Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance:

Anyone who wants to go and see Edinburgh’s amazing Botanical gardens, and has kids, would do very well to tie in their visit with Igdip’s multi-sensory puppet theatre performance, Head in the Clouds.

Crammed into 35 minutes, the two energetic actors Sophie Rose McCabe and Euan Cuthbertson gave us all a happy mix of slightly, but intriguingly, odd musical inspiration, storytelling, and touchy-feely moments.

The audience – largely made up of brand new babies and toddlers – was the biggest indicator of just how much an impact Sophie and Euan made.  They were quiet.  They were attentive.  They responded.  They laughed.  And, most crucially: they did not cry.

Using a tent, a few pieces of cut Ikea matting, some balloons, boxes of instruments, and the patter of poetry; the Patrick Geddes’ room came alive with the action.  The story was a little hard to follow at times, but it didn’t really matter.

Hats off to writer and creator, Charlotte Allan, who first conceived Igdip in 2011.  And larger hats off to the actors – you can’t get anything past kids (even tiny ones), so it’s a testimony to their thespian talent that they could do that with so much dedication and honesty.

Reviewer : Monica Sutcliffe

St Mark’s Art Space

Aug 8,10,12 

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance: 

This is what the festival is all about, I believe. The Walford Wayfarers are an international wonder, a blend of 12 Australians & 12 Taiwanese (& one Italian), all shepherded by Australian composer, singer, artist, writer and educator Judith Clingan. Edinburgh is the first port of call on a European adventure which will see them perform the Little Prince in places such as Aberdeen, Iceland & Switzerland.

Based upon the 1943 novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the Little Prince is a curious tale of an otherworldy being & a crash-landed aviator, & their quest to find a certain rose. En route they meet explorers & scientists & connect with what it is really like to be alive. A wonderful allegorical tale, the Wayfarers bring it to life with music & costumes, while watching the Little Prince himself, young Sigmund Nock, convinces me of how the Elizabethans enjoyed boy-actors so much — he was a marvel to watch. St Mark’s is a great space for a show such as this; the series of summery songs which came from the Wayfarers filling the room like pleasant-wafting incense. The action was also 4-dimensional, with birds on sticks being flown around us about the pews… I found the entire production of this Little Prince a joy to witness.

Reviewer : Damian Beeson Bullen

August 9-15, 17-29

17:00, (1h)

Pleasance Courtyard, Venue 33

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance: 

The DugOut theatre company fed us another jam packed comedic romp filled with takes on modern living. The play moves in and out of serious thinking using humour to make its points, of which there were many. Inferences, such as the iconic swan to represent beauty, were used as a prop for engaging the audience. This was a fun way to reflect on, and sympathise with, the demands modern life makes on all of us.

The engagement the play asks of the audience is as sporadic as the quick and amusing treatment of each subject it touches on. Four characters find themselves on a pedalo in the shape of a swan in open water. The first line ends with a joke that immediately gets the audience laughing. The cast take turns to reminisce and come up with the idea of listing things in life that are now behind them. This happened when a book appeared.

The cast dance, sing and follow their emotions as well as each other’s in a discourse that still remains quick and snappy allowing for so many feelings to come forth and play upon accompanied by more jokes. There is a sense of fluidity emphasised by letting things run their course throughout the play. From the lit stage, to the audience, then to the complete room, this is also was very human. The pendulum swings from things that are beautiful to things the world would be better off without but even this is played down while preserving the general sense of the play that flows from meaning full, to meaning less.

No need for shock or even action when the dialogue conveys this much information. All-inclusive yet clean, the story fills an hour of entertainment peppered with laughter. Delightfully moving in fluency, the mood is one of reflection and construction, emphasized by the water that surrounds them and the dire situation they find themselves in. There is something for everyone in a play like this as it probes the stark realisation the four face with each other and the world around them.

Besides the jokes, the flow of comedic values elicits a smile supporting the play throughout and on into its finale. Once it has ended, it left us in good humour but also relaxed in a come-what-may sort of mood. Sharp, witty, concise – if you’re a fan of comedic discourse, this is the play for you.

Reviewer: Daniel Donnelly

Venue 13

Aug 6-14 (17.20)

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Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance: 

The Mumble loves Venue 13 – a classy wee corner of the Fringe’s theatreland off the bottom of the Roral Mile, it consistently brings a series of clever productions full of youth & interest. Our first peep behind the curtain this year invites the audience members into a bubbling pool of cool character interactions as a guy in a box meets a guy out of a box underneath a bauble-heavy tree. Created by David S. Craig and Robert Morgan, & brought to Edinburgh by Yuffa, at first we are presented by some pretty physical theatre. Eventually, the two chaps finally meet, & we discover one is French & the other American -& soon they are acting like a bickering, married couple.

So what happens? Well, we are actually given a wonderful insight into the blossoming of human relationships, human friendships, all framed by a lovely little set of pastel-cinctured boxes. With Please speaking only English, and Moitie only French, the chief dynamic is the growth of understanding between the two men – which one could apply to internatal cultures just as well.  It’s all rather good fun, & just as the adults snigger at the rude jokes in the Simpsons while the kids are glued to the cartoon shape-making, so too does Head à Tête contain something for all. A most charming piece of theatre that at half an hour is really perfectly pitched.

Reviewer : Damo Bullen

B’est Restaurant
Dates: 4-29 August 2016

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance:

The Interactive Theatre International presents the world-renowned Faulty Towers, The Dining Experience, as it returns to Edinburgh for it’s ninth consecutive year.  Joined by a new cast, Suzanna Hughes (Sybil), Benedict Holme (Basil) and Oliver Harrison (Manuel).  From the first step into the side courtyard the terrific trio have our giggle-boxes gently warmed, as they introduce their famous 70’s British sit-com characters we all know and love.  The three actors closely resemble their character; Holme in his ill-fitted brown Basil suit and lank, side-combed hair.  Hughes fashioning Sybil’s tight-curled hair and loud pink ruched bust and matching heels, while Harrison dons the classic waiter uniform and Manual’s submissive stoop.

We are led (or pulled) to our shared tables and thereafter-culinary disaster ensues!  Only a third of the three-course act is scripted, so anything can happen and no show is the same!  Between and during each course we are exposed to inappropriate insults and hilarious disorganisation.  The threesome reenact our most adored TV scenario….  Basil torments Manuel; Sybil torments Basil, just as per the TV sit-com.  After two hours of endless laughter, the strangers sitting tightly around your large shared table become your comrades throughout the chaos.

During this sold-out show, the audience are immersed into every feeling the actors portray.  The performers give their all to the show, sweat pours from their heads and veins pop out from stress.  Basil tries to maintain order by being exceedingly polite to the dining guests, while chasing Manuel around the restaurant.  Manuel’s lovable character steels the show; he plunges himself into Manuel’s personality and expressions.  It could have been so easy to exaggerate the character, yet Harrison performs it so naturally. Mistaken English and amusing innuendos leave our sides spitting.

The cuisine is ok – however we are not there for the food, it’s the non-stop entertainment happen around us that makes it a most memorable evening.

Reviewer : Sarah Lewis

The George Hotel

gust  4th – 28th

£39.00 – ( £43.00)

Script:  Stagecraft:   Performance:

After weeks of waiting in eager excitement, The Wedding Reception’ was finally upon us.  Located in the Hanover Suite at The  George Hotel in central Edinburgh, this place was going to play host to Will and Kate’s wedding reception. With a gathering of family members and so-called best friends lingering in the foyer, you are catapulted into a moist mayhem of chatter, chaos  and bewilderment; the wedding planner, the mother-in-law and the best man create an accurate sense of realism. Like a detective , you begin to wonder who is who? Its all rather surreal, finding yourself feeling like you are actually at a wedding reception ….   Awesome !!!!

With five well-sculptured central characters, five tables & a convincing set design this worked well. A production of ingenious ideas, exhilarating, mind-blowing, uplifting and fresh. To take one of life’s delicate subjects such as marriage and create a side-splitting piece of well-scripted and improvised theatrical art was cheeky, yet smart.  This is a show that sucks  the audience in, forging an immediate bound between cast and the guests – plus there’s a three course meal, wine and a genuine feeling of togetherness all adding to the occasion .

From the creative team that brought you Faulty Towers this production follows in similar footsteps.  Produced with precise and obvious intentions to allow as much improvisation as possible, the true art of theatre is apparent. I have never witnessed anything like this before.   As the tale unravels and the truth escapes, while relationships fall apart and love is found, the show delivers a wonderful & warm succession of artistic beauties. How more real can a show get !!!  It was fictional but factual, emotional but heart warming,  diverse and delightful, with a twist that even a cork screw could not have anticipated!

Highly talked about and highly recommend, this show is a must see.   Turn a dreich , tired Scottish day into a bursting ray of sunshine by allowing yourself to be transported into a world of fun. laughter, social education and screaming loved ones.  Executed and delivered with professionalism and a great script behind them these actors come into their own and leave us wishing we could get married everyday. You are more surprised and baffled after you leave than when you had arrived.

Reviewed by Raymond Speedie

Formidable, brave and strong willed, Mary Seacole had an indefatigable drive towards both healing and entrepreneurship. I’d brought my 12 year old Caribbean-born son along to hear about a famous Caribbean woman who had to fight discrimination to simply go where she was needed, and the recognition of whose legacy is controversial even today. Most of the people in the audience could have been his grandparents, but it would also be of interest to teenagers who like their history. It has certainly done the rounds of schools, where perhaps more direct audience engagement would work well.

Cleo Sylvestre, also the co-author of the play along with Judith Paris, stayed unwaveringly on form with her delivery of such a colourful and flamboyant character; spicing up her narrative with pompous generals, grateful Cockney soldiers and her Jamaican mother taking her out into the country to learn how to ‘pick bush’. Her accents were generally exactly on point, except for the American general insulting her over her skin colour, and the lilt of her Caribbean-British accent veering more towards Trinidad than Jamaica at times. But if you haven’t lived in the Caribbean, you wouldn’t notice a thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuneqzYp_FA

The set was sparse but she made good use of the space she had. Judging from Seacole’s one known photograph, Sylvestre was visually the perfect choice for the role. As the nurse and business woman was also known for her flamboyant outfits and her love of style, Cleo flounced in, dressed in bright Victorian garb, complete with corset, petticoats and giant pearls. Being a stickler for details in period drama, I would have preferred her to produce a classic handkerchief than a modern tissue to dab her face under the hot lights. She cleverly used the case of ‘simples’ or herbs as a prop for her various adventures of sailing the seas or riding in a London carriage. Her facial expressions and body language brought us the full spectrum of emotion; every Caribbean immigrant’s disappointment at cold, grey, dirty London, without a mango in sight, and she made us feel the horror and despair at the slaughter in the Crimea. The sound effects and voice overs helped us to transport us to a different time and many different places around the world, and this could have been used with greater effect to vary the experience as the play continued.

She touches lightly on the racism and discrimination rife at the time, and made clear the understanding of her lighter-skinned privilege from ‘good Scots blood coursing through my veins’ from her father, a Scottish military man. However, knowing the identity crises that continue to haunt Caribbean people from the mixed-race elite, it was interesting to note that she would be happy to be ‘born as black as any nigger’. Her feeling that it was her destiny to serve her Queen and country helped her to find a way even when doors were closing in her face at every turn. Just as you wonder what gave her the strength of character to continue she proclaims, “I am richer for the courage I have seen in others”.

As the author Andrea Levy said, her story would make a great film. This well-crafted show certainly makes you want to read her autobiography. It must have been very difficult to cut down her extraordinary and adventurous life down to an hour of storytelling. An accomplished and greatly experienced actress, Cleo Sylvestre was perfect for the part, and impressive from the start; she delivered the hour-long solo show story with warmth and flair. Much like her heroine, she didn’t miss a beat.

Reviewer: Lisa Williams