Assembly George Square Studios

Aug 9-18, 20-30

14:00

Adam Riches Comes Good!

*****

Now this was a blast, a lovely afternoon’s bit of entertainment. Five suitors looking for the hand in marriage of a pretty girl; an all-star cast of comedy actors, including the very theatrically talented Adam Riches, perfectly bringing to life the characters and personalities of Gogol’s classic play. Tom Parry’s adaptation takes us back to a time of an opulent Victorian age, where the Village Hag plays Cupid. Hilariously, Cupid is called Fanny, and she stinks. That’s the only thing that stinks though. I found myself  immediately captivated by this slice of quality light entertainment.

*****

Divine loved the characters of Stephen the butler, whose metamorphosis into Stephanie made me giggle. The hero of the tale, a handsome Civil Servant, employs the services of Smelly Fanny to find a suitable wife.The results are most engaging and very, very entertaining… warming the hearts of this audience. A Tragedy! A Comedy! A Winner!  A bit like Marriage itself I suppose. FIVE STARS

Reviewer : Mark ‘Divine’ Calvert
 

C Venues – C Nova

Aug 7-17, 19-31

22:05

£7.50-£10.50

*

*

Promised a dose of theatrical Viagra that will get the juices flowing, La Ronde, or Circle of Love, serves exactly that. Shocking scenes, nudity and creative twists. A beautifully crafted, naughty and tantalizing play.  Set in 1890s Vienna, the supremely talented cast from Zebronkey perform ten unique scenes each with a different dynamic and a new combination of sexual partners. The dominant character shifts as Thea Balich and Mark Lyle take quite literally a “ride” through various classes highlighting how sexual contact sees no class boundaries. The power of the sexes over one another chops and changes between characters and honestly depicts the emotional and physical power struggles.

*

The scene changes were slick and engaging with black boards and bed sheets used to introduce the characters in the next scene. The play is a good mix of serious acting and laugh out loud awkwardness. The two comic servants meant there was always a healthy serving of raucous comedy; a variety of interesting props are used to hilariously depict the sounds and acts of sex getting more creative and ridiculous as the play unfolds. The juxtaposition of the main actors in sometimes borderline circumstances and compromising positions with the servants comic sideshow, means that the sex acts between the main characters never become seedy. They are cut at just the right moment.

*

And it’s certainly not all about the sex – the script, stage use and acting here are all sublime. Thea Balich and Mark Lyle are nothing short of absolutely fantastic. I found myself transfixed with them both. Thea is a beautiful woman who oozes body confidence (with good reason) and swings with ease between playing a prostitute, a maid, a wife and a young girl to name a few. Mark Lyle is equally impressive and plays the rough sailor just as convincingly as the nervous student. Their relationship in every scene has such chemistry I could have watched so much more!

*

I can certainly see why this play was once banned. It is not for the prudish or faint of heart. But that shouldn’t deter you, if anything it should encourage you to go. If you like to be shocked, impressed and to laugh out loud all at the same time make your way to C Venue pronto. You will leave wanting to tell everyone to go along and possibly feeling a little flustered! It will be a hard one to beat for me. What are you waiting for? FIVE STARS

*

Reviewer : Louise Mason

Underbelly Big Belly

6^th-30^th August

£10-£11

15:20

What manner of men are these…

…Who wear the maroon-red berets…

…These are men apart every man an emperor

As a boy I grew up reading those small square comic books called Commando, which gave my impressionable boyish mind a window into the manly doings of the British soldiers of World War Two. Rolling on into maturity, I have replaced my comics for high culture, & it was through the windows of Athenian dramaturgy that I experienced the campaigning of a modern British soldier – Lance Corporal James Randall. Admittedly dressed like Murdoch from the A-Team, we find him speaking to his nine-year old son in the front room of his house, his traumatised yet virile & active mind leaping through his Tours of Duty in the Afghani province of Helmand, the last of which had taken place six years previously.

To spend an hour with Lance-Corporal Randall’s animated & intelligent flashbacking descriptions of his life as a soldier is a great pleasure, especially on the two occasions he soliloquies through action-packed scenes during his Tours, you really do feel like you are on patrol with him. Perfectly poetic descriptions of fragrant poppy-fields & nervy encounters in intel-laden villages, I could have been at the court of Leonidas with the rhapsodes singing their tales of Homeric wars. When the action wasn’t booming from Randall’s flawless diction, he would ad a cute reality to the drama – using paper-planes & action men to gloss out the tale for his young son.

This is an excellent piece of theatre, which continues to resonate long after the set fades to black. It also raises the issue of the change which going to war inevitably induces in a man. At one point in the play, Randall describes how he wrote death-letters to his loved ones, placing them in silver envelopes before heading off to Helmand. They were to be given to his nearest & dearest upon his demise – but by the end of watching the play, we detect that the vernal-faced Randall did indeed die in Afghanistan, to be replaced by a highly medicated, deeply disturbed individual. FOUR STARS

Reviewer : Damo Bullen

Backstage in Biscuit Land – winner of best shows by an Emerging Company/Artist & the Total Theatre Awards 2014

So tomorrow it begins, the month-long drama-fest that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. New material, old material, its all being flung into the epic maelstrom which sees hundreds of thousands of punters take their seats to be, well, entertained. The choices are vast, from well-established veterans to bright-eyed kids making their first step up from their school drama groups. So to help the punters decide what to see this August, the Mumble has made the following selection of plays which are well worth a look.

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A couple. A suitcase. A game lost. A memory played. When Aine loses her memory, Mihail constructs a form of therapy to help bring her back. But therapy with the one you love can be a very funny game. What happens when the rules change? Ashes Afar spikes social politics with bitter humour. Watch the lives of this young immigrant couple unravel in this fractured story about memory, love and the loss of both. A Romanian-Irish collaboration forged in the UK.

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Iami is a theatrical piece that utilises a range of disciplines to create an ethereal world, which incites wonder in the disillusioned masses by making typically sacred themes accessible via secularisation. It follows an eclectic grouping of people: Aila, a woman who has drowned herself; Iam, a being with a mirror for a face; Deos, a man who has been ritualistically sacrificed; Feriluc Maydie and Wellesley Kelvin, a clairvoyant and an explorer who’ve accidentally died as a result of contracting cholera. They find themselves within the Eversphere after their deaths and must reconcile their identities with apparent immortality.

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There is no Ghost. There is no Equivocation. Only Revenge. Hamlet isn’t happy. A letter from his dead father explains that Uncle Claudius bumped him off and to rub salt into the wound he’s married Hamlet’s Mum Gertrude. This injustice will not stand as the murderous teenager sets out on a roaring rampage of revenge. Hot-footing it from their hugely acclaimed London and Oxford tour of Hamlet, English Repertory Theatre bring their 80 minute action packed extravaganza starring a woman as Hamlet to the festival this year.

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An original music, theatre, and storytelling show, with harp, flute, percussion, singing and dance. The show is inspired by the Mexican festivity Day of the Dead, and explores the meaning and intricacies of life and death in different cultures, through folktales from around the world.

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A daily challenge to realise the best marketing scheme on the Fringe. Join us in competitive capitalist victory or watch us lose our shirts…guaranteed beer, and kids will love it. Title is a promise. We’ll always be tasteful…or tasty…maybe both?

******

‘It’s a secret, Billy. That means we can’t say anything, and we can’t be seen.’ At a children’s care home, Joe and Billy meet. The boys do everything together. They brush their teeth to the same rhythm and fold their socks along identical lines. But when Billy gets ill, Joe can’t bear to be different. He takes Billy to a hideout and sets two rules: no more medicine, nobody needs to know. A thrilling and tender new play from Bristol Old Vic writer-in-attachment Tabitha Mortiboy and the critically acclaimed Bellow Theatre.

*******

A hilarious look at the best period of your life. Clown sisters Morro and Jasp are at that age where the hormones are always flaring, the telephone keeps ringing, and the punk rock can never be too loud. As Morro attempts to hide from feminine hygiene products, Jasp longs for womanhood and the boy of her dreams. This smash hit explores the trials and tribulations of growing up.

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masterpiece about the perils of love, lust and unprotected sex. Set in 1890s Vienna, La Ronde, translated asCircle Of Love, refers to the daisy chain of sexual encounters that determines the format of the play. Ten wryly observed interlocking scenes between pairs of lovers offer social commentary on how sexual contact transgresses boundaries of class. Translated by Frank and Jacqueline Marcus, see director Clive Perrott’s thoroughly wicked, extremely naughty and very funny interpretation of this notorious classic. Fancy a dose of theatrical Viagra?

*****

A heart-warming yet hard-hitting original drama about family, conflict, loss and growing up. Inspired by the classic children’s book The Story of Ferdinand, this is the wonderful and provocative tale of Tom, a single dad, an ordinary man attempting to go with the flow, raise his son, and keep it together in a world of corporate bullying and classroom peer pressure, which is determined to make him fight. Ferdinand will have the whole family cheering as it answers the question, who do you want to be – the bully or the bull?

*****

Once upon a time in a far off imaginary place… a giant fell out of the sky. ‘There were roofs down, windows blown in’, says Puppet Granny Tina Henderson, puffing on a Malboro Light. ‘It wasnae funny.’ The makers of Fringe First Award-winning show The Table, return to Edinburgh with a puppet-docudrama which tells the true story of Jack and the Beanstalk. They look behind the scenes and uncover a dark tale of gambling, greed, theft and murde

*****

When two people collide can their lives become entangled? Bump explores the connection between two people, who are constantly sharing their thoughts with the audience throughout the dialogue. To enhance this style, sometimes the characters speak at the same time, share the same thoughts or completely contrast each other as their words overlap and inter-tangle. In this fast-paced, highly physical piece, Eliana and Ian move in harmony as we watch their happiness and struggles on a very intimate level. Bump provides plenty of humour with many twists and turns along the way.

******

Taunted because of the colour of her skin and faced with a family that hits her heart like a hurricane, this young girl must reach inside to overcome life’s storms. An experience inspiring us to never stop dreaming! This Capitol Fringe hit is performed by Shaina Lynn, born a poet in the Bayous of New Orleans, this Creole Queen rode the storm to the bright lights of New York City. She has performed her poetry at Bowery Poetry Club, Inspired Word (NYC), and Busboys and Poets. And has featured at the infamous La-Ti-Do (DC).

****

“The darling strumpet of the crowd”, nineteen-year old Nell is celebrated for her comic acting, particularly when she gets to dress as a boy to show off her legs. However, Charles Hart, her manager and former lover, keeps casting her in tragic roles to embarrass her in front of her new amour, King Charles II. Nell fears that if she cannot be her sexy, lively self onstage, the King will fall out of love with her off it. So, aided by the audience in the Pit, she concocts a plan to win Hart round and consolidate both her roles as comedienne and courtesan.

******

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

Until the 27th June

This production of Muriel Spark’s The Driver’s Seat is a masterclass in adaptation. Faithful to the novel, it manages to be both contemporary and retro, fusing elements of CSI and Crimewatch via Italian giallo. The director and adapter of Spark’s ‘spiny and treacherous masterpiece’ is Laurie Sansom, Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Scotland.

On the surface, The Driver’s Seat is the story of an alienated woman, alienated socially, by work, and from herself (mental illness is inferred from the start). She seems to be searching for a lover, she is quite sure she’ll find on holiday, who can save her from these everyday horrors. Yet this narrative is all about what’s below the surface and the many facets of Lise’s enigma are mirrored in the continually morphing stage design and production—so below, as above. The creeping sense of unease that builds incrementally throughout the play makes it apparent that she is not looking for love, a petit mort, or rescuing, but some form of self-destruction, ‘the time of her life’ as she says.

Each member of the cast is excellent, providing crucial and varied contributions as the play unfolds. They work incredibly well as a collective, shifting and changing in a protean mass, that is part supporting role to Lise’s unknown drive and part meta-fictive detective commentary on the crime—we find out early on—that is going to happen. Morvern Christie, in a cold and brilliant capturing of Lise, is the only character who plays a single role, but she shifts and changes within one persona, so we have no idea who she is, or what she’s thinking.

There are three main elements to the play which make it such a success, and which the cast help to seem seamless: the adaptation itself, the set, costume and video design by Ana Inés Jabares Pita, and the sound collage by Philip Pinsky, who is a constant looming presence on stage, at the side of the action.

The matter of fact descriptions of rooms and places in Spark’s book are skilfully redeployed by Sansom to become factual details, or evidence, in the police identikit profile of the crime. Mounting details are continually added to one of the main props, a type of incident room whiteboard/pinboard, that also plays many roles, from shop entrance to toilet. The trick here is that it is transparent, so the audience can see the addition of new evidence and photos: ‘Victim,’ ‘Eyes – Green/Brown.’ Live video footage is used to relay the narrative, to ramp up the sense of voyeurism in the prowling male characters, and to comment on lurid real-time mass media news coverage. At the same time the sound collage amplifies events and associations, especially with the clever interweaving of music from Argento’s Suspiria to cement the notion that the play is part homage to gialli films. This is augmented by the strong sense of Italian throughout, which is foregrounded more than it is in the book, not least through the use of Italian from the seedy mechanics, terrifically played by Castiglione and Volpetti.

It is this collusion of the many components to the play—set, adaptation, cast, sound—that help it capture the brilliance of Spark’s prose and story and be as brilliant a work in its own right.

Reviewer – Nicky Melville

Play, Pie, Pint

Oran Mor, Glasgow

15-20 June

There is a vast array of talent in the 3 male actors that perform this classic cut, the second in a series of 4 at Oran Mor. The stage is strewn with rocks and ancient pillars which are partially lit with warm ambient lighting.It feels like summer.It is in fact the island of Lemnos where Philoctetes has been surviving and living like Robinson Crusoe for the past ten years in excruciating agony due to an untimely snake bite, the stench of which sealed his fate there.His shipmates led by Odysseus,‘democratically voted him off the ship’ – Odysseus (George Docherty) plays his scheming character with such gusto and finger-pointing persuasion that Neoptolemos agrees to go with him to Lemnos to retrieve the bow of Heracles from sceptic Philoctetes, ‘Can I succeed without destroying my soul, my integrity?’ ponders Neoptolemus sinking into the murky waters of ambition and glory and risking his reputation and that of his dead father Achilles.

Philoctetes, played by Benny Young, gives a compelling account of pain and disability and the horrifying psychological and social disruption that he suffered on account of his cruel abandonment ten years prior by Odysseus and his evil crew.Our compassion is gained when he appeals to Neoptolemus (Daniel Portman,Game of Thrones’ Podrick Payne and River City actor) ‘Cut it off, my foot, use a rock.Kill this pain with pain’ Odysseus opportunistically tries to rationalize his inhumane imprisonment of Philoctetes, ‘oh please, save me your fucking pious wank” The essentially moral Neoptolemos, who so nearly betrays the honorable Philoctetes returns to his usual moral framework saving himself from further guilt by persuading Philoctetes to leave with them.

This play is a representation of social stigma built on disability so it is heartening that Neoptolemus does not lose his soul or the grit in his integrity. This, coupled with some very un-Sophocles patter such as ,‘has your stinking clogged your thinking?’ and ‘Helen the horny,the trollop of Troy’ inject some much needed humour into this heavy duty philosophical work.The actors are superb and their collective energy make this modern day gangster style version well worth seeing.

Reviewer : Clare Crines

Oran Mor., Glasgow

Mon, 08 June, 2015 — Sat, 13 June, 2015

This novella-adaption is Sandy Nelson’s twelfth Oran Mor show, directed by Sacha Kyle, & the first of the four annual, cut-down plays performed each year at this magnificent and lofty venue.. Charlotte Perkins published this tragic and turbulent tale in 1892, communicating her own post natal-depression through the main character of Charlotte; played to perfection by the intriguing actor, Hannah Donaldson.This is an extraordinary glimpse of what became for many women, and even daughters of the not so distant past, oppressive circumstances that were near impossible to escape from. Delving into the Freudian world of female psychosynthesis that was set by a patriarchal society,the use of first person narrative aligns us deeply and emotionally with Charlotte’s despair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_vM37z8iek

A play equally for Edgar Alan Poe and ballet fans alike,this play is sumptuously choreographed .The timing is seamlessly  well -balanced through the gymnastic energy of 2010 Ballet and Contemporary Dance graduate Katie Armstrong. In the past she has worked with The London Ballet Company and was appointed Choreographer for ZENDEH Theatre Company’s production of HEART, which toured nationally last year.Katie’s trippy performance as the woman-in-the -wall is hypnotic, with angular splits and creepy crawling about the stage which eventually drive our Charlotte mad but not before a brilliant contemporary piece of female dance action that should draw in even the most conservative of dance followers through its poetic fluidity.The music goes from beautifully flowing melody to manic electro chaos as the narrative unfolds. John, Charlotte’s husband (played by Sandy Nelson) shows us just how manipulating and charming a physician can be in his sleep rest and rot therapy.This shortened work can still touch a raw nerve if reflecting upon our contemporary lives.Do we have the power over our own fate in our computer (possible interpretation of the wallpaper?) crazed society where the machine is responsible for exhaustion and exasperation in equal doses? This Luddite thinks not.Stereotypical ideas of gender roles have improved since Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s lifetime but we are by no means free of them so it is refreshing to have a play that at first might not seem relevant and topica, but truly is on so many timeless levels.

Reviewer Clare Crines