Underbelly

August 6^th-30^th

18.20

£12/11 online – £11/10 at the box office

****

*

Trepidatious is a word that hasn’t made concise dictionaries, but it best describes how I was feeling before seeing poet Luke Wright, and this is about poetry, so I’ll use that word… It describes my anxiety that I was not going to enjoy the show and would have to give a bad review. I’m not a fan of ‘performance poetry’ in the realm of what is now ‘spoken word’ – its insistence on rhyming by rote and generic delivery style. I’d seen the poet before and wasn’t convinced of his poetic credentials, especially in his support slot for John Cooper Clarke. This time I was happily surprised, this is a good show from a very likeable performer.

*

What was different this time? First of all, I think Wright’s poetry is much improved, to my ears anyway. It’s not as ‘performancey,’ by which I mean there was some great wordplay, unusual rhyme schemes and rhythms – pseudo-Dada repetitions at times – great breathing control and a fine command of different voices, but it was more wrong-footing and surprising than typical performance poetry. Wright wryly summarises people’s notion that experimental poetry is poetry without a full stop, after doing exactly that. The other thing that makes this show work is the fact that Wright seems like a nice chap: a married, stay at home dad, whose writing reflects his domestic situation, his love for his kids, and his concern for ordinary people, such as commuters (his dad), teachers and Tracy in ‘The Toll,’ which brought a tear to my eye.

*

*

And then there’s his engaging talks to punctuate the poems, explaining or adding context to the verses – a highlight of which was a hilarious critique of Lenny Henry. I noted a much more political bent this time too, not least his refusal to attend the Queen’s celebration of poetry. The man and his poetry made me laugh and cry, a difficult balance to achieve, and which perhaps comes from Wright’s observations of our austere and interesting times. 4 Stars: 3 for the show and an extra one for refusing the Queen’s invitation and having the bravery to talk about it.

*

Reviewer : Nicky Melville

Assembly George Square,

Aug 16, 18-31            

18:45    

Entering the room you come across a red haired Australian women looking fiery and ready to let rip.   A Day in October is a show of fast paced story telling comedy..  Growing up is not easy for anyone but Sarah gives you a tell you will never forget..  A powerful, funny and quirky set that was well delivered and had everyone in fits of laughter .

This is a rare kind of comedy that few can deliver, If you want to relive your teenage days then Sarah Kendall is the one to see…  Truly the audience were well entertained and left Sarah with a Day in October to remember !!!!

Reviewed by Spud.

Summerhall

August 6^th-30^th

17.00

£12/8

*****

*****

Mark Thomas makes you want to break the law, or break some law or other, some law that may have existed since nineteen canteen – such as imagining the end of the British monarchy. At the start Mark Thomas offers an apology for the show, by saying it’s a work in progress. This is definitely not the case and no apology is needed. He has done his homework. The performance is all about carefully thought out acts of defiance and dissent, which provides the material for the politicomedian.

*****

The show is the story of three walks that Thomas took through London and the changes to the city that he’s noticed and which break his heart: bankers complaining about a garage in the street, where they have just moved to, ruining the tone of the area; corporations owning almost all the public space; fining of the homeless; 70% of new-build houses being bought by foreign investors; no loitering signs on the Thames walk way.

*****

*****

It’s a very minimal show with no gimmicks, just a few slides showing the routes of the walks and images of Thomas’s challenging behaviour. As ever it’s a fine mix of humour and startling facts about the powers that be. It makes you laugh and makes you angry. At various points he asks the audience to get involved, by copying some of the walks, or sending in pictures of protest banners at the new US Embassy building site – which is going to have a moat! – or joining him on various demonstrations. My favourite trespass is a 10k walk along the two public sides of the non-public triangle in front of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s headquarters in London.

*****

At the start of the show Thomas also invokes the spirit of 60s international art collective Fluxus. He’s right to do so. His stunts that challenge ridiculous laws are political art of the highest order. He has taken the Situationist dérive one step beyond: writing lines in chalk on the streets of Oxford, which organically develops into an interactive art work with members of the public, including a class of Polish school children. The best fact of this show was finding out that it’s illegal to even think about the end of the monarchy. Imagine that. FIVE STARS : 4 stars for the show, but an extra one for the dissenting acts which created the show’s material.

****

Reviewer : Nicky Melville

Gilded Balloon (Venue 14) ​
Aug 13-16, 18-31
20:00

“I am a woman, hear me roar!”

Jasp

Morro and Jasp are a couple of Canadian clown-chicks who love to spread their own brand of tomfoolery out of Toronto & across the North American continent & beyond. Thank heavens they chose to share their consummate wondrousness with we Edinburghers, for watching their madcap antics is like having an Atlantic mistral wind blowing away the comedy mists from Auld Reekies joke-teeming streets. after an over-excited entrance, & bleeding from the crotch – they progress through pre-pubescency with an uncanny & accurate delight – something I confirmed with a female member of the audience after the show.

They drag us giggling & sulking into the devastatingly dramatic world of the female teenager, through a worry-fraught dreamscape of cheesy slow songs & bottom-touching at the prom, De Caprio worship (pre-dad-body), the cross-listing of the school hotties, & the show’s central theme – a girl’s first menstruation. This is some brilliantly funny stuff, especially the starting-my-period party thrown by Morro in which a member of the audience was given a girly makeover. After the wild ending, I was the last to leave the theatre & took a glance at the carnage on stage left by the girls: toilet-roll strewn everywhere, make-up materials mixed up with tampons tossed about without abandon… absolute chaos! But then I realised that throughout all that madness the girls had kept a cool & ingeniously professional head, a natural freshness that we in the audience felt was being played out for the first time. FOUR STARS

Reviewer : Damo Bullen