Fest 2023 Issue 1 by The Skinny

Edinburgh Festival Guide

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Inside: Christian Noelle Charles Punchdrunk Robin Ince Chloe Petts Fiona Allen Ben Target Party Ghost Max & Ivan

Suhani Shah

MOTHER SUPERIOR

Janine Harouni’s family matters Reviews

Features

Listings

9 - 15 Aug

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Director George Sully Editor Arusa Qureshi

Deputy Editor Ben Venables

Sales Team Tom McCarthy David Hammond Ema Smekalova

Design Team Phoebe Willison Dalila D’Amico

Writing Team Eilidh Akilade, Anahit Behrooz, Deborah Chu, Ashley Davies, Fringe Dog, Veronica Finlay, Laura Kressly, Eve Livingston, Astrid McCarthy, Phoebe McCarthy, David Pollock, mandla rae, Jay Richardson, Claire Sawers, Kirstyn Smith

Cover Image Matt Stronge

Fringe Dog Illustration Lauren Hunter

Radge Media Editor-in-Chief Rosamund West Commercial Director Sandy Park

General Manager Laurie Presswood

Deputy Editor Peter Simpson

Digital Editorial Assistant Lewis Robertson

Fest Street Dates 2023 9, 16, 23 August Advertising 0131 467 4630 sales@festmag.com

Contact festmag.com hello@festmag.com @festmag

Published by Radge Media Limited., M9 Codebase, Argyle House, 3 Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH3 9DR. Every effort has been made to check the accuracy of the information in this magazine, but we cannot accept liability for information which is inaccurate. Show times and prices are subject to changes – always check with the venue. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the explicit permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the printer or the publisher. Printed by Think Solutions, Glasgow

Fest 2023 Issue 1

5 Contents

8 Bringing Up Baby Janine Harouni digs into her Arab roots

12 A Sense of a Feeling Christian Noelle Charles on her salon installation

21 Petts Sounds A rude awakening for Chloe Petts

Comedy 25 Max & Ivan A perfect show on fatherhood and friendship

Theatre 36 Ben Target A life-affirming tribute to a departed friend

Dance, Physical Theatre & Circus 45 Party Ghost A spooky romp through purgatory

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Image credits (top to bottom, left to right): Matt Stronge; Matthew Arthur Williams; Matt Stronge; Rachel Sherlock; Ed Moore; Aaron Walker; Priyank Nandwana

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Rosalie Minnitt's Perfect Day

A perfect day at the Fringe with Clementine’s Sylvanian Families

bucolic bunch, so, like the band of brothers they are, they’ll kick their day off with a light jog up the stairs and back. That’s the equivalent of Arthur’s Seat for them! On an average day, breakfast consists of four dozen eggs – Gaston-style – a whole rotisserie chicken, and a pint or four of Edinburgh’s finest mead. Each. It’s important to keep their pre-show diets light, after all. Next, it’s warm-up time. Their backstage rituals are famed across the comedy kingdom for being, well, a little unconventional. After some serious stretching led by Louis

Spence and Louis Theroux (as ever, just there to observe) the team will recreate their favourite scenes from Twilight and play a quick-fire game of Boar on the Floor. It’s unconventional but boy does it get results. They’ve offered to flyer but, between the overexcitable a cappella teens and jumpy Photo: Lauren Hunter

hese woodland-based thespians take their fringe debut roles in Clementine very seriously indeed. That means that late-night merriment is off the table; it is in fact stated quite clearly in their contracts that sidequests, whimsical misadventures and fanciful romps are to be kept to an absolute minimum. Let these little lunatics loose in a karaoke booth and you’ll have a full-scale riot on your hands before you can cue ‘Price Tag’. (They’re all huge Jessie J fans). Performers need to be in peak condition and no one knows that more than this

Twilight Photo: Lauren Hunter

Photo: Lauren Hunter

Arthur's Seat Photo: Lauren Hunter

Boar on the Floor

Perfect Day

Edinburgh Castle

improv troupes, it’s clear that the Royal Mile is no place for these little fellows. So, it’s off to Underbelly in a stretch limo for their curtain call. After another few dozen rotisseries, the show will, naturally, be a resounding success and, after three standing ovations and

at least two encores, they’ll greet their adoring fans at the stage door and graciously accept the many, many gifts, offerings and jewels thrust into their little paws. Some of the cast, like Giles, are taking a more method approach to the show and

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Rosalie Minnitt: Clementine Underbelly, Cowgate 2:25pm – 3:25pm, 3–27 Aug, not 14

Perfect Day

Photo: Ben Meadows

Photo: Lauren Hunter Edinburgh's finest mead

have been living the life of regency aristocrats for the last six months. As such, their Fringe schedule will look a little bit different to the rest of us. Giles certainly won’t be mixing with the riff raff of George Square and will most likely be found taking a toasty soak in the period town house he’s rented for the month before printing a few pithy pamphlets and then drunkenly stumbling into a local opium den.

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Bringing Up Baby Stand-up Janine Harouni tells Eilidh Akilade about impending motherhood, her heritage and storytelling

fter a Best Newcomer nomination at the Fringe in 2019, there’s a fair bit of pressure for Janine Harouni and her sophomore show – not to mention that she’ll be heavily pregnant by the time it comes around. Tonight, she’s heading out to one of many work-in-progress gigs in the run up to the Fringe. “I’m just trying to get all the gigs and previews that I can before the baby comes and I just lay in bed eating Nutella,” she says. "I think there's this image we all have in our heads – perpetuated by social media – that pregnancy is this magical and special time, when in reality pregnancy is weird and scary and hard and gross – and very, very funny." She adds: "I want other people to know that it's OK to not know what you're doing in pregnancy, in parenthood and in life. We're all just doing our best. Life's hard, but laughter helps." Man’oushe will explore Harouni’s Arabic roots alongside her pregnancy, unpacking heritage and its many ambiguities. “It’s about life and loss,” she says. “It kind of parallels my life and my grandmother’s life. My grandmother – Hanan Harouni – was a classical Arabic singer and she toured the world.” Amid this paralleling an unweaving also comes into play. Her grandmother’s sister recently did a DNA test, returning somewhat “funky” results. She’s keen to keep things fairly under wraps but, ultimately, we can expect something sharp yet tender, hilarious yet genuine. Harouni’s debut in 2019 – Stand Up with Janine Harouni (Please Remain Seated) – explored her wrought relationship with her conservative parents, particularly her beloved

Cover Feature

father and his support for Trump. Much of Harouni’s comedy calls back to her Staten Island upbringing, a perfectly staccato New York accent making its way into each set. Returning to the Fringe this summer, she has, as ever, got her family’s support: her father has seemingly taken her PR upon himself amid offers to co-write (despite Harouni’s objections to both). Her love for her family is clear throughout her comedy, but her narrative choices also speak to how – and how fast – we now tell stories. “If you can do really good observational comedy, I think that’s incredible,” she says. “But I also feel like that is a dying art form because the minute you think of something about the world around us, there’ll be 15 memes about it that have existed for a year already.” Harouni is not interested in keeping up with the endless cycle of content; it’s refreshing to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, it’s OK for us all to slow down a little and laugh while doing so. “I think once you write something personal, it’s a bit more timeless.” Remembrance and preservation of the familial has its value – however comedic the form it takes. “I also think I have a hilarious family and I’d like the world to experience them – because my therapist certainly does,” she says. With Harouni, wit always comes with a certain warmth. “I don’t like when comedy is mean,” she says, simply. “I like to make shows that make people feel good because it’s a nice escape. And also I think it’s easy to just shit on everything around you and be cynical. It’s harder to find the good in everyone.” We don’t often align hope or kindness with virtuosity but Harouni’s ability to bring light to oftentimes dis-

9 Features

“ Once you write something personal, it’s a bit more timeless”

Photo: Matt Stronge

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tressing or unfortunate realities is testament to the fact that yes, indeed, hope-centred art is both merit-worthy and necessary. Connection is certainly key. One third of comedy trio Muriel, Harouni has worked closely with Sally O’Leary and Meg Salter. For her, they’re a joy to work with. “The things that are really frustrating about writing on your own are also the things that are a relief when you write with other people,” she says. Also starring as the coolly sharp Thalia on ITV’s Buffering, Harouni’s career is proving to be anything but singular. Navigating both the solo and the collaborative is a balancing act but it’s one she’s enjoying figuring out. Her solo Photo: Matt Stronge

stand-up, however, is not entirely detached from collaboration. At one early work-in-progress gig for her debut show, an audience member generously offered his advice afterwards. “He then proceeded to list off the most sexually violent jokes I’ve ever heard in my life,” she says, something of a past-tense unease in her eyes. “And then the last joke he told me fit perfectly in the show.” For Harouni, the joke is certainly one of her favourites, cutting the tension at just the right time. And so, with Man’oushe, she’s similarly open to audience critique. “No matter how weird you are, I will accept your feedback because I think it’s worth it,” she says. Harouni, it seems, meets people where they’re at and goes from there. An actor by training – although she does insist “actor” ought to be in “air quotes” – Harouni stepped into stand-up only several years ago. “I was turning 30 and I’d always wanted to try standup comedy, but I’d always been afraid of doing it. And for whatever reason, 30 was a sort of a now or never moment for me,” she says. Now a parent-in-waiting, she’ll be finishing this year’s Fringe about 18 or 19 days before her due date. “I told my mom, who was a maternity nurse, and she was like, ‘That’s brave, because all you kids came in three weeks early.’” Harouni’s advice: book Man’oushe for early August – any later, and it’s risky. With her debut in 2019, the pandemic saw Harouni’s tour cancelled. Next year, she’ll be touring Ma’noushe in Europe, India, and the USA – and all with a baby in tow. Bringing a child into the world, of course, brings a whole host of worries. “My husband’s very funny and I’m a stand up comedian but I feel like whenever you meet the children of funny people and they’re the most boring and dry,” she says. “I’m just trying to tell myself that if my kid’s not funny, it’s OK.” What’s clear is that Man’oushe is going to be a memorable moment. “Who knows,” she says, “the baby might come early and then hopefully get a newcomer nom.” Perhaps, it runs in the family. SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Cover Feature

Janine Harouni: Man’oushe Pleasance Courtyard 6:20pm – 7:20pm, 2–25 Aug, not 14, 21

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A Sense of a Feeling

Glasgow based American artist Christian Noelle Charles’s Art Festival exhibition is set in the unique context of a salon installation. She tells us about her intentions for this work through the Black feminine lens Words: mandla rae

hristian Noelle Charles has an enigmatic warm energy that makes one feel like you’ve known each other through several lifetimes. Our conversation reminds me of the Black women I share smiles and compliments with on the streets, I feel that almost instant sense of community or knowing with her. Charles had an upbringing that intrigues me; she was introduced to art and creativity through her parents in Syracuse, upstate New York. Her mother ran a dance studio so from an early age Christian was taking “eight dance classes a week – heavily influenced by Alvin Image: courtesy of the artist Christian Noelle Charles, GESTURE I

Art

Ailey’s techniques.” Her father was a radio DJ who now teaches Broadcasting and African American Music. It’s easy to see how Charles went down the visual art route in her practice; her mother also worked as an Arts Manager, Curator and Grant Writer – Charles has been familiar with the work of artists such as Carrie Mae Weems and Faith Ringgold from an early age. I slightly envy such a creative upbringing but, I am mostly thrilled for Charles – becoming an artist was a visible possibility for her from day one, as opposed to an upbringing where the arts and creativity don’t seem open or accessible for people who look like her. Becoming an artist isn’t something she’s had to justify to her parents – creativity runs through her bloodstream. Her exhibition at the Edinburgh Art Festival: WHAT A FEELING | ACT 1 – which runs until 17 September at Edinburgh Printmakers – takes its title from the iconic song by Irene Cara featured in the movie Flashdance! The work is an attempt to show gratitude to the Black women artists, such as Cass Ezeji and Alberta Whittle who she’s built community with in a predominantly white country since moving to Glasgow from the United States seven years ago. She has immortalised them in her print work. During our conversation, Charles also acknowledges and expresses gratitude to the staff at Printmakers who have worked with her over the past year and a half to bring the

exhibition to life. I shared in her excitement about the possibilities Edinburgh as a city creates, the doors it opens for artists to make and present on an international scale. The exhibition space itself simulates the Beauty Salon or dressing room, where Black women are “in our space, in our bodies and cultivating self-care.” It’s called ACT 1 because it’s the first part in a series. As Charles explains, it’s “the sense of getting ready, preparing for yourself or for something big. Each screenprint is a portrait of someone getting ready but it’s also a window of opportunity, based off the structures of Black feminine contexts and challenging the status quo of how Black women always have to work hard and present themselves in a certain way or work twice as hard just to get half as far.” Community and togetherness are integral to Charles as a person as well as an artist and it’s in this spirit that she’s throwing a Backyard BBQ – American block party style on 25 August in the Printmakers Gallery Courtyard, with a Nigerian barbecue catered and DJ sets from

“Each screen-print is a portrait of someone getting ready but it’s also a window of opportunity” Junglehussi, Mojxmma and Edinburgh Art Festival Board Member, presenter, and writer Gemma Cairney. With this event, Charles hopes to switch up the idea of “what it looks like to gather in an arts context.” Instead, she wants it “to feel more like a family reunion” so all are invited to get fed, dance with her and buy a print – Charles wants all her artworks to find loving homes. SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Christian Noelle Charles: WHAT A FEELING! | ACT I Edinburgh Printmakers 10am-6pm, until 17 Sep (not Mondays)

Features

Photo: Matthew Arthur Williams Christian Noelle Charles

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Top Picks: Art Festival A range of emerging and international talent, from debut solo shows to public art works Alberta Whittle: create dangerously

National Galleries of Scotland: Modern One, until 7 Jan 2024, times vary

An immersive exhibition which is the largest showing of Whittle’s work to date, addressing colonialism, the transatlantic trade in enslaved people, and the climate crisis. Whittle will also present a newly-commissioned performance The Last Born – making room for ancestral transmissions on 13 August, 7pm at Parliament Hall.

Jupiter Artland, until 1 Oct, times vary

Lindsey Mendick’s first solo show in Scotland draws inspiration from the duality in Stevenson’s gothic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Through crafted ceramics vases, sculptures and stained glass, Mendick subverts everyday scenes to explore binge-drinking culture and self-regret. Image: courtesy of the artist

Lindsey Mendick, SH_TFACED

Platform – Aqsa Arif, Spicy Pink Tea

Platform 2023 Trinity Apse, 11-27 Aug, times vary

The festival’s annual showcase of early career visual artists, now in its ninth year. This year’s artists selected from an open call are Aqsa Arif, Crystal Bennes, Rudy Kanhye, and Richard Maguire, who are presenting works spanning race, climate change, food justice, cultural identity and more. 14

Photo; Neil Hanna

Lindsey Mendick: SH*TFACED

Art

Top Picks

Image: courtesy of the artist

Tarek Lakhrissi: I wear my wounds on my tongue (II) Collective, until 1 Oct, times vary

Alberta Whittle, One Entanglement is more than blood

A new exhibition by the French artist and poet exploring desire, language and queerness. Lakhrissi takes inspiration from the work of the late poet, essayist and performance artist Justin Chin, with the installation featuring newly commissioned sculpture and sound pieces.

Image: courtesy of the artist, Kevin Space, VITRINE and Galerie Allen

Rabiya Choudhry: Give light and people will find the way (Ella Baker) Leith Library, until 27 Aug

An illuminated artwork based on a painting by Choudhry, part of the artist’s ongoing project Lost Lighting – a series of lighting artworks for public places intended to ‘act like a vigil in the dark’. The torch motif in the work features the words of African-American civil rights activist Ella Baker, who fought for societal change for ordinary people. Image: courtesy of the artist

Tarek Lakhrissi, I wear my wounds on my tongue

Photo: Phil Wilkinson

Rabiya Choudhry, Guve Light and People Will Find The Way,

Scottish Women Artists: 250 Years of Challenging Perception Dovecot Studios, until 6 Jan 2024, times vary

Sekai Machache and Dovecot Studios, Lively Blue

An exhibition spotlighting 45 diverse women artists, showcasing a unique history of Scottish art via 70 paintings, tapestries, textiles, sculptures and photographs. Featured artists include Catherine Read, Sekai Machache, Phoebe Anna Traquair, Bessie MacNicol, Joan Eardley, Elizabeth Blackadder, Rachel Maclean and Alison Watt.

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Photo: Paul Cochrane The Lost Lending Library

Bookworms

Punchdrunk Theatre’s Artistic Director Pete Higgin and comedian Robin Ince explore the transformative power of books and imagination Words: Ben Venables

ete Higgin: The inspiration was a book by an author called Robert Thompson – How To Live Forever. The story is great, but it’s not one that we followed. This library comes to life and characters come out of the books at night. You can see little windows in the books. We took that as a kind of an aesthetic inspiration for something that became known as The Lost Lending Library. The idea is trying to make the children the heroes in a kind of picture book adventure that happens to them. It gets them very excited and it gets them excited about books.

Books

Robin Ince: If we were all reading the same book and there were 40 of us in the room, we would all have a different film playing in our heads. We would all be seeing a different lead actor, and we’d all be seeing different front rooms and carriages and wild dogs or whatever. And that’s one of the things that I love about reading. The fact that once you get into a book you are very much part of it. I do think reading is about empathy. A book I bang on about a lot is Welcome to St. Hell, a comic book by Lewis Hancox, a trans man who grew up in St. Helens. It’s a powerful book and it makes

Robin Ince

SHOW VENUE: TIME: SHOW VENUE: TIME:

The Lost Lending Library Church Hill Theatre Studio times vary, 3–27 Aug, not 8, 14, 20, 22 Robin Ince – Weapons of Empathy Gilded Balloon at the Museum 1:00pm – 2:00pm, 2–27 Aug

Features

der-to-shoulder.It’s a gift actually. I think the more that you gift people great experiences means they feel valued. Then it’s much easier for them to get pen to paper. They suddenly want to do drama and their need to create is amplified. And it’s a fun thing watching that unfold. Robin: It might have been Neil Gaiman who first pointed out that the library is one of the only places where you can walk in and they’re not expecting you to give over your money. It’s a space which is welcoming. There’s so much unnecessary suffering about just how narrow it’s felt that the world wants us to be. Erratic thoughts and strange imaginations, all of these things which in the rest of the world are seen as being, kind of, ‘Oh dear. You said a bit of a weird thing.’ Well, imagination is all the books on our shelves, isn’t it? Photo: Trent Burton

you go: ‘Oh, I’m now armed with a little bit of someone else’s mind, someone’s experience, an experience nothing like my experience. Now I can begin to respond to other minds.’ Pete: We’re trying to get children excited about the potential of books, but also getting them to understand the power of their imagination. We’ve heard from schools and parents over and over again about children who are quiet, or difficult to get writing out of, bringing in pages of writing. It might not be grammatically correct. It might not be the perfectly structured story, but the children have this reason to write and they’ve got excited about writing. If we can infuse anybody about anything, whether it’s through immersive theatre or through something more traditional, the moment you capture a child’s imagination you can unlock their potential. Robin: When you mentioned the grammatical thing I think that’s important, to try and cut down on the number of rules that people think they have to obey. I was thinking about some of the people in prisons who’ve not ever had the chance to learn about reading. A friend of mine, Alistair Fruish, found the two things that put off a lot of people in prison were long words and punctuation. So he wrote a book where people could just get into the reading and not worry about it. It’s a monosyllabic book that’s all one sentence, about a prison sentence, called The Sentence. We did a live event reading it out – it was like a shamanic spell. Reading aloud is another thing. I have some friends who, even now their kids are teenagers, still sit together at bedtime and they read books. The rule of saying there’s a certain age where you shouldn’t be reading to your child at bedtime – none of these rules matter. Pete: Our project, overnight, jumps into a school. Where there was once a door, there’s now a bookshelf. During lockdown, one school found themselves with a spare classroom. They built something called The Museum of Everything, which connected to our library. It’s an immersive space in their school where they continue to do lessons and learning. When I saw that, I was like, OK, I’m gonna retire now cause my work here is done! I think it begins to invert the hierarchy and gets teachers and children standing shoul-

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Top Picks: Book Festival Captivating memoirs, thought-provoking discussions: from new novelists to our most celebrated authors Malorie Blackman: Writing My Story

Bernardine Evaristo: On Never Giving Up

Just Sayin’ is Malorie Blackman’s memoir charting her journey from a south London bookworm into one of the UK’s most celebrated authors. In this event, Blackman speaks to novelist Alex Wheatle about her book, which delves into the obstacles of societal racism and her diagnosis of sickle cell anaemia.

In her memoir, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up, Bernardine Evaristo discusses the courage, honesty and hope needed for success. The Booker prize-winning writer will be chatting with Scottish playwright and poet Hannah Lavery.

Spark Theatre, Tue 22 Aug, 12pm

Baillie Gifford Sculpture Court, Fri 25 Aug, 5pm

In conversation with journalist Terri White, Jenni Fagan introduces her memoir Ootlin at the Book Festival, detailing her childhood experiences in the care system and how storytelling helped shape her life.

Malorie Blackman

Colson Whitehead K Patrick

K Patrick: Summer of Desire Spark Theatre, Sun 20 Aug, 5.15pm

Mrs S is an extraordinary debut novel that unfolds over an intense summer at a girls boarding school. Author K Patrick discusses her work with novelist Harry Josephine Giles. 18

Books

Photo: Emma Hardy

Spark Theatre, Sat 12 Aug, 7pm

Jenni Fagan

Photo: Michael Lionstar

Photo: Alice Zoo

Mikaela Loach: Changing the Climate Narrative

Bernardine Evaristo

Photo: Urszula Soltys

Baillie Gifford Sculpture Court, Fri 25 Aug, 8.30pm

Mikaela Loach’s new book It’s Not That Radical is a fresh and panoramic look at climate action. The Edinburgh-based activist and writer is sitting down with Gemma Cairney to discuss how best we can carry out change.

Photo: Jennie Scott

Photo; Paul Akinrinlola

Jenni Fagan: I Was Not Meant To Be Here

Mikaela Loach

Colson Whitehead: Harlem Through a Kaleidoscope

Baillie Gifford Sculpture Court, Tue 15 Aug, 8.30pm

Colson Whitehead, double Pulitzer prize-winner, returns to Edinburgh to discuss Crook Manifesto, the second novel in a series set in 1960s and 70s New York. Whitehead will be talking with writer Jess Brough.

#EdIntFest

Book Now eif.co.uk ‘The heartfelt, considerate way in which [Rodrigues] approached characters melted my heart’

UK PREMIERE

AS FAR AS IMPOSSIBLE POIGNANT, TRUE STORIES OF HUMANITARIAN WORKERS 11–14 AUGUST | THE LYCEUM

As Far as Impossible © Magali Daugados | Charity No SC004694

The New York Times

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As seen on: America's Got Talent Michael McIntyre's Big Show Britain’s Got Talent The Ultimate Magician The Royal Variety Performance

sell out show 2014 - 2017

SCOTTISH COMEDY

AWARDS VARIETY WINNER

2017

BRISTO SQUARE 9:15pm 17-21 AUG

underbellyedinburgh.co.uk

0131 510 0395

As she returns to the Fringe with the follow-up to last year’s hit show Transience, Chloe Petts tells us why it’s time to get bolder and brasher Words: Eve Livingston

here was a moment during last year’s Fringe when Chloe Petts second guessed herself. Early in the run of her debut Transience, which sought to challenge rising transphobia from her perspective as an often-misgendered lesbian, she walked on stage to find herself face-to-face with a front row full of “burly

Scotsmen”. Would her jokes about gender, sexuality and the complex dynamics of women’s toilets land? “I remember really distinctly looking out at those guys and sort of profiling them, wondering if I needed to make my message more accessible or soften it a bit,” she recalls.

Features

Photo: Matt Stronge

Petts Sounds

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“Sometimes you have to fight back”

Photo: Matt Stronge

and a Breakthrough Act nomination at the Chortle Awards. What is it like to try and follow that reception? “It currently feels kind of like I’m in the midst of GCSEs; I’m having all these stress dreams “Then I thought, no: this is what you believe, go and it’s all I can think about,” she jokes. “I guess out and do the show and trust that these are the difference is that it’s like doing an exam but good people and they can handle it.” then someone watches you do the exam and They did indeed handle it, as did packedreviews you in a national broadsheet.” out audiences throughout the month and critBut she looks, as she does often, to her ics who christened Petts a rising star and one favourite hobby for perspective. “I try to to watch. It was a good lesson in not comproremember that footballers want to play in mising, Petts says. And it’s one she has carried the biggest games possible and that’s the through to her upcoming show, If You Can’t reward for the hard work; we do it for the big Say Anything Nice, which she describes as “the moments,” she says. angry show after last year’s polite show.” “So I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little “I travelled up and down the country last stressed, a little nervous – but I think I’ve year doing this show trying to tell people not worked hard enough to give myself the best to be transphobic and, if anything, it’s got even chance of having a really fun year.” worse,” she explains. “So this show is like: you haven’t listened so I’m not going to be nice anymore. No more mister nice guy!” Billed as “a newer, ruder approach to the big issues,” this year’s show explores Petts’ “journey with anger” and promises jokes on weddings, football fans, and people who play music too loudly on the bus. But it’s also an examination of empathy: “I’m trying to think about how we see anger societally and how useful it is; how useful it is to be angry and how useful it was to be polite,” she says. “The whole ‘be kind’ movement makes me feel a bit like: well, sometimes you can’t just be kind, sometimes you have to fight back. So I guess it’s saying, be kind if you can but what about if you can’t?” And if rudeness and anger have an important societal role, says Petts, they also, crucially, have a comedic one. “There’s a misconception that talking about things like gender and sexuality means being a leftie liberal snowflake,” she says. “I think people enjoy rude humour that’s a bit on the edge, that’s not something that’s exclusive to the right. “I enjoyed those bits in the last show so much, which is why I want to do this show where I really lean into how far I can push it.” Petts waited two years to debut her solo SHOW Chloe Petts: If You Can’t Say Anything Nice hour thanks to the pandemic, but was reward- VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard ed with sell-out crowds, glowing reviews, TIME: 6:40pm – 7:40pm, 2–27 Aug, not 14

Comedy

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Review

Photo: Rachel Sherlock

Comedy Reviews Max & Ivan: Life, Choices HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Pleasance Courtyard 5:20pm – 6:20pm, 2–27 Aug, not 5, 12, 19, 26

Find a job you love and you’ll never do a day’s work in your life, so they say. What they rarely add (but should) is that if you monetise your hobby and friendship you’ll never know a single day of inner peace. Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzalez, heartbreakingly, are coming to realise this. They became a double act in 2008, and detailed evidence of their mutual affection has contributed to the magic of their

storytelling-heavy live shows ever since. But they’re older now. Let’s call it early-to-mid-30s. Gonzalez has a baby, and life for a comedy duo is a precarious existence at the best of times (which these, emphatically, are not). Olesker, meanwhile, had a lot of thinking time forced upon him when what was supposed to be a trip to paradise took a nasty turn. And so, as the men behind the cult Fringe show, The Wrestling, assess their own character types and consider where they are in life, they look to their fathers for advice and insight. And what lives the

older men have lived. We’re guided through astonishing descriptions of some of the things they got up to, all enhanced by Max & Ivan’s customarily engaging multimedia displays, which here include everything from eye-misting photos of the past and daft photoshopping to deliberately ridiculous private data breaches from Gonzalez. Not only is this show consistently funny, and perfectly structured and executed, but the emotional twists and turns will do all sorts of things to your heart. Bring your best friend and bring tissues. ✏︎ Ashley Davies

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Photo: Mindy Tucker

trance and from here, we are Katy Berry: transported from this musty Diamond room to a magical moonlit group therapy session, with Goddess piano accompaniment. Crystal Pussy Katy Berry, of Baby Wants

a talent show and having an extremely unfortunate incident with some Nair will elicit intense feelings of nostalgia in anyone that has been an awkward teenager. But the Candy fame, is a skilled impro- point of these anecdotes is HHHHH viser, whether she’s belting out to encourage us to embrace riffs or doing impressive Nicki our inner selves, whatever that VENUE: Just the Tonic at The Minaj-esque raps about the may look like. Mash House audience’s guilty pleasures. Despite the general silliness TIME: 2:10pm – 3:10pm, 3–27 The purpose of our coming (including an appearance Aug, not 14, 22 together today is to unleash from a mystical Billy Joel) and our inner magic and go full references to Berry being In a dark, stuffy room that tow- goddess; to let go, manifest Poseidon’s illegitimate daughers high above the Cowgate, a and move forward, thanks to ter, Diamond Goddess Crystal demigoddess with turquoise the Long Island comedian’s Pussy is a show that explores hair and glamorous sequins handy step-by-step guide. identity and how internalised awaits. Bubbles from a handA particularly cringe-worthy shame from your adolescence held machine operated by a story about mooning an audi- can follow you well into adulthelpful assistant signal her en- ence as a 12-year-old during hood. ✏︎ Arusa Qureshi 26

Comedy

HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Assembly George Square Studios 8:35pm – 9:35pm, 2–27 Aug, not 14

Susie McCabe has never been a girlie girl. And she’s got hundreds of winning jokes to illustrate the fact in this beautiful hour in which she addresses perceptions of womanhood, along the way telling us what it was like growing up gay in the 1980s and 90s. It’s her most personal show to date, and there are moments when you’re crying as much from laughter as from the hunger conveyed in vivid descriptions of a wee “hurricane of homosexuality”, desperate for crumbs of representation in her world. Gags about the qualifications the Glaswegian had as a bairn/wean are just outstanding, and her descriptions of depictions of homosexuality in the 80s are painfully accurate: gay men in soaps would die from Aids after three episodes, and anything about lesbians was “art”. Such is McCabe’s skill as a storyteller that we find ourselves laughing along at the tales from her building site days when gay was a punchline (blokes will get called Liberace for the tiniest non-macho action). But what she’s cleverly doing here is forgiving those, herself includ-

ed, who’ve disguised insecurities as banter in the past. And she approaches difficult subjects such as body image and internet trolls with a delicate touch that belies how tough things

must have been at times. There’s so much to adore about this show, which is brimming with wisdom, fun, warmth and hope. And so, so much laughter. ✏︎ Ashley Davies

Review

Photo: Andrew Jackson

Susie McCabe: Femme Fatality

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Olga Koch: Prawn Cocktail HHHHH surprising medical news. She’s delighted to have achieved some specific sexual breakthroughs and if you saw last There aren’t that many comics year’s show, Just Friends, you’ll who can crack a smutty maths have a pretty good idea of one joke and perform some imparticular ambition she was pressive sexual miming while hoping to fulfil. bringing their Masters thesis This confident and engaging to life – all while delivering a stand-up wrote her thesis on non-stop torrent of laughs. parasocial relationships, the Olga Koch can do it backwards imbalance that occurs when and in heels (OK, Crocs). one person is emotionally Koch has had one heck invested in another, yet the of a year. In addition to her latter has no awareness of the academic attainments, former’s existence. It’s a comshe’s turned 30, travelled mon feature of contemporary the world, got three tattoos life, particularly when well(one’s a prawn) and had some known people reveal aspects VENUE: TIME:

Monkey Barrel Comedy 7:35pm – 8:35pm, 31 Jul – 27 Aug

of themselves on social media, but so-called reply guys aren’t the only ones who succumb to it. The true story she tells to illustrate the concept takes some interesting turns, and there’s a rare, if fleeting, glimpse of vulnerability from Koch which serves as an appreciated little twist of self-knowledge in this tasty sex-positive cocktail. Every time you think Koch is already at the top of the game, she comes out with something even better. Imagine what she’ll give us when she turns 40. ✏︎ Ashley Davies Photo: Rachel Sherlock

Comedy

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LIFE, CHOICES

5.20PM

DIRECTED BY KIERAN HODGSON

PADDY YOUNG THE SCOTSMAN

EXTRA SHO ADDEW D

(NOT 14)

21:35 2-27 AUG

1 8 - 11 P M

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Moses Storm: the beliefs of a doomsday This is extraordinary in Perfect Cult cult. itself, and for somebody with HHHHH

no opportunity to socialise during their formative years, VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard he’s surprisingly in tune with TIME: 10:20pm – 11:20pm, 2–27 his fellow humans. Aug, not 16 Far from making Perfect Cult all about himself, Storm Moses Storm attempts to invites the audience to create create the perfect cult in a the show with him, giving free show where stand-up comedy rein from the offset. Anything meets immersive theatre. goes, including phones, as Based on audience participa- long as everyone’s comforttion, his Fringe debut is incluable. It could easily descend sive, original, and captivating. into chaos but there’s not one Storm grew up on a second of the hour that he’s repurposed Greyhound bus, not in charge of the room. travelling the United States Storm makes subtle with his family to spread references to the wounds

he’s learning to live with, but Perfect Cult is the opposite of trauma dumping. He’s here to spread light and joy, and while he openly accepts his own struggles, he also acknowledges everyone else’s. Some of the audience interaction drags on a bit, possibly because Storm is so much more entertaining than anyone else. In a sense, he’s the personification of a successful cult leader – charming, magnetic, in charge – and at the end of the show it’s clear that the audience would, quite literally, follow him anywhere. ✏︎ Veronica Finlay Photo: Dylan Woodley

Comedy

HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Pleasance Courtyard 5:40pm – 6:40pm, 2–27 Aug, not 16

Ikechukwu Ufomadu is an absolute card, with one of the leanest, most polished, smoothly hilarious introductions to a Fringe debut I’ve ever seen. Taking the stage in his tight tuxedo, fiddling with the mic in an effortlessly funny bit of business, he’s a slightly stiff, impossibly formal speaker who’s forever high on his own oratory. A clown with impeccable diction and manners, his untrammelled, joke-free soliloquy from Hamlet is gripping, powerful stuff. Yet elsewhere, whether channelling the spirits of JFK or FDR, Shakespeare or Herman Melville, he relentlessly interrogates and pulls apart the English language, finding original gags everywhere among the very syntax and lexicon, authoritatively, genially and pointlessly talking, just talking, with a joyous, mellifluous flow while radiating American sincerity, standards and bonhomie. Unfortunately though, because the persona is so immensely compelling, the appeal then rather falls off a cliff as it emerges that this truly is all there is, that the show is essentially all surface and no substance. You can palpably feel the energy in the room dip as realisation sets in. Ufomadu does then actually

loosen things up a bit with a few musical twists and lets his mask slip ever so slightly with some audience questions. But it’s never quite enough. Baited to want to know more about

the man behind the tux, you can’t help but feel catfished. Flourishing his verbosity like a refined, gentleman swordsman, he keeps you at arm’s length. ✏︎ Jay Richardson

Review

Photo: Zach DeZon

Amusements by Ikechukwu Ufomadu

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Image: courtesy of Niamh Denyer

Get Blessed! HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose 1:00pm – 2:00pm, 2–27 Aug, not 14

Áine Reilly is a funeral celebrant and she’s here to teach you how to be one too. Taking the form of an interactive course complete with PowerPoint, biscuits, and felt tip pens, this Fringe debut from Irish writer and comic Niamh Denyer flies by in an hour of silliness and laughs. 32

Comedy

Reilly is a well-realised character, with money-grabbing cynic meeting Irish archetype to great effect, and Denyer an able actor and comic. She banters easily with the audience over a well-paced hour, never breaking character. Her quick-witted retorts raise as many laughs as the scripted material. Get Blessed! pokes fun at traditional funerals, competitive celebrants, Catholic ritual and the audience’s participation, but mostly at Reilly herself. Despite the show’s funereal

subject matter, there is no darkness here, just fun and games. In the 1pm slot, it’s a light-hearted way to start a Fringe afternoon with plenty of laughs and even some colouring in. The success of Get Blessed! relies on an audience comfortable and enthusiastic enough to participate fully in the ‘course’s’ activities, which might seem a risk for a Fringe debut. In the hands of a performer as deft as Denyer, though, it’s difficult for them to be anything else. ✏︎ Eve Livingston

HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Tron) 10:05pm – 11:05pm, 1–27 Aug, not 14

A dark sense of humour is found in those with a close proximity to death. Avital Ash’s arresting gallows humour recalls the kind of shocking jokes nurses and paramedics make to each other. It can feel good to laugh in death’s face.

Ash’s own proximity to death starts with the suicide of her mother while Ash was a baby. The title of her debut Edinburgh hour – Avital Ash Workshops Her Suicide Note – tells us how close death is to her own thoughts. The show is a baring of Ash’s soul, profoundly compelling and emotionally affecting. She lays out a complex relationship with her step-mother and explains how her orthodox Jewish upbringing has, at formative times, contributed to harsh and punishing labels given to her; labels misinterpreting the actions of a smart, curious child and teenager. As the show progresses, Ash tells of drinking blackouts and

sexual assault, filling the room with palpable tension. A tension reinforced by the shame Ash feels – which seems to coil tightly around her. The stream of early jokes become more spread out as Ash gives time to experiences which still seem raw. An hour can’t really hold everything she has to say – and the promising device of some collaborative writing with the audience doesn’t quite pay off tonight. Yet her openness and sincerity leave a lasting impression. And her talent for a well-written joke, delivered at just the right moment, causes laughter to move through the room like a flashlight across the dark. ✏︎ Ben Venables

Review

Avital Ash Workshops Her Suicide Note

Image: courtesy of Impressive PR

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13:40

ASSEMBLY ROOMS

03 - 27 AUG

BALLROOM

Selected by Korean C u lt u r e a n d A r t s C o u n c i l 2021|2022

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Selected by Seoul F o u n d at i o n f o r C u lt u r e a n d A r t s

2023

‘Come and Take A Dreamy Nap!’ Experience the Blissful Synergy of Korea Traditional and Modern Music at Ilwoldang.

13:40

ASSEMBLY ROOMS

03 - 27 AUG

BALLROOM

I L W O L D A N G B A N D | Korean Season presented by AtoBiz & Assembly

16:30

15 - 27 AUG

Creative Group Geo-gi-ga-myeon Korean Season presented by AtoBiz & Assembly

★★★★★

13:05 2 - 27 AUG

STUDIO TWO

12:00

3 - 27 AUG

ROXY CENTRAL

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a dark rectangular room. May (Gabriella Munro), a young HHHHH photographer, is charged with taking photos of dissenters, rebelling against the organVENUE: Holden Street Theatres isation, as they are directed TIME: times vary, various towards a door, and their dates between 11 Feb impending doom. and 15 Mar What ensues is a tour-deTICKETS: $20 – $28 force about the adaptability of human beings within an Inspired by the horrific atrociauthoritarian dictatorship and ties committed in Cambodia’s the consequences of those S-21 prison, Feet First Collecadaptations. It’s a play that tive’s S-27 by Sarah Grochala has asks: just how far would you you in the brutal depths of a go to save yourself? Would you tyrannical regime before you’ve abandon a baby, kill your sister, found a seat in the theatre. sell your body? Guards aggressively ‘proThe answers to these quescess’ each audience member tions, and the complexities of before herding everyone into the sacrifices being made, are

Theatre Reviews

shown through gut-wrenching vignettes throughout. These snippets are broken up by musical interludes with choreographed, repetitive body movements, allowing you further into these atrocities. At times, the dialogue leans towards cliché, but this doesn’t detract from an incredible performance from the entire cast. Lauren Beeton and Sally Clune give are particularly transfixing performances that delve into sheer fear, hopelessness and the intoxication of power. S-27 is a full submersion into a disturbing reality that leans a little too closely into our own. ✏︎ Edwina Sleigh

Ben Target: LORENZO HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Summerhall 11:55am – 1:00pm, 2–27 Aug, not 14, 21

Many Fringe shows attempt to grapple with existential themes like care, love and grief. Few manage to explore all three in depth simultaneously while making their audiences laugh, cry and even dance along the way. Ben Target’s LORENZO is one of the few. LORENZO is Target’s story of caring for his dying Uncle Lorenzo, as well as a tribute to the eponymous man himself. Across a life-affirming 65 36

Theatre

minutes, Target paints a vivid picture of Lorenzo, the act of care in both its profound and mundane guises, and the unconditional bond shared between the pair. This is a oneman show with a pared down set centred largely around a carpenter’s table, but within it is all the colour and messiness of life itself. Target is a captivating performer, the audience entranced throughout. He cut his teeth in stand-up and it shows; perfectly pitched humour underpins the story throughout but is finely balanced with moments of

emotion in which you could hear a pin drop. The result is deeply human – haven’t we all found moments of levity amid the darkness or despaired at the mundane even as our lives change around us? By the end of the show, the audience feels as if they knew and cared for Lorenzo too, his loss and those of others felt throughout the room. On one level, this is a pitch perfect tribute to one man. On another, it is a joyous celebration of what it means to love deeply and a moving exploration of the price we gladly pay for doing so. ✏︎ Eve Livingston

Photo: Ed Moore

Tartuffe

HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Summerhall 8:50pm – 9:50pm, 2–27 Aug, not 14, 21

At first sight of Eva O’Connor in the Summerhall basement, she is no longer human. She pecks and flaps the wings of her costume, slowly zoning in on the audience with wide eyes, as if about to launch into some profound and enigmatic performance art. But that’s not what Chicken is – and thank God for that, O’Connor mockingly affirms. No, this is the story of a young Irish rooster going out into the big bad world and learning some hard truths along the way. As our titular chicken relays their journey to super-stardom, we travel from Ireland to New York, with anecdotes about playing Jesus in the nativity, landing a role with Michael Fassbender and developing a ket addiction thanks to Colin Farrell along the way. There are multiple voices that are introduced across this hero’s tale, from a Glaswegian pigeon to a seedy NYC agent and with each character, O’Connor seamlessly slips in and out, anchored by the identity of the charismatic, determined chicken. Written by O’Connor and Hildegard Ryan, Chicken is all-out comedic storytelling which provides plenty of moments of hilarity from start to finish. But in its examination of otherness, even if the ‘Other’ in this case is an Irish rooster sickened by the hypocrisy that surrounds him, it offers an allegory of the

complexities of belonging. The narration contains real heart thanks to the strength of both script and performance,

and in the end, you can’t help but unwittingly root for this drug-addicted celebrity chicken. ✏︎ Arusa Qureshi

Review

Photo: Sunday's Child

Chicken

It’s A Motherf**king Pleasure VENUE: TIME:

Underbelly, Bristo Square 2:20pm – 3:20pm, 2–27 Aug, not 14, 21

How do you review a show that’s critic-proof? That’s the challenge put forth by Samuel Brewer, Aarian Mehrabani and Chloe Palmer, the trio behind this barbed satire. If critics (and audience members) don’t leave “the disability show” with glowing reviews, they’re a “bunch of ableist cunts”, we’re told. This isn’t the only time ableist anxieties are weaponised in this bracing (and often bracingly funny) show. We’re put off balance with an

introduction that’s purportedly designed to make anyone in the audience with a disability feel more comfortable, although the accommodating soon reaches levels of the absurd as the cast scream their lines for the hard of hearing, earplugs are handed out for those sensitive to these screams and the lights are continually raised and dimmed to oblige different levels of sight impairment. Sandwiched between this meta-tomfoolery is a more traditional play, which involves an unscrupulous PR agency’s plans to manipulate a blind influencer into making his condition look aspirational. Before

you know it, they’re monetising the blind experience by encouraging people with 20-20 vision to test drive a cane, go on literal blind dates, or truly taste their meal by eating in a pitch-dark restaurant. Comedy poking fun at identity politics and virtue signalling tends to be the realm of right-wing comedians, but this trio aren’t likely to appear on GB News anytime soon. Their pin-sharp show is overflowing with dark humour and righteous anger, but there’s no finger-waving. The perfect ally doesn’t exist – we’re all failing terribly, but acknowledging that is half the battle. ✏︎ Jamie Dunn

Review

HHHHH

Photo: Hannah Smith

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Frankie Thompson And Liv Ello: Body Show HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Pleasance Courtyard 5:00pm – 6:00pm, 2–27 Aug, not 14

In Frankie Thompson and Liv Ello’s Body Show, everything is performance. Limbs and voices are props, hollow and shape-shifting; stage lights black out as the reality that the show inhabits flashes in and out of life. Here, against this backdrop of flimsy and illusion, a feral investigation into the apocalypse of our

bodies is being staged: the ones we occupy, the ones we are trapped within, the ones imposed on us. The landscape is ravaged, the doomsday clock is ticking, and it is fast becoming clear that we have lived here all along. Weaving in a cultural fabric encompassing everything from Tom & Jerry to Come Dine With Me (“all that seems to remain are these capitalist callbacks,” Ello frets), Body Show is both a comedic triumph and a work of

remarkable anthropological scope: a relentless, frenetic collage of the nightmare of our gendered and embodied existences. It is exhilaratingly, caustically funny, but amidst its anarchy – Paul Hollywood vox pops, a lip sync of The Last Supper – sits a gutting pain, and a startling, almost unbearable tenderness in the face of such existential disaster. At the end of the world, when everything is derelict and gone, will the twisted relationships we have with our bodies even matter? It is frightening to think that they won’t; it is even more frightening, Body Show tells us, to realise they still will. ✏︎ Anahit Behrooz Photo: Dylan Woodley

Theatre

HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Pleasance at EICC, 5:00pm – 6:40pm, 2–27 Aug, not 9, 16, 23

Westerns are not just important to American cinema, their influence can be felt around the world. The ensemble of South African actors that perform this show prove it. Over 100 minutes, they draw on cinematic conventions from cowboy movies to powerfully critique the European invasion of the Americas, and position the frontier as a site of colonial violence.

The script’s strength is its stylistic complexity and nuance. After the opening, cartoonish duel, the company acknowledges that disease and famine drove many of these Europeans from their homes. While this generates sympathy, their dangerous journey across the sea evokes the Middle Passage that enslaved Africans suffered. The Black cast members rubbing talc on themselves and donning blonde wigs seems absurd, but not when considered against the legacy of blackface. The white characters can be comically stereotypical, which makes the constant shootings of Native American characters

all the more serious. Metatheatre, live video feeds and audience participation contribute well to the production’s sophisticated historical and social commentary. The cast work together with ease and skilfully navigate the use of multiple cameras. They also assemble an entire set over the course of the show, and do their best to play to the audiences on three sides of the stage. There are sightline issues by the end once the American plains have become a thriving town. Issues like this are minor in the face of the impact of white supremacist imperialism that this show drives home. ✏︎ Laura Kressly

Review

Photo: Sõren Meisner

Dark Noon

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HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

C ARTS | C venues | C aquila 7:40pm – 8:40pm, 2–27 Aug, not 15

Tea and Milk’s narrator is going through it: she’s newly heartbroken, stuck in a deadend job, and is seemingly a perpetual disappointment to her mum. The one-woman-show shifts between the narrator’s home country and the UK, unpacking the complexities of a “foreign” identity, alongside all the other trials and tribulations of growing into adulthood. By the end of the hour, we have an undeniable fondness for this ever-failing yet every-trying woman and all her dry, cynical humour. Writer and performer Edith Alibec holds the stage with a striking ease. Alibec truly embodies the character within the story – awkward dance moves and painfully exaggerated facial expressions – and she’s all the more endearing for this. The narrative weaves itself almost effortlessly, folding back on itself and leaving us with a satisfying – and oftentimes poignant – clarity. Scenes cut from one to another quickly and urgently, and Alibec is very clearly in control of each shift. However, as such, some weightier topics in the second half fall slightly clumsy amid the many, many quips. A great deal of the laughs are comfy crowd-pleasers: Tinder and high school reunions and shitty wellness products. It’s funny but it’s also perhaps a little too general and well42

Image: courtesy of SM Publicity

Tea and Milk

Theatre

worn, too anonymous. And so, at times, there’s a sense of holding back, intimacy restrained for the sake of a broad appeal. But, that’s also kind of the point: Tea

and Milk follows a character using comedy to detach herself – it’s fitting that such detachment carries through in this undoubtedly moving watch. ✏︎ Eilidh Akilade

LONDON’S MOST VIBRANT PRODUCER FOR NEW THEATRE, COMEDY AND CABARET IS BACK WITH THIS LOVELY LOT

‘COLOSSALLY TASTELESS... INING’ HIGHLY ENTERTA THE NEW EUROPEAN

HHHHH HHHH THEATRE HHHHH DAILY MAIL THE OBSERVER WEEKLY HHHH HHHH HHHH THE TIMES MAIL ON SUNDAY THE SUNDAY TIMES

2 August – 27 August 2023

Pleasance at EICC • pleasance.co.uk

Review

Photo: Aaron Walker

Dance, Physical Theatre & Circus Reviews Party Ghost

cus, with some witty nods to slasher flicks and pop culture scattered throughout. VENUE: Assembly Checkpoint Performers Olivia Porter and TIME: 2:55pm – 3:55pm, 2–27 Jarred Dewey are captivating Aug, not 14, 21 in their portrayal of weird sisters and ghostly twins, running You’d think it would be relative- around in slapstick fashion, ly hard to find a connection draped in comically simple between Adele, Rimsky-Korwhite sheets with eye holes. sakov and Stanley Kubrik. And At first, we’re introduced to a yet in Party Ghost, all three veiled, widowed figure (Deware integral to the shenaniey), who sobs as the audience gans that play out over the file in, handing out cucumber course of an hour. The show is sandwiches on a silver platter. a chaotic merging of a creepy As Dewey hoists himself up birthday party, an unhinged onto the trapeze via a noose funeral, purgatory and the cir- around his neck, performing

HHHHH

an impressive aerial routine in sky-high heels, the gloriously absurd and macabre tone is immediately set. From here, the duo pack in dance, burlesque, lip syncing, a balloon animal, an effortlessly cool juggling sequence and, as is customary at any successful birthday party, pass the parcel. Beyond the clowning, inventive choreography and relentless display of skill though, Party Ghost is pure silliness and gothic bedlam – perfect for any and all purveyors of the spooky. ✏︎ Arusa Qureshi

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Image: courtesy of Northwall Arts Centre

Baklâ HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Summerhall 1:00pm – 2:00pm, 2–27 Aug, not 14, 21

Tongues and abs and crucifixes and crushed papayas all feature in this one man show from writer, director and performer Max Percy. It’s an exploration of his sexuality and personal backstory, interwoven with the violent colonial past of the Philippines. The lithe Percy flips, often literally, between writhing butoh dance, circus rope acrobatics and a mesmerising slippery soap number, where he morphs expertly from coy to kinky before our eyes. Power, control and shame crop up in his spliced memories of London queer sex parties or flashbacks to his indigenous Filipino ancestors being forced to abandon their traditional rituals and spiritual practices in favour of Catholicism. The word baklâ is Tagalog for an effeminate or gay man, and he contextualises his out, confident and coquettish onstage persona by dropping in anecdotal lines about the everyday racism and homophobia that he has experienced in the UK and the Philippines as a mixed race kid. Snippets of TV adverts for skin whitening soap or America-fetishising Jollibee 46

fast food restaurants are a and safe words show how he glossy reminder of the casual has sought out autonomy and white supremacy that he grew boundaries in adulthood. ✏︎ Claire Sawers up with, while bamboo whips

Dance, Physical Theatre & Circus

Review

indigo productions presents

SHOWS FROM DENMARK THAT OPEN YOUR MIND AND IGNITE YOUR CURIOSITY

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : TOBY GOUGH - MUSICAL DIRECTOR : ANTHONY DAVIS CHOREOGRAPHERS : DENISE FLYNN AND JIM MURRIHY

7 - 27 August - 8pm - not 23rd August Pleasance at EICC 15 0 M o r r i s o n S t , E H 3 8 E E Website: Pleasance.co.uk • Telephone: 0131 556 6550

August 2 – 27 danishedfringe DANISHedfringe danishedfringe.com

Photo: Priyank Nandwana

Cabaret Reviews Suhani Shah: Spellbound HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Underbelly, Bristo Square 5:25pm – 6:25pm, 2–27 Aug, not 14

Even the most hardened sceptic will struggle not to fall under the spell of Suhani Shah. First of all, she has the air of someone who, if crossed, will step on you with her sky-high stilettos, while breaking into your mind to steal your bank PIN. She’s slightly terrifying, and her audience loves it. Having worked the magic circuit since the age of seven, Shah handles the crowd at Underbelly with all the deft charm and winking 48

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authority of a seasoned professional, for whom nothing throws them off. A rowdy audience member is laughingly – but firmly – put in their place. Overeager participants, too excited to follow directions properly, are guided along with almost familial exasperation. You’re in safe hands, she suggests. You can trust me. The illusion is cast before you even realise it’s begun. That’s not to say that Spellbound is a slick production: far from it. Her box of tricks consists of a few white boards, a box of cards, and a little ball of chapati dough. Most of the

time, it’s just her on stage, describing in detail an audience member’s treasured memory, or drawing out a grandmother’s name and birthday. On stage, Shah’s mix of mentalist acts with personal testimonial don’t always flow, but even these bumps seemingly add to the show’s verisimilitude. To say more about what happens on stage would be to ruin the magic of Spellbound, but needless to say, the audible gasps and trills of disbelieving laughter from the audience would make anyone want to believe. ✏ Deborah Chu

Ginava’s Messy Friends

the costuming and make-up which perfectly complement how these performers use VENUE: Assembly George about needing to make the their bodies. Swirling and Square Gardens audience happy is followed swaying, vogueing or hip-hop, TIME: 5:55pm – 6:55pm, 2–27 by a split-filled, Beyoncé-plus it’s difficult to know where to Aug, not 15 lip sync; a talk about what focus – on the intricate and ‘camp’ really means precedes sparkling costume details, Part podcast, part drag show, a kitschy performance by the pitch-perfect faces or Ginava’s Messy Friends is a a ‘blind’ date beauty queen. the ways they command and curious blend of behind-theThis is a delicious mix of drag, occupy the stage. In the end, scenes chatter and onstage burlesque, blurring of gender it’s easier to sit back and take glamour. This dichotomy norms and uncompromisingly it all in for the kaleidoscopic really works. The conceit is confronting personal trauma: fever dream it is. that Ginava interviews each a Sesame Street-esque Ginava’s Messy Friends of their messy friends to monster binges from a trash evokes a late-night dive bar ask them about their craft, can before purging through in its DIY sensibilities, and inspirations and aspirations; uncanny movement and delivers a show that is somethese chats are then woven in heart-breaking poignancy. times gruesome, sometimes between their solo and group Where Ginava’s Messy plaintive, always intriguing. ✏ Kirstyn Smith performances. A discussion Friends really excels is in

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Review

Photo: Angelo Di Bennedetto

festmag.com

Photo: Raymond Davies

Music Reviews No Love Songs HHHHH VENUE: TIME:

Traverse Theatre, times vary, 3–27 Aug, not 7, 14, 21

This piece of musical gig theatre with songs composed by Kyle Falconer, singer with Dundonian rockers The View, goes to dark places pretty quickly. It begins with a party, as Lana (Dawn Sievewright) and Jessie (John McLarnon) get together on a night out in a Dundee gay bar, but soon after this she becomes unexpectedly pregnant. Soon after again, Jessie is called away to tour with his 50

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band in America and post-natal depression is setting in for the isolated Lana. The names have been changed to allow for dramatic licence, but the story is based on that of Falconer and his wife Laura Wilde – co-author with Johnny McKnight of the book here – and her own experience of post-natal depression after the birth of their own children. Sievewright and McLarnon give their characters a warm, relatable nature, although the pair are undoubtedly very good singers, who effectively carry both the rockier melo-

dies of key track ‘Stressball’ (the songs are adapted from Falconer’s 2021 solo album No Love Songs for Laura) and the sparse, slowed-down reworkings as Lana considers the worst. Co-directors Andrew Panton and Tashi Gore hit every note perfectly, wrapping an evocative – and informative, for those who have never been there – depiction of PND’s despair within a hopeful, empowering and realistic tale of modern romance. Expect to see it back on stages again and again. ✏ David Pollock

Review

Hello Kitty Must Die HHHHH

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Photo: Curtis Brown Photography

VENUE:

Pleasance Courtyard 4:50pm – 5:50pm, 2–27 Aug, not 8, 15, 22

There’s a certain softness that is commonly associated with the character of Hello Kitty; the passive, meek anthropomorphised white cat that epitomises kawaii culture. For many, however, Hello Kitty holds negative connotations as a representation of gendered and racial stereotypes that fetishise Asian women in particular. It is these stereotypes and this denial of subservience that is explored skilfully in comedic musical Hello Kitty Must Die, which plays out like the ultimate revenge fantasy. The story follows Fiona Yu, a 30-year-old Chinese-American woman, whose parents are desperate for her to marry, in order to fulfil the obligations of tradition. But Fiona is determined to forge her own path and does so with unexpected help from an old friend. The strength of Hello Kitty Must Die lies in the cohesion between the five cast members, who maximise the vehemence in the songs and the cliches of their characters with very little set design or props to lean on. Though undoubtedly catchy in their arrangement, there’s often a disconnect between how quickly the story moves along and how well the songs slot into the narrative. Still, the absurdity of Fiona’s murderous actions coupled

with the addition of weird and wonderful plot points such as Mr Happy the dildo and Pepito the parakeet make Hello Kitty Must Die a musical

worth seeing. If anything, you’ll leave with some great tunes in your head and the unfettered desire to bring down the patriarchy. ✏ Arusa Qureshi

festmag.com

Kids Critics Mog the Forgetful Cat Astrid,10, thinks Mog is purr-fect! Photo: Manuel Harlan

What happens in the show? In the show Mog forgot she had a catflap but ended up stopping a burglar and then got a sore paw and attacked a vet and went home. Then there was a big wooshy thing in her garden and she got very scared and jumped through the roof. It’s Mog the musical so there is lots of singing and dancing. The costume for Mog is very good and some people are half human and half pet! What did you like most about the show? What I liked most about the show was when Mog got an award, twice! Once for stopping burglars and once for jumping through the roof and winning a cat show. Was there anything you didn’t like? I didn’t like Mr Thomas being mean to Mog because I love Mog and she didn’t mean to do those bad things. It was just an accident! 52

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What did your grown-up think? My grown up thought it was good but he tried to call it Moggy McMogface and then my toy Mog attacked him! Would you tell your friends to go? I would not tell my friends to go because they don’t like

Mog and the books are a bit short for them. It would be better for younger people and big Mog fans like me!

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Mog the Forgetful Cat Underbelly, Bristo Square 11:20am – 12:20pm, 3–27 Aug, not 16, 21, 22, 23

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Kids Critics Lightning Ridge Phoebe, 10, went to a children’s show about grief that made her dad cry What happens in the show? There’s a mum, a dad and two children. The dad wanted to move to a place in Australia called Lightning Ridge because he wanted to find opals which even in Lightning Ridge were impossible to find (cos he’s an idiot). The younger daughter had two “imaginary” friends, as soon as the dad found out he went crazy for them and even gave one of them a birthday cake. One day they went missing and the whole town got involved in looking… What did you like most about the show? I liked how they didn’t have many props so they just

improvised with a lot of things like chalk, buckets, pebbles, boots and flowers. They even had a bicycle wheel. Was there anything you didn’t like? I didn’t like how there were so many childhood deaths. I mean, I get that they wanted to tell a story about grieving but they could have had a grandparent death instead! What did your grown-up think? He thought it was very sad because he cried A LOT! Would you tell your friends to go? I think I would tell some of

my friends because some of them would like it but not all of them because some of them would think it was as sad as I did.

SHOW VENUE: TIME:

Lightning Ridge Summerhall 11:30am – 12:25pm, 4–20 Aug, not 7, 14 Photo: Brian Hartley

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Comedy 09:30

A Political Breakfast PBH’s Free Fringe @ Burrito ‘n’ Shake, 9–27 Aug

Editburgh Meeting Point @ Ibis Hotel, 9–29 Aug, not 12, 13, 19, 20 About Comedy: Stand-Up Comedy Courses Laughing Horse @ Bar 50, Various dates from 9 Aug to 20 Aug What’re You Looking At! Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, 9–27 Aug, not 15, 22

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