Yearly Archives: 2011

The first thing to do this year at the Fringe proper was to pick up the mound of preordered tickets from the main box office. This accomplished, the Bedlam was our destination for Belleville Rendez-vous. I’d been to Bedlam last year, but in the main theatre had obviously never looked up and seen the immense space and gothic window above the stage lights. Anyway, the stage captured the film pretty much perfectly, from the excellently realised dog barking at passing trains to the ingenious method for catching frogs or the rolling waves of the Atlantic.

Meadowbank Sports Centre was home to the international Edinburgh vs Stuttgart Roller Derby match. Edinburgh led narrowly throughout the first half, but lost the lead shortly in the second half, and from then on it was a closely fought back-and-forth between the two teams. With two points between them going into the final jam, Edinburgh managed to claim just one more, thereby losing by the narrowest of margins. A great game, and Juicy Lucy made some excellent points in her final bout for Edinburgh.

The bout finished in time for us to catch M J Hibbett and Steve Hewitt in Moon Horse vs the Mars Men of Jupiter. I saw Dinosaur Planet last year, and this more than matched that for laughs and high production values; it’s an important story that needed to be told, about the man, horse (and robot) keeping us safe from threats from other worlds.

The last event of the day was Evelyn Evelyn at the new Assembly George Square. Very accomplished piano and accordion playing, with harmonious tunes and humourous lyrics, but I didn’t really see the need for the concept itself. The bits that weren’t songs just seemed to get in the way of the music slightly; the slight audience participation wasn’t that interesting, though shadow puppetry is always nice. If Amanda and Jason want to duet together, they should just do so, it’d be just as good, doing all the same songs and fitting in more.

Agamemnon by Steven Berkoff told the timeless tale of the curse of the house of Atreus. Performed in loincloths with big hair (plus the director’s note in the programme tells of the cast’s hatred of the caked-on mud) on a propless stage, this energetic show went from slow motion horse galloping to fast bath murdering in a dark, moody way. To follow, a completely different type of classic, with a stage production of the 80s (well, I assumed that, but I’ve just checked and it was actually 1990) computer game The Secret of Monkey Island. Very reminiscent of the game itself in its manner and execution, this was a lighthearted romp through Melee Island.

Simon Munnery up next, and I’m sure I will remember his bubble hat for a long time. Any show including zeppelins is going to be a good one, and this certainly was, also including a poem read by the city of London, and two microphones having a chat.

Back to theatre for The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, staged in an appropriately run-down C soco 2a. The production always had the feeling of things on the border closing in, and though my enjoyment of the show was slightly marred by one or two young kids in the audience who would not stop asking questions (well below the age suggested in the programme, I’m fine with it in appropriate situations as Jabberwocky will say in a couple of days (ooh, spooky)), this was an enjoyable version of the book, from the train journey beset by actual wolves to the sinister metaphorical wolves of the governess and schoolmistress.

Lastly for the day was Helen Keen’s Spacetacular, which as well as a shadow puppet show about the moon and its inhabitants (Clangers, or lizard men?) included guest turns from an astrophysicist talking about gamma ray bursts and Amateur Transplants singing some vaguely (and some not at all) science related songs. Helen had provided us all with some tin foil before the show to fashion as was our wont, and the ray gun someone near me had made was very detailed and certainly deserved the prize it won.