.
|
Assembly
Rooms
|
2024
|
18
|
|
|
10
|
Born
in the USA (Leaving Vietnam) (*****)
This one man show has a Vietnam veteran tell of his experiences in Vietnam as
an enlisted Marine, and how they continued to influence his life for
decades. His bond with a medic
provides a touchstone for the taciturn autoworker’s tale. While I am not a veteran, his confrontation
with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. mirrored my own deep
appreciation of those soldiers.
|
C
ARTS | C venues | C alto
|
2024
|
10
|
|
|
11
|
Frankenstein
(On a Budget) (*****)
Take a single actor trying to recreate the whole Frankenstein book, a host of
cardboard props, and penchant for puns, and you get a bonkers comedy a la
Rock Horror Picture Show. We were in
the mood for some whimsical comedy, and he delivered on the cheap without
veering too far from the original plots.
It’s probably a 4-star show, but it just tickled our funny bones.
|
Pleasance
Dome
|
2024
|
26
|
|
|
12
|
Tiny
Little Town (*****)
When the mayor of a very small town mistakes a grifter for a federal
inspector, he organizes the civic leader s to roll out the red carpet for the
impostor. This music is snappy, and
the choreography out of this world.
The mayor, with his Ronald MacDonald hair cut sets the tone for this
fun show.
|
Bedlam
Theatre
|
2024
|
8
|
|
|
13
|
Radium
Girls (*****)
In the late 1920s, young women who had been painting watches with radium
began to contract cancer at an inordinate rate, but their employer asserted
that they had proof that it wasn’t due to the radium. With one worker and the president leading
this large cast, this show maintains the legal and medical tension throughout
the year of their struggle. The show
does a remarkable job of presenting the facts both from her medical treatments,
and the university research in a clear and riveting fashion.
|
Greenside
@ George Street
|
2024
|
10
|
|
|
14
|
I
am George Massey (****)
A fellow suffers from depression (PTSD?) after experiencing 9/11 when he was
eight years old. Despite counseling
and prescribed medications, he slowly becomes radicalized and slides to the
edge of society. His portrayal is
riveting without sensationalism.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
16
|
|
|
15
|
Across
a Love Locked Bridge (****)
The playwright reads his beautiful, evocative poems from four phases of his
life. His introduction to each phase
provided the background that made some of the poems even more wonderful. Since he doesn’t have a book of the poems
available, I cannot cite lines for examples.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
23
|
|
|
16
|
Spy
Movie: The Play! (****)
This spoof of the James Bonds films had me laughing from the outset, and I
rarely laugh outload. As my wife would
say, “it is absolutely bonkers”, without going overboard into the chaos of
zaniness. A perfect example is when
two people are driving, and a card says they are now in England, the two
actors switch places.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
25
|
|
|
17
|
5
Mistakes That Changed History (****)
A sequel to last year’s play of the same name, the historian found five other
“mistakes” to elaborate on. These
ranged from Alexander the Great leaving no heirs to tomatoes thought to be
poisonous to the emperor of Japan sending five women to be educated in USA in
the 19th century. His research is
thorough, and entertaining.
|
George
Square Studios
|
2024
|
25
|
|
|
18
|
Via
Dolorosa by David Hare (****)
A playwright recounts his meeting with the people, both famous and average,
of Israel and the Palestinian Territories in the mid-1990s. From his dinner with a British cultural
exchange consul in a tony Tel Aviv restaurant to the illegal settlers in
their California-like suburbia homes to the Arab leader ensconced in a posh
hotel amid the Gaza Strip squalor, he finds fervent opinions among the Jews
and Arabs that cannot be reconciled—even among themselves. Somehow, a heated argument at the settlers’
dinner table about the age of a girl in the Bible who carries water for
camels seems a perfect metaphor for the intractable nature of the dilemma of
the area.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
2
|
|
|
19
|
Playfight
(****)
Three fifteen-year old girl friends deal with their blossoming sexuality in
very different ways. While that sounds
like just another coming of age story, the frank discussions of their new
sexual feelings as well as the unspoken changes in their friendships
separates this from such mundane stories.
One scene up in their home tree is both dramatic and wonderfully
subtle.
|
Roundabout
@ Summerhall
|
2024
|
5
|
|
|
20
|
The
Lady Boys of Bangkok (****)
This rite of passage for Fringe goers has ten lady boys, one drag
singer/comedienne, and four male dancers who dance and lip sync to pop hits
with two aerialists added for a little circus feel. The costumes are great, the lip syncing
perfunctory at times, and the dance routines fairly good. One male dancer/singer was particularly
energetic and personable, but, unlike in 2003, it seemed that many of the
“ladies” had had breast implants.
|
The
Sabai Pavilion
|
2024
|
20
|
|
|
21
|
Avenue
Q (****)
In a world populated with people, puppets, and puppet monsters, a puppet who
is unsure of his purpose in life rents a room in a mixed race apartment
house, and falls in love with a monster puppet. The music was mundane, but the lyrics were
good, if not witty. The variety of
relationships that develop help to keep the play interesting.
|
Saint
Stephen's Theatre
|
2024
|
17
|
|
|
22
|
NeuroChatter
(****)
For the actress, she really has three split personalities that actually know
of each other, and are quite verbal as they argue about who should dominate
the next piece of her life. In this
show we see how the three work together to help her to be effective in
life. This is a remarkable show
because each of the three must act their parts for the hour of the show.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
23
|
Trawled
– When Adventure Becomes Survival (****)
Eion Ryan tells of his six weeks working aboard a trawler in the South
Pacific when he was 25. From unlashing
a boom in shark infested waters during a raging storm to having to fight the
captain he makes the harrowing journey come alive for us. I have had cracked ribs, and his vivid
description having to do brutal work with broken ribs had me sympathizing
with his plight.
|
theSpace
@ Venue45
|
2024
|
12
|
|
|
24
|
After
Shakespeare – Richard III (****)
This two hander has ten scenes from Richard’s life that argue that, despite
Shakespeare’s characterization, he was an honorable man who advocated for the
masses at the expense of creating enemies among the ruling class. Nonetheless, the play does not ignore that
he ordered a number of people executed on the advice of Buckingham. Each scene is well chosen, well acted, and
well scripted.
|
theSpaceTriplex
|
2024
|
10
|
|
|
25
|
RUM
by Joe Mallalieu (****)
This one man show has a man plaster a wall as he tells tales of his trade and
its history in his family. He paints a
portrait of hard mens’ lives with an ethos from the past. Having been a general contractor, I
relished the verisimilitude of his plastering and description of tradesmen.
|
Underbelly,
Cowgate
|
2024
|
20
|
|
|
26
|
Is
the WiFi Good in Hell? (****)
We follow a fearful gay 13-year old with a speech impediment from the slum
seaside of Margate through a London university student career as he tries to
cope with a world in which he has few safe places. Though he has a close childhood friend, and
a lover later, he never seems to fit in.
We cannot but empathize with the plight of the sensitive outsider.
|
Underbelly,
Cowgate
|
2024
|
14
|
|
|
27
|
Amazing
Stories of Blues and Soul: The Road Trip (****)
A blues band of now old men, complete with a horn section, describe the
background and then perform songs from ten American cities that demonstrate
distinct strains of blues and soul music.
Despite their age, these guys can really rock their tunes, and get the
audience moving. Their little lessons
about the songs’ source is the icing on the cake that makes this a completely
wonderful experience.
|
theSpace
@ Niddry St
|
2024
|
3
|
|
|
28
|
Bonding
(****)
An actor combines exploring the James Bond films with the audience, and
describing his own life from grandson of a coalminer to sharing Bond films
with his father to how his acting career developed and was perceived by his
friends and father. The fact that the
room only holds 16 people, and was half full made this a particularly
personal experience where he often sat on the stage and told his stories as
if in a conversation. As we approached
the end, it became apparent that a second interpretation of the title
referenced his deep feelings for his father.
|
Greenside
@ Riddles Court
|
2024
|
3
|
|
|
29
|
Influenced
(****)
A shy young fellow finds his place in the world as a political
influencer. As he tells his tale we
see him blossom, and then learn of his own misperceptions of the world. His revelation serve as a good reminder of
the power and naivete of such people now.
|
Greenside
@ Riddles Court
|
2024
|
9
|
|
|
30
|
Italians
in England by Action Theatre (Italy) (****)
A young man connives to have a tryst with the young wife of a rich old man by
arranging a dinner at the villa of a shared old doctor friend. From an abused fool to a cowardly captain
to the rich cuckold, all of the elements of Italian commedia dell’arte are
here, and performed perfectly and exuberantly. The bawdy jokes, broad humor, and ribald
plot form a perfect blend.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
13
|
|
|
31
|
Shellshocked
– An Explosive New Play (****)
During World War I, a young, fragile veteran applies for an apprenticeship to
an artist. The play moves slowly, but
this reinforces the sense of underlying cunning of the painter. The soundtrack and late twists keep the
show taut throughout.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
32
|
Out
of the Blue (****)
The twelve guys from Oxford are back with their great harmonies and fun
choreography. I didn’t enjoy the song selection
as much as I use to because they are selecting newer songs. However, their final medley of older rock
songs got the crowd and me really going.
|
Assembly
George Square
|
2024
|
26
|
|
|
33
|
Slash
(****)’
This murder mystery has three friends accidentally meet in the bathroom at
their high school reunion only to find a fourth friend murdered. The plot evolves nicely; as the facts are
revealed our suspicions shift to each friend.
The plot twists are fun, except that the “solutions” never explain how
they came to be in the bathroom at the same time.
|
Bedlam
Theatre
|
2024
|
8
|
|
|
34
|
Rogues
So Banished (****)
We heard this story of the travails of three escaped convicts in the jungles
of 19th century New South Wales penal colony right after we saw “Bonding”,
and it was also in small room with only eight audience members. Unlike in “Bonding”, the actor did not
break the fourth wall, but the small crowd made it somehow like a group
around a campfire hearing a ghost story—except this seemed like an absolutely
true story of deprivation and resourcefulness. The text, his bare chested visage, and his
movements made the story come alive with nary a dull moment.
|
Scottish
Storytelling Centre
|
2024
|
3
|
|
|
35
|
Jive
Aces (****)
This hot band, complete with a horn section, delivers what it
promises—jive. The rhythm section
keeps a toe tapping beat, and the vocalists do a serviceable job with the
lyrics. When the pianist has solos,
you can see Jerry Lee Lewis’ influence.
|
Pleasance
at EICC
|
2024
|
18
|
|
|
36
|
Sex
Lives of Puppets (****)
The show lives up to its title.
Puppets without genitals nor breasts have all sorts of sexual
encounters with humor pervading them all.
Debbie loved the orgy finale, while I liked the straightforward
talking old couple.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
11
|
|
|
37
|
Every
Brilliant Thing (****)
When six years old, to combat his mother’s depression, the playwright/actor
began making a list of the brilliant things in the world, and then kept at
it. As we entered he gave each of us a
slip of paper with a numbered item from the list, and during the show he
would call a number and the member holding that item would read it out
loud. There is a building momentum of
joy as we learn of his life as the list grows, so it is hard not to enjoy
this show. Note: I saw this show in
2014, when it was 98th out of 165, which is evidence of nothing in
particular.
|
Roundabout
@ Summerhall
|
2024
|
5
|
|
|
38
|
Olga
Koch Comes From Money (****)
As the title indicates, Koch explores the impact of coming from a wealthy
family had on her life. She
successfully mined many different effects for humor. My poor hearing often interfered with my
understanding her fast talking, and much of her pop culture references were
lost on this Yank. Note: This was a
preview, which by their very nature are a bit rough and humorless at some
points.
|
Monkey
Barrel 3
|
2024
|
-30
|
|
|
39
|
The
Sound Inside (****)
An English Writing professor at an Ivy League university has an unexpected
visit from one her freshman students with whom she shares articulate and
knowledgeable views on a variety of books.
Though there is an undercurrent of need, is their love of words that
really drives this story. It is the
lyrical choice of words that makes this show both engrossing and challenging
|
Traverse
1
|
2024
|
6
|
|
|
40
|
A
Singular Deception (****)
Two actors portray Dr. James Barry, who revolutionized 19th century military
medicine, and his manservant as Barry held posts throughout the Empire. From carrying out the first successful
Caesarian births to developing treatments of sexual and mental diseases to
challenging the medical quality of the British establishment, Barry was at
the forefront of medicine, but made a lot of enemies along the way. From the opening scene, it is apparent that
a woman is playing the lead, but she hides her gender well, as did Barry.
|
The
Royal Scots Club
|
2024
|
9
|
|
|
41
|
Big
Bite-Size Breakfast Show (Menu 1) (****)
The premises of the five short plays are: garden gnomes discuss whether they
should leave the garden; two super heroes, Blunt Woman and Captain Polygraph,
go out on a date; a pompous actor pontificates to his understudy; a woman who
plays role playing games plays chess for the first time on a date; and a TV
game show host encounters his ex-girlfriend as a contestant. This menu is the lightest and most fun of
the three. The gnomes skit is a great
start, and the RPG woman’s approach to chess is perfect.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
12
|
|
|
42
|
Masquerade
Mask (****)
Three performers from Bologna, one of whom spoke perfect English, introduce
the traditional characters of the Italian Commedia dell’arte using that very
style. The combination of education
and meta demonstration proved quite winning.
It was fun to see the antecedents of MacBeth’s witches, Shylock, and
Shakespeare’s many fools.
|
C
ARTS | C venues | C aquila
|
2024
|
1
|
|
|
43
|
Kev
Campbell Was He (****)
This one man show has a young working class Glaswegian crosses paths with a gay
,erudite college student who is impressed with his insights into “The Great
Gatsby”. I was impressed by the
surprisingly subtle approach the story took in dealing with conflicts
encountered as the protagonist deals with his possible enlightenment. This is a Glasgow of words and feelings,
and not violence.
|
theSpace
@ Symposium Hall
|
2024
|
2
|
|
|
44
|
Why
Did I Crush My Balls? And Other Tales from the Generation of Too Much (****)
A man seriously argues that nis need to have his balls squeezed to achieve
orgasm is like any other fetish. This
sounds like a premise for a zany, sex-oriented show, but it is not. While it is somewhat surreal with squirted
blood pelting him, the plotting and his character are quite serious. His life’s story and interactions with his
girlfriend are gripping.
|
Bedlam
Theatre
|
2024
|
8
|
|
|
45
|
Dick
(****)
The play starts with a discontented fellow at his 26th birthday party asking
his four friends for their strangest sexual experience. As the play continues the interesting
conversations reveal over time that two of the friends seem to have their
lives together, and the other two are still trying to find themselves. I found the final advice to “do the work”,
didn’t sit well with me as much “learn to be thankful for what you have”
would have, but I’m 71.
|
Paradise
in The Vault
|
2024
|
23
|
|
|
46
|
Little
Deaths (****)
Two childhood best friends grow up sharing all aspects of life. While I couldn’t always understand them, I
never doubted the depth of their friendship.
Though they both love to dance, they differ in health, family, and
career paths which causes some fiction, but mostly was lovingly shared
between them.
|
Summerhall
|
2024
|
16
|
|
|
47
|
Conspiracy
(****)
Based on real documents, this play recreates a meeting in Berlin of 14 German
military and civilian leaders that determined the best way to deal with
Jews. The discussion is chilling, and
pragmatic with the need for forced labor workers arguing against
execution. Though their anti-Semitism
was universal, they used the word “evacuate” when they knew it meant to put
Jews on trains to death camps.
|
Hill
Street Theatre
|
2024
|
19
|
|
|
48
|
Ruby
Carr: ebae (****)
Ruby is a bright, gentle soul who has worked card to create this comedy
routine based on her obsession with e-bay.
She found humor in everything from auctioned unwanted gifts to
Victorian collectibles to losing an auction.
Her show proves that a good comedian can mine anything, and find
laughs.
|
Underbelly,
George Square
|
2024
|
13
|
|
|
49
|
Sleepover
(****)
Three tweens have a sleepover with the appropriate childish concerns and
behaviors. Whether its telling the
8-year-old sister that menstruation is bleeding from her butt, or gasping
about a celebrity divorce their portrayals of the girls’ naivete was
perfect. While I was originally put
off by a bizarre dream or look inside a young mind, I came to appreciate how
it tied into the earlier imagery of the girls.
|
Greenside
@ George Street
|
2024
|
17
|
|
|
50
|
Breathe
(****)
Three puppeteers populate a miniature forest where an oak seedling roams both
above and below ground until it finds the perfect spot to lay down its
roots. Beside the seedling, there are
insects, birds, leaves, worms,, and roots that come alive. While the large video screen facilitates us
imagining his world, watching the camera work deal with the many miniature
sets was fascinating.
|
Pleasance
Dome
|
2024
|
12
|
|
|
51
|
27
(****)
The “Glasgow Three” are three twenty something men who met at drama school,
and now live together going nowhere while they hold dead end jobs. Though we hear how one earned his nickname,
and how the group initially met, the meat of the play is how all three now
deal with one of them planning on committing suicide at the party the night
before his 28th birthday to garner noteriety for the other two. While there are a couple scenes of drunken
parties, the explicit demonstrations of caring raise this above your typical
frat boy show.
|
C
ARTS | C venues | C aurora
|
2024
|
2
|
|
|
52
|
The
Glasstown Conspiracy (****)
This appropriately young cast portrays the Bronte children as they each
develop their own style of character for their literary creations. Each must deal with unruly characters the
demand their author’s attention, with Charlotte at one point finding herself
surrounded by a mob of her characters.
I reveled in the unexpected quality of acting of the tween and younger
cast.
|
Space
on The Mile
|
2024
|
19
|
|
|
53
|
Edgar
Allan Poe: The Murders in the Rue Morgue (****)
In 1841, a private detective and friend try to solve how a woman could be
murdered and stuffed into a chimney inside a room that has its windows nailed
shut, and its door locked from the inside.
I could not but help but notice served as the original template for
modern detective stories. The
explanations of precise deductions of the detective are closely echoed by
Sherlock Holmes.
|
theSpace
@ Symposium Hall
|
2024
|
23
|
|
|
54
|
Screen
Test (****)
In 1935, an ingenue arrives in Hollywood from England, and starts out at the
bottom of the stardom ladder with a lineless part until an anvil drops on the
girl with two lines. That sets the
stage for a comedy of screen tests with one liners, slowly growing arts, and
a few dance numbers. It is all good
fun with a seven year plot that touches on all the expected scenarios, with
only the macabre ending out of place.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
24
|
|
|
55
|
Per-Verse
(****)
A sexually confident woman offers doggerel on many aspects of dealing with
men. The rhymes are fun, but her
disdain for the ineptness and affection of her pursuers makes her seem
heartless. I was reminded of my age by
her seemingly now acceptable lack of interest in emotional ties.
|
C
ARTS | C venues | C aquila
|
2024
|
16
|
|
|
56
|
Fire
Ignites (****)
This short show has an Iranian you woman demonstrate in several scenes the
plight of lesbians and women in general in Iran. The scenes run from a hidden lesbian’s
homelife to songs of protest written by actress to her burning her hajab in
public and then suffering beatings and imprisonment. Each scene has a searing sincerity with an
occasional real tear.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
23
|
|
|
57
|
Planetarium
Lates: You are Here (****)
This live astronomer narrated show starts with an aerial view of the
building, and then slowly zooms out to Earth, then Solar System, and on until
we see the observable universe of innumerable separate galaxies. He id a great job without a script. I’d seen this when I was young, but it was
a good reminder of our place in reality.
|
Dynamic
Earth
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
58
|
Will
Pickvance: Wonky (****)
Pickvance tells of his life playing the piano while giving examples of his
expertise. His initial, classical
piece demonstrated his virtuosity, and the range and blending of his medleys
was impressive. I wish he had fewer
songs in his medleys so they could be longer.
|
Summerhall
|
2024
|
11
|
|
|
59
|
Tones:
A Hip-Hop Opera (????)
This rating is simply a place holder.
We had to leave after five minutes because I simply could not
understand enough of his words with music masking them from my hearing
aids. I just wanted to have some
historical note for myself. Please
ignore this.
|
Roundabout
@ Summerhall
|
2024
|
5
|
|
|
60
|
History
of Paper by Oliver Emanuel and Gareth Williams (***)
A man and his wife go through a box full of papers they found in his recently
deceased father’s house. Each paper
makes a touching contribution to a picture of a the man’s life. The script is wonderful, but the music and
lyrics leave a lot to be desired.
|
Traverse
2
|
2024
|
10
|
|
|
61
|
Highly
Suspect Murder Mystery – The Great British Bloodbath (***)
A woman is found dead in her dressing room for a TV baking contestant, and
the groups in the audience must figure the who and how of the murder when
given a folder of clues. This is an
escape room quest adapted into a play.
My wife and I had a good time solving the various puzzles, but failed
to figure out the how.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
16
|
|
|
62
|
Naomi Grossman:
American Whore Story
Naomi tells of her love life, and the wide range of jobs she held until she
became a star on the American Horror Story TV show. Whether she is tending a lover in a coma,
teaching Spanish as an Argentinian native, or driving a Red Bull Mini this
overachiever finds something funny to say about it—even if she never was a
prostitute. Nonetheless, her love life
pales in comparison to her employment.
|
Gilded Balloon
Patter House
|
2024
|
23
|
|
|
63
|
MacPlebs
(***)
Two actors, who play messengers in “MacBeth”, take on the whole play when the
rest of the cast are killed in a “tram related accident.” By asserting that they have never read the
play, they permit the show to veer off the rails in wonderful ways. All of the plays highlights are here, with
even a few key lines, but their twist keep it all fun and yet within the
bounds of a good farce.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
12
|
|
|
64
|
Casual
Encounters (***)
A middle aged couple decide to try wife swapping to solve their marital
troubles by inviting a couple from a swapping website into their home. Thing go quite awry in the invited couple
are not what they expected. The plot
is well crafted to have a variety of scenarios to mine for comedy. The other couple provided a great contrast
to the staid homeowners.
|
Hill
Street Theatre
|
2024
|
23
|
|
|
65
|
Jeromaia
Detto: MUSH (***)
An almost mute fellow involves the entire audience step by step in a series
of fun tasks. He masterfully guides
individuals to behave in a given manner through sometimes subtle gestures. He worked hard to successfully turn the
entire audience into an orchestra that he could conduct.
|
Underbelly
Cowgate
|
2024
|
22
|
|
|
66
|
Planetarium
Lates: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (***)
This is a 2023 animation that was combination of the first visit to the moon
and a psychedelic trip that I saw last year, and joined my wife this
year. It was well done, the music has
held up over time, and I gave it four stars last year. There is one scene of an approaching
sandstorm that again had me on the edge of my very comfortable seat.
|
Dynamic
Earth
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
67
|
Love's
a Beach (***)
A gay couple are influencers in separate spheres who try to deal with a
public separation when one agrees to work in Dubai for a month. The initial ad for incontinence underwear
confused me, but once I understood the theme of a loving couple that panders
to their followers and sponsors, I could appreciate the bitter sweet
satire. The ending is a perfect
recapitulation of the story.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
|
|
|
68
|
State
of Grace (***)
An actor portrays the Australian prostitute Grace Bellavue who made a name
for herself advocating for sex worker rights.
Between her sex work, social media, singing, and writing magazine
articles shw was very busy. There was
a quick portrayal of a day in her life that was quite informative, but the
play pretty much ignored the depressive side of her bipolar disease that
caused her suicide.
|
Assembly
Rooms
|
2024
|
23
|
|
|
69
|
Dead
Mom Play (***)
An 18-year old man barely tends his dying mother in last weeks while the grim
reaper makes several appearances. This
fast moving, self-conscious play is a too witty approach to his denial. The technique of quickly alternating,
almost overlapping, soliloquies was impressively acted, but I found that it
forced me to concentrate on one actor at the expense of the other, which as
dissatisfying.
|
theSpace
@ Niddry St
|
2024
|
15
|
|
|
70
|
Eric's
Tales of the Sea – A Submariner's Yarn (***)
A real submariner tells of his career in the silent service, and his great
friendship with sailor. Whether
talking about his harrowing experience with the practice emergency dive tank,
or the antics of he and his friend, he made it all come alive. His encounters with sharks, particularly
landing on one with his bare feet are particularly memorable.
|
Just
the Tonic at The Caves
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
71
|
Daughters
Of Roisin (***)
In the
910s, a seventeen-year-old unwed Irish girl is pregnant, and her family has
such disdain that they refer to the fetus as the illness. The play wants to draw our attention that
many such girls are still sent away, and their babies whisked away right
after birth. Though touching, she
often spoke too softly to be understood by my wife and me.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
24
|
|
|
72
|
Outpatient
(***)
This true story has a thirty-something decides to write an article on dying
by interviewing people who are dying, but then finds out she may be. The excerpts from the interviews provide
the range of approaches taken, and provide a reference for her own
approach. She handled the acoustics of
the circular room pretty well, but I still missed many of her words.
|
Summerhall
|
2024
|
25
|
|
|
73
|
Negare (***)
This short physical theater piece has a mute clown stuff towels in his shirt
to become fat, and then present a beautiful, skillful interpretative
dance. It wasn’t until now that I
realized that the carrots that we and he eat may symbolize a diet that allows
him to lose the towels and then transform into a slender, sleek, golden
godlike figure. This is one of those
works where I really appreciated the artistry of the performer, but didn’t
enjoy the piece as much as others because it was short, and I missed the text
of regular theater.
|
C
ARTS | C venues | C aquila
|
2024
|
12
|
|
|
74
|
Heartbreak
Hotel (***)
A woman discusses the physiological aspects of the phases of heartbreak with
a a backdrop of her own break-up with a man.
The couple’s interactions were right on point, and the science
interesting. However, the musical
interludes were a waste of our time.
|
Summerhall
|
2024
|
11
|
|
|
75
|
Birdwatching
(***)
After hiking five miles from the legal campgrounds, three young women pitch
their tent in a remote clearing. As
night approaches they play a variety of games that reveal the fragility of their relationships
as well as their fears as little sounds in the dark portend ill. I found their acting superb, and the
devolution into horror legitimate though unnecessary and unexpected on my
part.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
4
|
|
|
76
|
Sisyphean
Quick Fix (***)
Two Maltese sister, one of whom lives in London, must care for their
alcoholic father. The play does a good
job of exploring how the share responsibility can impact the sibling’s
relationship. They each reach their
breaking points in different, but dramatic ways with one by stealing his
shoes.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
24
|
|
|
77
|
Is
There Work on Mars? (***)
A young Chinese woman applies to become a worker on Mars for a Elon Musk company by participating in a
semi-automated application process in a room with only two chairs. Though the process is supposed to be
neutral to cultures and neurodiversity, she soon finds that the job she wants
actually has cultural requirements.
The her final disposition is appropriately chilling.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
22
|
|
|
78
|
My
Mother’s Funeral: The Show (***)
An impoverished playwright must write a new play in two weeks to pay for her
mother’s funeral. As her artistic
director keeps imposing his vision on her developing play, the stress of the
situation builds at the same time she and her brother deal with their
different experiences with their mother.
She conveys her desperation perfectly, while the ending seems valid.
|
Roundabout
@ Summerhall
|
2024
|
5
|
|
|
79
|
Shroud
Maker (***)
An old shroud maker in present day Gaza retraces her life from being a
daughter of a Palestinian who lives with a British couple until the British
leave in 1948, then becoming a U.N. refugee in Gaza, and finally a shroud
maker. Her young life, and that of her
adopted son provide two different takes on the privations of the
Palestinians. The play is a bit
wearing, but that may well be because of the depressing subject.
|
Pleasance
Dome
|
2024
|
19
|
|
|
80
|
Cosmologist's
Guide To Life and Love (***)
Using a well-crafted multi-media PowerPoint presentation a cosmologist
explores competing views of the universe, with a minor diversion to
love. All the big names are
there—Einstein, Shrodinger, Hawkings, and Sagan, but in a very accessible
way. There was lots of laughs, and
mental light bulbs lit.
|
Greenside
@ Riddles Court
|
2024
|
4
|
|
|
81
|
VL
(***)
This has two high school seniors work out strategies for one to lose his VL
(virgin lip) status. This raucous
two-hander is fun, and yet touching at times, as we are introduced to several
characters from their school. The
misapprehension of one and his coming out are the keys to making it so
satisfying.
|
Roundabout
@ Summerhall
|
2024
|
5
|
|
|
82
|
So
Young (***)
To the dismay of his two closest friends, a recently widowed middle aged man
falls in love with a self-assured twenty-year old woman. The play makes the source of the wife’s
displeasure pretty clear early on, but that didn’t help me enjoy seeing her
misguided treatment of the lovebirds.
Nonetheless, her final solution to the roiling disagreement is well
plotted, and brought tears to my eyes.
|
Traverse
1
|
2024
|
6
|
|
|
83
|
Ambiguous
Proposition (***)
This one woman show has a human resources arbitrator step in to defend her
son against sexual harassment charges.
Her constant restatement of “My son would never do that” started to
ring hollow as she does not produce the real evidence that may have been
available. The ramifications to her
own career seemed a bit of a stretch.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
20
|
|
|
84
|
Confessions
of a Teletubby (***)
A woman who played a Teletubby for six years recounts how she got the job,
and life inside and outside those huge and cumbersome costumes.. She is a delight, and has the personality
and squeaky voice you would hope for.
If found it fascinating that the Teletubbies costumes had to be so
large so that their proportions would match that of a 3-year old, and that
the films on their bellies always repeated so that three-year-olds would feel
empowered whey they could predict what would happen.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
8
|
|
|
85
|
My
Mother Doesn't Know I'm Kinky (***)
A happily married middle aged woman finds that something is missing from her
life, and decides to dip her toe into the BDSM scene without her spouse. Her slow exploration was perfectly suited
to here cautious temperament. On the
other hand, her graphic description of her encounter with a dominatrix
perfectly suits that latent side of her.
|
theSpace
@ Niddry St
|
2024
|
18
|
|
|
86
|
Sun,
the Mountain, and Me (***)
To address his artist’s block, a seemingly bipolar fellow looks at books for
inspiration, and finds that the tale of Icarus resonates with him. Besides Icarus the story of an escaped
World War II Italian POW in Kenya is introduced with little
justification. Both the Icarus and POW
tales are beautifully told, but have tenuous lessons for the painter, and use
time better spent on his mostly ignored depression.
|
Underbelly,
Cowgate
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
87
|
Did
You Mean to Fall Like That (***)
A 38-year old poorly hands a trial separation from his wife that she had
sought. The actor does a great job of
subtly differentiating the many characters he meets The play works well except that the crucial
meeting with his wife was way too short and belied all that had led up to it.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
22
|
|
|
88
|
The
Scot and the Showgirl (***)
Frances Ruffelle and Norman Bowman combine to sing show tunes, love songs,
and a few Scottish oldies. They both
have great voices, and chemistry to burn.
As it happens, I didn’t know many of the songs, and their style of
prolonging the last word made it difficult to understand many of them.
|
Pleasance
Dome
|
2024
|
26
|
|
|
89
|
James
Whale: Beyond Frankenstein (***)
A single actor creates more than twenty characters to tell of the life story
of Whale, who directed “Frankenstein”, “The Invisible Man”, and
“Showboat”. Though the many characters
proved breadth from the his English childhood to directorial experiences to
retirement life, they were also confusing because the scenes were not in
chronological order. I thought the
scene of Whale directing the young girl and Karloff’s Frankenstein at the
lake was the best at showing Whale’s personality and generosity.
|
ZOO
Southside
|
2024
|
16
|
|
|
90
|
Big
Bite-Size Breakfast Show (Menu 3) (***)
The five stories for this show are: NASA attempts to gin up support by sending
celebrities into space; a gay woman chooses to marry a gay man; an unfamiliar
daughter returns from college for Christmas; two foreign airline baggage
clerks give a customer a hard time; and a fortune cookie predicts the death
of a diner. Though a little darker
than in the past years, most are skits are fun. The plot twist at the end of the returning
daughter added a lot.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
11
|
|
|
91
|
Until
the Next Wedding (***)
A handsome man and a large woman are surprised to meet other at a wedding
after having not seen each other for five years. At the same time that they alternately draw
closer and move physically apart we learn what attracts them to each other,
and, more importantly, what seem to be insurmountable differences. The final scene is both touching, and well
justified.
|
Paradise
in Augustines
|
2024
|
3
|
|
|
92
|
Buckets
of Blood - Fairy Tales Not for Kids (***)
A storyteller presents the original Grimm’s tales with all their original
gore. I was surprised how many stories
involved chopping people up and cooking them in a big pot. I found the storyteller wiining, and his
discussion of various versions of the same fairy tale enlightening.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
-31
|
|
|
93
|
Beach
Boys Sounds (***)
Three strings and two vocalists gave their renditions of the pop group’s
hits. Their performance was
workmanlike, and definitely entertained the crowd. The lack of a keyboard, and attenuated
vocals did detract from out enjoyment.
|
Le
Monde
|
2024
|
18
|
|
|
94
|
A
Montage of Monet (***)
Monet sits with a projection screen behind him to describe his life, and
display the works of him and his friends.
His tale is clear, informative, and full of little tid bitts that make
him come alive. In particular, I had
not known of his repeated dependence on his stepdaughter/daughter-in-las.
|
Greenside
@ George St
|
2024
|
17
|
|
|
95
|
Lies
Where It Falls (***)
The Ulster actor, Downton Abbey’s Ruairi Conaghan, tells of his roles,
focusing on a play about the Brighton IRA bombing, and “Hamlet”. Though for the bombing play, sitting across
from the pardoned bomber was vexing for him, dealing with a sudden case of
fibromyalgia that sapped his strength for one hundred performances of
“Hamlet” had a much greater impact. He
seemed to need to prove his thespian chops by repeatedly yelling at the top
of his lungs in our small room.
|
C
ARTS | C venues | C alto
|
2024
|
15
|
|
|
96
|
It's
the Economy, Stupid! (***)
A fellow explains economic theory of Thatcher’s privatization, and the later
Clinton/Blair approaches while his partner offers more conservative
interpretations as well as magic tricks.
They work together well to present understandable critques without
getting buried in jargon. I learned
how the plan to have renters purchase their social housing made economic
sense until the money didn’t go to building more housing.
|
Pleasance
Dome
|
2024
|
12
|
|
|
97
|
Jobsworth
(***)
A woman holds three jobs to make ends meet, including supporting her snake
obsessed, alcoholic father. While the
plot was well fashioned to fit the post-Covid Zoom employment opportunities,
her consistent failure with her dog watcher seems out of character. The outrageous actions by her philandering
boss make him look more stupid than he would be.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
20
|
|
|
98
|
Behind
the Curtain (***)
A large, very young cast take on the roles of the back stage crew as well as
the diva for whom they are preparing.
What they lack in volume and talent they make up for with their
exuberance. The music and lyrics are
mundane, but audience composed of family members didn’t care.
|
C
ARTS | C venues | C aquila
|
2024
|
9
|
|
|
99
|
The
Billie Joel Story (***)
This four piece rock band produced a workmanlike tribute to Billie Joel by
covering all of his hits and providing bits of his personal history as well
as snippets from his interviews. The
whole band played and sang well, but it had the feel that it was the end of
the Fringe, and they were happy it was over.
The young bassist/occasional keyboardist in particular never cracked a
smile.
|
theSpace
@ Symposium Hall
|
2024
|
25
|
|
|
100
|
Main
Character Energy (***)
A bit-part actress decides to create a show to demonstrate her self-professed
talent. The whole audience really got
into supporting her decidedly average
efforts at singing, acting and dancing. Though not a classic beauty, in the last
act her sexiness really showed through to us.
|
Roundabout
@ Summerhall
|
2024
|
5
|
|
|
101
|
Adequate
Abridgement of Boarding School Life as a Homo (***)
As the title suggest, we follow a gay young man through his time at a
boarding school. The show depicts a
wide range of his activities from his initial hazing to classroom learning to
his lovemaking. His long term
relationship allowed the story to have more depth than I had expected.
|
Just
the Tonic at The Caves
|
2024
|
3
|
|
|
102
|
Momma
Drama presents Stretchmarks! (***)
We follow three women with Mother Nature advising them,, through their
pregnancies and the first three years of their children. Mixed with the many complaints and a few
joyful moments are some sage advice.
The last, in particular, seemed very important: “If mommy is not
happy, then baby is not happy—find time for yourself.”
|
Greenside
@ Riddles Court
|
2024
|
4
|
|
|
103
|
Wallace
(***)
A shackled Wallace tells of his battles, capture, and execution. His stories are appropriately grizzly for
his time. I wish he had softened his
brogue so I could better understand him.
|
Hill
Street Theater
|
2024
|
15
|
|
|
104
|
Plotters
(***)
A company of four grave robbers banter while going about their business in
the early 19th century. Despite having
had a cup of coffee this show failed to hold my attention. The plot was just too thin, and the
characters one-dimensional.
|
Assembly
Rooms
|
2024
|
18
|
|
|
105
|
Same
Team (***)
Five homeless women form a team to play in an international football
tournament in Milan. The variety of
their backgrounds and physiques provided many opportunities to explore their
lives, and approaches. In many ways,
this was your typical “team” show with the pulling together and overcoming
obstacles, but for me my hearing made the many loud football games difficult
to understand, and repetitive.
|
Traverse
1
|
2024
|
6
|
|
|
106
|
In
Two Minds (***)
A daughter must deal with her visiting bipolar mother. While the mother’s portrayal of mania and
depression were spot on, and the daughter’s reactions seemed appropriate, the
lack of new insights or information disappointed. The shared dancing to her manic mother’s
tape seemed to be the one time we see a real link of love instead of just
filial obligation.
|
Traverse
2
|
2024
|
1
|
|
|
107
|
Nation
(***)
An actor stands in the middle of the stage and says something like, “Now, the
speaker stands in front of the audience…”, which establishes that we are
supposed to be aware of our place in the world. As his story continues, we learn of a dead
body in a little town and how the townspeople react to the events that led to
it. The unusual approach to
storytelling served the moral of the story well.
|
ROUNDABOUT
@ Summerhall
|
2024
|
5
|
|
|
108
|
And
They Played Shang-A-Lang (***)
Four tween boys and four tween girls must figure out how to deal with the
opposite sex while their understanding teacher often looks on. From a boy bragging a girl let him see
tissue filled bra to single sex songs at a school dance to dates negotiated
by friends the show feels well attuned to the stress of early sexual
interactions. I was impressed by how
much the British audience sang along with the many pre-recorded songs—not
something I’d see in the USA.
|
Hill
Street Theatre
|
2024
|
23
|
|
|
109
|
Surrender
(***)
This solo show has an incarcerated woman trying to explain to her estranged
daughter the events that led to her conviction. The actress does a good job of portraying a
mother who doesn’t handle the challenges of rasing a child well. Her character seems real enough, but I grew
weary of her whining—even if it was in character.
|
Summerhall
|
2024
|
11
|
|
|
110
|
How
I Learned to Swim (***)
A woman, who had always feared the water, finally decides to learn to swim
for deeply personal reasons. Her scary
interactions with water, both as a child, and adult convey the phobia
perfectly. The plot is a bit thin, and
the final scene relies on an uninspired literary device.
|
Roundabout
@ Summerhall
|
2024
|
5
|
|
|
111
|
Camile
O'Sullivan Loveletter (***)
The passing of two close friends this year has Camile devote this concert to
their music with a constant undercurrent of melancholy. Since many of the songs were new to me, I
had trouble understanding the lyrics, and her repeated straying from the
microphone didn’t help. One song in
particular was way out her vocal range, and just sounded like yelling a
screeching.
|
Assembly
Roxy
|
2024
|
-31
|
|
|
112
|
Last
Incel (***)
A Zoom group of four incels must deal with a woman who has had a one night
stand with one of their members. The
intial interaction among the group and later with the woman seem true to
form, but her lie is dismissed too easily.
The use of metal rectangles as monitors for dance worked well, but the
show would be better served with more character development, and less
dancing.
|
Underbelly,
Bristo Square
|
2024
|
-31
|
|
|
113
|
Addict
(***)
After receiving a reply to a very popular text that threatens to rape his
girlfriend, a man plots his revenge.
As his texting plot evolves, we learn how texting can be abused. The story is fine, but he repeatedly
lowered his voice which made much of what he said impossible for both of us
to hear.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
16
|
|
|
114
|
Bucket
List (***)
This show has a young man announce that he is dead to his girlfriend followed
by many, many short scens of them catting.
While the two characters are incredibly likable, and each interaction
enjoyable to watch, the show as a whole was a mess. We cannot easily tell when he is a ghost,
if it is before or after he is dead, and, more importantly, what are his
ghostly physical characteristics—eating, sex?
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
14
|
|
|
115
|
What
The Veck? Songs in the Key of Strife! (***)
A personable former primary school teacher takes up his guitar and sings
short songs about such things as dumpster diving and people’s self confessed
embarrassing moments. He creates a
friendly ambience that reminds us of the simple, non-judgmental joys of
childhood. He had one song that is a
collection of questions his four year old son asked, and another of
incomprehensible jokes from his friends kids that put the wonder back in our
structured adult world. .
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
2
|
|
|
116
|
Four
More Short Plays Loosely Linked by the Theme of Crime (***)
Three actors perform four humorous plays with
the following premises: a pair of wild West train robbers trying to
figure out what to do with an usual cargo; a pair friends trying to decide
whether to help their friend commit a crime; a spiritualist hippie tries to
convince his conventional wife to commit a crime to fulfill the prediction of
three witches; and two thugs extorting money from a butcher constantly
confusing their statements with Cockney rhyming slang. I found the first and last play quite
amusing, but the middle two seemed uninspired and weak. In particular, the cargo of the first story
was both realistic and fantastic, and its three characters each keenly drawn
and novel
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
3
|
|
|
117
|
Garrett
Millerick Needs More Space (***)
Millerick is pessimistic about the UK’s current and future condition, and
offers fanciful solutions with a bit too much ardor, and volume. His proposal for a new space race to mimic
the effects of the Space Race of the 1960s based on the many parallels was
creative. I had hoped that he would
tie in his daughter’s humor to that of Apollo 8’s plumbing problems, but he
didn’t. Note: This was a preview,
which by their very nature are a bit rough and humorless at some points.
|
Monkey
Barrel-The Tron
|
2024
|
-30
|
|
|
118
|
Beyond
Krapp (***)
The spirit of a recently deceased 15-year old Catholic man looks back with regret
at not being able to plan his own funeral.
While pathos permeates the show, it still has a light feel as he tells
of oa living mother and estranged girlfriend.
In the end, his imagined funeral of strippers and bands must lose out
to his mother’s ritualized one with her euology.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
-31
|
|
|
119
|
Dara
O Briain : My Entire Life is a Work in Progress (***)
O Briain is clearly a well established stand-up comedian who talked about a
variety of subjects including snow skiing and trying to find his birth
mother.
Most of the time he spoke so fast I couldn’t understand him. However, his tale of finding his birth
mother has a nice twist.
|
Assembly
Rooms
|
2024
|
19
|
|
|
120
|
MILF
and the Mistress (***)
A married, middle-aged lesbian was happily married but found something
lacking, and looks into BDSM. It is an
interesting story with nudity and sexual recreations, but, oddly, not
arousing. Her matter of fact approach
to the subjects makes it all the more real, and more an exploration than
exploitation.
|
theSpace
@ Niddry St
|
2024
|
12
|
|
|
121
|
John
Wayne Gacy, the Killer Lown: Born Evil? (***)
An actor assumes the role of Gacy arguing that he was innocent of all
charges. He plays the psychopath
perfectly with his sincerity being all the more disquieting because we know
he is lying. It was a great reminder
that I cannot tell when someone is lying.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
14
|
|
|
122
|
Tartan
Tat (***)
An Edinburgh souvenir shop suddenly becomes an internet sensation when its
stock worker inadvertently makes a pro-trans statement. This show is a slice of retail store life
mixed with ridicule of media frenzies.
Without more character backstory, the workers are just stereotypical
stand-ins for which we don’t care.
|
theSpace
@ Niddry St
|
2024
|
14
|
|
|
123
|
Plenty
of Fish in the Sea (***)
For this physical theater piece has a shipwrecked man awakes to find that he
is being attended by a French nun, and her aid. With some French, and a little English, he
learns to fish, and of passion. I
never really understood what was happening, but maybe fishing, eating, and
then indulging was all there was.
|
Assembly
George Square Studios
|
2024
|
14
|
|
|
124
|
Tom
Lawrinson: Buried Alive and Loving it (***)
Lawrinson is engaging and obviously enjoys interacting with the
audience. He pokes gentle fun at his
family, recounting the time they spent as expats in Spain. Tales of schooldays, being the only brother
to three sisters, and, later, having to meet all their boyfriends makes for
an entertaining hour. Note: due to my
poor hearing I had real trouble understanding much of what he said so I had
my wife write this review, but we agreed on the rating.
|
Underbelly,
Cowgate
|
2024
|
7
|
|
|
125
|
Go
to Your Womb (***)
A mother with her actual teenage daughter as an assistant cover motherhood
from trying to have the perfect birthing to raising a child who is happy with
their upbringing. The initial
scattered clothes across the stage reflects the range of approaches used by
the performer. Though at times fun,
the general shambolic nature left me cold.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
8
|
|
|
126
|
Little
Beast (***)
Lady Caroline Lamb pursues Lord Byron, and then is jilted while her modern
day counterpart deals with the same fate.
One of those plays that left little impression on me. I just didn’t care about either woman.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
7
|
|
|
127
|
Sara
Pascoe: I Am A Strange Gloop (WIP)
(***)
Pasco was definitely in the early stages of developing her act, and made use
of that fact as a source of humor. She
spent much of her time complaining about the hard work of raising two young
children. While the children’s antics
provide some funny stories, her repeated whining wore on me. Note: This was a preview, which by their
very nature are a bit rough and humorless at some points.
|
Monkey
Barrel 2
|
2024
|
-30
|
|
|
128
|
Loose
Ends (***)
A shoplifter invites a man to stay at his flat after the fellow inadvertently
helped him. This sparse show centers
on the talkative shoplifter with the taciturn fellow providing a fine
contrast. The songs of Roy Orbison
offer a haunting backdrop the shoplifter’s fragile mental state.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
7
|
|
|
129
|
Caged:
The True Story of Isabella MacDuff (***)
The woman who crowned Robert the Bruce stands in an outdoor cage for four
years where travelers could abuse her.
She is unrepentant, and tells of the Scottish events that led her to
being there. The actress delivers her
tale with the courage and bite of a dangerous revolutionary.
|
Hill
Street Theatre
|
2024
|
19
|
|
|
130
|
44
Sex Acts In One Week (***)
A website publisher hires an author to implement the 44 sex act in a sex
guru’s book. The actors stayed fully
clothed for the dozen acts they demonstrated with fruit often involved. Besides a sex book we have the sex guru
promoting her lifestyle, and an animal rights warrior involved in concurrent
stories that create too much zaniness for me.
|
Pleasance
Dome
|
2024
|
15
|
|
|
131
|
Whisky
and Tales (***)
A fellow leads the tasting of four whiskies, and provides the background of
whiskey and the four regions represented.
He is personable, and made the two hours fly by. It was all could hope for from a simple
whiskey tasting.
|
Hot
Toddy
|
2024
|
26
|
|
|
132
|
Iain
Dale: All Talk with Miriam Margolyes (***)
A substitute for Dale interviewed the Jewish Scottish octogenarian
comedienne/actress., and then posed questions from the audience. My wife liked her directness and
self-confidence, but I, who knew little of her, found little of
interest. Though I did find that her
dealing with other celebrities, particularly Maggie Smith, did catch my
attention.
|
Pleasance
at EICC
|
2024
|
9
|
|
|
133
|
Margolyes
& Dickens: The Best Bits
For my second encounter of the day with Margolyes she started by reading
passages said by her favorite Dickens characters, and then for the second
half she answered questions from the audience. I’m sorry to say that most the accents she
adopted in her readings made her unintelligible to me. For the second time in the day, I heard her
tell of the story of her crossing the Edinburgh Meadow late at night, and
helping a soldier in a tree relieve his sexual tension.
|
Pleasance
at EICC
|
2024
|
9
|
|
|
134
|
Psyche
(***)
In the early 19th century a younger sister is raped by the husband of her
older sister as that sister is giving birth which sets her on a path of
promiscuity. Despite her frequent
sexual encounters described in the show, her icy tone keeps the whole story
dark and dreary. She tells much of the
tale while lying in a bathtub which I’d guess may have represented a desire
to cleanse herself, but was never clear.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
8
|
|
|
135
|
One
More (***)
Two men repeatedly try to make time with two women, and fail. The show does not differentiate the
characters whey they are suppose to be different people in some scenes. On top of that, one of the actors rarely
changes characterization throughout the show which adds to the confusion.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
13
|
|
|
136
|
Fear
and Misery of the Third Reich (***)
This well intentioned show about the life and times of the people of Germany
during the 1930s has a large cast that just couldn’t fill the huge hall with
intensity of the experience. Each
aspect of the tale was broken into several parts that were then mixed with
the parts of the other tales which made for a chaotic feel to the whole
show—which may have been the intention.
Presenting excerpts of text on white sheets on a clothesline was
acceptable, but having three people reading/singing them contributed nothing.
|
Central
Hall
|
2024
|
4
|
|
|
137
|
Traditional
Tales from Scotland (***)
A woman combines traditional tales from different parts of Scotland with
short songs in a pleasing fashion. She
accompanied herself with a Scottish squeeze box that was set to a single long
note for sections of a tale. All in
all it was an enjoyable, if not
memorable, hour.
|
Scottish
Storytelling Centre
|
2024
|
25
|
|
|
138
|
Psychobitch
(***)
After her lover accuses a woman of crying four times during the yearlong
relationship, she prepares a PowerPoint presentation explaining each of the
four. Her reasons are varied, and
permit the play to comment on a range of issues. The character was too polished for me to
care about her tale.
|
Summerhall
|
2024
|
15
|
|
|
139
|
Shakespeare
for Breakfast (***)
This version sets Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” in a small contemporary
university on a remote island. With a
smattering of Will’s words, the transfer is less zany, and less witty than I
have come to expect from this franchise.
I did find the cast personable and capable, but they just had a dull
script to perform.
|
C
ARTS | C venues | C aurora
|
2024
|
1
|
|
|
140
|
My
English Persian Kitchen (***)
An Iranian woman cooks a traditional Iranian dish, ash, while providing short
snippets about her life in Iran and London.
The food smelled great, but the brevity of the text failed to engender
much sympathy with her plight. For
example, she never said how her husband abused—just that he had.
|
Traverse
2
|
2024
|
1
|
|
|
141
|
At
Home with Will Shakespeare (***)
Pip Utton tries to apply his talent for impersonating celebrities to William
Shakespeare, but it didn’t work well because, unlike Hitler and Dylan, the
author does not have a recognizable public persona. Instead, Utton just dons an Elizabethan
costume and spends most of his time reciting from the Bard’s works. The most memorable aspect were quotes that
sounded like Shakespeare, but were from the likes of Ben Johnson and Marlowe.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
22
|
|
|
142
|
Evolutionary and Inescapable Rotting of Girlhood (***)
This university production has three girlfriends supported by three fellows
explore the issues adolescent girls confront.
The issues ranged from wishing for “boobs” to bemoaning rashes from
thongs to dealing with boys. The
entire production felt very amateurish, but very sincere.
|
Greenside
@ George Street
|
2024
|
15
|
|
|
143
|
Big
Bite-Size Breakfast Show (Menu 2)
Five of the plays were: an attempted armed robbery goes wrong; an urban
couple laments moving to the suburbs; a bride is polled about her certainty
on her wedding day; a first time parachutist is joined by a woman without a
chute; and a man discovers there are people living in his attic. The first and last were fun, but, on the
whole, the show seemed much darker than their usual fare. Having a cold blooded murder, a discussion
of suicide, and lamentation of the death of son is not what I had expected
early in the morning.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
10
|
|
|
144
|
4
Girls The First Letter E (***)
Four tweens play a strange video game in a room that is in a vacant
building. By mixing hallucinated
voices with an evil voyeur this tale is either spooky, or non-sensical. With interactions among the girls being
realistic for their age, I found the blend of real and unreal confusing.
|
Greenside
@ George Street
|
2024
|
14
|
|
|
145
|
Zelda
and Hadley: Together at Last (***)
Two women assume the roles of Hadley Hemingway and Zelda Fitzgerald putting
on a radio play based on one their famous husbands’ books that is chosen by
the audience. Their gin from glasses
sloppily refilled by an assistant transforms a potentially biting critique of
“The Great Gastsby” into a sophomoric farce.
The two leads seem to have fun, but I tired of their unneeded hijinks.
|
Paradise
in The Vault
|
2024
|
8
|
|
|
146
|
The
Selkie's Wife (***)
A nice young woman talking about seal/women who are captured and turned into
slave/wives. She tells a couple of
tales, plays violin, and sings ballads all in a less than riveting fashion. Her talent, and the script are just too
thin.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
7
|
|
|
147
|
BATSHIT
(***)
An Australian woman attempts to show how her grandmother, and all women, have
been differentially diagnosed with mental illness throughout history using a
wide variety of evidence. The show
brough out the debater in me, and I found the much of her evidence
inconclusive whether excerpts from 1960s TV interviews of pedestrians, or her
grandmother’s mental treatment record.
From her opening gagged song, to her contrived moving uterus, to its
final list of demonized women the show was quite creative, but didn’t prove
its thesis.
|
Traverse
2
|
2024
|
1
|
|
|
148
|
Dream
of Being a Madame (***)
A money hungry woman wants to marry a man who will spend money on her
repeatedly meets with her friend to complain about her plight. I really didn’t like her, and her friend’s
life was given just cursory time. So,
I had little interest in either woman’s tale.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
7
|
|
|
149
|
Rita
Lynn: Life Coach (***)
This slice of life of a cocaine addict who finds that assuming the role of a
life coach permits her to maintain her drug dependent life. While she portrays her cocaine addiction
well, her character has 90% of the lines, and we see no interesting
development of the character, nor plot.
Without more character development, I grew bored with the hyper antics
of her and her addicted secondary characters.
|
Pleasance
Dome
|
2024
|
-31
|
|
|
150
|
Mark
Nelson: Getting Better Man (***)
Nelson is an edgy comedian who is not afraid of presenting offensive opinions
and ideas. Regretting Trump’s assassin’s
poor aim is a hidden thought of many, but suggesting a law to permit him to
shoot his son in his face was particularly humorless. On the other hand, his story of taking his
son to the Euros was both funny and heartwarming. Note: This was a preview, which by their
very nature are a bit rough and humorless at some points.
|
Monkey
Barrel-Hive
|
2024
|
-30
|
|
|
151
|
Badger
(***)
An administrative assistant holds the whole office together as a badger
disrupts a wedding on the lawn. When
an actor enters the office in the first scene wearing a badger mask, I knew I
was in for a zany show, and, unhappily my fears were confirmed. I rarely enjoy farces, with their penchant
for way too over the top antics and situations, and this one was no
different.
|
theSpace
on the Mile
|
2024
|
7
|
|
|
152
|
Michael
Odewale: Of Mike and Men (***)
Of the five comedians I saw the first day, Michael’s set seemed the roughest,
and unmemorable--even the same night.
Note: This was a preview, which by their very nature are a bit rough
and humorless at some points.
|
Monkey
Barrel-Hive
|
2024
|
-30
|
|
|
153
|
Cherry (***)
A young woman who is unsure of her sexuality asks almost everyone for
advice. The whole play seems like it
sole purpose is to educate her, and us, how to be comfortable with such
confusion with a tilt towards lesbianism; it is like one of those films you
would see in a high school health class, but with swearing. In particular, her willingness to reveal
problem to virtually everyone she meets seemed quite unrealistic.
|
theSpace on the
Mile
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
154
|
Signalman
(***)
This Dickens story has a railroad signalman respond to an apparition that
appears before and after a terrible passenger train derailment. I don’t know what it was about his delivery,
but this ghost story never gripped me, and I repeatedly dozed. I do know that he repeatedly yelled at the
top of his lungs which my ears could not bear.
|
ZOO
Southside
|
2024
|
16
|
|
|
155
|
Catafalque
(***)
A civil celebrant is tired of her job giving eulogies for strangers until
this one. While her reason for caring
is deep, the play spends too much time showing us why she is bored. The final scene with the coffin is
touching, but has too much drivel with little movement before it.
|
Summerhall
|
2024
|
11
|
|
|
156
|
Leni's
Last Lament (***)
This one woman show has her portraying the German actress/filmmaker, Leni
Riefenstahl, trying to put a positive light on her affiliation with Hitler
and the Nazis. On a large screen
behind her we see photos her with many Nazi leaders, and scenes from her
propaganda films include “Triumph of the Will”. Her efforts to cleanse her record falls
flat, as does the play.
|
Assembly
Rooms
|
2024
|
18
|
|
|
157
|
Apricot
(***)
Two 18-year-old girls deal with apricot sized fetuses induced when one girl
has repeated abortions. From an
inexplicable mitre, to a sudden childish demand for a plea for mercy to her
waiting slightly longer each time, the show treated abortion with a
disconcerting lightness that the topic doesn’t deserve. If the goal of the show was to show how
childish 18-year old girls can be, then they missed an opportunity to provide
a counterpoint when the young father complains that he wasn’t consulted, but,
instead he was dismissed out of hand.
|
rotheSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
4
|
|
|
158
|
Any
Day Now (***)
After the death of a childhood friend, a young woman has more encounters with
death. With hospice experiences at the
center of this story, it is not surprising that this piece is fairly downbeat
until the end. I suppose that hearing
of the revelations of a twenty-something is pretty tame for someone like me
who has repeatedly dealt with cancer.
|
Greenside
@ George Street
|
2024
|
9
|
|
|
159
|
Sardines
(***)
William Wordsworth drunkenly agrees to accompany Samuel Coleridge on a
500-mile voyage in an inflated life raft to Germany. The premise is crazy, and so are there
non-sensical experiences. Some loved
this show, but its general incoherence left me cold.
|
Paradise
in The Vault
|
2024
|
8
|
|
|
160
|
SOS
BRN (***)
Three friends try to help a fellow who feels guilty for contributing to his
best friend being in a coma. Their
efforts are misguided, and the introduction of ghosts is a cheap trick to
allow us to hear his thoughts. Why
they would cast a woman to play the role of his male best friend is beyond
me.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
161
|
Suzette
(***)
On the downside of her career a silent screen star is invited for an audition
that takes a surrealistic turn. The
actress carries off the challenging role with great skill, except that she
spoke so softly most of time that neither of us could hear her, and we were
sitting in the first row! I was
impressed with how she bent down on one stiletto heel and then slowly swept
her other leg around without losing her balance.
|
Greenside
@ George Street
|
2024
|
10
|
|
|
162
|
I'd
Like a Job Please (***)
A woman repeatedly tries out for jobs, and gets involved in a scam. Her mother’s unexpected participation in a
company getaway adds humor to the otherwise depressing story. While searching for a job is rarely fun,
this slice of life didn’t provide much new.
|
Paradise
in The Vault
|
2024
|
7
|
|
|
163
|
Peep
(***)
Two women stake out the apartment of the man who jilted them both. Their uneasy relationship feels right, but
is not worth spending most of a play on it.
Unhappily, the naďve actions of one of the women at the end of the
play makes no sense.
|
theSpace
@ Symposium Hall
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
164
|
Sammy
Blew Up a Toilet (***)
A large cast of university students play a kindergartner class and their
teacher. They did a fair job of
playing a chaotic group of kids during recess with only the antagonist
overplayed and too loud. The teacher
had a tinny voice that was difficult to understand, and the interactions with
the antagonist were as false as his characterization.
|
theSpace
@ Venue45
|
2024
|
21
|
|
|
165
|
Knowledge
from the Future (***)
A young Chinese woman repeatedly consults a fortune teller for advice on how
to try to improve her life. The show
moves so slowly that I lost interest half way through. Just not much there.
|
Paradise
in The Vault
|
2024
|
8
|
|
|
166
|
Importance
of Being... Earnest? (**)
I generally think audience participation is a waste of valuable dramatic
time, and from the start this version of Wilde’s play has an abundance of
audience participation. By the final
scene five members of the audience had speaking roles on stage. The show was so poorly constructed that the
show ran longer longer than was promised.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
19
|
|
|
167
|
Gwyneth
Goes Skiing (**)
Six years after having a skiing accident Paltrow was sued by the other
skier. The show uses several audience
members to help recreate the day of the accident and the trial. The show tries to derive humor from the
audience participants and ridiculing Paltrow’s persona, as well some forest
creature characters, but it wears thin quickly, and runs way too long.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
22
|
|
|
168
|
Greatest
Musical the World Has Ever Seen by Randy Thatcher (**)
An insecure 21-year-old fellow presents his own musical that is set on two
alien planets. He’s a very mice guy,
but I am sorry to write that the story, lyrics, and his singing are pretty
weak. The music is mediocre with it
all sounding similar.
|
Pleasance
Courtyard
|
2024
|
24
|
|
|
169
|
Elizabeth
I: In Her Own Words (**)
Just as the title states, Queen Elizabeth I stands in front of us and recites
words she wrote or said during her reign.
By having the actress stay in unmoving, regally staid character
throughout, the play is doom to be boring.
Only her speech to rouse the crowd before the battle wit the Spanish
armada did she offer anything other than a monotone talking queen.
|
theSpace
@ Surgeons' Hall
|
2024
|
13
|
|
|
170
|
Journey
to Long Nose (**)
It starts with a boy asking her why she has a big nose, and another person
asking her for her race. From there,
her very personal search for identity follows a circuitous route through her
different cultural heritages just put me to sleep. Between songs without melodies and her
“revelations” this came across as a classic Fringe vanity project, except
that she is a middle aged woman instead of a twenty-something woman.
|
Greenside
@ George Street
|
2024
|
14
|
|
|
171
|
Why
Do We Lie (**)
This show has a large number of short scenes of examples of when people
lie. Few are funny,, and few are
instructive which leaves the play with almost nothing worthwhile. It was a bad idea poorly scripted.
|
Greenside
@ Riddles Court
|
2024
|
22
|
|
|
172
|
Love's
Concordia Bar (**)
The audience enters a bar full of scantily clad actors who are supposedly
couples, including a half man/half woman.
Their dance numbers are well choreographed and performed, but their
social interactions are too broad to be believed. The “Cinderella”, and little girl screamed
so loud we wanted to leave, but we were on the other side of the room from
the exit.
|
C
ARTS| C Venues|C Aquila
|
2024
|
24
|
|
|
173
|
milk
teeth (**)
A young Black woman carries a Black baby doll with her on the advice of a
counselor. I was tired, and this show
failed to hold my attention. Two days
later I have no memory of it.
|
theSpaceTriplex
|
2024
|
|