Disclaimer: all of these are should be taken in the context of being the opinion of a middle aged Guardian reader on only his second Fringe experience who still thinks pub rock was way better than what followed and spent many Saturday nights in with his parents during the early 1970s...
Justin Moorhouse - pretty amiable comedy from one of the stars of 'Looking for Cantona' and 'Phoenix Nights'.
Pappy's Fun Club - rapid fire sketch based comedy. Lots of misses, but many hits, a great stylophone version of 'Louie Louie', topped off with a mass participation in a porrdge based 'All Shook Up'.
Russell Kane's Fakespeare - a modern morality tale rendered in iambic pentameter. Clever, funny and engaging.
A Grave Situation - WWII based comedy centring around yorkshire gravediggers acted by astoundlingly skilled young actors who remember that in the north we 'looook' at 'booooks'.
One Man Lord of The Rings - now, I saw all the LoTR films on release and have rewatched them many times on DVD but why the slightly nerdorak audience are laughing at everything escapes me. To be fair though, one man in a boiler suit on a bare stage did conjour up a great deal and did take the p*ss out of Orlando Bloom and stress the..subtext..of the Frodo / Sam relationship.
Rhys Darby - now generally it's expected that people have a 'show' of some sort. Perhaps Rhys was being post modern with something he seemed to have slung together during the afternoon.
My Grandfather's Great War - strong meat for midday, but thoughtful and evocative, with much discussion around the nature of manhood, challenge and response to authority.
Morecambe - excellent. Not an impersonation or an impression, but an inhabiting of (a view) of Eric Morecambe. May or may not be true, but worth trying to say.
Antonio Forcione - abuser of the acoustic guitar with a show based around covers of Motown tracks.
Alistair McGowan - a bit hit and miss, with reviews revealing that most nights he's been trying out different material. Generally the script material isn't that great, but the impressions are uncanny, particular those where he slides between characters and his Adrian Chiles where the script positions Adrian as a 13 yr old boy actively supports the impression.
Daniel Kitson 'The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church'. It's difficult to describe this shaggy dog / life affirming story, but it's an experience well worth seeing.
The World's Wife - one of the - ahem - compromises in our planning, but I enjoyed this greatly.
The School For Scandal - After a complete demolition job in one of the reviews I thought that this was money p*ssed away, but as long as you see it for what it is - Sheridan as pantomime - it's great fun. Lionel Blair invests those lines he can remember with great conviction, but Marcus Brigstocke is the star for giving the others a foundation of acting.
Marcus Brigstocke - intelligent, challenging and funny.
Rich Hall - with his show disrupted by the appearance of the mega midge (really) he still delivered great stand up. Had the best intro / outro tape too, featuring 'Hold Back The Night'...
Pythonesque - the Monty Python story told at the point at which Graham Chapman faces judgement. Uses the nature and approach of well known MP sketches (Dead Parrot, Spanish Inquisition) to deliver the story, with a lot of self aware references as to the nature of what they are doing. The actor playing John Cleese delivers an uncanny ... version ... of his subject. I think they suffer from being on at a dead time of the early afternoon and from the expectations of some of the potential audience; one review berated them for not doing actual Python sketches and thus depriving the audience the chance of the chance to recite the words along with the actors...
Precious Little Talent - rarely have I been so unaware of the passing of theatrical time. Honestly. Top notch acting and writing.
Peter Duncan Daft and Dangerous - I fully admit I had no intention of seeing this but whoever was doing the walkabout publicity on Saturday convinced me (and said hello and farewell to everyone before and after the show) that this was worth a punt. Good hearted.
The Penny Dreadfuls 'The Never Man'. Will the dark bovril based secret of Beef Island theme park be revealed? A little like the League of Gentlemen, but not as grotesque or as likely to lurch into misogyny.
Worst venue: the Udderbelly. A large tent that lets in way too much noise from outside.
Best venue: the Pleasance Dome. No queuing outside in the rain. I would have gone for the Pleasance Courtyard, but at the weekend it was way too busy and understaffed.
Low points of the general Festival: those who are way too cool to queue. Listen, d*ckhead, just because you're carrying a man bag and produce shows for Radio 9, you don't have the right to sidle in to the queue from the bar. We've been stood out in the rain for a half hour.
High points: those young folk working for the venues who ensured that said d*ckheads did actually end up at the tail end of the queue. Chilli chocolate cheesecake at Viva Mexico.
Paul
(Edited to apply consistency of abuse)
Justin Moorhouse - pretty amiable comedy from one of the stars of 'Looking for Cantona' and 'Phoenix Nights'.
Pappy's Fun Club - rapid fire sketch based comedy. Lots of misses, but many hits, a great stylophone version of 'Louie Louie', topped off with a mass participation in a porrdge based 'All Shook Up'.
Russell Kane's Fakespeare - a modern morality tale rendered in iambic pentameter. Clever, funny and engaging.
A Grave Situation - WWII based comedy centring around yorkshire gravediggers acted by astoundlingly skilled young actors who remember that in the north we 'looook' at 'booooks'.
One Man Lord of The Rings - now, I saw all the LoTR films on release and have rewatched them many times on DVD but why the slightly nerdorak audience are laughing at everything escapes me. To be fair though, one man in a boiler suit on a bare stage did conjour up a great deal and did take the p*ss out of Orlando Bloom and stress the..subtext..of the Frodo / Sam relationship.
Rhys Darby - now generally it's expected that people have a 'show' of some sort. Perhaps Rhys was being post modern with something he seemed to have slung together during the afternoon.
My Grandfather's Great War - strong meat for midday, but thoughtful and evocative, with much discussion around the nature of manhood, challenge and response to authority.
Morecambe - excellent. Not an impersonation or an impression, but an inhabiting of (a view) of Eric Morecambe. May or may not be true, but worth trying to say.
Antonio Forcione - abuser of the acoustic guitar with a show based around covers of Motown tracks.
Alistair McGowan - a bit hit and miss, with reviews revealing that most nights he's been trying out different material. Generally the script material isn't that great, but the impressions are uncanny, particular those where he slides between characters and his Adrian Chiles where the script positions Adrian as a 13 yr old boy actively supports the impression.
Daniel Kitson 'The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church'. It's difficult to describe this shaggy dog / life affirming story, but it's an experience well worth seeing.
The World's Wife - one of the - ahem - compromises in our planning, but I enjoyed this greatly.
The School For Scandal - After a complete demolition job in one of the reviews I thought that this was money p*ssed away, but as long as you see it for what it is - Sheridan as pantomime - it's great fun. Lionel Blair invests those lines he can remember with great conviction, but Marcus Brigstocke is the star for giving the others a foundation of acting.
Marcus Brigstocke - intelligent, challenging and funny.
Rich Hall - with his show disrupted by the appearance of the mega midge (really) he still delivered great stand up. Had the best intro / outro tape too, featuring 'Hold Back The Night'...
Pythonesque - the Monty Python story told at the point at which Graham Chapman faces judgement. Uses the nature and approach of well known MP sketches (Dead Parrot, Spanish Inquisition) to deliver the story, with a lot of self aware references as to the nature of what they are doing. The actor playing John Cleese delivers an uncanny ... version ... of his subject. I think they suffer from being on at a dead time of the early afternoon and from the expectations of some of the potential audience; one review berated them for not doing actual Python sketches and thus depriving the audience the chance of the chance to recite the words along with the actors...
Precious Little Talent - rarely have I been so unaware of the passing of theatrical time. Honestly. Top notch acting and writing.
Peter Duncan Daft and Dangerous - I fully admit I had no intention of seeing this but whoever was doing the walkabout publicity on Saturday convinced me (and said hello and farewell to everyone before and after the show) that this was worth a punt. Good hearted.
The Penny Dreadfuls 'The Never Man'. Will the dark bovril based secret of Beef Island theme park be revealed? A little like the League of Gentlemen, but not as grotesque or as likely to lurch into misogyny.
Worst venue: the Udderbelly. A large tent that lets in way too much noise from outside.
Best venue: the Pleasance Dome. No queuing outside in the rain. I would have gone for the Pleasance Courtyard, but at the weekend it was way too busy and understaffed.
Low points of the general Festival: those who are way too cool to queue. Listen, d*ckhead, just because you're carrying a man bag and produce shows for Radio 9, you don't have the right to sidle in to the queue from the bar. We've been stood out in the rain for a half hour.
High points: those young folk working for the venues who ensured that said d*ckheads did actually end up at the tail end of the queue. Chilli chocolate cheesecake at Viva Mexico.
Paul
(Edited to apply consistency of abuse)
We can get better, because we're not dead yet
