Issue #23 - Monday 29th August - FREE
John Malkovich
Attends Award Cetermony
Plus: All The Awards | Top Tweets | Podcast Archive
The 2011
Pleasance Times
AWARDs Who do you reckon has won?
Most imaginative show title | best shoe The @threescompany Memorial Award for Tweeting Excellence
food that’s got us through the festival
Best Hair | best flyering technique Funniest Customer Queries | Best Show Poster
Spotted: The Best Celebrity Sightings
FIND OUT INSIDE...
You, The Editor Indie Richardson, a long-term Pleasance supporter, reviews this month’s Pleasance Times Issue #04 (Weekend 1st Draft) - 6th August - FREE THE SHoWCASE SHoW Pleasance Courtyard 13:10 KEITH FARNAN (MC), JONATHON ELSTON, FIONA O’LOUGHLIN, ADAM CROW, ALI MCGREGOR VIVE LE CAbARET Pleasance Courtyard 22:30 DES O’CONNOR ALI MCGREGOR NORMAN LOVETT HUSTLE STEVE ARUNI THE KITSCH KATS MAT RICARDO GYPSY & VIVA - THE VIVE SHOWGIRLS
ce for the latest information.
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TEXT: plez33 to 70070 (for any amount up to £10)
BY TELEPHONE: Please call us on 0207 619 6868
ONLINE: Please visit www.pleasance. co.uk/islington/support-us
IN PERSON: Complete the Gift Aid form on the back of the Fundraising leaflet and drop it into Reception at any of our box offices in Edinburgh and London, or pop it in the post.
MoLAISoN’S » Potted Potter INTERVIEW: HENRy Celebrates a bRAIN WAS SLICED Birthday
ANALogUE
INTo 2401 PIECES, ANALogUE ASKS “WHo WAS HE?”
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PleasanceFinland Collaboration
PRESS PLEASANCE 2011 SATURDAy LAUNCH PACKS A PUNCH Top 10 Podcast
Having already shot into the iTunes Top 10 list, Pleasance’s Podcast will feature our very best acts, hosted by guest comedians. Two preview episodes, featuring David Mitchel, Reginald D Hunter, Arthur Smith and others are available now. Full episodes will be released this week.
Pleasance 2011 has everything to offer. Saturday’s Press Launch marks the official opening of Pleasance Courtyard and Dome, starting an incredible Festival month. This, in brief, is what you should be looking out for this month:
going green
220
Shows
Boasting a stunning array of punchy theatre, gutsy music, kick-in-the-shins comedy and ‘gotcha-nose’ kid’s shows, Pleasance’s programme is sure to bowl you over. Highlights include Art Malik’s Edinburgh debut with Rose, a new drama about one Middle-Eastern immigrant’s struggle to bring up his English born daughter. Cammille O’Sullivan adds Pleasance Grand to her illustrious list of venues: Sydney Opera House, Royal Festival Hall, La Clique. Plus, of course, our stellar comedy line-up leaves nothing to be desired: try Comedy AwardWinner Russel Kane, Rich Hall, Terry Alderton, Imran Yusuf, Tim Key, Isy Suttie, Des Bishop, Tim Vine, Alex Horne... Although if you do desire more, try rising stars at Comedy Reserve, AAA Stand Up and The Comedy Zone.
(Terry Alderton photo: Steve Ullathorne)
21 Incredible Venues Creativity spills out of the theatres accross our two main venues. Dubbed so far as The Guggenheim Museum, an Iceberg & something from the Crystal Maze, Pleasance Beside (beside the Courtyard) is sure to be a talking point. The walls of both Dome and Courtyard are being lit up with mesmerizingly delightful animations and graphics. But perhaps most excitingly, the Dome toilets have been completely refurbished and are sparklingly spotless.
Following 26 years of yellow-ness, Pleasance is now going green. Working with intenational environmental company Planet Positive, Pleasance will accurately measure its carbon footprint, then develop a long term strategy aiming to reduce it. We’ll be making reductions in our own energy usage whilst also helping companies to do their bit.
London Development Pleasance Edinburgh only represents 1 month of Pleasance’s 12 month calendar. The summer Pleasance launches a £4.5million fundraising campaign for developing Pleasance Islington’s facilities, including rehearsal and performance spaces. Supporters can ‘adopt a cobble-stone’ or even get included in a signature mural, the Pleasance Bayeaux Tapestry. Pleasance Press Launch (FREE Tickets) Pleasance Courtyard, 6Aug 11:00
Occasionally informative, sometimes distracting, The Pleasance Times has, at least, achieved almost daily publication this Festival. Interviews, features, news and stories have been passably written, though rarely with any punch, pedigree or pazzazz. As an avid Amazon Kindle user, I’ve frequently felt frustrated by incompatibility issues and the huge number of paper copies of the paper you print. The reams of wasted sheets have almost single-handedly ruined Pleasance’s green credentials yet again. Why has the much-loved daily wordsearch from two years back disappeared? Most days it has been replaced by an advertisement for the dismally dreary Pleasance Podcast, however the issue featuring a Page 3 Model appealed more keenly to my taste. Smut could be featured more often. Mid-Month’s Tartan Ribbon special issue, whilst comfortably Scotch, typified a gripe I’ve had throughout the month; too much
charity. All this Waverley Care and Pleasance fundraising. Next year, may I request more laughs and less moaning. Many stories in The Pleasance Times have been punctuated by the melancholic and moody photography of Idil Sukan. Suitable for Humphrey Ker, she seems a bizarre choice for shooting the Potted Potter birthday party or for your KidZone cover. Finally, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is an enormous, sprawling and varied event. There are shows across the entire city, featuring thousands of performers and a whole host of incredible shows. Consequently it seems utterly unacceptable that writers at The Pleasance Times employ an almost total bias towards Pleasance shows. Greater impartiality should be an utmost concern in 2012. What did we get wrong? What did we get right? Send your 250 word review of the paper to times@pleasance.couk
THE SECOND ANNUAL
PLEASANCE TIMES AWARDS Most Inventive Show Title Winner: Joe Wilkinson: My Mum’s Called Stella and My Dad’s Called Brian.
Runners Up: Dymock Watson: Nazi Smasher!, Masterslut, The Adventures of Wound Man & Shirley. Booby Prize (Least Inventive): The Table. The Three’s Company Memorial Award for Tweeting Excellence Winner: SOLD
(Peter Hobday, recieving the award from last year’s Winner Tom Crawshaw, said “lol #hashtag excited.”) Runners Up: @ryan_taylor_, Boy With Tape On His Face, Daniel Bayliss RIP, Thom Tuck, Pleasance (also Ryan Taylor), @sheepsofcomedy Booby Prize: @theatresnotdead (4 tweets)
Best Flyering Technique Winner: Jeff Leech - Naked in a sandwich board and socks.
Runners Up: Robin & Partridge with their masks, How It Ends telling half a story, to be ended within the show. Funniest Customer Query Winner: (Email from ilovedannydyer4ever@hotmail.com)”what age do you have to be to watch joel dommentt neon hero?because i actualy love him but id be pretty upset if u have t be 16+ cas im gonna be 16 on april :-( thanks” Runners Up: “It’s my friend’s 40th birthday, can Flawless do a shoutout for her at their gig tonight?” Steve Bennett (Chortle) to Dome canteen: “Can I have the risotto please?, Dome canteen: “Would you like rice with that?”, “I’ve come from Chester to visit my friend and left her contact information in my other handbag there, how do I find her?” Best Hair Winner: Robin & Partridge (The ‘hipster’ one.) Runner Up: Sean from The Table, Jeff Leech (so good that he’s banned all touching), Sam from Delete the Banjax.
Best Celebrity Spots Winner: John Malkovich
(Who handed out a single flyer, received universal praise for his hard graft, then let street team hand out the rest while he flew back to Hollywood.) Runners Up: Jeremy Paxman (who watched Pete Firman), The Hoff, Matt Horne, Omid Djalili, Rhod Gilbert, Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee carrying a rabbit in a cage, Scott Mills, Ronnie Corbett, Melvyn Bragg. Food That’s Got Us Through The Festival Winner: Red Box noodles.
Runners Up: Mum’s, City Restaurant, Kebab Mahal, Bacon Rolls & Ketchup, Nachos & Vodka, Sushi, Skittles (From Skittles.)
Winners’ Trophy
(Cut out and Keep) John Malkovich receives his award at The Pleasance Times award ceremony this weekend.
Best Show Poster Winner: Henry Paker: Cabin Fever
#pleztimes @thepleasance RT @SidewaysSawney Almost time for byebye from #pleztimes @thepleasance Back to my blog.
Runners Up: Late Night Gimp Fight, Holly Walsh: Hollycopter, Tim Key: Masterslut, Benny Boot, David Reed, Best Shoe (Not ‘Show’)
Winner: Benny Boot Runners Up: Steelies, Terry Alderton, Joel Dommett, Lydia Hampson’s Red High Heels.
download the full FREE podcast archive, featuring comedy from throughout August, at iTunes
sideways.me.uk What a time we’ve had. Thanks for reading. Toodles. RT @ThePleasance Two days left, the last chance to catch one of our 220 awesome, brilliant, award winning, fab, funky, cool, groundbreaking, sexy, rad, Shows
MONDAY 29th VIVE LE CABARET Pleasance Courtyard 22:30
Sarah-Louise Young Rayguns Look Real Enough Marcel Lucont Ed Muir Mr B Hustle Mat Ricardo Amanda Palmer
Goodbye from The Pleasance Times, See you at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011
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Famous for its cobbled courtyards, the Pleasance is the bedrock of great theatre and comedy. You can look after these very foundations by adopting your own pet cobblestone! We promise to provide you with regular updates on how it’s getting along.
We would be delighted if you joined our celebrity alumni on this extraordinary 231-ft long ‘Bayeux-esque Tapestry’, charting the history of the world according to the Pleasance. You will also receive a very beautiful portrait. All we need is a passport photo! And if you don’t have one immediately, it doesn’t matter, because you can always send it to us later!
TEXT: plez33 to 70070 (for any amount up to £10) BY TELEPHONE: Please call us on 0207 619 6868 ONLINE: Please visit www.pleasance. co.uk/islington/support-us IN PERSON: Complete the Gift Aid form on the back of the Fundraising leaflet and drop it into Reception at any of our box offices in Edinburgh and London, or pop it in the post.