Follow my rules for a first-class Fringe
He knows all the Edinburgh tricks, so follow Ian J Cole‘s guide for a fabulous festival:
A friend of mine said the other day you’re always doing weird holidays so where is
it this year? ‘The Fringe’ was my response! This caused him to raise his eyebrows in a quizzical manner – so what is this Fringe?
Whenever possible I like to go to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which is the biggest arts festival in the world. Last year’s event spanned 25 days and included more than 2,500 international shows from 60 nations in 258 venues.
It has the best and the worst of the arts, whether it be plays, concerts, installations, musicals, walking tours or comedy and I have a set of rules that for me are a requirement to attending any Fringe event – but more of the rules later.
My first visit was in the 1980s and apart from a few years when our children came along I’ve always tried to go to the festival every two or three years.
Once I’d made the decision to go this year I should have sorted out the accommodation but I didn’t. The first thing to say about visiting Edinburgh anytime during the Fringe is that it’s very very expensive to find anywhere to stay, and I had left it rather late. Every hotel, guest house, flat, shack and tent is rented out for those three weeks at hugely inflated prices.
Rule 1: If you’re going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, book it the year before as soon as the festival has ended – and not as I did the month before it opens
Anyway I managed to book a cheap ‘very expensive’ hotel just off Princes Street which sounds dreadful judging by the reviews and is probably the only vacant hotel in the whole of this part of Scotland. I’ll let you know.
The next thing that needs to be done is to decide on which shows to go and see, a very difficult job when there are more than 2,500 to choose from.
Rule 2: Don’t go and see someone just because their famous or on the telly, because if they are a comedian who is on the TV a lot then you’ve probably seen all their best material
Plus you’re not going to get cheap deals seeing the likes of Ross Noble or Jim Jefferies because their shows will be sold out every night anyway. You want to catch the up-and-coming people who haven’t made it on TV yet or have had limited exposure.
I remember seeing Jason Manford in a free lunchtime showcase where emerging comedians are given five minutes to show how good they are. I liked him so much that I bought a ticket for his hour long show which was fantastically funny – this was before he’d ever been on TV. A couple of years later he started appearing on the box telling the same jokes.
This leads me to…
Rule 3: Get your hands on the Fringe Programme as soon as it’s out and go through every page highlighting things that might be of interest.
This should leave you with a list of potential shows which will be massive. But don’t worry there is a plan to whittle it down.
Rule 4: If you can go to the Edinburgh Fringe at the start. Why? Because the first few days will have previews of the shows which will be half price.
And there are usually a couple of days when you can get 2 for 1 tickets, that is providing you have a friend to share the experience with.
Now you can go back through the festival guide and select the shows that have cut-price deals. Book them on the website. It is also at this point that you should book any free ticketed shows such as the BBC showcases or podcast recording events.
Only now trawl through the Fringe Guide again for those must see full price shows and book them; I’ve paid for two full price shows out of the 36 that I’m going to see so far this year.
One is to see Henry Rollins who I missed two years ago (who is Henry Rollins I hear you ask – then Google him) and the other is the show that all the locals go: Radio Forth On the Fringe which is £16 for a three-hour showcase show.
Recorded live for Radio Forth, you get to see anything up to 20 of the best new acts at the Fringe so here’s
Rule 5: Book tickets for Radio Forth On the Fringe
Which leads me on to…
Rule 6: If it’s rubbish just get up and leave – you’ve paid your money and if after 15 minutes you hate it or are offended then go. Don’t sit there and suffer in silence.
I’m reminded of a spectacularly poor musical from 2010, I can’t remember its real title but Indiana Jones And The Terrible Cast fits. This show was so bad that after ten minutes I leaned over to my wife and said “I’ll see you outside I’m going to leave.”
She said in a panic “don’t leave me here” so we agreed that the next time the lights went down for a scene change we would scarper.
Now this show was in a church hall without a stage and we were sitting on the front row. The minute the lights when down my wife dashed for what she thought was a lighted exit but was in fact the door to back stage, so being the dutiful husband I followed her back stage where we had to apologise to the cast for leaving so soon. This incident was so much funnier than the actual musical that it was worth every penny of the admission fee.
Rule 7: Watch out for the Fringe staff handing out free tickets.
I’ve only really seen this near the Gilded Balloon and the Udderbelly venue (near the university) but when a show hasn’t sold very well and show-time is looming sometimes staff are sent out to give out free tickets to get bums on seats in the hope that the punters will recommend the show to others.
Two years ago my wife and I when to see 2 Men And A Banana on free last minute tickets. The show was brilliantly funny although sadly there were only four of us in the audience – and one lady had to leave early to get her bus. This didn’t put off either man or the banana (which got eaten at the end of the show) and they performed as if it was a packed house.
Rule 8: Don’t forget to go and support the Free Fringe.
The Free Fringe started in 1996 by Peter Buckley Hill, because Peter thought that the Fringe was getting too expensive. What you will find is two opposing promoters, PBH – Peter’s company – and his arch enemy Laughing Horse Comedy fighting for audiences.
Peter feels it confuses everybody having two free fringes although a few years ago I did try to explain to him that audiences don’t care about these kind of squabbles. We just want to see a good show and that’s what you’ll get at both promoters’ venues. So check them out and put some money in the bucket at the end if you liked what you saw.
I hope to see you there in the queue for the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre or My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver.
But if you can’t go I will be sending a daily YorkMix blog (providing the cheap hotel’s wi-fi works) reviewing the six or seven shows that I’ll be seeing each day.
First Pubished in YorkMix 2nd August 2012
Fringe diary, day one: terrible food and terrific theatre
York musician Ian J Cole‘s is on a mission to see as many Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows as possible, and report back on the hits and misses for YorkMix. What’s occurring on Day One?
Over the borderI got to York Railway Station a good half hour before my train to Edinburgh was due to leave, the journey was uneventful apart from a three-year-old running up and down the carriage at top speed. The mother spent the whole and a half hour journey glued to her mobile phone: clearly texting was more important than entertaining her daughter…
On arrival in Edinburgh I was surprised to find that the council had turned the Waverley Railway Station into a building site, so much so that it was impossible to find my way out.
Eventually I did find an exit onto Princes Street only to find it suffering tram building fatigue. It looks no different than it did two years ago when I was last at the Fringe when work had just began on the Edinburgh streetcar system.
In my last blog I was bemoaning the fact that I’d left it very late to book my hotel and I was pleasantly surprised with my first impressions of the Shandwick Place Travelodge. It’s quiet, small and very functional with fantastically helpful staff.
After a wander around, and the purchase of a pink felt cat badge, I arrived for my first show.
6:30pm The Boat Factory by Happenstance Theatre Company
I arrived 30 minutes early after a terrible pub meal on Rose Street and sat in a fantastic Chesterfield sofa waiting for the start. The company was formed in February 2008 by Philip Crawford, Laura Hughes and Catherine Kelly. Their website says:
“Happenstance Theatre Company aspires to bring high quality drama to increasingly informed audiences in a way that entertains and educates. The centrepiece of our company activity is the play. We aim to produce drama of complex simplicity, which is uncluttered and meticulous.”
Which is the biggest load of old tosh I’ve ever read on a website.
The play is a two-man effort performed by its writer Dan Gordon and Michael Condron. And this is an amazing piece of theatre.
It tell the story of two friends Davy Gordon (Dan Gordon) and Geordie Kilpatrick (Michael Condron) who work in the Harland & Wolff shipyard as indentured apprentices. Throughout the hour and 20 minutes of the play these two fine actors take us though a host of amazing characters.
There are a couple of creaky moments and one scene is a little too long but this play is one of the must see shows of the 2012 Fringe. You will be laughing at moment and close to tears the next, such is the power of this work.
After the power of The Boat Factory I was looking forward to Shappi Khorsandi as I trekked across the city arrive at the venue with five minutes to spare.
8:30pm Shappi Khorsandi: Dirty Looks and Hopscotch
Shappi is an Iranian-born comedian who lives in London, I’d seen on TV a few times and she made me laugh and unlike a lot of comedian’s off the telly her tickets were cheap so what did I have to lose?
Well the answer is an hour of my time. This show was a disappointment as the material just wasn’t funny enough. Shappi’s comic delivery is fine but she lacks really good funny jokes.
The premise for the show is her talking about her crap ex-rock star boyfriend and she doesn’t shy away from the seedier side of her sex life. We had been subjected to stories and language that some people clearly found distasteful as two members of the audience walked out before the end. I wasn’t offended but this show just wasn’t very good.
10:45pm The Boom Jennies: Mischief
Last show of this first day was The Boom Jennies, whom I’d never heard of but their bit on the Fringe website had very good reviews. The Boom Jennies are Lizzie Bates, Catriona Knox and Anna Emerson, their show Mischief was sold to me as a ‘riotous sketch comedy from this critically acclaimed, feel-good fun confederacy. Late night, party style and jam-packed with jokes and silliness with the adage that this was a must see show’ (Three Weeks).
The Boom Jennies play a range of characters and are clearly very talented but the sketches were not riotous with some being funnier than others. Again like Shappi’s show the Boom Jennies need better jokes and a good script writer, someone to hone their raw ideas into something very funny. This wasn’t rubbish but it could have been a lot better.
- Show of the day: The Boat Factory
Fringe diary, day two: ‘So bad it’s brilliant’
On the second day of his Edinburgh odyssey, York musician Ian J Coleenjoys a gore-fest but not a shed-ly dull show.
The first night at the Travelodge was fine apart from getting stuck in the lift at 1am in the morning. I finally managed to get out after about 10 minutes (that seemed like an hour) and by pressing every button in sight although none of them worked.
The lift finally made its way to the basement where the night porter found me and let me back up to the ground floor.
I vowed to walk up to my third floor room for the rest of the stay.
After a breakfast in Pret a Manger of apple juice and pretzel I had a 40-minute walk to my first show of the day. I could have got a bus or taxi but half of the fun of the Fringe is walking all over this wonderful city.
11am 7x7th Street
I arrived at Summerhall for 7x7th Street within plenty of time. The exhibition was due to open at 11am and after sitting around until 11:10 I went to ask what was going on. A girl ripped my ticket stub but didn’t know what or how the show worked. 7x7th Street is a made up street with seven wooden sheds. As I approached the first shed I found they were all locked. Eventually a guy came along and opened up the sheds and switched on the power so we could hear the music.
This is the work of Brussels born artist Jean Pierre Muller who is described as a “Belgian Neo-pop artist who makes vibrant assemblages using high and low forms and techniques” and apparently in his work he brings photography, drawing, silk screen and painting together and suddenly “gestural and mechanical interventions meet”.
In 7×7 Street he has asked seven of the “world’s greatest musicians” (his words not mine) to compose new pieces so that he could create a unique installation. The composers for this project are Robert Wyatt, Nile Rodgers, Terry Riley, Kassin, Archie Shepp, Sean O’Hagan and Mulatu Astatke, some of which I’m very impressed by while others I’ve never heard of, so how they can be the world’s greatest musicians and so obscure is beyond me.
Also call me cynical but I got the distinct feeling that Muller had just sampled these composers work. I don’t believe for one moment that these pieces were composed specifically for this exhibition. One of the reasons for this is the shockingly poor sound quality in each shed . There is a novelty of having to stand in a particular place in the shed to hear the music although this soon wears off.
It is meant to take an hour to experience this event and all of the other people there at the same time as me (eight in total) had finished after 15 minutes, I persevered and gave up after 30 minutes but this was because there was someone drilling outside and I had lost the will to live.
Jean Pierre Muller has clearly put in a lot of work to creating the street, as there are street signs and notices all over the place, it does have the feeling of a real street (at least on one side of this alley). His hippy collage style is not to my taste but this could be so fantastic with better organisation and higher sound quality.
2pm: Exterminating Angel
While sitting having a drink in the Pleasance bar prior to my next show I was given my first ‘Comp’ (complementary) ticket to see Exterminating Angel.
Exterminating Angel is a five-person improvised play based on Maurice Maeterlinck’s 19th century play The Blind. This reworking starts at the end of a dinner party although the guests never seem to be able to leave.
It was sold to me as edgy, funny and out there. It was certainly thought provoking, well-acted and weird. For me it could have been much darker and edgier as there was never any real threat but this is the sort of show that should be seen at the Fringe.
3:40pm: A Clockwork Orange by Action To The Word Theatre Company
I’m a huge fan of Anthony Burgess’s writing with the Wanting Seed being one of my top ten favourite books. A Clockwork Orange was always overshadowed by Stanley Kubrick’s flawed film (the last chapter of the book was not filmed changing the whole point of the piece).
In fact Burgess dismissed Clockwork Orange it as one of his lesser works. I was sad to read in his 1982 book This Man And Music that he never really liked writing as a profession and wanted to spend his time composing music.
This play was a Fringe sell-out last year (although I didn’t know that when I bought the ticket) and is described as ‘an unapologetic jubilation of the human condition’, garnering four and five-star reviews.
It is set in Manchester’s underworld but contains all of the important features of Burgess’s book, the Nadset language, balletic dancing and a Shakespearean feel to the whole production. The cast were superb and the story follows the book to the letter.
5:40pm: Educating Rita
Next was a dash to a new venue this year as part of the Assembly Rooms complex on the Edinburgh University campus. Educating Rita was performed brilliantly by Matthew Kelly and Claire Sweeney in Willy Russell’s classic comedy. It was safe with a great well known script and for me, really nice to see this as a play instead of the film. In fact for me it works so much better as a play then the movie and I’m now pleased to have seen it.
7:50pm: Half a Person - My Life As Told By The Smiths
William is a twenty-something Londoner who drifts from coffee shop to bar, falling in love, self-obsessing and finding solace in The Smiths. Torn between conflicting loyalties to the girl of his dreams and his best friend, William has the chance to become more than half a person.
This is a one-man show that was brilliantly acted by Cross Cut Theatre. The poignant, funny and at times heart-breaking tail is interspersed with live singing of the Smiths songs and is a must see show.
The only downside was the appalling lighting and sound technician who should never be allowed to work in theatre again, as he missed nearly every cue and the poor actor was in darkness a lot of the time while he tried every light on the desk.
Audio cues were also missed with amazing regularity as on more than one occasion a Smiths song had to be sung a capella. these mistakes were irritating but didn’t phase our actor from delivering a brilliant performance. Go see the show but hang on a few days until new technical help is found.
10:40pm: RE-Animator The Musicial
This was the last show of the day and started a good 20 minutes late because the house staff had to cover the first three rows in plastic. This daft B-movie type comedy is based on the cult horror classic, HP Lovecraft’s Re-Animator and was the winner of Musical of the Year (LA Weekly) and features George Wendt (Norm from Cheers). It tells the bizarre story of Herbert West, a young medical student who has discovered a glowing green serum that can bring the dead back to life with catastrophic results.
The cast are fantastic, it’s so bad it’s brilliant but it’s meant to be like that. None of the songs are memorable but there only there to help move the narrative alone. Its gory, messy and incredibly funny, particularly the re-animation of hero Dan’s cat Rufus who should be on T-shirts as a mutilated Spit the Dog-type cat. Lots of people left the theatre covered in fake blood and they loved it.
On the second day of his Edinburgh odyssey, York musician Ian J Coleenjoys a gore-fest but not a shed-ly dull show.
The first night at the Travelodge was fine apart from getting stuck in the lift at 1am in the morning. I finally managed to get out after about 10 minutes (that seemed like an hour) and by pressing every button in sight although none of them worked.
The lift finally made its way to the basement where the night porter found me and let me back up to the ground floor.
I vowed to walk up to my third floor room for the rest of the stay.
After a breakfast in Pret a Manger of apple juice and pretzel I had a 40-minute walk to my first show of the day. I could have got a bus or taxi but half of the fun of the Fringe is walking all over this wonderful city.
11am 7x7th Street
I arrived at Summerhall for 7x7th Street within plenty of time. The exhibition was due to open at 11am and after sitting around until 11:10 I went to ask what was going on. A girl ripped my ticket stub but didn’t know what or how the show worked. 7x7th Street is a made up street with seven wooden sheds. As I approached the first shed I found they were all locked. Eventually a guy came along and opened up the sheds and switched on the power so we could hear the music.
This is the work of Brussels born artist Jean Pierre Muller who is described as a “Belgian Neo-pop artist who makes vibrant assemblages using high and low forms and techniques” and apparently in his work he brings photography, drawing, silk screen and painting together and suddenly “gestural and mechanical interventions meet”.
In 7×7 Street he has asked seven of the “world’s greatest musicians” (his words not mine) to compose new pieces so that he could create a unique installation. The composers for this project are Robert Wyatt, Nile Rodgers, Terry Riley, Kassin, Archie Shepp, Sean O’Hagan and Mulatu Astatke, some of which I’m very impressed by while others I’ve never heard of, so how they can be the world’s greatest musicians and so obscure is beyond me.
Also call me cynical but I got the distinct feeling that Muller had just sampled these composers work. I don’t believe for one moment that these pieces were composed specifically for this exhibition. One of the reasons for this is the shockingly poor sound quality in each shed . There is a novelty of having to stand in a particular place in the shed to hear the music although this soon wears off.
It is meant to take an hour to experience this event and all of the other people there at the same time as me (eight in total) had finished after 15 minutes, I persevered and gave up after 30 minutes but this was because there was someone drilling outside and I had lost the will to live.
Jean Pierre Muller has clearly put in a lot of work to creating the street, as there are street signs and notices all over the place, it does have the feeling of a real street (at least on one side of this alley). His hippy collage style is not to my taste but this could be so fantastic with better organisation and higher sound quality.
2pm: Exterminating Angel
While sitting having a drink in the Pleasance bar prior to my next show I was given my first ‘Comp’ (complementary) ticket to see Exterminating Angel.
Exterminating Angel is a five-person improvised play based on Maurice Maeterlinck’s 19th century play The Blind. This reworking starts at the end of a dinner party although the guests never seem to be able to leave.
It was sold to me as edgy, funny and out there. It was certainly thought provoking, well-acted and weird. For me it could have been much darker and edgier as there was never any real threat but this is the sort of show that should be seen at the Fringe.
3:40pm: A Clockwork Orange by Action To The Word Theatre Company
I’m a huge fan of Anthony Burgess’s writing with the Wanting Seed being one of my top ten favourite books. A Clockwork Orange was always overshadowed by Stanley Kubrick’s flawed film (the last chapter of the book was not filmed changing the whole point of the piece).
In fact Burgess dismissed Clockwork Orange it as one of his lesser works. I was sad to read in his 1982 book This Man And Music that he never really liked writing as a profession and wanted to spend his time composing music.
This play was a Fringe sell-out last year (although I didn’t know that when I bought the ticket) and is described as ‘an unapologetic jubilation of the human condition’, garnering four and five-star reviews.
It is set in Manchester’s underworld but contains all of the important features of Burgess’s book, the Nadset language, balletic dancing and a Shakespearean feel to the whole production. The cast were superb and the story follows the book to the letter.
5:40pm: Educating Rita
Next was a dash to a new venue this year as part of the Assembly Rooms complex on the Edinburgh University campus. Educating Rita was performed brilliantly by Matthew Kelly and Claire Sweeney in Willy Russell’s classic comedy. It was safe with a great well known script and for me, really nice to see this as a play instead of the film. In fact for me it works so much better as a play then the movie and I’m now pleased to have seen it.
7:50pm: Half a Person - My Life As Told By The Smiths
William is a twenty-something Londoner who drifts from coffee shop to bar, falling in love, self-obsessing and finding solace in The Smiths. Torn between conflicting loyalties to the girl of his dreams and his best friend, William has the chance to become more than half a person.
This is a one-man show that was brilliantly acted by Cross Cut Theatre. The poignant, funny and at times heart-breaking tail is interspersed with live singing of the Smiths songs and is a must see show.
The only downside was the appalling lighting and sound technician who should never be allowed to work in theatre again, as he missed nearly every cue and the poor actor was in darkness a lot of the time while he tried every light on the desk.
Audio cues were also missed with amazing regularity as on more than one occasion a Smiths song had to be sung a capella. these mistakes were irritating but didn’t phase our actor from delivering a brilliant performance. Go see the show but hang on a few days until new technical help is found.
10:40pm: RE-Animator The Musicial
This was the last show of the day and started a good 20 minutes late because the house staff had to cover the first three rows in plastic. This daft B-movie type comedy is based on the cult horror classic, HP Lovecraft’s Re-Animator and was the winner of Musical of the Year (LA Weekly) and features George Wendt (Norm from Cheers). It tells the bizarre story of Herbert West, a young medical student who has discovered a glowing green serum that can bring the dead back to life with catastrophic results.
The cast are fantastic, it’s so bad it’s brilliant but it’s meant to be like that. None of the songs are memorable but there only there to help move the narrative alone. Its gory, messy and incredibly funny, particularly the re-animation of hero Dan’s cat Rufus who should be on T-shirts as a mutilated Spit the Dog-type cat. Lots of people left the theatre covered in fake blood and they loved it.
- Show of the day: My Life As Told By The Smiths
Fringe diary, day three: My first walkout
YorkMix’s man at the Edinburgh Festival Ian J Cole finds a comedian in thrilling form but is not impressed by parrot puppets
I woke up at 7.45am on day three after five and a quarter hours sleep by the sound of seagulls that are so bloody noisy that ear plugs need to be used. Luckily my first show is only 10 minutes’ walk from the hotel. This is one of my rule breakers as it’s a “bloke off the telly” but I’ve always liked Mark Thomas.
10am: Mark Thomas - Bravo Figaro
I expected the usual stand-up routine, but this was one of those rare events where the performer really gives of himself. Mark had recorded conversations with members of his family and he played out those conversations with his dad, mum and his brother. It is haunting to hear his dying father talk to Mark about opera.
Over the course of the hour Mark tells us how he manages to put on an opera in a bungalow in Bournemouth just for his dad. Mark’s dad was a full-on rough, hard-grafting, hard fighting abusive working-class Methodist, Thatcherite builder from south London and Mark clearly has a difficult relationship with him.
The show blurb says ‘this powerful story was packed full of emotion, taking the audience on an incredible ride through the contradictory, complex feelings he had for this brusque character’ and for once this is correct, this is an amazing piece of work that had the audience both laughing and crying.
It is so powerful that at the end we all just sat there stunned. Brilliant theatre, and how Mark manages to give so much and be so honest about his father is unbelievable.
12pm: What's He Building in There?
What’s He Building in There? Is described as ‘a wonderfully absurd dark comedy about a carpenter’s affair … with a chair’.
It’s not very funny, not very good and not recommended. The actors show talent and this is more Franz Kafka than David Lynch and deeply flawed. I would have walked out were it not for the brilliant live soundscape score performed by a guitarist with half a dozen guitar pedals. He was amazing to watch and created some fantastic music. Had the venue had a CD on sale I would have bought it.
2pm: Donkey and a Parrot
Sarah Hamilton’s one woman show – billed as ‘a family’s survival. A donkey’s pilgrimage. A parrot’s flight’ – was my first walkout of Fringe 2012. Having said that the person I went with loved it.
I lasted 15 minutes which I thought was long enough to see if this was any good. It didn’t start well with finger puppets and kids toys with voiceover sound effects from Hamilton. Maybe I just didn’t get the joke.
3.04pm: Age of the Geek
This is one of those things that makes the Fringe so special. Hayden Cohen, who’s from Leeds, contacted me via Twitter trying to convince me to come to his show as I hadn’t shortlisted it in the Fringe programme.
I asked him for free tickets, he said NO! So I said I’d come anyway provided he started on time and didn’t overrun, as I had only 10 minutes either side of Hayden’s show to see other performances. However after walking out of Donkey and a Parrot I had bags of time prior to Hayden’s show.
This a daft, mildly amusing show that kept me entertained. I got all the geeky jokes (some which are funnier than others) but then I am at geek level 20. Hayden strikes me as a better poet then songwriter as I enjoyed his poems a lot more than his songs and I HATE poetry – so well done Hayden!
4.15pm: Punk Rock bby No Prophet Theatre Company
Punk Rock has nothing to do with the 1970s musical movement; the play follows the last few months of seven sixth-formers at a fee-paying grammar school in Stockport and begins with the arrival of the unusual Lilly Cahill.
We follow the tortuous winding down of their school careers, and the final vicious moments of the sex, intelligence, paranoia, boredom and violence that are peculiar to the school system.
This young cast look right for their roles – apart from the Doctor who is 20 years too young to play someone with a 17-year-old daughter – The cast are brilliant. I got the feeling I was seeing stars of the future. My only gripe with Punk Rock was that it was 20 minutes too long.
7.30pm: Radio Forth On the Fringe
Rule five from my introduction to the Edinburgh Fringe blog was go see the Radio Forth On the Fringe which is billed as the ‘largest showcase of Fringe entertainment at this year’s festival’.
The line-up this year was very good and I’m holding myself to one sentence per act. But my big gripe is that the show is meant to be three hours long and this year it was just over two hours, so I got to go home early feeling a little bit cheated.
Anyway here is the rundown:
1. The Blanks – really good four part vocal harmony group, worth seeing.
2. Brendan Burns – Australian stand-up comedian, I didn’t find his joke funny.
3. Michael Winslow – The guy who does vocal noises from the old Police Academy film, he was brilliant.
4. Stephen K Amos – dodgy material, I won’t be buying a ticket.
5. Claire Sweeney & Matthew Kelly – came on to chat about Educating Rita, see day two blog.
6. Briefs – plate spinning by a bloke in his underpants with his mate doing a high ribbon act, what’s more to say.
7. Jarred Christmas – New Zealand stand-up comic who is funny but not enough for me to want to see more.
8. Nina Nesbit – pretty blonde solo guitarist singer touted as the next big thing so look out for her.
9. Jimeoin – more stand-up, quite funny.
10. Casus – circus floor skills which were well executed but not my thing.
11. Bob Downe – another aussie comedian who sang and wore a wig that made him look like Barbie’s Ken – had most of the audience joining in on a sing-a-long.
12. Danny Bhoy – brilliant, the star of the show who left me crying with laughter and wanting more.
- Show of the day: Mark ThomasL Bravo Figaro
Fringe diary, day four: Burnt toast and pregnant men
Ian J Cole checks out a York stand-up and a new production of George Orwell’s 1984 as he enters the fourth day of Fringe fun
I managed to get a bit of a lie in this morning as my first booked show isn’t until 1pm, so it was a shower then out to a café bar Ryan’s for breakfast at the end of Princes Street. The waitress is grumpy and doesn’t seem to understand when I ask for plain toast without butter: she seems to think I want it burnt. Anyway the burnt cold toast arrives after about a 15 minute wait.
Today is the first really wet day so it’s a fight through the streets full of plastic macs and umbrellas. I make it to the Gilded Balloon looking for free tickets for shows as I’ve only three planned shows today. I’m offered a lot of free tickets but they’re all for 1pm, which is the exact time I’m going to the Louis Durra Trio.
It is while I’m wandering around the Gilded Balloon area that I bump into one of the actors from A Clockwork Orange (see Fringe blog day 2), he’s handing out flyers trying to get people to come and see the show (this is a Fringe gauntlet that every visitor has to endure).
I tell him how good I thought the show was and that I’ve been telling everyone I meet, he tells me that their first review is out and its five stars. It seems that this is becoming one of the shows to see at the Fringe.
1pm Louis Durra Trio at the Jazz Bar
I was attracted to this show because it is electronica played on acoustic instruments. The acclaimed Los Angeles jazz pianist Louis Durra uses the standard piano/bass/drums trio to deliver brilliant, stimulating and enjoyable deconstructions of jazz and pop tunes. The band, bassist Brian Shiels and drummer Doug Hough, are magnificent. Louis is the typical cool jazz dude and it seems as though time stands still. This could be 3am and the only thing missing is the smoky atmosphere and after an hour, which seem too short, I stumble back upstairs into the afternoon daylight.
2.45pm Bec Hill Is More Afraid Of You Than You Are Of Her
I went back to the Gilded Balloon looking for free tickets when I met a girl handing out flyers for this show. Bec Hill is an Australian comedian in her mid-twenties and she has a BIG problem: she is afraid of audiences!
This one-woman show is very very funny, daft and delightful and her own homemade movable paper puppetry has to be seen to be believed. I loved it! Considering she is afraid of us, she does a fantastic job of hiding it and she asked us not to give the end of the show away – so I won’t. Go see it for yourself.
5.30pm James Christopher - Bring Me the Head of Russell Kane
The next show on the agenda is by York comedian James Christopher. James is performing at PHB’s free fringe and also blogging in YorkMix about what it’s like coming to the Fringe from a performer’s perspective.
I arrived early for James show because I couldn’t stay until the end (as I had tickets for another show that was a trek across town). I want to tell James that I was leaving early because of that show and not because I thought his show was rubbish (well at this point I was hoping he wasn’t rubbish). And he wasn’t, because James's show is great. I laughed at most of his jokes. As is always the case, some material works better than others. I think James’s real strength is how he interacts with the audience; he’s really good at talking to individuals in a non-threatening way which is very funny, so more of this please!
6.40pm 1984 by EmpathEye Theatre
The story of George Orwell’s 1984 is well known. Winston Smith has had enough of being watched by Big Brother, the Thought Police and the Doublespeak and breaks the rules by starting an affair with Julia and that’s when things start to go so wrong.
This production of the play has live music, multimedia projections and an amazing pulsating physicality from a brilliant young cast. The set is minimal with just the actors and some orange boxes as we enter the dark and oppressive world of Oceania where every movement and emotion is captured, recorded and tracked. The highlight of the piece when Winston meets his fears in room 101 is terrifying. This is another must see production and remember: Big Brother is watching you.
10.30pm Johnny O'Callahan - Who's Your Daddy
This was a free ticket that I was given by a young lady handing out flyers for the show. We’d been swapping what we thought were really good shows at this year’s Fringe. She made a note on her phone of all the shows I’d recommended Boat Factory, Clockwork Orange, My Half Life and today’s suggestions.
I said to her that I wasn’t convinced about this show. The poster of the pregnant Johnny O’Callaghan is terrible and the true story is about his adventure to adopt a Ugandan orphan filled me with dread.
This was at one of the larger venues at the Fringe, seating about 200 people and when the audience filed in, I counted ten of us (I later found out that one was the director and another was a member of staff). But this was brilliant.
Johnny O’Callaghan’s storytelling ability is amazing; he took me back with him to Ugandan and the nine-month odyssey to adopt this boy. It’s a passionate and infectious story that as it unfolds I found myself having to keep saying that this is all true.
The only thing missing was a question and answer session with Johnny at the end because there was so much I wanted to ask.
Ian J Cole checks out a York stand-up and a new production of George Orwell’s 1984 as he enters the fourth day of Fringe fun
I managed to get a bit of a lie in this morning as my first booked show isn’t until 1pm, so it was a shower then out to a café bar Ryan’s for breakfast at the end of Princes Street. The waitress is grumpy and doesn’t seem to understand when I ask for plain toast without butter: she seems to think I want it burnt. Anyway the burnt cold toast arrives after about a 15 minute wait.
Today is the first really wet day so it’s a fight through the streets full of plastic macs and umbrellas. I make it to the Gilded Balloon looking for free tickets for shows as I’ve only three planned shows today. I’m offered a lot of free tickets but they’re all for 1pm, which is the exact time I’m going to the Louis Durra Trio.
It is while I’m wandering around the Gilded Balloon area that I bump into one of the actors from A Clockwork Orange (see Fringe blog day 2), he’s handing out flyers trying to get people to come and see the show (this is a Fringe gauntlet that every visitor has to endure).
I tell him how good I thought the show was and that I’ve been telling everyone I meet, he tells me that their first review is out and its five stars. It seems that this is becoming one of the shows to see at the Fringe.
1pm Louis Durra Trio at the Jazz Bar
I was attracted to this show because it is electronica played on acoustic instruments. The acclaimed Los Angeles jazz pianist Louis Durra uses the standard piano/bass/drums trio to deliver brilliant, stimulating and enjoyable deconstructions of jazz and pop tunes. The band, bassist Brian Shiels and drummer Doug Hough, are magnificent. Louis is the typical cool jazz dude and it seems as though time stands still. This could be 3am and the only thing missing is the smoky atmosphere and after an hour, which seem too short, I stumble back upstairs into the afternoon daylight.
2.45pm Bec Hill Is More Afraid Of You Than You Are Of Her
I went back to the Gilded Balloon looking for free tickets when I met a girl handing out flyers for this show. Bec Hill is an Australian comedian in her mid-twenties and she has a BIG problem: she is afraid of audiences!
This one-woman show is very very funny, daft and delightful and her own homemade movable paper puppetry has to be seen to be believed. I loved it! Considering she is afraid of us, she does a fantastic job of hiding it and she asked us not to give the end of the show away – so I won’t. Go see it for yourself.
5.30pm James Christopher - Bring Me the Head of Russell Kane
The next show on the agenda is by York comedian James Christopher. James is performing at PHB’s free fringe and also blogging in YorkMix about what it’s like coming to the Fringe from a performer’s perspective.
I arrived early for James show because I couldn’t stay until the end (as I had tickets for another show that was a trek across town). I want to tell James that I was leaving early because of that show and not because I thought his show was rubbish (well at this point I was hoping he wasn’t rubbish). And he wasn’t, because James's show is great. I laughed at most of his jokes. As is always the case, some material works better than others. I think James’s real strength is how he interacts with the audience; he’s really good at talking to individuals in a non-threatening way which is very funny, so more of this please!
6.40pm 1984 by EmpathEye Theatre
The story of George Orwell’s 1984 is well known. Winston Smith has had enough of being watched by Big Brother, the Thought Police and the Doublespeak and breaks the rules by starting an affair with Julia and that’s when things start to go so wrong.
This production of the play has live music, multimedia projections and an amazing pulsating physicality from a brilliant young cast. The set is minimal with just the actors and some orange boxes as we enter the dark and oppressive world of Oceania where every movement and emotion is captured, recorded and tracked. The highlight of the piece when Winston meets his fears in room 101 is terrifying. This is another must see production and remember: Big Brother is watching you.
10.30pm Johnny O'Callahan - Who's Your Daddy
This was a free ticket that I was given by a young lady handing out flyers for the show. We’d been swapping what we thought were really good shows at this year’s Fringe. She made a note on her phone of all the shows I’d recommended Boat Factory, Clockwork Orange, My Half Life and today’s suggestions.
I said to her that I wasn’t convinced about this show. The poster of the pregnant Johnny O’Callaghan is terrible and the true story is about his adventure to adopt a Ugandan orphan filled me with dread.
This was at one of the larger venues at the Fringe, seating about 200 people and when the audience filed in, I counted ten of us (I later found out that one was the director and another was a member of staff). But this was brilliant.
Johnny O’Callaghan’s storytelling ability is amazing; he took me back with him to Ugandan and the nine-month odyssey to adopt this boy. It’s a passionate and infectious story that as it unfolds I found myself having to keep saying that this is all true.
The only thing missing was a question and answer session with Johnny at the end because there was so much I wanted to ask.
- Show of the day: 1984
Fringe diary, day five: Heavy breathers and live socks
Porn addiction and the Eric and Ernie of the sock drawer? Strange but true for Ian J Cole on his fifth festival fringe day
Up at 8:30 this morning as my first show is at 10.30 so I need to get a move on to have breakfast and then hike over to the Pleasance Dome to see Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show.
10.30am Bit-Size Breakfast Show
I shouldn’t have bothered with breakfast as the title of this show gives it away. I arrived 20 minutes before the show started, only to find a massive queue worming its way in to the venue. To be let in this early was unheard of! What’s going on?
The reason we were being let in was we were being handed a choice of tea, coffee, croissant and strawberries and so our bite-size breakfast. The show was sold out and what we were served up was five fantastic 10-15 minute playlets from an excellent five person cast, it was very funny well-crafted theatre.
What the White Room Theatre group are doing is giving the audience three different sets of playlets on different days. Today’s menu was ‘Forces of Nature’. Tomorrow was going to be the ‘Vintage 1940s’ menu but that was already sold out and the menu after that was ‘Life, Sex & Death’. Each menu contains a mix of drama, comedy and eccentricity. Fantastic.
12.45pm Uncoupled
As I came out from the Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show, I got talking to one of the guys for Uncoupled, a one-woman play about her husband’s addiction to porn. This became disconcerting when the chap sat at the side of me started heavy breathing.
But this was no dodgy sex show disguised as a play, but a touching tail of a mid-50s woman’s relationship with her partner as she tries to keep her family together, and how she deals with his sex addiction.
The chap at the side of me wasn’t a member of the dirty mac brigade he just had breathing problems.
Louise Templeton played Suzanne brilliantly in this humorous and heart-breaking story.
2.20pm Eric's Tales of the Sea - A Submariner's Yarn
Next up was an award-winning show, the true-life tales of Eric the submariner. This was in a rabbit warren of a building full of thin passages and odd staircases, we were told to go upstairs and keep going but we got lost as there wasn’t any signage.
When I say WE got lost I mean all of the audience got lost as our caterpillar snaked its way around, bursting in on a already running play. A member of staff was sent for to guide us to our room that looks surprisingly like a submarine – it was certainly wet enough but this venue was called ‘Just the Tonic at The Caves’.
Eric tells us stories of life on-board a nuclear submarine and what could be described as a lecture with PowerPoint is fantastically funny and brilliantly told. Eric plays with the audience’s every emotion. He has a selection of incredible images that reinforce the realism and tells us stories involving his soul mate and best friend Dick.
Truly unique and not to be missed.
5.05pm The Complete History of the BBC in 60 Minutes
It was after seeing Eric that I hit the first duff show of the day. The Complete History of the BBC in 60 Minutes missed on so many levels. The show was delivered in the bedroom of a hotel in GrassMarket which is fine as a venue if a little small. But I was expecting something closer to the Brilliant Reduced Shakespeare Company’s ‘Complete Works of William Shakespeare’ that I saw several years ago or Lip Service, Withering Looks – but this had few laughs and a cringeworthy ending that was just embarrassing.
7.30pm Cabaret Whore - Her Fineset Hour
Cabaret Whore is described as ‘brilliant character comedy, sparkling original songs featuring favourite characters and music from three sell-out Fringes’. This one woman show by Sarah-Louise Young has three very different characters, an American white trash prostitute, a drunk and a bitter French cabaret singer. But this is not her finest hour. The comedy is wide of the mark and sex and drugs aren’t funny on their own without strong material. Sarah-Louise’s strengths are in her singing ability and the quality of the lyrical ability of the song-writing team, but that’s not enough to make a good show.
9pm Chris Difford and Norman Lovett: It's All About Me
This was a show I was really looking forward to as I am a huge Squeeze fan. Chris Difford tells his life story in Squeeze by playing a selection of hits with his guitar and a backing singer. We are encouraged to sing along and it’s a very intimate affair.
After about 20 minutes Chris is joined on stage by Red Dwarf star and stand-up comedian Norman Lovett who is there to tell tall tales and make us (and Chris) laugh. In fact as I was sat on the front row Norman stood up so that I didn’t have to crick my neck while he was telling one of his stories, which was nice of him.
Chris on the other hand is very candid when it comes to telling the story of his musical life; he covers everything from the 50p advert in a newsagent window that was the start of Squeeze to some amazing band video that has never been shown before. It was all over far too soon and was great fun to be part of.
10.40pm Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre - Boo Lingerie
I wanted to see the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre two years ago when I was last at the Fringe but they were sold out. I was socked to find out that the show was delivered by one person in a brilliant Punch and Judy way but using sock puppets of course. It’s classic Eric and Ernie as our two puppet heroes bicker and argue their way through the show.
This is a brand new Socky Horror Show with songs, sketches, socks and violence and even a bit of Thriller. Tonight’s show had so many adlibs that it over-ran a lot and a song had to be cut but that didn’t matter as it was absolutely fantastic and incredibly funny.
Porn addiction and the Eric and Ernie of the sock drawer? Strange but true for Ian J Cole on his fifth festival fringe day
Up at 8:30 this morning as my first show is at 10.30 so I need to get a move on to have breakfast and then hike over to the Pleasance Dome to see Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show.
10.30am Bit-Size Breakfast Show
I shouldn’t have bothered with breakfast as the title of this show gives it away. I arrived 20 minutes before the show started, only to find a massive queue worming its way in to the venue. To be let in this early was unheard of! What’s going on?
The reason we were being let in was we were being handed a choice of tea, coffee, croissant and strawberries and so our bite-size breakfast. The show was sold out and what we were served up was five fantastic 10-15 minute playlets from an excellent five person cast, it was very funny well-crafted theatre.
What the White Room Theatre group are doing is giving the audience three different sets of playlets on different days. Today’s menu was ‘Forces of Nature’. Tomorrow was going to be the ‘Vintage 1940s’ menu but that was already sold out and the menu after that was ‘Life, Sex & Death’. Each menu contains a mix of drama, comedy and eccentricity. Fantastic.
12.45pm Uncoupled
As I came out from the Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show, I got talking to one of the guys for Uncoupled, a one-woman play about her husband’s addiction to porn. This became disconcerting when the chap sat at the side of me started heavy breathing.
But this was no dodgy sex show disguised as a play, but a touching tail of a mid-50s woman’s relationship with her partner as she tries to keep her family together, and how she deals with his sex addiction.
The chap at the side of me wasn’t a member of the dirty mac brigade he just had breathing problems.
Louise Templeton played Suzanne brilliantly in this humorous and heart-breaking story.
2.20pm Eric's Tales of the Sea - A Submariner's Yarn
Next up was an award-winning show, the true-life tales of Eric the submariner. This was in a rabbit warren of a building full of thin passages and odd staircases, we were told to go upstairs and keep going but we got lost as there wasn’t any signage.
When I say WE got lost I mean all of the audience got lost as our caterpillar snaked its way around, bursting in on a already running play. A member of staff was sent for to guide us to our room that looks surprisingly like a submarine – it was certainly wet enough but this venue was called ‘Just the Tonic at The Caves’.
Eric tells us stories of life on-board a nuclear submarine and what could be described as a lecture with PowerPoint is fantastically funny and brilliantly told. Eric plays with the audience’s every emotion. He has a selection of incredible images that reinforce the realism and tells us stories involving his soul mate and best friend Dick.
Truly unique and not to be missed.
5.05pm The Complete History of the BBC in 60 Minutes
It was after seeing Eric that I hit the first duff show of the day. The Complete History of the BBC in 60 Minutes missed on so many levels. The show was delivered in the bedroom of a hotel in GrassMarket which is fine as a venue if a little small. But I was expecting something closer to the Brilliant Reduced Shakespeare Company’s ‘Complete Works of William Shakespeare’ that I saw several years ago or Lip Service, Withering Looks – but this had few laughs and a cringeworthy ending that was just embarrassing.
7.30pm Cabaret Whore - Her Fineset Hour
Cabaret Whore is described as ‘brilliant character comedy, sparkling original songs featuring favourite characters and music from three sell-out Fringes’. This one woman show by Sarah-Louise Young has three very different characters, an American white trash prostitute, a drunk and a bitter French cabaret singer. But this is not her finest hour. The comedy is wide of the mark and sex and drugs aren’t funny on their own without strong material. Sarah-Louise’s strengths are in her singing ability and the quality of the lyrical ability of the song-writing team, but that’s not enough to make a good show.
9pm Chris Difford and Norman Lovett: It's All About Me
This was a show I was really looking forward to as I am a huge Squeeze fan. Chris Difford tells his life story in Squeeze by playing a selection of hits with his guitar and a backing singer. We are encouraged to sing along and it’s a very intimate affair.
After about 20 minutes Chris is joined on stage by Red Dwarf star and stand-up comedian Norman Lovett who is there to tell tall tales and make us (and Chris) laugh. In fact as I was sat on the front row Norman stood up so that I didn’t have to crick my neck while he was telling one of his stories, which was nice of him.
Chris on the other hand is very candid when it comes to telling the story of his musical life; he covers everything from the 50p advert in a newsagent window that was the start of Squeeze to some amazing band video that has never been shown before. It was all over far too soon and was great fun to be part of.
10.40pm Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre - Boo Lingerie
I wanted to see the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre two years ago when I was last at the Fringe but they were sold out. I was socked to find out that the show was delivered by one person in a brilliant Punch and Judy way but using sock puppets of course. It’s classic Eric and Ernie as our two puppet heroes bicker and argue their way through the show.
This is a brand new Socky Horror Show with songs, sketches, socks and violence and even a bit of Thriller. Tonight’s show had so many adlibs that it over-ran a lot and a song had to be cut but that didn’t matter as it was absolutely fantastic and incredibly funny.
- Show of the day: Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre
Fringe diary, day six: John Peel vs Doctor Who
Still going strong on his sixth day, the Mix’s man in Edinburgh Ian J Colechecks out tributes to two broadcasting legends
Today is my birthday so I have a lie-in, open my presents and cards then play with my Clangers whistle and Korg Kaossilator 2 before breakfast and the first show of the day.
11.35am John Peel's Shed by John Osborne
I must say first of all that I never liked the John Peel radio show. I found most of the music he played was rubbish and I always found it difficult to believe that Peel liked a lot of the music he played (I know sacrilege!) because he would play anything on his show. It’s like he had no good taste filter.
The one time I sent him a tape of my band I gave up listening the night he was meant to play it so I’ve no idea if I was ever on the Peel show or not. Having said this I now feel that I’m glad he was broadcasting all of this rubbish on Radio 1 because it just doesn’t happen anymore.
I also have a problem of how much John Peel is revered since his death; he was in my memory a grumpy radio DJ and not a god-like genius (I know – sacrilege number two) and before the death threats and hate mail arrive, this is a personal opinion and of course I could be wrong. But it is my birthday so be nice to me.
John Osborne’s show starts with John sitting in a chair playing a record on a crappy plastic vinyl record player. Osborne won a box of records (from John Peel’s shed) by writing in to the John Peel radio show and at that time he didn’t even own a record player.
When he did get around to playing the records it took eight years to listen them all, but this is an ode to radio, a medium that John O is very passionate about. It’s a delight; it’s gentle and funny with some fantastic stories.
This show was a total sell-out at Edinburgh 2011 followed by a 50-date UK tour and BBC Radio 4 adaptation. There are only six shows at the Fringe and these will be John’s last ever performances of the show so hurry and see it while you can.
3.10pm My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver
In this sequel to Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf (a Sony Gold Award-nominated for BBC radio show) Toby Hadoke, a Doctor Who obsessive of the first order, delivers a heartfelt rites-of-passage memoir. It is brilliantly funny in places. Tony has a wealth of knowledge about the Time Lord and has seen every episode at least four times
The show is patchy. The first 20 minutes were fantastic then it dipped a bit only to get funnier towards the end. There was some walk outs, the first couple after about 15 minutes then a couple sat near me went after half an hour: maybe there was too much Doctor Who for them – or too few Daleks, who knows!
6pm Axis of Awesome: Cry Yourself A River
I’d wanted to see Axis of Awesome two years ago when I was last here but they were sold out the only night I was free. The show was billed as ‘a brand-new hour of musical comedy from those guys off of the internet’. I didn’t know much about AofA except they had sold out four years in a row at the Fringe.
This show was such a disappointment on so many levels. Now I am a big fan of musical comedy having seen The Panic Brothers and Doug Anthony All-Stars (both brilliant comedy musical acts) several times throughout the 1980s and 1990s. And I loved Rayguns Look Real Enough so much when I came in 2010 that I went to see them twice – but this AoF show was just lazy comedy.
Musically AoF are spot on, great musicians with fantastic harmony vocals, but that isn’t enough in this type of show. It just wasn’t funny and quite a few people walked out. It also smacked of corporate sell-out as they spent five minutes trying to sell us CDs, T-shirts and the like. I would have liked to have seen them a couple of years ago when I suspect they really were the Axis of Awesome.
8.15pm Mod by the Infinity Repertory Theatre (New York)
Mod is described on the Fringe website as ‘original musical comedy inspired by the British pop of the early 60s… With an all-American cast, this upbeat spoof of Beatlemania will have audiences cheering. Rock’n’roll has never been so funny’ (ThreeWeeks).
Well I don’t think the ‘Three Weeks’ reviewer and I saw the same show.
The opening musical song is strong, well sung and crisply choreographed as is most of the musical numbers. Thank god for this because the acting is appalling. We have members of the cast running around the stage, screaming uncontrollable and constantly moving boxes around for no apparent reason.
Now I know this is American High School fair but we are expected to pay full Fringe prices for this and had it not been for some well performed musical songs that kept me going through the bad times, I would have walked out.
10.30pm DugOut Theatre's Inheritance Blues
This was a rare production by the DugOut Theatre. Inheritance Blues is a play about family debt, heavy drinking, decade-old rivalries and the blues cover band The Hot Air Ballues. A play produced by a suburb cast of young actors it boasts brilliant storytelling, live music, a cappella singing and interesting choreography.
The only negative to spoil this fantastic performance was the ‘audience’. It was clear that a large proportion of the audience were friends with the chaps on stage (probably other actor groups from the Bedlam Theatre).
And these people didn’t know how to behave in a theatre while a play was on, which is interesting if they are meant to be members of the acting profession (the silly group of girls on the front row were particularly irritating). We had laughing, clapping and cheering at inappropriate times and I got the impression that as the play progressed the actors on stage were finding this behaviour tiresome. Hopefully you will have a better audience when you go to see this fantastic production, as this is work that should be added to your list of plays to see.
Still going strong on his sixth day, the Mix’s man in Edinburgh Ian J Colechecks out tributes to two broadcasting legends
Today is my birthday so I have a lie-in, open my presents and cards then play with my Clangers whistle and Korg Kaossilator 2 before breakfast and the first show of the day.
11.35am John Peel's Shed by John Osborne
I must say first of all that I never liked the John Peel radio show. I found most of the music he played was rubbish and I always found it difficult to believe that Peel liked a lot of the music he played (I know sacrilege!) because he would play anything on his show. It’s like he had no good taste filter.
The one time I sent him a tape of my band I gave up listening the night he was meant to play it so I’ve no idea if I was ever on the Peel show or not. Having said this I now feel that I’m glad he was broadcasting all of this rubbish on Radio 1 because it just doesn’t happen anymore.
I also have a problem of how much John Peel is revered since his death; he was in my memory a grumpy radio DJ and not a god-like genius (I know – sacrilege number two) and before the death threats and hate mail arrive, this is a personal opinion and of course I could be wrong. But it is my birthday so be nice to me.
John Osborne’s show starts with John sitting in a chair playing a record on a crappy plastic vinyl record player. Osborne won a box of records (from John Peel’s shed) by writing in to the John Peel radio show and at that time he didn’t even own a record player.
When he did get around to playing the records it took eight years to listen them all, but this is an ode to radio, a medium that John O is very passionate about. It’s a delight; it’s gentle and funny with some fantastic stories.
This show was a total sell-out at Edinburgh 2011 followed by a 50-date UK tour and BBC Radio 4 adaptation. There are only six shows at the Fringe and these will be John’s last ever performances of the show so hurry and see it while you can.
3.10pm My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver
In this sequel to Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf (a Sony Gold Award-nominated for BBC radio show) Toby Hadoke, a Doctor Who obsessive of the first order, delivers a heartfelt rites-of-passage memoir. It is brilliantly funny in places. Tony has a wealth of knowledge about the Time Lord and has seen every episode at least four times
The show is patchy. The first 20 minutes were fantastic then it dipped a bit only to get funnier towards the end. There was some walk outs, the first couple after about 15 minutes then a couple sat near me went after half an hour: maybe there was too much Doctor Who for them – or too few Daleks, who knows!
6pm Axis of Awesome: Cry Yourself A River
I’d wanted to see Axis of Awesome two years ago when I was last here but they were sold out the only night I was free. The show was billed as ‘a brand-new hour of musical comedy from those guys off of the internet’. I didn’t know much about AofA except they had sold out four years in a row at the Fringe.
This show was such a disappointment on so many levels. Now I am a big fan of musical comedy having seen The Panic Brothers and Doug Anthony All-Stars (both brilliant comedy musical acts) several times throughout the 1980s and 1990s. And I loved Rayguns Look Real Enough so much when I came in 2010 that I went to see them twice – but this AoF show was just lazy comedy.
Musically AoF are spot on, great musicians with fantastic harmony vocals, but that isn’t enough in this type of show. It just wasn’t funny and quite a few people walked out. It also smacked of corporate sell-out as they spent five minutes trying to sell us CDs, T-shirts and the like. I would have liked to have seen them a couple of years ago when I suspect they really were the Axis of Awesome.
8.15pm Mod by the Infinity Repertory Theatre (New York)
Mod is described on the Fringe website as ‘original musical comedy inspired by the British pop of the early 60s… With an all-American cast, this upbeat spoof of Beatlemania will have audiences cheering. Rock’n’roll has never been so funny’ (ThreeWeeks).
Well I don’t think the ‘Three Weeks’ reviewer and I saw the same show.
The opening musical song is strong, well sung and crisply choreographed as is most of the musical numbers. Thank god for this because the acting is appalling. We have members of the cast running around the stage, screaming uncontrollable and constantly moving boxes around for no apparent reason.
Now I know this is American High School fair but we are expected to pay full Fringe prices for this and had it not been for some well performed musical songs that kept me going through the bad times, I would have walked out.
10.30pm DugOut Theatre's Inheritance Blues
This was a rare production by the DugOut Theatre. Inheritance Blues is a play about family debt, heavy drinking, decade-old rivalries and the blues cover band The Hot Air Ballues. A play produced by a suburb cast of young actors it boasts brilliant storytelling, live music, a cappella singing and interesting choreography.
The only negative to spoil this fantastic performance was the ‘audience’. It was clear that a large proportion of the audience were friends with the chaps on stage (probably other actor groups from the Bedlam Theatre).
And these people didn’t know how to behave in a theatre while a play was on, which is interesting if they are meant to be members of the acting profession (the silly group of girls on the front row were particularly irritating). We had laughing, clapping and cheering at inappropriate times and I got the impression that as the play progressed the actors on stage were finding this behaviour tiresome. Hopefully you will have a better audience when you go to see this fantastic production, as this is work that should be added to your list of plays to see.
- Show of the day: John Peel’s Shed by John Osborne
Fringe diary, day seven: Brothers, blisters and bells
Seven days in to his Fringe Olympics, Ian J Cole feet are suffering for his art – but great music and comedy keep him moving
I’m feeling tired today, these long days are starting to take their toll and I’m suffering with blisters on my left foot.
So it’s a quick bath to relax my weary muscles before breakfast and a walk around the hidden gardens of the royal mile. I estimate that I must be walking anything up to 15 miles a day, so why choose to do a walking tour? I didn’t.
10.30am Hidden Gardens of the Royal MileThis was suggested to me by my companion and it was with reluctance that I went along with it (I was much more interested in the scary tour of underground Edinburgh but I couldn’t find the entrance).
Our guide Jean is very passionate about gardening and asked our group when we arrive at the first garden if we all love gardening. Everyone says yes, except me who shouts out NO! The ensemble looks at me at me but Jean says that fine: ‘I had a group of 30 the other day and none of them liked gardening which threw me a bit.’
This was an easy walking tour and we did discover unexpected gardens and green nooks and crannies behind the historic buildings of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Jean is fairly knowledgeable but this tour is a bit thin on interesting gardens.
At one point Jean shows us a car park and tries to explain with images what it would have looked like in the 17th century. I was hoping that this was going to be as much fun as Mr Clapperton’s Witchery Tour of the Royal Mile which I did in 2000 and still love to this day but this is an unfair comparison.
Jean did a good job and it was a nice day to sit in some gardens. I just switched off when she asked us to identify the three types of willow.
12.15pm Art for Lunch (Free Concert)
I didn’t manage to get to this as Jean had over-run with her stories of shrubbery so it was a dash to the BBC area for the recording of BBC Scotland’s Festival Café.
1.15pm BBC Festival Cafe'This was one of the free shows provided by BBC Radio Scotland and having been to this type of thing before I knew it would be a mixed bag. The best example of this type of show was a few years ago when the Guardian used to record their daily podcasts, but this wasn’t that good.
The show was hosted by Clare English who had us practising clapping and feet stamping before the show when life (I didn’t get involved). First up were an a capella group The Magnets who performed three songs – the only one that really missed was a jolly pop version of Dire Straits’ Romeo And Juliet (didn’t they not know that the song is about tragedy?) Up next was Phil Porter promoting his (not very) comic opera with an example performed about a woman who has a disorder and wants to eat everything; I think the libretto was ‘the world is edible’ but it wasn’t very good.
The next interview by Clare was with Ron Butlin, Edinburgh’s ‘Makar’, or Poet Laureate. He was an interesting chap but was just there trying to sell his book and show. Last onto Clare’s couch was Sandra Prinsloo from the play The Sewing Machine but this whole show didn’t do anything for me – it was just 45 minutes of advertising on the BBC.
3.20pm Cover by DugOut Theatre
this play as it was by the same company who had produced last night’s fantastic play, Inheritance Blues and yet again DugOut didn’t disappoint. This is a tale of two brothers and the two girls they are involved with when they visit their father’s London flat. But not everything as it seems and all have a desire to keep up appearances at all costs.
Cover is a fantastic work. The only problem was the room was unbearably hot, so much so that it was hard to concentrate on the brilliant performances. It is worth seeing – just take a fan with you.
7pm Henry Rollins - The Long March 2012
This is a new show from legendary Black Flag frontman, author, actor, Grammy award-winner and passionate stream-of-social-consciousness raconteur Henry Rollins. Yet again I’d wanted to see him at the 2010 Fringe but he’s show was on later in the month and I’d already returned home.
This is classed as comedy but it is? Well there are some funny moments but this isn’t stand-up, it is a hard-hitting, in your face, engaging lecture. There’s no build up Henry just come out and talks to us. Henry comes across as a lovely man, he tells it like it is and he’s on our side and if you drop him an e-mail you’ll get a reply – and I believe you Hank!
9pm Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells for Two
The last show of the day was a gem; this is a concert of two Australian musicians who come out onto the stage and play Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells live, which is no mean feat as I spent most of the first half of the album with my mouth open.
These guys pull it off spectacularly. There is a little bit of looping here and there but this really is live and it has to be seen. I loved it so much that I bought a DVD of the show something I’ve never done before.
Seven days in to his Fringe Olympics, Ian J Cole feet are suffering for his art – but great music and comedy keep him moving
I’m feeling tired today, these long days are starting to take their toll and I’m suffering with blisters on my left foot.
So it’s a quick bath to relax my weary muscles before breakfast and a walk around the hidden gardens of the royal mile. I estimate that I must be walking anything up to 15 miles a day, so why choose to do a walking tour? I didn’t.
10.30am Hidden Gardens of the Royal MileThis was suggested to me by my companion and it was with reluctance that I went along with it (I was much more interested in the scary tour of underground Edinburgh but I couldn’t find the entrance).
Our guide Jean is very passionate about gardening and asked our group when we arrive at the first garden if we all love gardening. Everyone says yes, except me who shouts out NO! The ensemble looks at me at me but Jean says that fine: ‘I had a group of 30 the other day and none of them liked gardening which threw me a bit.’
This was an easy walking tour and we did discover unexpected gardens and green nooks and crannies behind the historic buildings of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Jean is fairly knowledgeable but this tour is a bit thin on interesting gardens.
At one point Jean shows us a car park and tries to explain with images what it would have looked like in the 17th century. I was hoping that this was going to be as much fun as Mr Clapperton’s Witchery Tour of the Royal Mile which I did in 2000 and still love to this day but this is an unfair comparison.
Jean did a good job and it was a nice day to sit in some gardens. I just switched off when she asked us to identify the three types of willow.
12.15pm Art for Lunch (Free Concert)
I didn’t manage to get to this as Jean had over-run with her stories of shrubbery so it was a dash to the BBC area for the recording of BBC Scotland’s Festival Café.
1.15pm BBC Festival Cafe'This was one of the free shows provided by BBC Radio Scotland and having been to this type of thing before I knew it would be a mixed bag. The best example of this type of show was a few years ago when the Guardian used to record their daily podcasts, but this wasn’t that good.
The show was hosted by Clare English who had us practising clapping and feet stamping before the show when life (I didn’t get involved). First up were an a capella group The Magnets who performed three songs – the only one that really missed was a jolly pop version of Dire Straits’ Romeo And Juliet (didn’t they not know that the song is about tragedy?) Up next was Phil Porter promoting his (not very) comic opera with an example performed about a woman who has a disorder and wants to eat everything; I think the libretto was ‘the world is edible’ but it wasn’t very good.
The next interview by Clare was with Ron Butlin, Edinburgh’s ‘Makar’, or Poet Laureate. He was an interesting chap but was just there trying to sell his book and show. Last onto Clare’s couch was Sandra Prinsloo from the play The Sewing Machine but this whole show didn’t do anything for me – it was just 45 minutes of advertising on the BBC.
3.20pm Cover by DugOut Theatre
this play as it was by the same company who had produced last night’s fantastic play, Inheritance Blues and yet again DugOut didn’t disappoint. This is a tale of two brothers and the two girls they are involved with when they visit their father’s London flat. But not everything as it seems and all have a desire to keep up appearances at all costs.
Cover is a fantastic work. The only problem was the room was unbearably hot, so much so that it was hard to concentrate on the brilliant performances. It is worth seeing – just take a fan with you.
7pm Henry Rollins - The Long March 2012
This is a new show from legendary Black Flag frontman, author, actor, Grammy award-winner and passionate stream-of-social-consciousness raconteur Henry Rollins. Yet again I’d wanted to see him at the 2010 Fringe but he’s show was on later in the month and I’d already returned home.
This is classed as comedy but it is? Well there are some funny moments but this isn’t stand-up, it is a hard-hitting, in your face, engaging lecture. There’s no build up Henry just come out and talks to us. Henry comes across as a lovely man, he tells it like it is and he’s on our side and if you drop him an e-mail you’ll get a reply – and I believe you Hank!
9pm Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells for Two
The last show of the day was a gem; this is a concert of two Australian musicians who come out onto the stage and play Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells live, which is no mean feat as I spent most of the first half of the album with my mouth open.
These guys pull it off spectacularly. There is a little bit of looping here and there but this really is live and it has to be seen. I loved it so much that I bought a DVD of the show something I’ve never done before.
- Show of the day: Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells for Two
Ian Cole’s Edinburgh Fringe: The Top 12
He’s back in York after his Fringe marathon. Here Ian J Cole names his top shows in Edinburgh
Today is my last day in Edinburgh so it’s a lie in until 9.30am then over to Pret a Manger for my last breakfast. I’ve gotten to know the staff in here, particularly Martin who had his birthday the day before mine and gave me a free croissant when it was my day.
Today is my last day in Edinburgh so it’s a lie in until 9.30am then over to Pret a Manger for my last breakfast. I’ve gotten to know the staff in here, particularly Martin who had his birthday the day before mine and gave me a free croissant when it was my day.
We say our goodbyes and I’ve a couple of hours to kill before I have to check out of the Travelodge so it’s a rummage through the only charity shop on Shandwick Place and I find a couple of CD’s to buy: Eros Ramazzotti and Tom Lehrer.
I don’t have enough time for one last show so I wander over to the very expensive and trendy West End Arts, Crafts & Design Fair by St John’s Church on Lothian Road but it’s all too touristy for me so it’s back to the hotel for my case and to check out.
I’m still not using the lift so it’s one last hike up to the third floor (it’s just as well that I’ve refused to use the life as a couple got stick in there for over an hour two nights ago). I check out and leave a couple of notes on the hotel’s notice board: one says that the hotel and staff are brilliant but don’t use the lift, the other says go see The Boat Factory, 1984 & A Clockwork Orange.
I fight my way along Princes Street to the railway station and I start to think of my list of top ten shows for this Fringe.
I’d managed to see 36 shows in six and a half days which gives me an average of five and a half shows per day (excluding the three shows I saw the first evening I arrived). In choosing my top ten I’m well aware I’ve only seen 36 out the 2,000+ shows that are on and I know I’ve missed some great shows. Coalition I believe is one of them. Now I have the list prepared and I find it’s a top 12 and I don’t want to exclude any – so here in Top of the Pops style of reverse order is my favourite shows of Fringe 2012.
12. Half a Person: My Life As Told By The Smiths This was a toss-up between this show and A Clockwork Orange (No 11). I had a note from the director Alex Broun who now assures me that the technical issues are sorted out.
11. A Clockwork Orange So you best go viddy this horrowshow my little droogies
10. Re-Animator The Musical This show is getting good reviews but I was surprised to see it only get three stars from one critic (what was that person thinking?) it’s worth the admission fee just to see Rufus the cat come back to life for the second time.
9. Chris Difford and Norman Lovett: It’s All About Me! Because I got to sing with Chris Difford – alright so did everyone else.
8. Eric’s Tales of the Sea – A Submariner’s Yarn Eric made us feel like we were all his mates and he gave me a badge to wear.
7. John Peel’s Shed by John Osborne Thank you John for introducing me to Oizone the punk Boyzone tribute band.
6. 1984 by EmpathEyes Theatre Because it’s double plus good.
5. Who’s Your Daddy? Johnny O’Callaghan I bumped into the producer of the show, a very nice American lady who took it very well when I said the poster was a marketing disaster, she did say she was going to pass on to Johnny how good I thought the show was.
4. Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells for Two Because I still can’t really believe these guys managed to pull it off.
3. Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre – Boo Lingerie I met ‘Kev’ while he was flyering on the High street yesterday and we chatted about how good I thought the show was and how he should bring the show to York. He admitted to having to leave out large chunks of the show because of the adlibbing. I was wearing an Eric & Ernie T-shirt and he said he had used them and Abbot & Costello for inspiration.
2. The Boat Factory by Happenstance Theatre Company This was really hard and should be joint number one especially as the guys have granted me ‘the freedom of Titanic Belfast and the promise of a slap up meal when I visit’.
My number one show of Fringe 2012 is:
Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro Along with the Boat Factory this production was unbelievable and will stay with me forever.
So the Fringe is over for me for this year, I’m finishing this off back at home. The train journey was uneventful except for an American chap failing to get off at Durham because the door wouldn’t open (he was late getting to it). He then proceeded to do a lot of shouting all the way to Darlington.
So the Fringe is over for me for this year, I’m finishing this off back at home. The train journey was uneventful except for an American chap failing to get off at Durham because the door wouldn’t open (he was late getting to it). He then proceeded to do a lot of shouting all the way to Darlington. As a parting shot to highlight the brilliance of Edinburgh Fringe Festival, while I was on the Hidden Gardens of the Royal Mile tour, Jean our guide was in full flow about a garden we were seeing in an elderly sheltered housing block. When a lady turned up with a large iguana in a plastic Tupperware box, she pressed the intercom for one of the flats and said “It’s me! Can you let me in so Rory (the iguana) can have his bath?”
Now that’s not something you see every day and I don’t think it was meant to be part of the Fringe – but then you never know!
He knows all the Edinburgh tricks, so follow Ian J Cole‘s guide for a fabulous festival:
A friend of mine said the other day you’re always doing weird holidays so where is
it this year? ‘The Fringe’ was my response! This caused him to raise his eyebrows in a quizzical manner – so what is this Fringe?
Whenever possible I like to go to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which is the biggest arts festival in the world. Last year’s event spanned 25 days and included more than 2,500 international shows from 60 nations in 258 venues.
It has the best and the worst of the arts, whether it be plays, concerts, installations, musicals, walking tours or comedy and I have a set of rules that for me are a requirement to attending any Fringe event – but more of the rules later.
My first visit was in the 1980s and apart from a few years when our children came along I’ve always tried to go to the festival every two or three years.
Once I’d made the decision to go this year I should have sorted out the accommodation but I didn’t. The first thing to say about visiting Edinburgh anytime during the Fringe is that it’s very very expensive to find anywhere to stay, and I had left it rather late. Every hotel, guest house, flat, shack and tent is rented out for those three weeks at hugely inflated prices.
Rule 1: If you’re going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, book it the year before as soon as the festival has ended – and not as I did the month before it opens
Anyway I managed to book a cheap ‘very expensive’ hotel just off Princes Street which sounds dreadful judging by the reviews and is probably the only vacant hotel in the whole of this part of Scotland. I’ll let you know.
The next thing that needs to be done is to decide on which shows to go and see, a very difficult job when there are more than 2,500 to choose from.
Rule 2: Don’t go and see someone just because their famous or on the telly, because if they are a comedian who is on the TV a lot then you’ve probably seen all their best material
Plus you’re not going to get cheap deals seeing the likes of Ross Noble or Jim Jefferies because their shows will be sold out every night anyway. You want to catch the up-and-coming people who haven’t made it on TV yet or have had limited exposure.
I remember seeing Jason Manford in a free lunchtime showcase where emerging comedians are given five minutes to show how good they are. I liked him so much that I bought a ticket for his hour long show which was fantastically funny – this was before he’d ever been on TV. A couple of years later he started appearing on the box telling the same jokes.
This leads me to…
Rule 3: Get your hands on the Fringe Programme as soon as it’s out and go through every page highlighting things that might be of interest.
This should leave you with a list of potential shows which will be massive. But don’t worry there is a plan to whittle it down.
Rule 4: If you can go to the Edinburgh Fringe at the start. Why? Because the first few days will have previews of the shows which will be half price.
And there are usually a couple of days when you can get 2 for 1 tickets, that is providing you have a friend to share the experience with.
Now you can go back through the festival guide and select the shows that have cut-price deals. Book them on the website. It is also at this point that you should book any free ticketed shows such as the BBC showcases or podcast recording events.
Only now trawl through the Fringe Guide again for those must see full price shows and book them; I’ve paid for two full price shows out of the 36 that I’m going to see so far this year.
One is to see Henry Rollins who I missed two years ago (who is Henry Rollins I hear you ask – then Google him) and the other is the show that all the locals go: Radio Forth On the Fringe which is £16 for a three-hour showcase show.
Recorded live for Radio Forth, you get to see anything up to 20 of the best new acts at the Fringe so here’s
Rule 5: Book tickets for Radio Forth On the Fringe
Which leads me on to…
Rule 6: If it’s rubbish just get up and leave – you’ve paid your money and if after 15 minutes you hate it or are offended then go. Don’t sit there and suffer in silence.
I’m reminded of a spectacularly poor musical from 2010, I can’t remember its real title but Indiana Jones And The Terrible Cast fits. This show was so bad that after ten minutes I leaned over to my wife and said “I’ll see you outside I’m going to leave.”
She said in a panic “don’t leave me here” so we agreed that the next time the lights went down for a scene change we would scarper.
Now this show was in a church hall without a stage and we were sitting on the front row. The minute the lights when down my wife dashed for what she thought was a lighted exit but was in fact the door to back stage, so being the dutiful husband I followed her back stage where we had to apologise to the cast for leaving so soon. This incident was so much funnier than the actual musical that it was worth every penny of the admission fee.
Rule 7: Watch out for the Fringe staff handing out free tickets.
I’ve only really seen this near the Gilded Balloon and the Udderbelly venue (near the university) but when a show hasn’t sold very well and show-time is looming sometimes staff are sent out to give out free tickets to get bums on seats in the hope that the punters will recommend the show to others.
Two years ago my wife and I when to see 2 Men And A Banana on free last minute tickets. The show was brilliantly funny although sadly there were only four of us in the audience – and one lady had to leave early to get her bus. This didn’t put off either man or the banana (which got eaten at the end of the show) and they performed as if it was a packed house.
Rule 8: Don’t forget to go and support the Free Fringe.
The Free Fringe started in 1996 by Peter Buckley Hill, because Peter thought that the Fringe was getting too expensive. What you will find is two opposing promoters, PBH – Peter’s company – and his arch enemy Laughing Horse Comedy fighting for audiences.
Peter feels it confuses everybody having two free fringes although a few years ago I did try to explain to him that audiences don’t care about these kind of squabbles. We just want to see a good show and that’s what you’ll get at both promoters’ venues. So check them out and put some money in the bucket at the end if you liked what you saw.
I hope to see you there in the queue for the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre or My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver.
But if you can’t go I will be sending a daily YorkMix blog (providing the cheap hotel’s wi-fi works) reviewing the six or seven shows that I’ll be seeing each day.
First Pubished in YorkMix between 3rd and 11th August 2012
