Right, it's getting a bit late now, almost a week since I got back from Edinburgh, I might as well finish the round-up of shows. And I left it the last show I saw on Wednesday,
Flat and the Curves, V7, 22.35 - a show I wanted to see because of the woman with no ego, by the name of Arabella Rodrigo (how cool a name is that?). I know Arabella from working on a show by Greg Mosse in 2019, and I've tried to follow and even book Flat and the Curves before, without much success. It's only partially my fault (ok, the bigger part). But they don't have much of their stuff online, to the point where I can't find my favorite songs from the show online at all. Might be for the better, Fascinating Aida does the same, and it feels like this increases their pull as a live act.
I knew they're a 'risque' act, though not quite to what extent. The blurb describes them as 'salacious' though I'm not sure what's the most appropriate word to convey both the amount of anatomical detail they sing about and the hilarious way in which they do it. This is the Extra-Spice Girls (or rather, XXXtra-Spice Girls?). All the glitter, glitz, and glam in appearance, with content as lewd as an after-hour tavern of ill repute. An unknowing patron taking a punt on this show would take quite some time to adjust to its content.
Having said that, it was great fun. Loved the glitzy costumes, great vocals, belly laughs. You know how they say a child listening to Mozart in the womb comes out better adjusted? I am so looking forward to see how Arabella's kid - due at the end of September, will come out after a healthy dose of F&tC.
18 August
Finding myself with the Friday off, I extended my stay by one day, which meant I somewhat relaxed my pace, but came up with a higher show count anyway.
Work.txt, V26, 13.15 - my third time seeing work.txt and while the show is just as brilliant it felt like my marginal enjoyment of it is taking a dip. This is a show best enjoyed when you don't know much about it, whereas I have become somewhat obsessed with it. And most of the fuckers in the audience were in the know, which tells me most of the audience was not there for the first time. This took away some of the surprise element of the show, though once it got going it didn't really matter. It is smartly adapted to the space (they did this both at The Bunker and at Soho) and that audience rendition of Celine Dion at the end is just as priceless. Work.txt is revolutionary, and that's not me toying with words, that's a fact.
Waterloo, V26, 17.45 - A soldier who has killed people? A married man who's up for a fling? Whoever has heard anything like this before? Bron Batten's show is certainly not the worst, there are a lot of elements I liked about it: the special effects, the audience interaction, the sociological element, and no least the performance itself. My objection is mainly to the subject matter, which is a lot more mundane than she's asking us to believe. No matter, with a bit of polishing of the writing, I could get fully into it. Though Bron does herself no favors with the bullish attitude she has online. You have to come to the show; you have to stay until the end; you have to laugh in the right moments, applaud in the right moments; you have to get involved in all the games. A lot of have-to-s for an audience who, at the end of the day, does not owe the performer anything other than maybe common courtesy. I had to leave the show early; it's Edinburgh and shows overlap. Bron's complaining about it online almost ruined my whole day. And certainly didn't increase my appreciation of her show.
Two Fingers Up, V26, 18.30 - recommended by the Irish contingent, I went to this show with Amy Molloy. Unfortunately, both Amy and I are past the age where the issues of the show concern us. Because otherwise, Two Fingers Up is a very funny and very sweet take on the discovery of sexuality and growing up. Specifically, as a girl. More specifically, as a girl in Catholic Ireland. Where apparently sex education is horrendous, but then again, is there any place where it's good? Here's how it could be made better though: have this show touring in all the schools and have all the children aged 12-18 watch it. But apparently, the Catholic Church is not willing to pay for a show that undermines its authority. Too bad for the Catholic Church.
Reuben Kaye: The Butch is Back, V322, 21.30 - You get to know a man. You realize he's gay. Like, very gay. The gayest. Like, most of his persona is about the gayness. And you think to yourself: this is it. This person cannot be any gayer. And yet... when Reuben opened the show with his frame in the double doorway backlit by a purple light and surrounded by haze, I felt like exclaiming, exactly like Pontius Pilate: Ecce homo!
The truth is, no matter how much of a sell-out how successful he has become, I'll probably always be fanboying Reuben. For good reason. His humor is just as sharp, his vocal work just as outstanding as I remembered them, if not more so. It's really just the flamboyance that's gone up a notch (bigger budget). And he opens with a Leonard Cohen song!
I do feel like his show is becoming a bit cryptic. Like, the jokes are delivered at such a pace and the humor is so self-referential that for someone seeing the show for the first time, there's a lot to untangle, and not a lot of time to breathe. The addition I do like is the core story, incredibly powerful and with a long after-taste.
It is amazing how much talent this man person oozes. Go see Reuben while you can still afford a ticket!
What does it mean to you?, V236, 23.15 - recommended by Gigi Guizado, this show has a lot of promise. Unfortunately, in the version that I saw, not a lot of it comes to fruition. It's a great idea to turn the theatre into a nightclub, have the audience greeted by a bouncer then take them on a journey through various types of nightclubs while offering as close as possible to a nightclub experience. But there's something missing. This cannot be it. The show needs either a more solid story or a better-built structure. And it certainly needs more of a resolution, because what it's got now is just a flat stop that left me with the feeling that it ended because the time was up. It needs to leave us with a message, a flat ending does nothing but cancels some of the good stuff that came before. So, good idea, and I hope it's taken further, but certainly more development is needed.
19 August
August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned, V20, 11.20 - being a fan of Fences, this show caught my eye. One of the ones I took a punt on, and I'm so glad I did! The script is incredibly powerful, the acting is so convincing that for most of the show I could feel it's actually August Wilson talking to me, the direction is incredibly effective while staying simple and discreet. I saw a lot of shows at this year's festival, and a lot of them have been good and waaay too diverse to be able to make any sort of hierarchy, but this one was certainly one of my favorites. This show is this year's 'I'd like to look at the script' and it will certainly stay with me for a good while. Hats off to the entire company!
Period Dramas, V33, 14.10 - Heather invited me on Twitter to her show, and going back to the Pleasance Courtyard brought back memories of 2015, when we did Teaset there. The idea of having a look at women's periods and how they've been looked at through history is a great one, but the documentation for the show is relatively superficial and the execution feels rushed to make it in time for the festival. It's ok to do things on a shoestring and with a tight deadline, but then expect the reactions to not match the ones for Melissa Carnesky. I mention Melissa Carnesky as I think she is the ultimate showbiz authority for women's periods. She has a PhD on it. And granted, that's overkill for creating a show. Heather has certainly done some research into the topic, but Ancient Egypt - Ancient Greece - Elizabeth - Victoria sounds like a taster history class more than an in-depth look. The most successful and interesting bits are the ones on ancient sources, the least successful bits of the show are the cabaret bits. There's a reason why cabaret and circus performers dedicate their whole waking time to their craft: it's the only way to master it.
So overall not a bad show, but only halfway there.
Chuck Salmon: Pool Noodles, V88, 16.00 - A recommendation from Paggy Gancheva, who also recommended Joe Wells, which I greatly enjoyed. Chuck Salmon is a long-form sketch comedy group full of good intentions. They're cute, and they're show is an ode to silly entertainment. I feel like if I was in a better frame of mind I would've enjoyed it more. I also feel there's something about on-stage sketch comedy that doesn't quite click for me. Maybe my lack of panto education, who knows? I'll stay on the fence on Chuck Salmon for now, but I'll keep an eye out for them. I'd certainly like to see them again. It will become clearer.
My Leonard Cohen, V20, 18.10 - Uhh, a tricky one. I saw Stewart D'Arietta in 2017 and my opinion is largely similar: reinterpretation rather than a tribute act. And Stewart is honest: MY Leonard Cohen might not be the same as YOUR Leonard Cohen and there's no pretension of being THE Leonard Cohen. Singing the songs for the pleasure of singing them rather than recreating them as a service to the public. We're both huge Leonard Cohen fans, Stewart and I. He's probably the bigger one, given that, you know, has a show about Leonard. That doesn't stop me to disagree with some of his interpretations. Or his setlist. Leonard Cohen has publicly distanced himself from Chelsea Hotel and would never perform it live, for instance. Stewart does. Who's to judge the value of that? I also think Stewart is at times superficial in understanding Leonard's biography. But I might be the one in the wrong.
At the end of the day, I will never attend another Leonard Cohen concert. This is an opportunity for both Stewart and me to express that yearning and regret.
His setlist was:
You Want it Darker
Tower of Song
Bird on a Wire
Suzanne
Dance me to the End of Love
Chelsea Hotel
So Long Marianne
A Thousand Kisses Deep
I’m Your Man
Closing Time
Hallelujah
Best of Burlesque Encore, V3, 23.55 - in doubted on whether to go for a late show or not, I was prompted by Seb Marques to do so. It was good to see Seb and catch up, better yet to do it on the background of a chilled, relaxed, late evening show. Pleasantly surprised to see Neil Kelso as a compere, though I didn't recognize any of the other acts. Partly because I don't think any of them were London based. And, having recently expressed discomfort at how Burlesque Idol turns the art of burlesque into a completion, it would be disingenuous of me to start classifying the acts. It was a great show. The one act that stayed with me the most was the Thai girl balancing a burning sword on her head. Another great example of combining a number of things I like.
And that was that. 25 shows over 4 days, and my assessment of them coming too late to be useful for the performers. For what it's worth, I feel I have enjoyed this edition of the festival the most yet, possibly due to missing it for two years. Rising prices, inaccessibility, ever more challenging conditions, all true, but the spirit of the festival is still there. Along with the desire to keep going, to change, to innovate, to make better. And make better we shall. Until next year, Edinburgh!
