Edinburgh 2026

This is the latest I've been to the festival, getting there as the final week was starting. I was planning to do a little round-up of the shows I know and the shows I'm looking forward to, maybe even a quick round-up of Camden Fringe. Which Camden Fringe I abandoned, but it ended up taking its revenge and bringing me back to London two days earlier than planned. The upside of it all is that I got to see Trial by AI, Crazy Diamond, and Unofficial Roxelana, all shows which I would've missed had I stayed in Edinburgh the whole week.

The weird thing is that I couldn't find any Edinburgh Festival catalogs in London this year, so going up I couldn't make lists beforehand. I find the festival website quiet efficient when you know what you want to see, but planning all you're gonna see in advance misses the whole point of the festival, which is discovering new talent.

Underslept and massively burnt-out, I promissed myself I'll take it easy, though in truth I don't think I would've stood any chance to do otherwise anyway.

I arrived in Edinburgh around 2pm on Monday, went to the accomodation to drop my bags and then ventured into town, again, hoping to get a book from somewhere, but there were none in the Pleasance Courtyard. No idea why I checked the Courtyard first, I suppose I was hoping to see some theatre and I do like the theatre that Pleasance programs the most. Although in the past 2-3 years, Greenside have done an excellent job and they might take over as the place for scripted drama in Edinburgh. The Space are doing ok too, and they have some great venues in the Radisson at the top of the Mile, but their artistic direction is still a bit unfocused. Oh, no, wait, I remembered. I saw the poster for Lucy Buncombe's Remember Remember on my way in, so that was the first show on the list. But that was 5.15, so figured I'd shove another one in before.

The one that fit was Olga Koch - Fat Tom Cruise. I've been meaning to see Olga for a while, she is a well-established comedianthat's done Soho a few times, and keeps popping up on my social media feeds. The show is incredibly well polished, relying a lot more on technical elemants than a stand-up show usually does, but the technical aspect of it is impeccable. The funny thing is, the better stand-up comedy it gets, the more it resebmles scripted drama. Fat Tom Cruise, brand it stand-up comedy as much as you want, but it is very much a one-woman show. Olga is a likeable performer, she's witty, she's smart and she's spontaneous, though probably the kind of spontaneity that took a lot of rehearsing. She's resorting to jokes of a sexual nature, the blessing and the curse of female comedians, but it doesn't feel excessive. A good show, but with the amount of effort and production value invested in it, it can only be good. Only nagging point for me was that, while Olga clearly assumes her Russian identity and uses this element as part of the show, she never addresses what it means to be Russian in the West in 2026, after 4 years of war perpetrated by her government. I'm not saying it's all she should talk about, I'm saying it should be acknowledged.

After Olga's show I headed to the Dome, only to find out Remember Remember has a day off. Oh well. Let's see what else is there. Ah, Valeria Vulpe is here, let's see her. The Double Bill Daniel Petrie & Valeria Vulpe has been put together with no other connection between them other than they're both young and promising comedians, and the show has been managed by the same team looking after bigger comedians, like Connor Burns, Daniel Sloss or Craig Hill. None of which I have any interest in seeing. I did want to connect with Valeria, and it would have been a lot more relevant had we stayed at Arches Lane. A lot of shows would've been a lot more relevant had we stayed at Arches Lane. As it is, pump up Barons Court and regroup. Anyway, the show. It was everything you'd expect from a tenative stand-up in a dingy archway with a half full house. The comedy was good though, very much above average. Daniel Petrie did what's probably my favourite joke at this festival, about how Londoners are taking over, but it doesn't really carry in writing. Valeria is indeed a promising comedian and if she keeps at it she will do TV, arena tours and all that jazz in a few years. Her deadpan is great, and a trademark, but it does become tiresome after a while, it gives the audience too much time to breathe between laughs, which you shouldn't, really, in a comedy show. So, break the deadpan a few times, engage the crowd a bit more, and you have a comedian ready to take over the world. A new Olga Koch, if you will. No one wills.

The last show of the day was a pun. As I was hanging around The Space on the Mile, a flyerer gave me a free ticket to Pascol - Vocal Performance. Five female vocalists ask for stories from the audience and make a song and dance based on those stories. A good idea, though the ladies are missing a few tricks: engage the audience from the get-go, talk to us and tell us how the show is gonna go before doing an interpretative dance with no interpret; trust each other more, don't worry if you get it wrong or it's not perfect, go with the flow and create, rather than wait for the creatin to come to you. I know, easier said than done. Improv is hard enough as it is, but song improv, especially with no instruments is even harder, and add having to improvise a choreograpjhy on top of that. I know, I know. But do it long enough, you'll get good at it. Oh, and as for the show not selling well: dress in matching costumes (ideally colourful) and walk the Mile singing, impossible not to draw attention.

And that was day 1. I started day 2 late, hoping I'd do some work, which I didn't really. Turns out, resting is just as important.

Didn't see my first show until 5.15, and this time it was Remember Remember. Which I wanted to see due to Lucy Buncombe. Now, I've seen Lucy in a few things, including the News Revue at Canal Cafe. I knew she's hard worker, has a great voice, can sing, and has a few funny bones. But oh my, I thought she's a good few years away from the level of Remember Remember! This is a great show: light, funny, camp, entertaining, historical, has good songs and a solid chance of being the next Six. While not perfect, it is a very good show, and with a little bit of polishing and that teeny tiny bit of luck that everyone needs, we could indeed see it on the West End before the decade is out. Which would be nice, won't it?

Still feeling it a bit, and still not having found a book, I ticked the regular Edinburgh stops (the bratwurst atop the Mile, the Mosque Kitchen, then went to see Reuben Kaye, out of duty more than anything else, and a little bit out of curiosity. Having known Reuben for more than a decade now, it's hard to be surprised by him anymore, but was interesting to see which way his art is evolving. Reuben is still one of the absolute best entertainers I know or have seen, but this latest show of his doesn't hit as hard as The Butch is Back or Journey to the Center of Attention. It's more polished, more glamourised, and has more people in the band. More mainstream, if you will. Nothing wrong with mainstream, but it does keep the creativity in check, and uncensored creativity is what made Reuben great. But, you know, at least he didn't get any death threaths for this one.

And because the festival started on a panslavic theme, I thought I might as well go and see Sasha Nezlobin at 10 Dome, make a Bistrot Square day of it. Sasha does acknowledge he's Russian: 'I was born there. It's not my fault', but he also did do something about it. Specifically, fled the country. He gets a lot of sympathy for this during his hour, and a massive proportion of Russian-speaking audience. His English is not perfect, his cultural clue-ins even less so, but he is a funny man, and can be a solid addition to the English-speaking comedy scene, especially when he lets the dark, Eastern-European humour surface. Keep an eye on Sasha, because I feel we haven't seen the last of him.

The second day on just three shows, and finishing at 10.30, God, I really must be tired. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't really feeling it by this point, wasn't able to enjoy much and wondering about the point of it all. I think it was on day 3 that I started to relax a bit, and get more into the spirit of the fringe.

Half forced on day 3 to go out and see Death of Hundun at 11.25. But I'm glad I got out of the house so early. Death of Hundun is a decent physical theatre show, wearing its Chinese cultural markers with pride, and it can be a lot better if it mixes up the timeline a little bit, and dips into the actual Hundun legend a bit more. A lot more. On an equal footing with the contemporary story.

12.50 was Cruising back at the Pleasance Courtyard. I wanted to see it in the July previews at Hope Theatre, and was definitely on my list to see in Edinburgh because Clare Stenning is in it, and I find Claire a very interesting actress. I enjoyed it, a two-hander comedy drama about thruples, cruise ships and the environment. A show I'd happily program at Barons Court, and we would do such a great job with it, too. But Claire and co. are dreaming of Soho Theatre, so, you know... wait and see what Soho Theatre says.

And then I started to well and truly relax. A Dark Line Upstairs at 2.40 pm, Zoo Playground. Known quantity, just a great show I wanted to watch again. And a good reminder of what a wonderful performer Matilde is. Without the bells and whistles of the Barons Court production, she still made it work and made it entertaining, and wasn't even at her best. I am really happy to have met Matilde and keen to work with her again. The sooner the better.

The plan was to stay and see Harry's Racists, Recesisons and Revolutions, as it should've been the next show in the same room. But of course, they had a day off. So I headed back to the Courtyard to see Keeley Hazell - Everyone's Seen My Tits. As a man of a certain age, I found the prospect of seeing Keeley Hazell live... interesting. Yes, I have seen Keeley Hazell's tits, and yes, I have masturbated over her. Never been in the same room with her before, that was the hook. Now this was an interesting show, the kind that maybe I don't see enough of. I have a lot of thoughts and a lot of questions, though it didn't seem appropriate to voice any of them when saying goodbye to Keeley after the show.

First off, Keeley Hazell still has a bit of clout. She could have a comfortable existance in a number of ways: tabloid darling, tell-all TV media, or - you know - Only Fans. The fact that she has chosen to put herself out there at the Edinburgh Fringe, performing to 60 people in Bunker Two - hats off to her. Hearing Keeley tell her own story really does put a name to the face. Or the tits, in her case. Makes her look like a real human, with hopes, aspirations, desires and vulnerabilities. Takes one's mind off the tits, even for a bit. And it's an ok show overall, though I do have a few things to add: 

1. Keeley is currently 39, her character in the play is 32, and talks as if her life is over. Well, Keeley, you're still hot and still 6 years younger than me, with a name for yourself and one of the most recognisable faces and... you know. So this complaint about squandering your life for being a brand and a worldwide male fantasy... I don't know. It feels to me like you did ok.

2. Her biggest complaint is not getting a part in Ted Lasso. With all due respect, both to you and to Ted Lasso, it's a supporting part in a moderately successful TV show. On the one hand, there will be other parts, on the other... your boyfriend selling a sex tape of yours is something you just brush aside?!? That's the real trauma if you ask me. And maybe for her too, she's just beign too afraid to admit it.

3. It's a real shame I saw this right after A Dark Line Upstairs. I like Keeley, and I like her even more after seeing her show, but purely in terms of acting skills... she's not bad, it's not that. But Matilde lights the way, and it's a lot of training and a lot of humble pie for Keeley to eat before reaching that level.

The time was 6.40, and maybe I should've gone and see another show, God knows there were plenty to choose from, but for some reason I felt like going home and taking a nap. Skipped the main attraction comedians and the pissed late night comedians, but I did go to the half past midnight Magic vs Burlesque, because it was Fou Fou Kaboom's show. I've never been to the Voodoo Rooms before, and I won't be making that mistake again! The classiest establishment I've been too in Edinburgh, the staff was really nice, and how could they not, they're Scottish? Besides, seeing the velour, the historic building, the art on the walls, I was thinking I'll get absolutely skinned. I even ventured to get a double fancy local single malt, and it was like £15?!? Loved, loved, LOVED the Voodoo Rooms. Three venues, late night shows, and they also had Tom Little performing, so had I stayed more I would've probably come back. Eh, next time.

The show itself was a lot of fun. I would've gone anyway, Fou Fou is a performer I really like, but I also wanted to see if the concept of just one burlesque performer making an entire show works. It's a concept I've been fiddling a bit with in my mind, and it wouldn't be much different than what Fou Fou has done here. High energy, highly interactive, loads of fun!

Honest honest, both the burlesque and the magic were a bit light - only two numbers of each, but even those two numbers seem moot. They could've done the whole show out of audience games, that's where the meat was! And kudos to both performers for coming up with the games and being able to engage the whole audience to such an extent! I saw a much better show than I expected, and probably my favourite up to this point.

Day 4 was pretty chill. Started it with a lax 12.50 at Gilded Balloon Teviot - which I was happy to see reopened. Shake It Up Shakespeare, an improv Shakespeare play - or Shakespeare-like, rather - which I have seen before, but I went to see again because I needed to have a chat with Silvia, who's gonna bring The Cannoneer to Barons Court in October. Had a long chat with Silvia after the show, so missed the 1-2 slot, had a leisurely lunch (Mosque Kitchen again), then went across to Zoo Playground again for Racists, Recessions and Revolutions. Harry has a great producer brain, and Isabella is a talented actress with a story to tell, which made for a very good show. Again, one that I'd happily see at Barons Court. Let's see how the chips fall.

Hang out with Isabella, Ben Sumrie who's in town with a couple of shows, and Flick, who led me to the next show, which she was op-ing. Be Not Afraid. I paused a bit to look up Camilla Borges a bit. With a name like that, she doesn't feel English, yet she is talking about South London, so second generation I suppose. The show is a sily clowning interactive romp through the Nativity story, with some good bits and pretty well thought-out overall, I think all Camilla needs is a bit of maturity and confidence to hold a bit more sway over her audience. On the evening I went the audience played ball pretty well, which made for a good show. But a good performer can squeeze a good show even out of an audience that does not play ball. I'm not sure that that's Camilla yet. Not far off, but not yet.

Because I was already in an yurt in Nicholson Square, I stayed for Halima Habil's Baba. By the way, the clowns are expanding. From the two yurts in Bistro Square who were clown central a couple of years ago, two other yurts have popped in Nicholson Square this year, while the previous one make inroads into more mainstream programming. Not allowed into a real venue yet unless you're Viggo Venn or Elf Lyons, but you know... expanding.

I met Halima briefly in March while she was in a play at RCI, and a Romanian artist, especially one that has a bit of a profile in the UK, always interests me. Halima is also a clown, with a show strangely reminiscent of Dupont Police Trainer. Her show has some of the advertised Romania-core, but if feels befuddling and confusing for an audience that presumably knows very little about Communist Romania. She is a charismatic performer and a smart clown, so the show has the chance to get better, but as it is it would just about cling on to the thrid star by the skin of its teeth.

Then the last show of the day was Ce De Lu, a recommandation from Silvia, and a show coming from Italy, so I do care. This one reminded me of Juggernaut. It has a great mask and it has monsters, and two young and promising performers. I really liked Paulette Rufin, and I could see how dedicated Pietro is. But it's the script and possibly the direction that betrays the two young actors. Six people in the room when I saw it, which is not the end of the world, and only two reviews on the website. The fringe is harsh enough as it is, but harsher by an order of magnitude when you come from someplace else and have no network to rely on, or no money to pay the PR. So I'm hoping the young actors had a good fringe, but I totally see their show as a victim of the machine.

Ce De Lu finished at 10.30, and the night is young in Edinburgh at 10.30, but for some reason I really didn't feel the late night comedy vibe this year. Maybe my age, maybe exhaustion, maybe worrying about spending yet more money, maybe the lack of company. On the other had, getting home at 11pm, asleep by midnight, and 8 hours sleep sounds really mature and responsible. So, I thought I'd tried that too for a few days.

Day 5 was 6 shows, and I swear, this is the perfect Ed Fringe day. Hear me out:

Sobremesa at 11.40 at Pater Hoose. I could've actually seen some 10 am children shows, and I kinds promised Dragon Song that I'd find them, but again, without Arches Lane there's a lot less scope for us to do children's theatre. Anyway, Sobremesa because Ben Sumrie invited me, and I found out Aggie Robinson of Ragged Claws fame wrote it. Alice - her producer - was also there, it was a Barons Court reunion, on the skinniest stage I've seen. A 4x1 m which was enough to convey this interesting kitchen sink piece, with a little bit of dancing too. The twist was that it is a Spanish-themed kitchen sink drama, with a trick missed by not using genuine non-alcoholic sangria instead of the too brightly coloured cranberry juice passed as wine. But like, proper, real theatre, you know?

Another invitation from the day before, The Three Marias, a play produced by Flavia D'Avila who I'd have really loved to see but didn't in the end. An interesting story about three female Portugese writers who spurred on the Carnation Revolution. Not the most dynamic play, but really, genuinely interesting documentary theatre, and it made me want to read the book. Which might've been the point.

Because I was up in the new town, I stayed to see Ethan's 113, which I wanted to see anyway. Ethan and Rio are quite the theatrical power couple, and a real discovery. While all of their work is a bit rough around the edges, they have a lot to say, and their language is only gonna get better. 113 has one of the guttsiest stagings I have ever seen, and by not allowing anyone to see more than half the stage it enhances the claustrophobia effect a great deal. I would have loved to dabble into this play, but they've already had three London runs and are happy to give it a rest. Looking forward to Ethan's next piece of writing though, and of course, he'll be the writer of our Christmas show this year.

Are you still with me? Three scripted dramas, all of them interesting in different ways, from creators I have a connection with! But now, because 113 started at 3.05, I missed the 3.45-4 window, so found myself with some time to fill before Edith's The Void at 8pm. I knew by know this was gonna be my last day at the fringe, so I made my way to the Scottish Storytelling Centre. A beautiful old building at the Eastern end of the Mile, I only learned about it two years ago when Seb Lopes brought me to see Sinead O'Brien's magnificent Hero/Banlaoch. Not only was that an amazing show, I thought, what a great institution! Hence why I wanted to see something else this year, and there were two options that fitted: Selkie and Through the Shortbread Tin. Not sure for what reason I chose the second one, I would've probably not regretted either. Through the Sorthbread Tin is a very Scottish story about identity, living in the shadow of Empires, culture and the forgery of it. Martin O'Connor is mesmerising performing his own writing, and the three ladies singing traditional Gaelic songs do wonders for the overall atmosphere. Pretty much the perfect show for that specific place and time, very glad I saw it.

Now, timing-wise it fitted perfectly. I knew it's a great show. But my problem was I sent an email to Sh!t Theatre earlier this year about coming to see Unlikely and they didn't, and they didn't reply. Guilty of this myself, of course, but I was still disappointed about not being able to make a connection, so I thought, what's the point. But curiosity got the better of me and I made the sprint to the big room at Zoo Southside to see Sh!t Theatre's Evita Too, about the life of Isabel Peron (not Eva of Evita fame, but Peron's second wife, who survived him and was briefly president of Argentina, watch the show and you'll get the whole story). So anyway, this show is perfect and it is exactly the kind of theatre I want to be making. Brechtian to the core, giving that I'm reading a Brecht book atm and I think he's mostly full of it but also has some good ideas that are worth implemented but have also existed in theatre ever since theatre has existed. Sh!t Theatre are funny, they're smart, their show was educational, motivational and by Jove, it WILL change the world. I am now regretting missing Drinking Rum with Expats in June, although it was the week of Waiting for Godot and would've been a difficult one anyway. But I will not be missing another Sh!t Theatre show on purpose ever again!

And ended the Fringe with Edith's Alibec The Void, which I thought was on at 8pm but was actually 8.55, so more like 9. I really liked Edith's first show (Why is the Child Cooking in the Polenta?), not so much her second, Tea and Milk, but all that's irrelevant because The Void is a big departure from her previous style. This is a clown show through and through, and it has the chance to become an iconic clown show with a bit of refinement. Edith needs to commit to the character more, and maybe not break it so often, learn to deal with answers she's not expecting or with difficult audience members. To inhabit the world she's creating more fully, if you want a snobbish answer meaning nothing.

And that was it, that was my fringe, 5.30am train to London on Saturday morning to tech some shows. 22 shows in 5 days, a good average, I just wished I was in a better mood. Before I'm done with this post that took me 7 hours to write and no one will read though, a few words on the shows I didn't see. I ended up making a list, even if I was 3 days in. Naturally, I didn't manage to see all of the shows on the list, but I regret missing the following:

- The Pitch, produced by Moya Jane Productions, which had its first ever production in Barons Court. I kinda fobbed off this show from Arches Lane and ended up doing 3 days at Theatre 503 and I ended up beating myself over it. My Decca Records moment, but I am now sure I'll see the show again, probably at a solid venue (Pleasance maybe?). Anyways, I like Moya and I hope she gets rewarded by the show;

- Allura, a dance show by a company from Seattle. I met one of the dancers and her mum when watching Pascol and promised them I'll come and see their show and then did not keep my promise. Unlikely I'll be able to ever make it up to them, unlikely I'll ever see them again.

- Mitch Benn's Ask Elvis. I really wanted to catch Mitch and have a chat with him, and I also wanted to see him in Edinburgh, which I feel is his natural environment. I couldn't, unfortunately. I am immensely privileged by having developed a personal relationship with Mitch, and having him perform bits of this show for me while flyering along the North End Road. Not quite the same thing, but hey-ho, sometimes we take what we can get.

- Billy Bones Every Ghost Story Ever is coming to Barons Court for Grimfest and would've been good to see it in Edinburgh before, but then I misread the time for Edith's show and they overlapped and I couldn't see it anymore.

- Maria Telnikoff was in Edinburgh again with Campitalism: Three Gays Try to Fix the Economy, and maybe I would've been more motivated to see this had Maria and I not drifted apart so much artistically. She seems to be trying out a new style every year, which is fine, she's still young and still refining her voice. Plus, I have seen enough Dead Effing Rebels for Camden Fringe at Barons Court to last me for a couple of fringes.

And then if course, just for fun I would've probably seen Abandoman, Acid's Reign, Kate Butch, Folk Marry Kill and all of the camp cabaret I could've gotten my hands on. But such is fringe, you always miss more than you see. And there's another one next year.

December Drought

Alright, might as well finish my 2025 in 150 shows in time for the World Cup. Then we'll figure out another topic to write about in 2027, a very dull year, without World Cup or Euros, but who knows, if United win a couple of trophies I might go back to writing about that.

December 2025 then, was dominated, as it should be no surprise, by Christmas shows. I watched the Christmas Bond show at London Cabaret Club (London Never Sleeps I think they call it), and I don't remember exactly, but I must've teched a couple. I was slowly carving my place at LCC, but in the meantime the relation ship has broken down completely, and I think it had very little to do with me. I was on the fence about that environment anyway, they do some things really well, and some things really bad. It probably evens out and it's an ok place all in all, but the lead is with the hospitality team, not the artistic one, so I probably won't be back for a while.

Wednesday the 3rd I saw Kill Local at Barons Court, which I dubbed 'the best KDC show I've seen at Barons Court'. Even for that title there's some competition, however, Kill Local was a great show. Directed by Saskia, starring Olivia Cordell of Bog Body and a good cast all around, and some great special effects, plus a very funny script. Would've hit a couple of 5 stars if only KDC would be more open to reviews.

7 December was the stand-up show produced by my brother. Atentie! Stand-up! 4 young Romanian comedians, pleasant enough and hard working enough, but stand up has to be outstanding to be of any note. There's a future in there, if only anyone would be able to work to make it.

There was, unfortunately, a feeling of the year wimpering out rather than finishing on a high. I was by this point pretty burnt out, so I didn't care much. Regardless, and regardless of what the future holds, we have seen more than 100 individual shows in Barons Court Theatre, and this is an achievement I will be proud of. Not something to shout from the rooftops, as only the people who've done it know how hard it is, and of these, there are not many.

But yeah, I finished with a few very seasonal shows. Unwrapped, Tempest Rose's second show at Arches Lane that happened mostly without Tempest Rose, was good, but she set too high a standard with Velouria, and Unwrapped didn't quite hit that.

Mitch Benn's A Christmas Carol, third year on the bounce, went better than 2024 but not as good as 2023. This is encouraging, however. In 2023 it was a novelty, but in 2026 it will be a tradition. And we have a good base to grow from.

And finally, my last show of the year, with a full 2 weeks to go of 2025, was Riverside's Dick Whittington and his Cat, done for the purposes of recording it as a radio drama.

A meagre six shows in what normally is a much busier month, but they bring my total to 151 unique shows for the year. What does this mean? Not much, really. Just that I can back my words when I say I see a lot of theatre.

Voilala Land

 If I was to pinpoint the exact moment when my current burnout reached its peak, it must be November 2025.

A lot has happened this month, and I'm not even upset I didn't manage to write about the shows I've seen until today. There's heaps of them though, mostly from Voila. 

Generally, I kept an average of one show per day. Nothing on 1 November, but Sunday 2 November we've had The Last Oak Tree and The Black Burlesque Festival in Arches Lane, both of them proud achievements.

Moving over to Barons Court, I saw the most successful shows of Voila in one day, on Wednesday the 5th: Absent, which is making a return this week, and I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf Too, which needs a redrafting. I saw Mr Stevens in Arches Lane on the 6th, Invisible Border and Nadia in Barons Court on the 7th, and Everleigh's Codachrome at the Cockpit on Saturday the 8th. Semi-Automatic Smokeshow and Waiting for Julieta on a relatively quiet Sunday, the voice-only Facility 111: A Government Experiment on Monday and The Sea Horse at Golden Goose on Tuesday. 

Wedenesday 12 November I saw OffBeat at the Etcetera because Daniel, the guy doing the show is an interesting Moldovan-Portugese blend and he performed a 10 minutes bit at the festival launch. Then Dying to Meet You at Arches Lane and back to BC on Thursday 13 for The Extraordinary Life of a Rat Racer and Letters to Joan. 

Eat and 30 on Friday, and 13th house: The Basement and Identity on Saturday, which made me late for the Speakeasy and I fumbled the tech a little bit. The lesson was that I cannot watch the 3.30 pm in Barons Court.

And then, before a 3-days break that helped, but not as much as it should have, I saw Of Coincidences and Other Spells, a show from Mexico created especially for Voila, and When I Was Backpacking through Western Europe from Yoyo Chan.

Back on Thursday the 20th for the late night offering of Solo in Barons Court, then we did our own little cabaret for Sharon's birthday, which I'm counting as a half event. Maybe because I was on stage for half of it.

Elsa Siebert in Tannie Koekie's Birthday

The last Saturday of Voila was Tannie Koekie's Birthday and Unfinished Business for me, then the last week of November was a lot more chill: East of Adelaide in Arches Lane on Tuesday, A Christmas Carol at Alexandra Palace, invited by Michaela Bennison, Treasure Island at Imperial College on Thursday, invited by Lauren, our intern.

On Friday the 28th I had marked down Buried, and it took me a little bit and a look at the calendar to remember what it was. It was the reading organised and directed by Effie Loy in Arches Lane, and I also remembered why I've forgotten it. Will now do my best to reforget it.

And in the evening I finally saw La Bella Bimba, at Canal Cafe rather than Barons Court.

Saturday after the Speakeasy I came back to Arches Lane to see Stephen's Dog/Actor, and that's the month.

29 shows plus 3 kind of shows: the reading of Buried, the cabaret which I compered and Treasure Island at Imperial, which we abandoned at the interval in favour of food from the amazing ICL canteen. Let's round it down to 30 for the month, meaning we're at 145 for the year. December was quiet, but I still hit 150 shows without trying.

Show a little more

Last week of November, and I was worried for a second there I won't be able to give my account for October. It was a bit of an insane month, yet nothing compared to November.

So let's get cracking. First show of the month was Space Karaoke on the 2nd, who did a great job at transforming the space at Barons Court. Great set design, good actors, unfortunately not a script to match.

First weekend it was Marius' visit to London, so I took him to London Cabaret Club to see London Never Dies, and I have to say I enjoyed the show more as a spectator than I did teching it.

Saturday they went to Harry Potter studios, but then on Sunday we wanted to see a West End show. Titanique at the Criterion ended up being the most attractive option. Not the best introductory show, but silly enough to not elicit too much of an effort.

Second week was the calm before the storm. I watched the last week of Reboot Festival on Tuesday, Molly's Four Sisters on Wednesday, and Emigrantii on Sunday, so spent the week locally.

The first week of Grimfest I only saw Unlikely and The Quiet Light, but Velouria was definitely the highlight of the month. Ella's Cabaret 4 Cause could have been great, but as it turns out, her producing skills are not as honed as she thinks they are.

Bit more Grimfest for the second week, seeing The Constant Cold, Falling For, Montselier, and culminating with October's Burlesque Idol, which I am marking as a separate show from the September one or from the final in November.

It was good to see Maggie Castro and her direction of This App is a Haunted House at the Etcetera even if Maggie won't work with us anymore. But it was during the day and close to home, so I could go and see Conspiracy at Barons Court in the evening. 

Quick flight to Italy on Tuesday morning to see Ambra in The Beauty Queen of Leanne (La Reginetta di Leanne) in the good old Franco Parenti, a lot less welcoming in the winter. But it's how I discovered Ivana Monti, who did a great job in the play.

Back in London the next day, and straight to Bread & Roses to see Roger's Lucifer, 'the play I inspired writing'. Which is a pretty big deal I guess, I just wish the play was better.

But then I went for the record. 7.30 at Bread & Roses, show finished 8.35, and I was aiming to get to CPT at 9 pm. Bike to Clapham North, Northern Line to Warren Street, and I was only 6 minutes late, which allowed me to get into CPT from the back for the first time. I did want to see Maria Telnikoff's Just the Two of Us though. Super-chaotic, yet still charming.

And on the last day of the month I went to Theatre Deli to see Jessie's reading of a very interesting script, Abortive Attempts at Explaining Myself. I hope it goes to production soon. This and Maggie's show I marked as halves, so both of them make one. Plus another 17 shows, that's 18 for the month, 115 for the year. It sounds pretty incredible to me too, but it does look like I'm actually seeing closer to 200 shows per year, and probably more than 300 performances. Though in fairness, this has been something of a busy year.

After Summer Coming Down

My monthly round-ups are coming later and later, to the extent that I worried whether I'll manage to keep it up until the end of the year. But November is the last busy month of the year, and once Voila Festival starts, my schedule should be looking a bit tidier.

Anyway, September. So tired was I after Camden Fringe that I didn't actually see any new shows until the 10th. And it was Rosemary's A Rose by Any Other Name, intensely sabotaged by the TfL strike.

As was out Kibo Autumn Season launch on 11 September. I still had a lot of fun though.

Melanie Branton's The Full English show went a bit better, and it was the first show where I saw signs of the audiences coming back after a dreadful summer.

Two more shows in our spaces at the weekend - I'm glad I managed to see To Mars, the first children show at Arches Lane, and The Bear & The Proposal as a one off script in hand at Barons Court (I think I marked this as the half-show).

Halima Rifi and Shilpa Varma in The Missing

The Bald Primadonna, transferred from RCI, was a fairly successful run, then I watched the first week of Reboot on the Wednesday, and then Burlesque Idol on the Sunday. By the way, burlesque is now well and truly at home in Arches Lane, and I'm all here for it.

Last show of the month was the second week of Reboot, one in which I got to direct John Mabey's play, The Missing. It was an adventure, but it marked a few big personal achievements. Hence, my pick of the month.

Adding 9 shows to the total so far, which now stands at 97. by the time of writing I have surpassed 100 unique shows for the year, which means my brag was not an empty one. Then again, I do spend most of my time in a theatre or other.

Festival Feast

It's been such a hit over the head, August and Camden Fringe, that in many ways I'm still recovering. Hence the August post coming so late.

Camden Fringe has been an extraordinary feat, one that we will repeat for sure, but some interesting things have happened. I've seen the greatest number of shows I missed in Barons Court and for the first time I have seen less shows than we have actually hosted. Only 7 shows out of the 24 we hosted for Camden Fringe.

Starting with Shedwood on 3 August, from Kailin Xu's company, whose 404 Reading Club I missed despite having more promise than Shedwood.

Sunk Into The Earth, by Charlotte Ritter and her very nice all female company, though this was very much where I had started to lose it. 4 August.

Nothing for that week until Sunday, but I'm really glad I managed to see Alexandra Jorgensen's Confessions of a Jane Austen Spinster in its last performance in the UK for a while, Alexandra being now back in the US.

Anthropocene by Ben Wendel on 14 August, an inspiring piece and one through which I discovered the amazing Naomi Paxton.

Oh, that's what it is! I was wondering why I haven't seen more, but of course, I had to rehearse for Lobster Pot. Because, on top of Camden Fringe, Copacabana and Arches Lane, I had to also direct a play, didn't I?

All in all, I was reasonably happy with how Lobster Pot came out, which is fairly unusual when I direct something. So I am worried that maybe I didn't care enough about it? I saw the opening night, buggered off to Edinburgh, came back on Friday for Copacabana and took over West End Musical Brunch, returning to Sway after a one year stint at Proud City. Guess how that turned out?

Oh, and by the way, I'm counting Lobster Pot as a show even though I've seen/done it once before in January, because it's a new space, a reworked script and altogether quite a different show. I am also counting WEMB as one, even though it is now a weekly occurence. I watched Maybe You Should Know on closing day of Camden Fringe, and next week I though I'm reentering some sort of normality/baseline. I have seen A Fan of War, but also been to two shows we've been invited to: The Last Black Messiah at Etcetera Theatre and A Microscopic Odyssey at 503.

But then Grimfest - which is more or less on track now, and then Voila, which is another blow to my mental health. Eh, we'll live.

Oh, and because I choose the picture from my favourite show of the month, a few words about A Microscopic Odyssey: seen at 503 on a random Thursday at 1 pm as part of LAMDA directors' showcase. I didn't not have high expectations. But boy did it blow me away! Phenomenal show, one of those that gripped me from the beginning and kept me engaged, one of those rare shows that restore my faith in theatre. I probably do come across one of them once a month, but that means top 10 percent of shows. Anyways, we're meeting the producers tomorrow.

The counter is looking steady, 10 shows in London plus 8 in Edinburgh to add to the 70 by the end of July, means that we're at 88 now.

Take me to the Fringe

Like a proper addict, I had to take my yearly dose of Edinburgh this year too, despite directing a show this week, running a festival in Barons Court, doing an LX op gig for 2 days a week and, apparently, revamping a venue little by little.

It was only two days, so much less than in other years, but a good, productive even, two days, with reality matching expectation almost 1:1.

Arriving in Edinburgh Wednesday morning off the night train, I knew I had to dose my efforts if I was to make something of the shows I'd be seeing. I did however jump straight into Ancient Coins from Forgotten Kingdoms, a children show I had eyed ever since Brighton Fringe, and I'm glad I saw it, if only to find out that no, it would not be a good fit for Arches Lane. Mark Saltveit is American, and the show is much more of a lecture than a story which, despite the great interactive bit where the audience can actually touch real ancient coins, would be a deterrent for the hedonistic crowds of Battersea.

Ah, I should mention the bit where I flyered for Stephen. Meeting Stephen was one of the goals of my trip, and smoothed the way for East of Adelaide this autumn at Arches Lane (this is an exclusive btw). Also, flyering on the Mile was fun. Of course it's fun without the pressure of actually trying to sell tickets, and I also shoved a few meetings in those two hours that in London would have taken 2-3 weeks to organize.

For my second show I had a choice between Windrush Secret and a dark comedy about cannibalism from a company of young graduates. I think I made the right choice, as wingman Olivia set up a good premise for a chat with Rodreguez, which led to a meeting, which might lead to a run. Olivia is always great company, even more so when it's unexpected. I enjoyed having an Edinburgh buddy for a bit, though I was annoyed that I had to leave her at 'What If They Ate the Baby?', one of the three sold out shows of Xhloe and Natasha, which I am very curious to meet. Olivia might come through once again.

The last show of the day was Rodney Black: Who Cares? It's Working, the most thought provoking show I've seen in a while and my personal pick of this year's fringe. Ben Willows always does great work, but I also suspect more ambition than I care to deal with. We'll see.

Weird to close the day with just three shows, but it was the right thing to do after 20k steps and a night of train sleeping. I'm not a young man anymore.

Also right thing to do: listening to Everleigh's showon Hoxton Radio and doing some work rather than chasing crazy early show. Rest was needed and was well received. Which meant I started my second day of shows with Eggs Aren't That Easy to Make by Maria Telnikoff. It's great to see Maria finally taking the big step forward into working collaboratively rather than being a one-woman band, however good she is at that. 

Being a bit aimless, I wandered into Zoe Coombs Marr's show, The Splash Zone. Better than her show I saw at Soho some years ago, but still nowhere near Wild Bore, once of the most amazing theatrical experiences I've had. She co-created that, so I'll always hold her to that standard.

The Unstoppable Rise of Ben Manager was a complete punt, only because the time fitted. And of course, it's one the highlights, a trippy moralist fable about the corporate world incorporating electronic music, puppets, mask, and a big nod to Kafka's Metamorphosis. Got in touch with the company and it would be a serious win if we manage to bring them to Arches Lane.

I had to see Ioana's show, Goodness Me, and I'm happy to see her maturing into her art. It's slow, painful and expensive, but there is a reward at the end of it.

And I closed the day with a recommendation from Ioana, Role Play (or the hottest day in Belgian history). An intense, very physical show about sexual awakening, love and relationships. Refreshing banality of the subject matter in the age of all-encompassing political discourse, but this show is sold on the performance. Cameron Murphy is an amazing performer, he was fascinating to watch and this was the fastest hour I spent in Edinburgh this year.

I closed the day at this, just 8 shows in two days, which is actually good going. It was short, but I had my dose of Edinburgh to last me for another year when again, I will probably not have the courage to take the dive and bring a show in. But soon...

Also, I have now become one of those motherfuckers who are stuck to their laptop on the train, which is where I'm writing this from. We just passed Durham.

July Morning

Beginning of July seems like a lifetime ago, and indeed it has been an intensely busy month. Too much time wasted with Copacabana in my opinion, and that show and that place could be so much better. Which is saying something, seeing that it's good enough as it is.

But anyway, I will count Copacabana as the first show I saw in July, on the 3rd, opening night. I have seen it 21 times since, but only counting shows, not performances, no?

Tough competition in July, but hosting Matilde Vigna
 was my favourite experience

We've had a solid month across our theatres, I loved having Matilde Vigna with A Dark Line Upstairs in Barons Court and I'm glad critics appreciated the show, it's fully deserved.

Reality Bites at Arches Lane felt like the first REAL show, and having Suzy (Eddie) Izzard and Rachel Zegler seeing it was beautiful.

Kill Drill did an excellent job on all fronts, with solid audiences in a time when nothing had solid audiences.

I saw Harry Conway's How to Kill Your Landlord at Drayton Arms and my main takeaway was how hot Frankie Weatherby is. But Harry has done well, and I'm glad his Edinburgh run seems to be so successful.

Caught the matinee of Pretty Witty Nell in the last day. Coming back two years later and with a different actress, I found Ryan a bit mellowed and the show marginally better, though it's the over-inflated ego that's still dragging him back. But hey-ho, Offie Award, who am I to comment? And plus, these three shows took us out of the 3-star slump we seemed to be stuck in this year.

Claire's Broadway Broads at Toulouse Lautrec was a nice surprise, and I'm glad to discover Claire's talents slowly slowly. She has been a reliable presence for us for the past two months, and I have grown to appreciate her. Also, Toulouse Lautrec does absinthe the traditional way, with melted sugar over a spoon, and it's been interesting to sample. £16 pounds a shot, Toulouse Lautrec must've been raking it in. Still, I prefer the raw, unfiltered ferocity of 80 degrees absinthe, very few things to get smashed quicker.

Camden Fringe has started like a bit of a tornado, and was about to blow my house up for a second there. It also marks the month with the most shows I'll miss at Barons Court. A bit unavoidable, what with shoving rehearsals for Lobster Pot in every second of the day I have off. I started the festival with two shows, Journey to the West at Rosemary Branch and Fly Trap at Barons Court. I watched Rabbie Burns' Bottom Drawer on Tuesday, which made me happy about the overall standard we manage to present at Barons Court this August, but unhappy about the discipline, experience and attitude of most of the companies.

I will make a separate passage about The Stupid Hug (El Abrazo Stupido), coming from Argentina for just two performances. It is a long time since I have seen a company, this friendly, this cooperative, this accommodating and this professional. The show was mediocre, probably very good for Argentine but I felt like the main big ideas of the show get diluted in the cultural differences. Regardless, I will keep a cherished memory to my new good friends from La Plata and I will pray the theatre gods will be good to them. It has been such an eye opener in regards to how privileged we are to be doing what to do and a stark reminder to fucking enjoy life more rather than dwell on the negatives.

Oh, and yeah, that was 30 July, that was the last show of the month, as Thursday, Friday, Saturday was Copacabana all over again. Still, 11 shows in July for a grand total of 70 shows in the first 7 months of the year. Averaging 10/month with more than half of the year gone, on track for 120. And I'm only next week going to Edinburgh.

Doing too many, seeing too little

It must've been a while since I've had a month as busy as this June, especially the latter half. Still, for better or for worse, I manage to add 10 shows to my total, counted as 8 full shows and 4 'half shows'.

Hard to define what a half-show is, but the London Pub Theatre Gala on 1 June is a good example: something happened and someone watched it, hence theatre, right? Well, there were bits of theatre for sure, extracts of previously successful plays, but I'd struggle to classify the event as a 'show'.

I did do the subtitles for Liana's Queen Mary show on 4 June, saw Street on 5 June and half of the Lexicon Lounge at The Water Rats on 8 June. I felt really sorry leaving at the interval of the Lexicon Lounge, but I was really tired and could not for the life of me get on board with a long evening of spoken word.

The rest is mostly stuff we hosted: Peter Pan on 10 June, Ruthless on the 11th, and the London Cabaret Club stopped me from seeing much more for the rest of the week.

I saw Precarious Theatre's 100 Percent with only one option of the cast, the a kids show by Stagecoach at Arches Lane on 22 June, and the latest iteration of The Room of Piss at Hen & Chickens in the evening of 22.

I saw Sharon's Provenance on the opening night, then nothing until Sunday, when we hosted two developing pieces: Bois at Arches Lane and Limerence at Barons Court.

Then a massive week spent in LCC without seeing too much else apart from Copacabana.

Still, add 10 shows for a 59 total by the end of June. Though I'm beginning to think that producing more than you can see is a weird thing.

Pay more attention to Brighton

Quick round-up of May as June is almost halfway through already. Life is pretty full when running a theatre, and it's so much fuller when running two theatres that I'm really worried I'm bad at it.

Anyway, let's rewind for a month and a bit. Started theatrical life on Friday 2nd May with the reading of It's Difficult by Wendy Fisher at Canada Water Theatre. Then straight to Southwark Playhouse to see Cockfosters, and hopefully we'll see Cockfosters again at Arches Lane Theatre.

On Wednesday 7 I went to a reading of three Eastern European plays at UAL Wimbledon, invited by Jozefina Komporaly. Global Plays in Translation. I really encourage the initiative and I hope there will be further iterations of this. 

Went to Brighton on 8 May. Got invited to about 8 plays at Brighton Fringe this year and actually managed to answer a few invitations. I was supposed to see at least two shows, but I was late for Gawa's Open Source Intelligence, so I got in to see Landlord's Wet Dream by Verity Sharpe. Missed United's thrashing of Bilbao at Old Trafford because pubs in Brighton seem to all be aimed at the LGBT+ community, and sports is not really on their agenda. But I wondered leisurely around city centre until 9 pm, when I got to see Dangerous to Know at Lantern Theatre. I was really happy to see the Lantern, lovely little basement theatre very reminiscent of Barons Court albeit bigger.

Sunday Fix on 11 June, which I count as half a show. Sunday Fix will go on in July and over the summer, but I feel a reform of the format is imminent.

Invited by Tim McArthur to see Eurovision Your Decision at RVT on 14 June, and really glad I did. Show of the month for me, and really good to have seen Tim's work.

Shelter at Barons Court was a nice surprise, a very solid show about trans love and about being othered.

Between women's FA Cup, the Europa League final and a very stressy producer, Shelter was the only show of the week, and the highlight of it, because both football and Roger have been shit.

I teched my last Speakeasy show for a while on 24 May, and there's some chagrin at leaving House of Burlesque after almost 4 years, and leaving the longest running show I worked on. But it's not a sad one, the relationship will continue and hopefully develop.

Due to difficult techs I missed shows in 3 Mondays in a row. Coronet, Riverside and Old Red Lion, but I did manage to see The Space's Season launch, and was impressed by some of the plays to come. Hopefully people will like Lobster Pot too. 

And Arches Lane is off and running, with Jen Tucker's Bog Body on 29 & 30, and The Electric Bill on 31 May. In between I've also rewatched Chop Chop on 30 May, bringing my total to 8 shows + 4 kind of shows (two readings, a scratch night and a season launch). I will count 10 for the month, 49 for the year, not including Mermaids Have no Tears which I saw 4 times, three more performances of Speakeasy and one more of Roxie does Chicago. Which I've seen twice more since.

Ramp up

April has been a really full month, so full that I feel I haven't had either the time or the energy to see some of the shows I've been invited to. And yet, there are 11+3 lines in the calendar, so we'll count them at around 12-13 shows, let's see how it goes. And no doubling, though I have seen two shows on two Saturdays, daytime while going to the HoB Speakeasy in the evening. But we've established we're not counting Speakeasy as shows seen, as that would add 16 performances to my total. I'm rambling.

First show seen was on 2 April, KDC's Do You Feel Anger?, an excellent new writing American dark comedy with a strong feminist note. Then on the 3rd, for my birthday, we went to see Magic Mike, which was an absolute revelation. Best show of the year by some distance.

That's me in the corner

4 April was the Arches Lane Theatre launch party. Now, there's a lot of talk about the grind and the thrill, about the massive amount of work you need to put into a career in theatre, or any artistic profession for that matter, and how it's all made to worth by moments of incredible high, in the same way in which climbing a mountain is rewarded by a superb view from the top. 4 April was such an exhilarating high, one that took me some two days to recover. I haven't taken two days to recover from something since the massive drink binges in uni. 200 people coming to see us, and coming to show support. Never ever had I thought I'd get to anything near this. Ay, but was it a show? Hard to say. Some of the people who were there seemed to believe so, and they're certainly saying so. It wasn't necessarily my intention. Rather, I had thought about putting some sort of a lineup together, of anything, and calling it entertainment, or maybe 'something to happen'. It seemed to go down well, and it seems there is nothing more to a 'show'. I've had a few people from upcoming shows at Barons Court reading bits of their show, Elena singing some Amy Winehouse, Maria reading in exclusivity an extract from her new show, and Gracie Disgrace gracing the stage with some burlesque. And me MC-ing. Not too different from a show, I suppose, the structure of the likes of Magic Mike or Paradise Under the Stars, albeit of vastly different quality. Meh. I had fun.

Sunday Fix on 6 April. Definitely half a show, and I narrowly avoided directing a piece. I have also missed Sisyphean Quick Fix at Riverside because of it but hey ho, shit happens. 

Suzette's scratch night on a Monday evening, the exact same scratch night I've seen last autumn. Much less entertaining second time around.

The Argument, show 2/4 for April at Barons Court, was a moment of wonderful madness, the like of which I'd like to transfer to Arches Line. Not gonna happen, one of the dudes lives in Liverpool.

My second visit ever to The Space happened on 11 April, to see Amalia's Incomplete. A very sweet love and loss story with Mark Keegan and Kathy Bates in an ensemble piece of 6. I like Amalia, I like Mark and Kathy, and this play is very sweet, but it should be shorter and way more daring, way grittier. Amalia is allergic to grit, though, and nothing can be done about that.

Sunday, 13 April I gave Paul Wasy a night of stand-up comedy, Neurohahaha. The concept is great, I hope they come back to do it again, and I hope they'll be more successful.

Poor week of theatre, the third one, but a trip to Manchester on Thursday and the biggest high so far at Old Trafford, with 4 goals against Lyon in the last 10 minutes of extra time. United's worst season in my lifetime, and we might end up with a European trophy. Not too shabby. Anyway, theatre.

Sabrina Simohamed's All the Worst Parts was the typical student masturbatory show with some genuine (acted) masturbation. But they did it over Easter Weekend, and they sold out two performances, who am I to complain?

Kelsey's It's Nothing Personal, It's Just Business was as personal a show as it can get. It was also the worst-reviewed show in our time at Barons Court, and hopefully, the lessons will be taken from this. There are positives to it, and I think technically Kelsey has done a great job.

Roxy Does Chicago at London Cabaret Club last Friday, a show I might see a lot more of. Twice a week at least, apparently.

Then Saturday, a trip to the deep south of Sidcup to see Mara Borsa's Departures as part of the Rose Bruford Graduation Showcase. The show made me late for the Speakeasy, but I'm really glad I discovered the young Romanian movement girl.

Tall Tales and Cocktails, second out of three, and hopefully the saddest, with three comedians on stage and 9 people in the audience. One more on 25 May.

And finally, Mermaids Have No Tears, a show with a lot more potential than it's showing at the minute, but there's a pregnant feeling it will get better. Almost saw it for the third time today, luckily United played and won at Bilbao away, a win as good as trophy. May might be a good month.

Let's count 14 for this month. 39 for the year at the end of April. And Brighton Fringe is coming up.

Come to Barons Court

March was the richest month yet in terms of shows, I have 10 lines and 3 half lines in my calendar, although those half lines have strong stories to tell too.

1 March was the third out of 5 House of Burlesque Speakeasy at The Hippodrome, and although it was a dream come true working in a place that has seen perform the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Liza Minelli, The Rat Pack or Harry Houdini, amongst others, I must say I struggled with the technical side of our 5 performances there and I'm not entirely happy with my work. We've also had the show in Neon 194 Piccadilly and Jack Solomon's this month, and I am excited about 194 Piccadilly becoming a long term home for the show, it's a great place. However, I'm not counting any of them 5 shows towards shows seen this month.

Apart from Speakeasy, my first was Down the Road at Playhouse East, Flick's treat. It fills my heart with joy to see Flick doing so well in her tech career, and she fully deserves the work coming her way. I also feel jealous and concerned about how hard it is to find people so good. Oh well, let's see what teh future holds.

Sunday 9 March Taichi finally had his Nightcap Quartet gig. More of a concert than a teatrical show, it was in a theatre, so I'll count it.

If I were to pick a favourite...

Second week of March was a bit insane with Hatch & Scratch at Riverside, The Silent Escape at Shaw, Paradise under the Stars at The Lost Estate and the Persever Scratch Night at Barons Court on Sunday. Add the dress rehearsal of Ragged Claws, and that's 5 shows in 7 days, plus a Speakeasy. We oversold Ragged Claws every night, so I didn't quite managed to see an actual performance of it, thought something tells me it will be back. Namely, the sold out 6 performances run.

Week 3 started with The Offie Awards at the Central Methodist Hall. Again, more award ceremony and less of a show, but hey, I've been in the same room with Robert Powell! So I'll count it. I then teched the three performances of I'm a Philosopher, Get me Out of Here at Riverside, and managed to see the Limitless showcase at Brixton Playhouse in-between. 

And last week, and last week of March, I saw Fool's Gold twice, The Bald Soprano at the RCI and Tall Tales & Cocktails. I then closed the month with Everleigh's reading of Null at the Norwegian Embassy, with Gine Cornelia Pedersen in the audience and involved in the Q&A.

I highlighted 14 and I'll go with 14, so let's say 25 for the year. Which is a quarter of 100 in a quarter of a year. Bang on when I say at least 100 shows, at least 200 performances.

A total Betty

February was a much richer month in terms of shows. I started the month in Bucharest and unfortunately I didn't see as much theatre as I would've liked there. I did manage to see Madame Butterfly at the National Opera on 2 February though, the second time ever I've been to the Bucharest National Opera, and the first time in more than 20 years.

Acid's Reign - a play for our times

Contrary to the vibe of the room, I was disappointed with the production. Madame Butterfly is a problematic piece as it is, so having European actors play Japanese characters only exacerbates its issues. Apparently, Italy and the English speaking world has switched to Japanese actors at least for the leads as far back as 1930s. Surely a thriving cultural metropolis as Bucharest desires to be can afford to get a Japanese star to play Cho Cho San. Or just stop doing the piece, Puccini has so many much better operas anyway.

Back in London, and the first show of the month was Acid's Reign in the main house at Pleasance Theatre. A camp drag extravaganza with a much more solid story than expected from a drag show. An environmental message in the background and seeing Gigi Zahir perform, Acid's Reign was really a great evening out. I hope the show goes further, it fully deserves.

Next up it was friends' week. Went to see Everleigh's J [A Working Title] for my first-ever visit to the Space Theatre. I'm glad people moan so much about how hard it is to get to the space - less competition for us, but I really enjoy the walk along the Isle of Dogs.

Thursday 13 February went to see the opening of Akin's Dating Whilst Black, and I had another great evening at the very friendly Libra Theatre Cafe. Closed the week with the sold ut show Exs & Ohs at Barons Court Theatre, which I'm really glad I got to see, as it was sold out more than a week in advance.

The show that counts for half this month is Youth in Flames, a work in progress that we did two showings of on Wednesday 19. I watched the 3 pm one, and I feel it unfair to call this half a show. Work in progress it might be, but what I saw was very close to a fully realised show, and not a bad one at that. Fully ready for Edinburgh, I hope it comes back to us some time.

Friday 21 I stayed for Avocado. Powered by goodwill more than anything else, Avocado are ploughing on, more than 2 years after their first Barons Court performance.

Then lastly, Tuesday 25 we had our first West End outing since before the pandemic. Clueless at Trafalgar Studios. I love the film, and the people who turned it into a musical probably do too, but we clearly understand it differently. I'm by no means sorry I've seen it, but it's not a show, it's a tribute act. And, hard act to follow as Clueless the film might be, it's worth deconstructing it and reconstructing it anew, thus creating an original piece of work, rather than just reenacting the best bits of the film, only with less interesting acting but perfect choreographies. Whatever!

So let's say 7.5 shows for February (Youth in Flames being the 0.5), plus obviously the 3 out of four Speakeasy, which I see every week. They alone account for 50 of my 100 shows, but I haven't yet decided how to count them for the purpose of this exercise.

100 shows a year

Earlier in 2024 I used to say I see about 100 shows a year. Then I realized I've seen just over 50 at Barons Court Theatre only. Plus about 20 in Edinburgh, that's 70 already. So I thought the number might actually be closer to 200. So this year I decided to start counting them, and hopefully I'll stick to a monthly round-up of what I've seen.

In previous years I'd also attempt a review, but there's no way I can do that without strong biases anymore, so this will be purely a round-up, and how I got to see the respective shows. And January is a slow start, with only 4 titles to add.

The first of the year was mine. Lobster Pot, by Nicky Osborn, at Barons Court Theatre. Saw 4 out of 5 performances, but I would do that, wouldn't I?

The second was an invitation from Anette at the Norwegian Embassy, Moby Dick at the Barbican. I really enjoyed this one. Not a perfect show, but intensely spectacular. The things it did well, it did very well. A solid 4/5, even for a harsh reviewer.

I then saw the opening night of Second Best at Riverside Studios. Opening night of Asa Butterfield's stage debut, a full house in Riverside's main space and a good, solid play, without anything particularly outstanding. A lukewarm 3/5 from me, Asa Butterfield is very good, but the script is a bit banal, and the direction fell in love with a lavish set design which I'm not sure served the story best.

That's it, but then I realized I also see a lot of readings, works in progress, and half-made or partially made stuff. So I decided to give myself a 0.5 for anything that could be a fully formed show, but it's not in the form I witnessed. The first one, a reading at the Italian Cultural Institute in London, a feminist Anglo-pleaser from CambiaScena. In The Pink by Irene Petra Zani, and I got there because I wanted to see Cambiascena's work, I wanted to see the Italian Institute and I wanted to see Francesca Fatichetti who I know from Psychonaut Theatre/WIG of Life.

The second one was a reading of Mihail Sebastian's Star Without a Name which I organized with the pupils of Richmond College. It won't go anywhere, but it was a good refresher to hear the play out loud.

And finally, a night of shorts at Barons Court Theatre, brought together by an environmental thread.

So really, 3 plays + 1.5. But let's stick to 4. I'll probably overtake this in February, already saw one and have a few more scheduled.

Edinburgh 2024 - Have you seen anything good?

Sinead O'Brien - Hero/Banlaoch

I kept saying I didn't see as many shows this year as I'd usually see, and while that's true, I still ended up seeing 21 shows in the 5 days I was up in Edinburgh.

But I did have a bit of a weird festival, in that it was a lot more about people than it was about shows. Not only the meetings, though I greatly enjoyed meeting Flavia and Rob of Brassica Productions and seeing the city through their eyes as locals and as theatre-makers, but the way I picked the show had to do with the people making them more than anything else. Is this as it should be? Who knows? There are no right answers.

For various reasons I will not rate/review the shows, but I do list them here to have a record of them. In terms of recommendation for the last week of the festival, things are simple: see as much as you can. See all of the ones below if you can. So, in order of watching them:

Reuben Kaye: Live and Intimidating (Assembly George Square, 8.05 pm)

*

In the Lady Garden (Pleasance Courtyard, 2.15 pm)

If Only I Could (The Space on the Mile, 5.05 pm)

Girlhood (Greenside Riddles Court, 6.30 pm)

Ulysses in Babel (C Venues - C Alto, 21.30 pm)

It's Ok, I Still Think You're Great (The Space on the Mile, 22.55 pm)

*

Love me Like a Chai Tea Latte (Lighthouse Bookshop, 8 pm)

Corpse Flower (C Venues, 21.55 pm)

Per-Verse (C Venues, 23.10 pm)

*

Funny Guy (Greenside @ George Street, 5.20 pm)

An Evening Without Kate Bush (Assembly Checkpoint, 7.20 pm)

Hallo (Hoots @ Potterrow, 21.25 pm)

*

The Book of Joan (The Space on the Mile, 4.40 pm)

Maria Telnikoff: All the Men Are Going to Hate Me (Underbelly Bristo Square 15.45 pm)

Hero / Banlaoch (Scottish Storytelling Centre, 17.30 pm)

Outwith Words: Tinderbox Orchestra and Loud Poets  (Edinburgh Central Library, 8 pm)

The Kids Might Die (Greenside @ George Street, 23.15 pm)

*

The Christening of Prince Imogene (The Space @ Surgeons Hall, 11 am)

Grape Culture (The Space @ Surgeons Hall, 12 pm)

Shake It Up: The Improvised Shakespeare Show (Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, 1 pm)

Sarah Hester Ross is What? (Just the Tonic Nucleus, 2.30 pm)

Reuben's show is still phenomenal, yet I found this one somewhat diluted down from his usual flamboyance. For TV, apparently. I hope it works.

Some really strong writing for In the Lady Garden and Girlhood, a great Weimar republic/kafkian aesthetic for Corpse Flower, Maria Telnikoff is going from strength to strength and she will soon become a Fringe staple.

Finally saw An Evening Without Kate Bush after some three years of trying and, although Sarah is an amazing performer and she puts on a great show, I'd say it's hard to enjoy it without some previous admiration of Kate Bush, which I do not posses.

Hero/Banlaoch is the highlight of my fringe this year. A phenomenal show by a phenomenal storyteller. I'm really glad I discovered Sinead and looking forward to seeing more of her work!

I'm really glad to have met two people in person as well: the other Leo Bacica, and I find it amazing that both of us are in the same country and activating in the same field. Though I wish I was as good an artist as he is! The second one is Calliope Weissman, and I couldn't believe what a sweet, engaging and enjoyable presence Calliope is. I hope to meet her again soon for sure.

And even my last day, when I left at 4 pm, was interesting: I got to meet China Forbes' nephew with a great show about the trans experience, and I got to meet Maya Forbes as well, China's sister, whose film The Polka King I really enjoyed. 

Very happy to have finally seen Silvia's Shakespeare improvisation troupe as well, and looking forward to seeing them again!

Olga Koch comes from money? What about Sarah Hester Ross? She invited me to her show after I shared a photo with Reuben, and I went. A cabaret show at 2.30 pm in a room that seats 300? That's a tall order and I think where Sarah got it wrong. Nothing wrong with doing a smaller room, but in a late evening slot, when the audience expects cabaret and indeed, it might be the most appropriate form of entertainment. I hope I'll see her in better circumstances next year. Otherwise, I'm absolutely impressed by the high production value of both her production and her online content. It's the kind of production value you have to invest heavily in, and kudos to her for being able to afford it.

But, the really important thing this year is the I really felt there is such a thing as 'the Barons Court Theatre fringe'. It was last year as well, with Maria's show and the two US previews, but this year we've had no less than nine shows that have been or will be at Barons Court Theatre, including the now multi-award winning Son of a Bitch by Anna Morris: Funny Guy, It's Ok, Son of a Bitch, Gang Bang, Marriage with Benfits, Ulysses in Babel, Forgiving my Mother, Eccentrics Assemble, Any Day Now. In addition, Reuben, Maria, Stephen and his three Threedumb shows, Flick and Threepenny Collective, are all performers close to us in one way or another. Which... is impressive. We could run a festival with these shows alone, and it would be a good one. And that makes me quite proud of the work we're doing. I hope we can continue.