Pleasance Courtyard

31 Jul; 1-10, 12-25 Aug 2014,

9:30 PM

£8-12

Sarah Kendall made a nice opening with an anecdote about a Dutch lady she met prior to the show, who had been expressing her lack of English language skills with a highly sophisticated English. Then, Sarah started to reminisce about her teenage life, with its moving mixture of emotions and anxiety; from here, we are presented with a series of anecdotes, such as the story of how she ruined her relationship with her friend Abi after a remarkably bonding, but ultimately unsuccessful love experience.

When Sarah began to speak about her mother – in an amazingly witty way, by the way –  I found myself absolutely captivated. This, & all of Sarah’s stories, were interesting and well constructed. She is an excellent storyteller; who engages the audience for the whole show, A definitely enjoyable & rather watch-able performance I recommended to anyone. FOUR STARS

Reviewer – Grace

Pleasance Courtyard

19.00

Aug 1-11, 13-25

£8-£11

Maybe this is my personal opinion, but you can’t go far wrong in a comedy sketch show when playing ‘Happy’ by William Pharrell as the patrons arrive to take their seats…

This four-piece comedy act deliver a slick, passionate, highly inventive sketch show of the weird and wonderful and somewhat bizarre plots ever created during one hour. We meet a talking pony, bears at a graduation, clone scientists, policemen looking for Barney Rubble and magical bakers! They perform a crazy selection of stories that eventually come beautifully together. There is so much energy in this show, I’d even go as far to say they are a bit hyperactive, as they gulped down energy drinks and throw handfuls of coffee granules down their throats between sketches. There’s some low level slap stick, musical moments, delightful daftness and non-stop entertainment. Each member compliments the other with their snappy script and individual characteristics. No wonder they are Chortle Award nominees, stars of Radio 4’s Sketchorama and have had sell-out Edinburgh Fringe shows over the past five years!

These writer-performers John Henry Falle, Adam Blampied, Richard Soames and Guy Kelly are also taking on solo acts throughout the festival. So if you like this, look out for The Beta Males Sessions in Richard And The Story Beast or Adam And Guy both in the Free Fringe. Work out who is really is the master duo behind this clever quartet?!

So get yourselves along to the Pleasance to see this funny high paced showcase, if only for a glimpse of the package behind the Union Jack, for this truly is a magical show, just be careful what you wish for though, or you might find yourself Brown Bread! …And for the record I was indeed ‘Happy’ by the end of the show! FOUR STARS

Reviewer – Sarah Lewis

Gilded Balloon Teviot

20.00

£8.50-£10.50

1-25 August (not 11)

The Fringe Serendipity continues…

The joy of reviewing for The Mumble, Is like being one of Charlies Angels, Divine waiting for the telephone call and the mission of the day. The quality of all the Fringe shows I have seen so far have been of an excellent standard.(And it is nae officially open till tomorrow). Moving me to tears on more than one occasion. Tonights magic phone call was no exception. Celia Pacquola, took to the stage in a packed house. To deliver a performance that blew me out of the water. She was beautiful,Very Very funny and a Psychic. How do I know this?

Well as she interpreted a tale of heart break and loss in the bitter sweet circumstances of a broken heart that had neared a completion of healing. She asked the audience if they thought psychics were bullshit or not. Well, as you can imagine, being genuinely psychic myself. This ruffled my feathers, I had a dillema. Do I bite my tongue or do I offer wisdom and become part of the show. I had business cards in my pocket so I held up a business card. Miss Pacquola looked at me and said. “Why are you holding up a love heart?” I replied “I’m not, its a business card. I’m a Clairvoyant” (The audience erupted with laughter) To which she replied, “What does a Clairvoyant do? I replied ” Clairvoyance is the ability to perceive that which is out of ordinary perception and interpret it in a tangible way!” “Oh my god” she said. “I have never had a Psychic in the audience before. Do you have a show at the Fringe.”No” I replied. “I,m reviewing your show for The Mumble.” Again the audience erupts with laughter.

The rest of the show had us laughing loud, It does have a happy ending she just has nae got to it yet. Tonight was a stepping Stone in the right direction though,

This show will sell out. Get your tickets while you can. Divine rating.4/5. A work in progress. Good Time.

Reviewer – Mark ‘Divine’ Calvert

Underbelly Clover

July 31-Aug 25

17.25-18.25

£6

After his debut back in 2011, the Fringe welcomes back Benny Boot & his peculiar, wide-eyed brand of slightly offbeat, very nail-on-the head observational comedy (read his interview here.) What’s on offer this year is what it says in the title, a compendium of classic gags, one the best of which is his take on an old chat up line, as in; ‘Did it hurt when you fell from heaven, ‘cos you look injured!’

Another highlight was his chat about seagulls getting away legally with people’s chips, which should just about describe where the guys coming from. Its tricky to get going at the beginning of the run, & I could feel that in his performance, & on another day he’d probably get four stars, Still, he’s entertaining enough & i’m sure he’ll be hitting the comedy heights soon enough this August. THREE STARS

Reviewer – Damo Bullen

Pleasance Courtyard Upstairs

Jul 30 – 25 Aug £6-8

13.45am

As my first review of the season I went in fresh, not yet jaded with the trudging through the meandering festival crowds and eager to be entertained.

As I walk into the theatre the cast are already in character in a (neurotic) family scene around the fire. A Grandad telling stories to the grandkids…. The show starts by asking members of the audience to choose elements of the storyline to come; character names (Ali Khan), something they have kept secret about themselves (that Ali Khans head is actually a hat – this was provided by a child in the audience), the setting (Darkest Bohemia down a drain) and the title of the show (The Velvet Crevice). The cast, within seconds, start the show and masterfully and hilariously manage to stitch these items together, costumes come from the dressing up box and we are then treated to sharp dialogue with the cast setting each other up for a fall in the dialogue but each time the quick thinking of their opposite numbers pulls a joke out of the bag or clever side-step out of the bag.

The web weaved is that Ali Khan is to help a bohemian couple find love again, through their shared enjoyment of the Velvet Underground. Andy Warhol has reincarnated and this time wants to own his art and turns despot pointing to and owning everything he sees.   The Velvet Underground has reformed as The Velvet Crevice due to copyright issues. It’s daft and tripped out but then that’s the joy of improvised comedy. It’s particularly fun to see how the actors improvised ways out of tricky situations that the dialogue throws up (how is that actor going to play both parts when they meet?) and the cast prove to be masters of their art. This group have been performing at the fringe for a few years now and their skill and experience is apparent as they stitch together the plot effortlessly. There’s joke and sly humour in abundance and they get laughs from all ages in the crowd. They even manage to fit in why Ali Khan might have a hat for a head. A five star on my opening festival show – The bar has been set high for 2014.

5 stars

Reviewer David McMenemy

There have been many schools in the art of surrealist comedy. From the anarchic, raw beginnings of Spike Milligan, to the self aware, Oxbridge intellectualism of Monty Python; right through to the daft apothery of Reeves and Mortimer up to the modern day uber-cool rock and roll slant of the Mighty Boosh. However it is to the irreverent clownery of an American, Andy Kaufman, that I believe Paul Currie owes his greatest debt. From his bizarre and often disturbing puppet interactions right down to his obscure musical interludes and protracted silences this stinks of the man on the moon all over. But that’s no bad thing. While Andy may have got there first, Mr Currie continues his legacy with great aplomb, and it is a legacy worth continuing. From his opening hand routine to the closing cornflakes bit the show is performed with such charisma and energy the audience is left almost as sweaty and exhausted as Mr Currie himself.

NEWS REVUE

PLEASANCE COURTYARD

                        31st July – 25th August (not 14th),

18.30

Concession-£14.50, Full Price-£16.00 

                 NewsRevue returns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for it’s 34th year!

This was a superb show with outstanding performances from the four strong cast along with the pianist delivering you with over thirty or more quick fire pieces of topical humour and loads of one liners based on just about anything that’s been in the news over the last 12 months. Politicians from around the globe, Andy Murray, Jimmy Saville, the NHS – these plus many more were in the firing line in this witty series of short sketches, most of them set to song and dance routines.

The show opens up with a spoof on the latest royal birth then going on to sing songs about the triple recession. Your then met with a glum looking Andy Murray telling the audience how he’d eventually smile if he won Wimbledon, then a song about bashing a burglar to the sound of “chitty chitty bang bang”. You have sketches of Charles and Nigella in a spoof version of Mr and Mrs, interactions between horses and cows in the abattoir and on the shelves in the supermarket, Benefit cuts and the latest NHS crisis are always in the firing line. Call centres that you can never seem to get through to as well as a whole series of great and good things on the planet apologising for Nick Clegg’s behaviour.

The lights go to black after each sketch and quickly within a few seconds the lights come back up with the actors changed into different costumes for the next rib tickling sketch. They use a black base for their costumes and use basic props as well as daft wigs, hats, scarves to differentiate between the characters that they are playing.

All in all the show is very professionally done and tightly scripted. The music along with their quick witted lyrics and humour is a must see. As they have a different team behind each year’s show let’s look forward to see them come back for next years Fringe. The truly do keep their audiences well entertained. This was a great show and in my mind a must see.FOUR STARS

 Reviewer – Robert Kerr

Mixed Doubles

The Caves

22-25 August

18:00

£8.50

Neither the name of this sketch show comedy act, or the PR Flyer does enough to give the right expectation as to what to expect when you see this four strong comedy routine. I was expecting either something romance or tennis related and was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually a very well put together, rehearsed and most importantly entertaining show.

As much as I express frustration with the barrage of comedy overload of television nowadays these guys are definitely “TV-Ready”. Flawless delivery, familiar topics and witty exchange between the characters, who you can tell would be great people to go for a pint with, meant this was definitely one of my favourite comedy shows of the fringe.  It’s not over –complicated or overly intellectual by any means, but just very very funny! The actors/comedians aren’t afraid to make fools of themselves in order to make you laugh, and prove the old saying that the secret of good comedy is timing, which they’ve already mastered despite this being their debut at the Fringe.

If you don’t make it this year, definitely check them out next year when they should come back with a better name and a better flyer! Refreshingly good comedy. FOUR STARS

Reviewer – Antionette Thirgood

Reviewer – Steve Vickers