Mole Valley Valves - Edinburgh Fringe Reviews

Pavarotti of Parody

2007-08-18T14:50:00.000+01:00

The Mitch Benn Music Club, Reid Concert Hall

Perhaps it was the late hour (2315 - nearer 2330 when the audience finally got seated) or perhaps it was the onset of Fringe fatigue after two and a half weeks of queueing and drinking lager from plastic cups, but this show just didn't grab me. There comes a point in every musical parodist's career when their humorous topical material starts to sound a little out of date and for Mitch Benn that time may be upon him. Trotting out the old favourites isn't really an option once the world has moved on and everything doesn't sound like Coldplay anymore.
Benn has great skill with words and music, demonstrated in a number of on-the-spot improvisations, and the Distractions (well, half of them) provide the usual solid support as genres and instruments are hopped from song to song. The less topical material raised the bar, with Mitch Benn's Musical Version Of The Very Hungry Caterpillar a particular highlight. There was also a hint of loftier ambitions in a particularly pointed song about the ongoing situation in Iraq that provided the only illustration that Benn has not lost his satirical bite.

Pain is so close to pleasure

2007-08-18T14:42:00.000+01:00

Richard O'Brien's Mephistopheles Smith, St Augustines

A revival of Richard O'Brien's decade old fringe show, Devilishly Yours, about hell's own evangelist, the now titular Mephistopheles Smith. Comparison's with O'Brien's smash hit Rocky Horror Show are inevitable in a musical show celebrating licence and pleasure, and in terms of music the show more than holds it's own (so to speak). The majority of songs are catchy and well-constructed, with a couple (such as The Best Is Yet To Come) lingering on in the memory. The script asks a lot of the three performers and, as there is no real narrative to speak of, Smith must have charisma to spare to carry the audience along with the show. O'Brien himself probably had it but Paul Roberts, former Stranglers vocalist (no, none of the ones you've heard of) sadly hasn't. As his devilettes Roxanne Palmer is suitably sexy and sleazy but, on this evidence, Francesca Casey has little idea of dramatic timing or expression. A wasted opportunity.

NTW : Singing to backing tapes - Grr!

JTD : Coping well with a venue that has a pillar in the centre of the stage.

Exile On York Place

2007-08-18T14:36:00.000+01:00

Phil Nicol - Hiro Worship, The Stand

Returning after his triumph at last year's fringe, Nicol has engaged a star-studded band to playing Rolling Stones numbers during his new show about a Japanese man, the Hiro of the title, with a fixation on the aging rockers. The story is told with Nicol's usual manic energy, going from 0-60 in the time it takes to reach the stage in the Stand, and interspersed with hilarious impressions of Mick Jagger. If the show starts more slowly than Nicol's previous shows, once it gets going the laughs come in quick succession and in great quality. Nicol continues his legendary audience interaction and prospective punters should be aware that avoiding the front row won't necessarily mean you'll avoid physical contact with the Canadian.

NTW : An overlong song about obsessive fans

JTD : Bill Wyman's looking far better these days.

Coffee Time

2007-08-18T14:27:00.000+01:00

Owen Powell - The Two Closest Starbucks In Britain, Plesance

There should be a new section in the Fringe guide as Owen Powell's show should really be filed under "Trivia". Despite the lack of belly laughs, Powell's titular quest to locate two closest Starbucks in Britain keeps interest for an hour in the sweltering Plesance Oven, sorry, Cellar. Powell is behoven to PowerPoint, and uses it as skillfully as the (sadly absent this year) Will Smith to explain and enhance his story.
He states at the start of the show that he does not intend to make political points about the proliferation of Starbucks or the effects of globalisation and he keeps to his word for the most part - only hinting at an agenda during the reveal of the two closest branches - about which there is a twist to keep locals happy.
Powell intersperses his quest with testimony from Starbucks employees which seemed to be gems of "found" material until it was revealed that Powell had, in fact, made them up. This was disappointing but reveals a talent for creating Alan Bennett style dialogues of everyday life that is simultaneously humourous and melancholy. Not comedy but easily worth the price of two Grande Lattes.

NTW : Making up the testimony

JTD : Making up the testimony

Roman Geezer

2007-08-18T14:18:00.001+01:00

Julius Caesar, C

The students of Exeter University take on the Bard's great historical epic with enthusiasm and innovation, perhaps a little too much enthusiasm when it comes to mob violence and set-piece battles though!
Adapting the play to 75 minutes means a lot of the post-assassination to-ing and fro-ing is lost, but this is an acceptable compromise. On the other hand, the abridgements of the earlier scenes mean a loss of some of the moral ambiguity of Brutus' decision to join the plotters. Unforgivably, however, the scene between Portia and Brutus, that slows down the full version of the text, remains here and features the poorest performance in the otherwise well acted piece. One hopes that the director is getting appropriate (ahem!) recompense from Portia for allowing her to take part.
If there is a little too much scene chewing going on this is forgivable as the participants show a lot of skill in their characterisation, the volatile Cassius - whose lowest setting seems to be "Apoplectic" - particularly shines.
With good music choices and a particularly well directed scene amalgamating the plotting with Calpurnia's pleas to Caesar not to attend the Senate, this production more than does justice to its subject matter.

NTW : The hopeless Portia

JTD : The cross-scene direction

How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously

2007-08-18T14:01:00.001+01:00

Seriously. Pet Shop Boys. Reinterpreted., Roxy Art House

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe once revealed that when they first formed Pet Shop Boys they had the idea of an ever-changing line-up under the PSB "brand"; two young Englishmen today, 4 raunchily dressed Japanese girls the next, 3 crusty rockers the next etc. to better suit the particular material they had written. They could do worse than fully endorse the performers in Seriously and send them out on tour.
This show is superb. It contains, to quote one of the songs not used in the show, love, sin, sex, divine intervention, death and destruction - everything for your complete entertainment. Two interconnected stories - a married couple's break up and their son's discovery of love - are told through Tennant/Lowe compositions re-arranged and inter cut in a style that can best be described as "cabaret-opera". The choice of songs, lyrics (from full readings, to repeated choruses, to single lines) and arrangements for live string quartet and piano are well made and beautifully performed. This succeeds in bringing out how wide-ranging and often deceptively touching Pet Shop Boys are as songwriters, with echoes of Sondheim at his best. Match this material with fabulous vocalists who can not only sing but act too, and you have a theatrical experience never to be forgotten.
The venue's architecture and acoustics add to the beauty of the piece as the musicians are framed inside an archway and the performers use the space effectively. Special praise should go to Maria Mercedes and Michael Howard Smith as the doomed couple, whose performance of a medley of Jealousy, I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More, You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk and Left To My Own Devices is merely the first of several show-stoppers.
Seriously is one of those shows where you want the performance to stop so you can prepare yourself to experience it. I went twice and would go again in an instant. My pick of the Fringe so far.

NTW : Some of choreography was a little ropey (but seconds out of the 75 minute running time)

JTD : You'll believe these songs were written to be performed this way, perhaps they were!

A finger of milk, in a dirty glass

2007-08-18T13:54:00.000+01:00

Andy Zaltzman, 32, Administers His His Emergency Dose Of Afternoon Utopia, Steps Back, And Waits To See What Happens, The Stand

Non-confrontational political comedian Andy Zaltzman takes the theme of building a utopia for his show this year. His ideas are as brilliant as ever - a contractually obligated third World War in the 1970s that no one reported as Germany had already lost the best of three series 2-0 for example - but they're not as numerous nor, critically, as replete with gags as they have been in the past. That some of his set-piece stories meandered a little and fizzled out rather than climaxed, was especially regrettable as he was reading them from a book and one supposed he was keen to stay as close to his words as possible. Still solidly entertaining for an hour, but definitely a case of "must try harder".

NTW : Reuse of material from previous shows and his Political Animal compere-ing

JTD : Ideas, ideas, ideas - Andy's reasons for proposing marriage and his heart to heart with a ballot paper.

Up in the morning early

2007-08-18T13:47:00.000+01:00

The Early Edition, Udderbelly

Marcus Brigstocke, Andre Vincent and their guests go through the morning's papers for find comedy in current events. To some extent the show relies on the content of the papers but in August, it being "silly season", it can be fairly guaranteed that material won't be lacking. Once the foursome, completed on the day I saw the show by Nick Doody and Miles Jupp, got into their stride there were plenty of laughs to be had. Brigstocke held it together and kept the show moving well, while also providing most of the best gags and audience interaction, including a brief conversation with your correspondent about the City Of Edinburgh Council's transport strategy that was quickly abandoned when it became clear that there was not a great deal of comedy in the topic. A great way to start your fringe day.

NTW : An unnecessary question and answer session

JTD : Brigstocke's Friday Night Project impressions

Brothers, Sisters Can't You See!

2007-08-14T21:10:00.000+01:00

The Tommy Sheridan Chat Show, Teviot

Surprisingly, following the itemisation and slating of his opening material in a national newspaper, Sheridan has stuck with it, but then neither taking any notice of the press nor letting go of lost causes were ever high on Tommy's agenda.
How you enjoy this show depends largely on your position on the ex-MSP, but whether you support or oppose him, you can't ignore the fact that there is the kernel of a possible future career here for Tommy. He needs to have his political edges softened a little and to learn that not every crowd needs to be whipped up into a frenzy and that the presence of a microphone means that there is no need to shout, but a couple of weeks with a media "coach" could see Sheridan develop a nice little sideline in interviewing. When he was comfortable with guest an subject matter, such as discussing football with Jackie McNamara, Tommy did well but such times were few and far between.

NTW : OK, Tommy, we get that you're a socialist

JTD : The sunbed timer

Ying tong tiddle I po

2007-08-14T21:06:00.000+01:00

The Lost Tapes Of Tom Bell, White Horse

Bell is a very personable comedian, and he has a number of good ideas that could be expanded to fill an hour long show. Unfortunately he throws them all into one show and never lets any develop to a satisfactory conclusion. Most unforgivably, the concept advertised, a show based around tape recordings of himself as a seven year old, is held off for 20 minutes of only reasonably funny material about mime.
Tom Bell has some promising material, and a fresh way of interacting with an audience but he is more of a "one to watch" than a "must see" at this point.

NTW : one show - one concept. See it through

JTD : Crumpets for all!

Carry On Camping!

2007-08-14T20:55:00.000+01:00

Eurobeat - Almost Eurovision, Plesance

The word-of-mouth hit of the Fringe, as 10 countries compete for the audience's text votes in a mini-Eurovision Song Contest that is so keenly observed and executed that it is far more appealing than the real thing has been for many years. The pairing of type of song or performer to country is excellent - tradition giving way to Europop for the Mediterranean countries, veiled homo-eroticism for the former Soviet Bloc and Balkans, experimental ism from Germany and teary-eyed ballads from the Irish.
The performances are energetic and only the occasional obviously "played for laughs" moments jar with the affectionate parodies. The interval act - all ridiculous metaphors and Young Generation costumes and routines - convinced me that the producers should be let loose on the real thing as soon as possible.
Several of the songs were actually rather good but a couple outstayed their welcome and enforcement of the real-life 3 minute limit could have tightened the show considerably. A couple of missed opportunities also blighted the show, the Abba parody wasn't up to much and surely Greece should have tried to give maximum points to (non-competing) Cyprus. The size and scale of the show meant that it wasn't what I'd consider to be a fringe show but it was enormous fun and would be ideal for girls-nights-out or any group who can find it within themselves to embrace the campery. If you've ever chuckled along to the diggy-loos and diggy-lays of the real thing, you'll have a ball at Eurobeat.

NTW : A shame they couldn't have given the UK a Brotherhood of Man/Bucks Fizz style pop masterpiece rather than an overblown Gemini-style ballad.

JTD : The enforced partisanship - if you want to win, opt for Italy, Estonia or Ireland - although I would love to be there on a night when the German krautrock spectacular gets to perform a triumphant encore.

Do not see this show

2007-08-14T20:50:00.001+01:00

How To Pimp Your Kids And Shop For Free At Waitrose, Sweet

The title of the show is in no way ironic, Matthew Collins will tell you how to defraud an upmarket grocer and exploit the young. He even shows you the evidence to prove he is not joking.
Using a show as a marketing opportunity to sell a CD, DVD or book can be forgivable if the show itself is entertaining and, though he has a couple of mildly funny anecdotes, Collins' show comes across as a half-prepared presentation to the board. The climax, wherein he explains in detail how he allowed his two young children to busk in Key West, discovered they made money doing so and returned for not just the remainder of that vacation, but twice more since, provoked justified mutterings of moral outrage.
There should be no place at any arts festival for exploitation and borderline suggestions that the audience commit a crime. A closing film of the children outlining their agreement to participate leaves you with a nasty taste in the mouth. Avoid.

(Inevitably) Whatever happened to you?

2007-08-14T20:44:00.000+01:00

On The Stage - And Off, Assembly Rooms

Rodney Bewes has carved a comfortable niche for himself performing one man versions of Victorian and Edwardian comic classics, this year he takes on Jerome K Jerome's autobiographical accounts of his days as a struggling actor. In front of a beautiful and appropriate set, Bewes brings to life a panoply of the Victorian theatrical scene, from Michael Winner-like agents to elderly comedians and fading juvenile leads. The achievement of entertaining an audience for over an hour was somewhat undermined, however, by Bewes' threatening to dry up at several points - though he always managed to pull through eventually. Similarly, Bewes' particular vocal style meant that the ghost of Bob Ferris was never far away. That said, this was a solidly entertaining adaptation and an engaging performance by a clearly enthusiastic performer.

NTW : A little under-rehearsed

JTD : A fabulous set-piece between aspiring actor and cigar-chewing agent.

Still no acknowledgement of the time spent in the Boat House

2007-08-14T20:37:00.000+01:00

Dylan Thomas - Return Journey, Hill St Theatre

Another tour-de-force from Bob Kingdom, in this show recreating a reading by Welsh bard Thomas. As with Capote, the skill and stamina involved in maintaining a personality over 90 minutes is deserving of the highest praise, added to which, Kingdom never once referred to any script or text during recitation of 2 short stories and several lengthy poems. With base material like Thomas' the time passed effortlessly, with the tale of a mining village charabanc trip an especial highlight. The only false-step in the proceedings was the unfortunate result of a lighting effect that made Kingdom's wig bright orange and had the effect of turning into a down at heel Ronald McDonald.

NTW : D'you want fries with that, boyo?

JTD : A masterful, spell-binding solo performance

Daddy of them all

2007-08-14T20:31:00.000+01:00

Justin Moorhouse - Who's The Daddy?, Plesance

Moorhouse develops a near instant rapport with his audience and never loses them for the following hour as he talks easily about his experiences as a father.
A mix of old school style and fresh content had the audience audibly in stitches through tales of shopping trips, single-parent holidays, premature births and father-child relationship building. The secret of a great comedy fringe show is structure and material, Moorhouse has clearly worked hard on both and, if some of the material is not as closely linked to the structure as it could be, Moorhouse's charm and personality paper over the cracks expertly before bringing it all back together for an excellent finale.

NTW : Very, very occasionally the gaps in the structure show

JTD : Pitch perfect delivery of excellent material - it never fails.

They stayed in the Boat House for quite a while.

2007-08-14T20:29:00.000+01:00

Dylan Thomas In London, Venue 13

Attempting to take the audience on a whistle stop tour of the great poet's life in London makes this show a little rushed and occasionally disjointed but strong lead and supporting performances, especially from Eloise Howe, carry the audience through.

NTW : Some text book stage school gestures, such as "drinking"

JTD : Energy and talent are not lacking on the stage

Wot no Tuttsi-Fruitsi?!?

2007-08-14T20:21:00.000+01:00

Waiting For Groucho, Zoo

This story of the Marx Brothers, told by the Brothers themselves as an aged Chico and Harpo wait for Groucho to turn up to a reunion gig is enthusiastically performed by Glasgow-based Rhymes with Purple productions.
Though the piece covers most of the ground one would hope and the performances are genuinely spirited, the show never quite catches fire as Groucho's gags fall a little flat, Zeppo's monologue feels a little forced and too obviously expository, and Chico's accent veers all across Europe only occasionally settling in Italy.
Special mention should be made of the performance of Harpo who, as befits, does not say a word through the piece and comes closest through his physical comedy to the manic, engaging energy of the original.

NTW : Chico's accent

JTD : A functional and effective set is well used

Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb

2007-08-14T20:13:00.001+01:00

Trumptonshire Tales, Plesance

When I was five years old my father took me to the theatre. There were hundreds of other kids and parents there and, before the curtain went up it was bedlam as kids ate sweets, messed about, needed to go to the toilet and generally acted as kids do. Then the show began and one man, dressed in a wizard's cape and hat kept all these kids enthralled for an hour and a half with only a piano to assist him. That man was TV legend Brian Cant and, at the Fringe this year, my Dad and I went back to see him again.
The five year olds had grown and been joined by other former-five year olds and their parents to hear Brian tell us about his involvement as narrator of Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley. The genuine affection Cant is held in was clear from the opening ovation and hushed reverence that accompanied his every utterance.
As well as copious clips from all 3 series, there was also film of series creator and writer Gordon Murray to fill in some of the background that Brian was not party to and a question and answer session at the end where the excitement was audible in every speaker's voice.
Phill Jupitus as MC occasionally hogged the limelight and there were traces of the Wrong Kind Of Nostalgia of the "they must have all been on drugs" variety but this was all outweighed by Cant's leading the audience through "My Hat It Has Three Corners". A treat for the not-so-young-as-they-were and old alike.

NTW : Too much Jupitus, not enough Cant

JTD : Give the people what they want - "My it has "

He's behind there with a torch!

2007-08-14T20:09:00.000+01:00

The Truman Capote Talk Show, Hill St Theatre

Bob Kingdom captures Capote's character, mannerisms and voice perfectly in this extended monologue. The only guest on this "talk show" is Capote himself and the audience is showered with the requisite anecdotes and tidbits of celebrity gossip. Unfortunately the 90 minute running time is a bit too long and some of the insights into celebrity culture peppered through the monologue are lost to the memory as a result.

NTW : An overlong scene change - if it takes more than 10 seconds it's an interval, it takes more than a minute the audience are entitled to leave.

JTD : An excellent sustained performance

Tired of the festival?

2007-08-14T20:02:00.000+01:00

Johnson and Boswell - Late but Live, Traverse

A book launch 250 years late is presented as James Boswell persuades Dr Samuel Johnson to travel to Edinburgh again to puff their accounts of their Scottish adventures.
Spirited performances from Miles Jupp as the appropriately obsequious Boswell and Simon Munnery as the superior and caustic Johnson generate and maintain the audience's interest, even if there does not seem to be much "spark" between them. In retrospect, Munnery being able to get through his opening 10 minute rant against the Scots without being lynched is something of an achievement, however, he never quite escapes the shadow of Robbie Coltrane's Johnson in Blackadder.
With live accompaniment on the pipes and drums and well-worked anachronisms, the show is great fun whether or not you're familiar with the diaries and journals written by the pair.

NTW : Sound effects drowning out Jupp's "Journey to Skye" performance.

JTD : Duelling bagpipes

Dum Dee Dum Dum Dee Dum

2007-08-10T14:05:00.000+01:00

Waiting For Alice, Assembly Rooms

What happens to fictional characters when the book they appear in is not being read? According to Andre Vincent and Phill Jupitus, once they grow tired of rehearsing their parts they have existential conversations on the meaning of “being”. Fortunately, the conversations are quite funny.
Andre and Vincent are Tweedledum and Tweedledee waiting for “you know who”, or at least they were during the performance I saw, they change parts every day (and to some extent within each performance itself) so you can forgive a few lines going a little awry here and there. The writing of the piece is at its best when it captures the nonsensical spirit of Lewis Carroll’s writing and the performances likewise when the performers comedy background comes to the fore. Vincent’s naïve but questioning Dee was matched by Jupitus’ slightly camp and somewhat over-zealous Dum, a performance that put me in mind of Elton John. A solid hour’s entertainment.

NTW : The last minute appearance by "you know who" was a bit of an anti-climax

JTD : "Foldy thing"

The dingo stole your baby

2007-08-09T11:48:00.000+01:00

Sarah Kendall - My Very First Kidnapping, Assembly Rooms

Taking a step away from her usual stand-up, Sarah Kendall brings a part-dramatised tale of outback terror to the Assembly Rooms. My Very First Kidnapping tells the allegedly true story of a weekend from Kendall's college days when a prank mis-fired and found her potentially in the hands of a serial killer.
As well as Kendall, appearing as herself, she is given sterling support by Joanna Neary and, hooray!, Justin Edwards. (If you, like me, were disappointed by what seemed like a no-show by Edwards this year rejoice, for here he is in a supporting role, but still hilarious).
The narrative is well plotted and paced and at some points the tension generated was almost unbearable. Telling such a dramatic story while never being more than 60 seconds from a laugh is a rare achievement. Throw in excellent thumbnail sketches of Kendall's family and a dance routine you'll never forget and you have someting fairly close to comedic perfection.

NTW : No, must have missed that

JTD : Top cast, top script, top direction - top show.

Above the norm

2007-08-09T11:43:00.000+01:00

Norman Lovett's Slideshow, Pleasance

Like an old friend, Norm turns up every other fringe to wax laconic on everyday life and the ways of the world, this year he has gone space-age and brought his slide-projector with him. For an hour he talks you through some the recent photographs he's taken with, he is proud to point out, a camera loaded with film rather than new-fangeld pixels.
After a slow start and a few blind alleys that have either been done too many times before (the Innovations catalogue and it's ilk) or are too personal to Lovett (chewing gum on the streets, anyone?) he hits his stride in the second half with tales of snowmen, sci-fi conventions and pregnant tree. If you like your humour gentle but inspired, book for Norm with confidence. You'll even learn how where to score drugs in Liverpool.

NTW : A few too many personal rants

JTD : Getting a huge laugh from a single shrug

Mourning Glory

2007-08-07T12:56:00.000+01:00

David Benson – Nothing But Pleasure, ~~Potterow~~ Pleasance Dome

Fringe regular Benson takes a nostalgic, but never sentimental, look back the events of the first week of September 1997. Like a meaningful-consequenceless Kennedy assassination, the week of public insanity, sorry mourning, following the death of Princess Diana is a real “where were you when…” moment. Ten years later Benson revives his “one year later” show from 1998 taking us through the events of the week and casting a withering eye over them all. His cabaret-lecture approach allows him to impersonate newsreaders, slack jawed gawkers, showbiz stars and royalty with predictably hilarious results. He picks up brilliantly on the absurdity of the media coverage, culminating in Richard Madeley asking a number of ill children to simply name their illnesses because it’s “what she would have wanted.”
Most commendably Benson does not shy away from reminding his audience that Diana had been persona non grata in the weeks immediately preceding her death and skewering the hypocracy of the media and some of the public for their near instantaneous u-turn in the early hours of the 31st of August. Complete with his now-customary singing interludes, Benson succeeds in taking the audience on an enthralling and comedic journey. David Benson – Nothing But Pleasure – the title says it all.

NTW : It seems the lovely old ladies who used to hand out David’s programmes have been forsaken for good, alas.

JTD : Barbara Cartland gets hot’n’heavy with Peter Sissons

The Pall-bearers Review

2007-08-06T13:16:00.002+01:00

Jerry Sadowitz - Udderbelly

If Sadowitz is arguably the most offensive comedian at the fringe, he is definitely one of the funniest. Sometimes his rants take easy shots at easy targets, but other times he manages to get genuine humour from seemingly untouchable subjects. Not for the faint-hearted or those who are offended easily, moderately, with difficulty or almost never. Among the card tricks there will be jokes you find to be in poor taste, others you laugh along with in spite of yourself and some you completely agree with. Every sacred cow (including the Udderbelly itself – hooray!) slaughtered, every prejudice catered for.

NTW : Sadowitz can be a somewhat relentless in his pummelling of a subject

JTD : An excellent section addressing the question of the sincerity of Sadowitz’s jokes.

London kills me

2007-08-06T13:16:00.001+01:00

Venus As A Boy, Traverse

A workshopped adaptation of Luke Sutherland’s book tells the story of a boy from Orkney whom circumstance propels towards a life as a male prostitute and semi-transexual in London. The brutally explicit narrative is excellently performed by Tam Dean Burn who succeeds in taking the audience on a journey into what would be the heart of darkness were it not for the central character, Cupid’s eternal optimism. In dealing with how the abused “normalise” their experiences this piece may not be to everyone’s tastes but the script is well paced between the sometimes horrific lows and the fleeting highs, the sparse set is well used to portray the bleak landscape of Orkney and the dingy brothels of Soho and the few props exploited imaginatively. Ultimately, though, the show stands or falls by Burn’s performance and the nuances he brings to his work. His skill means that the most reprehensible characters are portrayed to have some redeeming features and even Cupid himself is not portrayed in an entirely flattering light. The absence of clearly defined ‘good’ or ‘evil’ characters means that Venus As A Boy continues to resonate long after the last notes of the live musical accompaniment has faded.

NTW : The worth of the live musical accompaniment is questionable

JTD : The subtle and appropriate gestures used to denote the secondary characters paint them as instantly as a hundred costume changes would have.

The nation's favourite female comedy double act appearing in a hut near the Pleasance at quarter to five

2007-08-06T13:14:00.002+01:00

Two Left Hands, Pleasance

A sketch show based around a run down seaside town is not the most promising concept but Charlotte Hudson and Leila Hackett manage to inject enough energy into it to ensure the hour passes by amiably enough.
Their range of performances cannot be criticised but the writing quality varies wildly over the various sketches. There’s an excellent sketch between a mother and a daughter that has genuine pathos but there’s also a series of awful sketches centred on two lads’ attempts to pull girls by appearing sophisticated, but not too sophisticated, that are unfocussed and dull. A bigger problem than the overall writing standards, however, is the complete lack of punchlines, vital for blackout sketches to feel satisfactory.
The whole is saved, however, by a closing section dedicated to the reunion of Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson that betrays a great fondness below the mickey-taking (plus bonus points for including the none-more-80s “ooh, Gary Davies” Radio 1 jingle).

NTW : The “funny woman” spectrum runs a long way from Victoria Wood to Su Pollard – there are too many moments from the “I wanna be a yellow coat” end of the scale.

JTD : Is it worth sitting through the poorer sections to have Charlotte Hudson almost strip in front of you? Shamefully, the answer is yes.

Cold snap

2007-08-06T13:14:00.001+01:00

Last South, Pleasance

“History does not record the names of those who finished in second place.” So wrote Captain Robert Falcon Scott, ironically history’s best remembered runner-up. There are a fair few other ironies revealed during Last South’s presentation of 2 concurrent monologues of the race for the South Pole in 1912, one from Scott, the other from his rival, Roald Amundsen.
Adapted from the writing and diaries of Scott and Amundsen, G.M. Calhoun’s script initially assumes a little too much that the audience has knowledge of the mechanics of a polar expedition but eventually settles into an engaging narrative highlighting the differences in approach, both literally and figuratively, of the British and Norweigan quests for the Pole.
The skill of the scripts and performances of Adrian Lukis as Scott and Jamie Lee as Amundsen is in maintaining interest in the reasons for Amundsen’s “victory” and Scott’s failure. Does Amundsen’s embracing of the concept of a “race” to the pole give him the edge over Scott’s better equipped and funded expedition? Does Scott’s deep seated desire to achieve more than his former subordinate, Ernest Shackleton’s earlier expedition prove his undoing?
The device of having the actors “write” their diaries onstage is a valid one, but spoiled by the prop diaries being quite clearly the script of the piece. In itself that would be no problem, a legitimate device to remain faitfull to the words as written but they should be better disguised.
In the earlier stages the similarity between the tales of trudges through the Antarctic wilderness can slow the pace a little, but the closing contrast between Amundsen’s triumphant return to his ship and the heart-breaking final entries and letters of Scott’s doomed expedition are stunningly well performed.

NTW : The script-diaries, disguise them or lose them!

JTD : The closing passages revealing the softer side of Scott.

Third party candidates

2007-08-06T13:13:00.000+01:00

Political Animal, Underbelly

A late-night showcase gig supposedly for political comics (or at least for comics’ political material) devised and hosted by Andy Zaltzman. The show I saw featured Marcus Birdman, Alastair Barrie and Richard Herring.
As compere, Zaltzman produced his trademark inspired ideas and backed them up with excellent gags, dealt with the disruptive audience elements in an effective and idiosyncratic way and, commendably, gave hecklers fair credit where it due.
Marcus Birdman’s set was well paced and crammed with fabulous material. He was easily the biggest hit with the audience and, on this evidence, his solo show should be well worth checking out.
Alastair Barrie took a more improv-based approach and, though it consequently suffered in terms of structure, suggested that forking out for his solo hour would also be money well spent. Particular credit to Barrie for getting the audience back on side when he decided to give up on a routine half-way through.
Last up was Richard Herring whose material, by his own admission, is rarely political in the strictest sense of the word. Perhaps the best that can be said it that of all the Richard-Herring-style, intelligent, sarcastic, ironic, studenty-type comedians, Richard Herring is the best.

NTW : Herring’s tendency to flog a concept to death.

JTD : Birdman’s “pretending to be a Jew” routine.

Clockwatching

2007-08-06T13:11:00.001+01:00

Kim Hope - It's About Time, Teviot

Australian Kim Hope puts a lot of effort into her show but, unfortunately, her hard work can’t compensate for the poor quality of her material. She tries to confound the cliché that women are only interested in weddings and babies but succeeds only in confirming it with an annoying tendency to end a routine complaining about a subject, say, babies, by saying : “Nah, but babies are great really.”
Hope has a few good gags but not nearly enough to fill an hour, so it is fortunate that her personality can carry the audience through the act. Some interesting experimentation with the format of a comedy gig by introducing quizzes and prizes also relieves what might otherwise have been an unbearable hour.

NTW : No amount of personality can make up for a lack of gags.

JTD : The quiz managed to put a bit of momentum into her act.

"Aren't you Paul Lavers?" "No, I'm David Niven." "Then you're the finest man who ever breathed."

2007-08-03T07:59:00.000+01:00

7 Spies At The Casino, Underbelly

Spend an hour in the company of Britain's first international screen star, war hero, quintessential chap and "forgotten" James Bond, David Niven. 7 Spies... strings together a bunch of Hollywood anecdotes - many from the pages of Niven's own books - with the story of the making of the first and greatest film version of Casino Royale - the best movie ever to feature Chic Murray shooting Orson Welles through a TV set. It is odd, however, that a show taking this celluloid delight as its subject should denigrate it so much, while also mentioning just about everything that made it great (Bernard Cribbins!, turbo-charged milk floats!!, a robotic Ronnie Corbett!!!)
Playing "Niv" is Paul Lavers, whom your funny uncle will remember from his role in Doctor Who in 1978 and your granny will remember as that nice blond fella from imperial phase QVC. Lavers' work for shopping channel means that he is quite at home chatting to an audience for an hour and, in make up, could be at least a long-shot double for Niven himself. Beyond the pencil moustache and evening dress, however, he presents far more than a caricature of Niven, taking us into the actor's life off set and skillfully shedding just enough light and emotion on personal tragedies amid the name-dropping.
James Goss' (yes, BBC "Who" website supremo) script is suitably dry and witty and consequently and correctly provides more chuckles than belly laughs. The grating effect of one of the production staff to raise bigger laughs during the performance I saw were not appreciated and became more distracting when the guffaws punctuated lines that were not even close to the denouement of the anecdote.
A well chosen set and sympathetic lighting evoke the cool chic of the swinging 60s well (although one would have thought the budget would have run to a couple more quid for an olive on a cocktail stick in Niv's martini!) in a piece that ably, amiably and honestly ressurrects one of Hollywood's legendary raconteurs.

NTW : Could have done with a little more in the way of visuals, stills from the film might be expensive but some sort of chart or diagram mapping the making of the movie could have provided both more visual stimulus and further opportunities for comedy.

JTD : Lavers' recounting the entire plot of the film and, almost, making it seem like it made some sort of sense is some achievement.

Still magically delicious!

2007-08-02T08:37:00.000+01:00

Andrew Maxwell - Waxin', Pleasance

The deceptively charming Irishman returns! In the preview I saw, Maxwell upped the whimsy content over last year's, more hard-edged "Round Twilight", and "Waxin'" was all the better for it. That's not to say that there isn't still plenty here to offend (with a wide variety of religions particularly mocked and a fair deal of swearing) but the more even balance between the message material and the mischievous material is beneficial. Coupled with the rapport Maxwell can build with an audience he's only a couple of steps off the pace of the great days of Billy Connolly.
Certainly his set pieces on the pride the people of Cork have in their city, his upcoming "charitable" appearances and the etiquette of Hampstead Heath's swimming ponds are the stuff of Parky-style anecdotage and Maxwell's free-wheeling style allows him to digress hilariously from these onto a variety of excellent side gags. With his "Leith schemie" accent already legendary, Maxwell also threw in Scouse, Slovak, Glaswegian, Orcadian, Jamaican and a number of Irish accents to great comic effect.
With good basic material and the tightening of the show's structure that should come during the previews, this just may be Andrew Maxwell's year.

NTW : The meandering can go down a few "but, you know..." or "it's crazy, isn't it?" blind alleys.

JTD : Skag-a-job week - brilliant ideas, brilliant gags, brilliant physicality - a miniature masterpiece.

Crampons? Is that not taking the "new man" thing a bit far?

2007-08-01T08:05:00.000+01:00

Long Time Dead, Traverse

Rona Munro's new play explores how our passions effect our relationships and how our relationships can turn passion into obessession throught a narrative based around mountaineering. Watching the actors climb around a set incorporating climbing walls, tunnels and hidey-holes, one learns a lot more about mountaineering than one would expect from an evening at the theatre. As well as the dexterity shown by the performers, the technical aspects of the set are well managed as dry ice floats eerily over the audience through a lozenge-shaped hole that provides a viewing panel onto the stage. This is also effective as a tool to divorce the performance space from the audience's reality and enhance the more fantastical elements of the plot.
Intriguingly, this piece could have ended satisfactorily at the interval but the second act, wherein the consequences of not keeping one's end of a bargain with God are enacted, leads to a satisfying and thankfully not cloying conclusion. The plot is well served by by realistic dialogue, just enough good gags and actors who never lose concentration as they climb and act simultaneously. With such strong performances, such an intriguing premise, such a well crafted script and complementary set design, Long Time Dead is, fittingly, theatre at a peak.

NTW (Needless Theatrical Wank) : An overdone Cock-er-nee accent provides the only mis-footing in the piece.

JTD (Justified Theatrical Devices) : The exploitation of the physical set is promoted well without ever over-shadowing the nuances of the performances and script.

What's that coming over the hill?

2007-07-29T16:43:00.000+01:00

So...erm...yes...well...I've been busy. Busy-ness has prevented me from writing planned entries about going on holiday, the brilliance of The West Wing, a list of little things that annoy me, praise for the new Macca album (suffice it to say, some of it is fab, some of it is poor, and most of it is whistleable), an entry on "interesting things I've found on the ground", the melancholy that comes when landmarks of your past are destroyed and why everyone who previewed The Simpsons Movie got it entirely wrong.

But I've missed the boat on those, so you'll not hear about them unless I get desperate, which will be in about a month's time! I've given the place a bit of a "redd-up" as they say in my part of the world and prepared it for what it was always intended to do. Host my opinions and reviews of Fringe shows. The signs are up, the posters are starting to be visible, the Sunday papers have previewed lots of the shows they think will be "hot", I've taken a perverse pleasure in noticing that I have hardly any of them in my schedule, the cow is back - a visual signfier, in my mind, of all that is wrong with the Fringe, and some tickets have already been booked. My schedule this year, flying in the face of my stated goals of seeing less shows than the Arts Editor of The Scotsman, is quite ambitious, and I doubt it can be followed completely. There is at least one six show day, and a couple of 4s and 5s. Ulp. I've also booked ahead for more than I ever have before, but the stuff that's known to be good sells out so quickly.

Anyway......here we go......

The Play's The Thing!

2007-04-28T15:00:00.000+01:00

Given that the past month has been basically taken up with going to the theatre and that the Fringe is now only an exciting 3 months away, I thought I would revive the Valves theatrical review strand this month and pass comment on the four productions we've been to see this month. The fact that the so-far excellent (4 episodes in) third series of Who has visited William Shakespeare is purely coincidental! Luckily, the standard is high!

Updates - no new reports yet, but a few more in the pending pile---weight loss consistent, but 3lbs off-target, although it should become easier now summer is here----Ebay sales progress, and those who have taken their time to pay have now done so, hooray!----Theatrical excitement does not bode well for the Fringe goal.

The Play What I Wrote

2007-04-28T14:59:00.002+01:00

So, first up is the Morecambe and Wise referencing "The Play What I Wrote", West End hit and promiser of Special Guest Stars!

I thought it was a straightforward Morecambe and Wise tribute show with perhaps a slight linking narrative, but in fact it's the story of a struggling double act with similarities to Morecambe and Wise, one of whom wants to divert into serious theatre with the Ern'-like Play What He Wrote and the other of whom wants to follow the big bucks that he believes a Morecambe and Wise tribute show will bring them. The first half ends with them agreeing to follow the Eric and Ernie route and the second half is set up to be the show. However, it never really gets going, and they are side-tracked again into the "Play What I Wrote" with the obligatory guest stars - in this case Colin and Justin, one of whom was very good, the other of whom was very dire. I'm not sure which is which but the bleached blonde one was rubbish.

The show was fun and, as long as you're prepared for variety-style pratfalls, cross talk and double entendres, contains many good laughs. The biggest problem with this particular production was that I never believed the two leads were actually a double-act and they didn't garner much sympathy from this particular audient. I just wanted them to get on with the curtain routines and the songs and dances.

NTW : The whole production was just a little threadbare - design, or actual wear and tair?

JTD : Well done to Colin and Justin (and to all the guest stars ever) because far from a walk on cameo, they have a lot to do to carry the second half.

Underneath The Lintel

2007-04-28T14:59:00.001+01:00

To London's glittering West End, for Glen Berger's Underneath The Lintel, starring The West Wing's Richard Schiff.

The play is a whimsical little piece, that from time to time takes itself a little too seriously. The story of a Dutch librarian who becomes intrigued by a late returned book and embarks on a quest to find the borrower, Underneath the Lintel finds the single character ruminating on the nature of life, history and meaning without ever becoming forboding. The plot hangs on a series of Da Vinci Code-like coincidences and theories, and the skill for the single actor in the play is to make these seem natural or to make the librarian's acceptance of them not seem too outrageous.

Richard Schiff held the audience in his hand for 90 minutes, unspooling his tale of laundry tickets, 18th century landed gentry and tramcars with perfect timing and drawing the audience further into the world of the lonely librarian. His standing ovation at the peformance I saw (the final London performance) was the least we could do to signal our appreciation of his skill at his craft.

NTW : The set was a basic community hall or class room, so attempts to "jazz it up" with dimming and brightening wall lamps was distracting.

JTD : 90 minutes, an audience, one man. That's theatre right there.

Black Watch

2007-04-28T14:58:00.000+01:00

So, 9 months on from this, would Black Watch still be as thrilling and satisfying a whole Fringe and a national tour later? In a word, yes.

On second viewing, the historical parallels are even stronger, the brilliantly executed set pieces even more brilliant, the writing even sharper and the characterisation, which was possibly overlooked by me last time in my awe at the complete spectacle, was pin sharp from the outset.

I would hesitate to say that the producers have taken the Valves advice and shortened the closing tattoo, but it certainly didn't seem to go on as long this time. The choreographed fights were tighter and what few alterations have been made to the structure of the piece have served to focus and energise it.

As the Herald says "The world should see this play."

NTW : The first "dance and physical theatre" move is still a tiny bit grating, but far less so than it was.

JTD : I've decided it's definitely letters from home. A wise man recently said "You can change people from that stage, change their minds." Even without a stage, Black Watch can do this.

Tutti Frutti

2007-04-28T14:57:00.000+01:00

Anything was always going to pale next to Black Watch, but Tutti Frutti held its own well, but ultimately it was a battle it was never going to win.

Nonetheless, my advice would be don't go to see it directly after Black Watch rather than don't go to see it.

John Byrne has adapted six hours of TV drama into three hours of stage drama and almost gotten away with it. The speed is the biggest problem, you know what's happening, but you don't care as much as you should. The performers were great, the set is magnificent and practical and the lines are good, there are just too many of them.

Having never seen the TV series I sincerely hope the rumoured BBC4 repeat run can be secured, as the somewhat disappointing play leaves me in no doubt that it will be fabulous.

NTW : It needs to be slowed down, as the characters have no chance to endear themselves to you before they have begun their "journey".

JTD : Bizarrely, the same thing because it demonstrates brilliantly how your viewing of television narrative differs from stage narrative. On TV you give the characters a chance to establish their personalities without verbally or physically signposting them, on stage the lack of that signposting makes it very difficult to empathise or sympathise with them.

Under the wire?

2007-03-25T15:06:00.000+01:00

Hello again,

Quick update :

Ebay sales progressing
Another report published this month
Another 2 and a half pounds off - yeah, that could be better...

Anyway...on with the motley

The greatest lesson Jesus ever taught was "always have a plan B"

2007-03-25T14:58:00.000+01:00

Spent a great proportion of last weekend watching the superlative "North Square" on Teleport Replay or whatever Virgin call it now. Having not seen it (in common with nigh on everyone else) since it's only transmission on Channel 4 in late 2000, I was gratified to find that it really was a brilliantly written, directed and performed TV series.
Centred around a newly formed barrister's chambers in Leeds, the show highlighted the acting talents of Helen McCrory, Kevin McKidd and Rupert Penry-Jones as young barristers and Phil Davis in never-bettered form as Head Clerk Peter McLeish, a Machiavellian mixture of Del Boy, Arthur Daley, Gordon Gecko and Michael Corleone. Given another series and a bit of softening of the character, he could have been a TV archetype to rival Bet Lynch, Yosser Hughes or Victor Meldrew. He wades in the muck of Leeds' criminal underbelly to keep his barristers in business and spinning schemes on a sixpence to keep them from harm, and coming out with one liners like this piece's headline to endear himself to the viewer and his junior clerks, Johnny Boy and "Bob". Superb.
Alas, it was not to be, but any fans of 21st century television drama should seek it out (it seems to have disappeared from the listings now, sadly). Now, Virgin, any chance of "Trust"?

Major Tom's a cheeky monkey!

2007-03-25T14:43:00.000+01:00

Also taking up some time in the brain recently has been Bryan Ferry's new LP, "Dylanesque".

Yes, another album of cover versions from suave legend Byron Ferrari, but only because the Roxy Music reunion record has been progressing slowly and it is for the most part a cracker.

Bryn Fury is a past master of the cover version, of course, offering a radical re-working of "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" as his first solo single, and turning his hand to standards and rock and roll classics with aplomb in his time.

The LP opens with two typical "Ferry Does Dylan" tracks, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" and "Simple Twist Of Fate" in the "stomp-stomp" style of his earlier "Hard Rain" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" from his last collection, "Frantic". There are a couple of embarrasing moments "The Times They Are A-Changing" is a period piece and resurrecting it seems a bit nonsensical, and "To Make You Feel My Love" disappointly retreads the Dylan original and Billy Joel's version. However, the already magnificent "Postively 4th Street" is brilliantly handled, substituting Dylan's biting dismissal with resigned melancholy over a lover determined not to learn the lessons the singer had been trying to teach. The closing instrumental minute is worth the price of admission alone.

And so, to cover versions in general....one rule and one rule only, they need to be different. They need to add something to the song that the original didn't highlight. Hence my top 5 cover versions (most of whose originals are excellent too):

5. Comfortably Numb - Scissor Sisters. Weld the Pink Floyd original to a Disco beat and a Bee Gees delivery, revelatory.

4. You're Beautiful - Fred MacAulay. From the recent "Comic Relief does Fame Academy" (don't dwell on the awful title). Now this was an annoying song when sung by the wettest trained killer ever to grace the charts. There was no emotion. Fred nailed it. He saw her face in a crowded place and....he didn't know what to do (blub!).

3. Mr Tambourine Man - The Byrds. The greatest intro to any record ever? Pure sunshine in a bottle!

2. Always On My Mind - Pet Shop Boys. The inability to express regret makes the expression of it even more poignant. Best experienced in the video version from the film "It Couldn't Happen Here" with Joss Ackland. "I smell youth, vintage youth."

1. With A Little Help From My Friends - Joe Cocker. About as far from the "identikit" cover version as you can get. Ringo's singalongaPepper transformed into a behemoth of heavy pop, so wrought you could build Victorian gates out of it!

How can a light that burned so brightly, suddenly burn so pale?

2007-03-25T14:25:00.000+01:00

Some of those "identikit cover versions" were mentioned in BBC3s "Top 100 Most Annoying Pop Songs". I actually rather enjoyed this programme, but oddly not for the reasons the makers intended.

It was striking how many of the entries began with a talking head saying "That's a great record.", usually shortly after I had said the same thing, or words to the same effect. I believe of the 50 pop songs listed last night I had at least 45 on my iPod.

My musical taste can, at times be questionable (but those questions can be proudly answered in most cases) but the issue was with the title and premise of the programme. The list from 100 - 50 included "Move On Up" by M People, "Holding Back The Years" by Simply Red, "JCB" by Nizlopi, "Bright Eyes" by Art Garfunkel, "Hello" by Lionel Richie and "Don't Cha" by the Pussycat Dolls. The list was not, in fact, the most annoying pop songs, but the most catchy and fleetingly ubiquitous pop songs. Catchiness and fleeting ubiquity are the very apotheosis of the pop record, and should be celebrated, not denigrated. Yes, not every time and place befits an airing of "Money For Nothing", but in small doses when the time is right, nothing else can hit the spot like the Knopf' banging out those power chords.

Most of the records had been hugely popular in their time, and this can definitely be a curse, but can lead to a strange phenomenon. "Bright Eyes" was huge hit before my time (only slightly, but the point stands) and it became a by-word for naff pop, meaning it was very rarely heard. Once I did hear it properly (and shorn of associated animated rabbits) it is a cracking tune with touching lyrics sung well by a distinctive, interesting voice. In short, it is a pop masterpiece.

In the programme's defence, one of the talking heads was from Toploader, a band who I could never stand, with especial reference to their mega hit "Dancing in the Moonlight", because it was just weedy and pointlessly commercial. Being twinned with Jamie Oliver in a Sainsbury's ad didn't do it any favours either! I'll cheer when that one pops up on the list. And also they showed a clip of Don MacLean, Peter Glaze and Jan Hunt doing a typically barmy "Bohemian Rhapsody" on Crackerjack.

Crackerjack!

A herald!

2007-02-18T18:08:00.000Z

So, back again, at last, eh?

Point one, you'll see the Valves has been somewhat expanded, with the addition of other blogs for you to try and the like, and I've also been experimenting with some other technical whizz bangs you might notice!

How are the various quests going, I hear you ask?

Well, six weeks in I'm five pounds lighter, which is not disasterous, but is on the worrying side. I've even had the old exercise bike defrosted to try to shed further pounds. I'm worried, however, that all it's doing is building me up into a God-like superbeing rather than reducing me to the svelte lamp-post I aspire to become!

At least one report will be published this month, so that's something, and I am committed to having further reports drafted by the end of February. Fingers crossed.

The ebay sales are going OK, but I'm not getting the prices I really want for some of the items and others have stubbornly refused to sell. If it isn't sold after 3 auctions it goes to the Charity Shop. I can't believe no one wants my near excellent condition McCartney biographies.

I'll have to console myself with the encouraging words posted about my blog (hint, hint!)

No, but seriously folks, and I mean this most sincerely, just knowing several people have been here is enough...

"A sign of a healthy and energetic culture"

2007-02-18T17:57:00.000Z

....indeed blogs have been much in the news recently, not least because of this woman, Judith O'Reilly, whose blog Wife In The North, about her experiences moving from London to Northumberland has landed her a £70, 000 book deal. If any publishers are looking in, I'd settle for £65, 000. This story was reported by the Sunday Times, who a week previously had published a story basically saying that Brian May, poodle-haired guitarist and Buckingham Palace straddler, was a bit grumpy on his blog. As, indeed he is, but is this news? Brian himself (of whom more hereafter) asks the same thing.

Another star with a blog is already celebrated antipodean, Clive James. James' website is shaping up to be a fantastic place to spend any spare time you may have, containing as it does many articles and essays unseen for a number of years, as well as his "Library" interviews. At the risk of becoming an unofficial Clive James fansite, I'll direct you here, if you need reminding what all the fuss is about.

(P.S. Clive's weekly Points Of View on Radio Four are already required listening for all. If I ruled the world this is the kind of regulated whimsy children would receive from an early age!)

Rock Music For Twelve-Year-Olds

2007-02-18T17:43:00.000Z

Which brings me rather neatly to Queen. I occasionally find that a blast of Queen can set me up for the day, other times their over-blown pomp-rock is the very last thing I want to hear. The past few weeks, however, have been a veritable Queen fest for me. They are an excellent distraction from the exhaustion of the exercise bike and I've also very much enjoyed Seven Seas of Rhye, Bohemian Rhapsody, Don't Stop Me Now, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, A Kind Of Magic and Headlong blasting out of my iPod as I go about my mundane business. I've made up a playlist based on their Greatest Hits albums, although I've done some major rearrangement when it comes to Greatest Hits III, as might be expected.

My current feeling is that they were an immensely talented bunch, from Roger Taylor's precision drum work on the likes of "Flash" to John Deacon's melodic but never over-fussy basslines on "Under Pressure" and "Another One Bites The Dust". Don't forget quiet, unassuming bassman Deacon also wrote such pop classics as "I Want To Break Free", "You And I", "Spread Your Wings" and "These Are The Days Of Our Lives". Of course, Brian May blasting out two-part guitar solos that start conventionally but then slamming down the whammy bar on the legendary Red Special to produce the "Brian May version". Last, but certainly not least, F Mercury Esq., praise for whose showmanship often eclipses the strength of his voice, listen to the nuances of something like "Save Me" or the way his "It ain't much of askin'..." seems to lift the whole band up from nothing following the guitar solo in "I Want It All." In fact, even it's use on the DFS sofas advert can't dim the brilliance of "I Want It All", definitely on my Desert Island Discs list this week!

"Life is a series of small disasters we try to get through"

2007-02-18T17:33:00.000Z

Thus spake Michael Palin, whose "Diaries 1969 - 1979" have been taking up most of my reading time since last I posted. Like many diarists or autobiographers, Palin is quite hard on himself, especially about taking the advertiser's shilling in the early '70s. Much fun to be had for Python fans in this volume as Michael is often quite revealing about his fellow Pythons, with Cleese (selfish), Idle (obtuse and rather greedy) and Chapman (drunk) particularly coming in for criticism. His "nicest man in showbiz" reputation is assured by his agonising over how changes to their working relationship post-Python effects Terry Jones. This has led me to embark on a highly enjoyable voyage round "Ripping Yarns", which I recently got on DVD. The commentaries (featuring Palin and Jones) are excellent, even if they do spend a lot of time laughing at their own jokes, a trait I share, and Palin continues the obsession with his teeth that comes across strongly even in the (heavily abridged) diaries.

The most surprising aspects of the diaries for me were Palin's staunch socialist beliefs which are unwaveringly given in the early '70s. Frustratingly his reaction to Mrs Thatcher's election in 1979 has not been included, so whether or not he had mellowed with the introduction of money and comfort to his life is not clear. More pressingly he wrote a novel in 1977 that he then seemed to discard. As a great fan of his only published novel, "Hemingway's Chair", I was simulataneously elated and disappointed that it's unlikely this work will ever see the light of day, shame.

Celluloid Scribblings

2007-02-18T17:15:00.000Z

Ending up with films again this time, saw "Notes On A Scandal" last week, and enjoyed it muchly. I haven't read the book, so I can't comment if director and minor National Treasure, Richard Eyre, has taken unspeakable liberties with it. I did feel that there should have been a warning to patrons that the film contains scenes of Judi Dench in a bath and that viewers of a nervous disposition should avert their eyes.

One of the greatest things about the film, and any British film really, for me, is seeing actors you just don't see on the big screen very often. In this case the excellent Phil Davis (star of the wonderful, much lamented "North Square", someone must be able to seed this to UK Nova, surely!), the reassuring Tom "George Thomason" Georgeson and the ever welcome presence of Julia "William!" MacKenzie. This last was even more surprising due the presence in the cast of Joanna Scanlan, long suffering Terri in "The Thick Of It" who is the spitting image of Ann Beach, who played "Only me, Sonia" from next door in none-more-80s sitcom "Fresh Fields".

We also managed to catch up with "Little Miss Sunshine", which is life-affirming, touching and, above all, funny. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it sneaked up on the outside to take the top gong at next week's Oscar ceremony.

Still here!

2007-01-23T20:49:00.000Z

So, here we are again, then, and of the five ongoing aims I can report:

1. 2 pounds have been lost - yeah!
2. A couple of reports have begun being written - yeah!
3. Ebay sales are continuing apace - anyone wishing to buy some hack biographies of Macca should head on over there pronto - yeah!
4. There's another entry on the blog - who said boo! - see me after class laddie!

So what's been knocking at the door of wonderment and rant this time.....

Double Cross!

2007-01-23T20:38:00.000Z

Yet more disappointment with Channel 4, not about Jade Goody starting WWIII, but with the intriguingly

premised "Consent".

Billed as a first for TV, Consent showed the audience the build up to and fall out from an alleged rape, perpetrated on Anna Madeley (left), and her decision to report it to the Police, the aftermath of this, the eventual trial and the deliberation of a jury picked at random from the electoral roll, who then delivered a verdict.

The twist was that the jury did not see the "drama" part of the story before the trial as the viewers did, and had only the testimony of the actors and "performances" of the real life Police and Legal folk in the court to decide on.

Unfortunately it was soon clear that the producers had scheduled 2 hours of telly with a hook (the jury deliberations) that barely lasted 20. We saw the alleged victim and attacker carousing at the staff night out, him stepping somewhat over the line by following her into her room, her seeming quite happy to kiss him, and then no more until the next morning and a few days afterwards when she was told she had been promoted, but not to the more senior position she wanted, as that had gone to him.

In court the evidence revolved around was was said and done in the bedroom, that the viewer had not seen. So really we were as in the dark as the jury were, although by this time most viewers would probably have reached a view on the case.

As it was the fascinating, but short, deliberations of the jury ended with a not guilty verdict. Relief in the dock and tears in the public gallery, and then we saw some more of the encounter. Now it was clear it had not been consensual and she had been raped. However, I couldn't help but feel this was a bit of a cheap shot at the members of the jury who participated openly and willingly and I am sure that, had the verdict gone the other way, there was film ready to be used showing that a rape had clearly not taken place.

Come on TV, you can do better than this!

Buzz me up to...number 17

2007-01-23T20:31:00.000Z

It had to happen eventually, but who knew it would be so soon? Since the singles charts (or "hit parade" if you prefer) embraced all legal downloads, it was inevitable that eventually some "joker" would persuade people to download something a bit random and get it into the top 20. For a while it looked like it was going to be the massed ranks of Doctroo fans pushing that song off the good-but-not-that-good Christmas special into "the only chart that counts". In fact it was the man who made me realise I'm not young anymore, Chris Moyles, who rallied his listeners to download "Honey To The Bee" by Billie Piper, from back she was still just Billie, and as I type it sits at number 17, a monument to the lost innocence of the charts.

I think downloading has been good for the chart, meaning the dog days of 40+ number ones a year may be a thing of the past, and good popular songs hang about for far longer - look at the Scissor Sisters and Razorlight hanging in with over 20 weeks apiece.

It does seem odd to me, however, that Moyles, as a DJ on a chart station should encourage the newly re-credible chart to be discredited, but then his appeal has always been a mystery to me. At least it's a good tune. As your grandfather would say....

Freedom!

2007-01-23T20:22:00.000Z

I was informed recently of an Emu comic strip that ran in the 70s. Enquiring further I was told that what usually happened was that Emu would get himself into some scrape and at the end of the strip Rod would turn up and sort....HANG ON....REWIND....at the END of the strip Rod would turn up? Rod wasn't with Emu throughout? Apparently not! This struck me as just plain wrong. Emu without Rod was unthinkable! I am assured that I missed the glory days of Rod and Emu and that the Emu I remember, the petulant child clinging to his "mother"s skirts, only awakening to nip or punch another child before returning quickly to his sulks, is a pale shadow of the late 70s Emu who was a lot of fun!

Whatever, he had a go at miserable old "professional journalist" Michael Parkinson, who obviously hates all mention of the incident, so good luck to him, and the much missed Rod.

I used to be a big fan of the Pink Windmill Show (plenty of clips available on YouTube for a Proustian nostalgia rush) and always preferred Grotbags, Croc and Robot Redford to Rod and Emu anyway!

All together now...There's somebody at the door, there's somebody at the door.....

Lord of all the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea

2007-01-23T20:10:00.000Z

....it's Idi Amin!

Saw the long-awaited film version of the Giles Foden novel about a young Scottish doctor taken under the wing of vicious, unhinged but quite personable military dictator Idi Amin. It is a brilliant film, with a standout performance from Forest Whitaker as Amin, and a solid centre in James McAvoy's Nicholas Garrigan.

What the film brought out that I hadn't sensed quite as clearly in the novel was Garrigan's identifying with Amin's dislike of the English ex-pats as the son of another "colonised" nation.

However, I have illustrated this entry with the cover of the novel because, as good as the film is, it doesn't have the same grandeur as the novel, which can take it's time and show more of Garrigan's experiences among the ordinary people of Uganda. The time he spends at the rural mission take up more than a third of the book but are skimmed over in the film. Making it seem as though he spends only a few days there before being appointed Amin's personal physician. The character of the other ex-pat Doctor at the mission is also reduced substantially, and this is to the film's detriment as it is from this man that Garrigan learns the practical side of medicine and how to recognise and treat particularly African problems.

Nonetheless, well worth seeing, if only for the performance of Whitaker. Which brings me on to....

Backslappery!

2007-01-23T19:55:00.000Z

....this year's Academy Award nominations. For the first time in a while I have missed a couple of the nominees for Best Picture. I wanted to see "The Departed" but it's a lo-o-o-ong film so I never got round to it. (CCB's theory on film length - if you can tell the story of "Citizen Kane" and "Carry On Camping" in less than 100 minutes - why make films any longer?)

I never really fancied Little Miss Sunshine as it didn't look like they'd been faithful enough to the book. Given the large role he plays in the narrative, I would have expected Mr Happy to be on the poster, and even the little worm was missing!

"Letters From Iwo Jima" is in foreign, although I have seen "Babel" and it was pretty much all in foreign too. "Babel" is a good film, but not a great film and shares an identical structure with last year's winner "Crash", except it isn't as good, and (the cardinal sin) it lasts longer. Which only leaves "The Queen" which I hadn't realised the Americans has so taken to their hearts. Perhaps if the many British "jokes" - "Tell Gordon he'll have to hang on!" - don't resonate it seems more poignant and heart-felt. Peter Morgan must be rubbing his hands with glee!

Surely Peter Baynham's nomination as one of the writers of "Borat" marks the only time an Oscar nominee has appeared in a Pot Noodle commercial.

As I said above, Forest Whitaker's portrayal of Idi Amin is well worthy of any prize awarded for anything, and it would be great to see him accept his award in the Helen Mirren style; "You didn't fall in love with me, you fell in love with Idi Amin...."

Let's go round again !

2007-01-07T11:54:00.000Z

New Year, New Me!

New posts!

New incentive!

Read on!

A cleansing ritual to self-assessment and repentance

2007-01-07T11:43:00.000Z

On New Year's day we had a fantastic meal with my girlfriend Fiona's brother, his wife and her family. This family have a tradition of setting aims for themselves over the year, and ajudging their progress at the beginning of the next. This judging also includes a prize giving and, presumably, bragging rights for the year ahead.

Myself and Fiona have become involved in the project this year, and I intend to recount my progress via this blog. Hopefully this will give a bit of impetus to the Valves and mean I can find something to write about on a more regular basis. Be warned, however, this will mean more rambling, more unjustifiable views and more florid language!

Anyway my aims, and my progress so far are as follows:

1. A weight loss aim, I must lose 3 stone before the end of the year. So far I have only had one weigh in, so I know where I'm starting from, but progress is difficult to measure thus far.

2. A work aim, to have at least 9 reports published this year. I'm not a fool so I can't reveal the nature of my work (part of it demands confidentiality and my reports are necessarily published anonymously) but Fiona will be the adjudicator for this. I have one report already at second draft stage and two more have been approved for publication internally (there is an external opportunity for comment also) so I think I'm well on the way with this.

3. A home aim, to sell all the stuff I have earmarked as being for selling on eBay. I have not done anything on this aim since the New Year.

4.A creative aim, to post at least once a month on the Valves. I'm doing it now! Well done me!

5. A cultural and money-saving aim - to see fewer shows at the Fringe this year than the arts editor of the Scotsman. He saw 28 last year, and I saw more, and as an ordinary punter, I paid for all mine too. In order to wean myself off the Fringe and to save money I will attempt to see fewer.

You will notice the absence of any mention of The Macca Project there. Maybe in 2008?

"A brilliant bunch of guys"

2007-01-07T11:36:00.000Z

I have been reading since Christmas day a fine present from Fiona's parents, Clive James' fourth volume of autobiography - "North Face of Soho".

I find it a wonderful but frustrating read. Wonderful because each page drips with James-ian wit; on an offer to fund the publication of a biography of Louis MacNeice : "There were no big advances in those days, but the sum he proposed was more like a retreat.", and it is a book you can hear the audio version of as you read it as it is written in the same rhythm and cadence as James' speech. Frustrating because it makes me wonder if there is any point in my writing anything when it cannot compare to the standard set by James. Have faith, gentle reader, I shall continue regardless.

The chapter I've just read contains what may be a dig at Victoria Wood, so my opinion of Clive has gone down a tad as a result.

Of course, one of Clive's greatest attributes for me is his willingness to accept popular culture as being as relevant and lively as high culture, and one can only speculate as to how he would review the glut of reality programming currently blocking our tubes.

Back to reality

2007-01-07T11:28:00.000Z

Just when we breathe a sigh of relief that Mark and Karen had lifted the trophy they so richly deserved on "Strictly" back comes Celebrity Big Brother for a fifth run, and the longest yet!

In fact there has been an explosion of reality TV since the New Year began, with Just The Two Of Us, Soapstar Superstar and CBB ensuring that only BBC 2 of the 4 majour channels (sorry, five I adored Big Love, but you're still not quite there) hasn't got a stripped reality show running at the moment. But I notice "Can Gerry Robinson Save The NHS?" begins on Monday.

I think CBB has less potential this year, than last, but a seemingly poor selection of housemates has been made up for in the shape of the legendary Ken Russell and the concrete ego that is Jermaine Jackson (parents, brace yourselves for I now intend to name my first child "Jermajesty" - the ludicrousness of the name meaning it matters not what sex the child is!). Fiona also seems to have taken a bit of a shine to former "Face man" Dirk Benedict.

Anyway, I will be attempting to limit my reality quotient this year, and have earmarked only "Strictly..." as a must watch, with an eye being kept on CBB, the regular BB, Britain's Got Talent and X-Factor (auditions for definite, thereafter a maybe). It is almost possible to measure out the whole year in reality if you go from CBB to Strictly Dance Fever to BB to X Factor to proper Strictly, and that is a scary prospect for television in Britain, which leads me on to....

"It smelt like a Sunday show to me..."

2007-01-07T11:16:00.000Z

After the CBB show on Friday night, we watched the latest US-import on Channel 4, "Ugly Betty". Fiona was very taken with it, and I enjoyed it too, but it led me to thinking about the hype that has surrounded this and other US imports recently, and the black arts of TV scheduling.

It strikes me that very often TV schedulers don't really understand the viewing habits of the British public, which is odd as it was their forebears who created them. We are used to hour-long drama series lasting six or seven weeks, as they had done since the beginning of widespread TV in this country. Only in the last five years have these started to swell to 12 or 13 episodes (which are more useful numbers for overseas sales). Half-hour sitcoms are slightly different, as they don't usually require as much concentration, so the longer US-sized 22-26 week series have been successful for some time.

US drama, and now comedy-drama, is slightly different. The fruits of HBO, and now the major networks, often run to the same lengths. That makes a quarter of a year of The Sopranos, CSI, Desperate Housewives, Six Feet Under and the like. I get a definite sense of fatigue after about 8 or 9 weeks of these kind of shows, and the audience figures show that I am not alone in being tempted to bail out as the plots slow down and for several weeks the major plots don't seem to advance much.

Our schedulers seem to panic at this point and the shows are relegated to more out of the way slots, to make way for the new "next big thing". So, Ugly Betty, I am sure, will do well in it's highly publicised slot for a few weeks (possibly helped by being sandwiched between CBB), but I would be willing to put money that it won't end it's season in the same slot as it begun because once those ratings start to slide the schedulers will start to panic.

Far better, I feel to schedule a long-runner in a long-runner's slot (9 or 10pm on a weekday or 9pm on a Sunday) and let the audience stabilse more quickly.

P.S. These are the kind of arrogant opinions on subjects I really know nothing about that Fiona hates, so I will use the blog to vent my righteous opinions rather that subject her to further barrages of hot air....perhaps.

"The soundtrack of being stuck in the car with your parents"

2007-01-07T11:08:00.000Z

The above is a quote about the radio show around which Robert Altman's final film "A Prairie Home Companion" is based. I went to see the film yesterday with Fiona, and we enjoyed it very much.

Like most of what will now definitely be called Altman's late-period films, there is little obvious concession to the standard structure of a story, the film begins with the end of an outdated mid-western radio variety show and takes us through the final show in real time, offering us an insight into the performers and crew of the show without ever patronising the audience by spoon-feeding the details of character or history.

As usual there is an ensemble cast of brilliant character actors, this time joined by Garrison Keillor as a fictionalised version of himself, all of whom inhabit their characters superbly and with a rare sense of believeability.

The heavy "Americana" music quotient means this film is not for everyone, and some will undoubtedly be frustrated by the more fantastic elements of the plot, but for fans of Altman, Keillor (who also wrote the script) or the original radio show, this will prove a wonderful treat.

Nothing Much To Shout About

2007-01-07T11:01:00.000Z

A few months ago The Sunday Times' Culture section was revamped and one of the new regular columns saw a writer give about 300 words on their favourite record or song. Just before Christmas this was opened up to readers to submit pieces on their own favourites. Contrary to popular belief, I love reading other people's opinions just as much as I love expounding my own, so I was looking forward to this. I even intended to enter, my prospective choices being either Paul McCartney's "Beautiful Night", Cliff Richard's "We Don't Talk Anymore" (officially THE greatest pop record ever made), Van Morrison's "Wonderful Remark" or Pulp's "Mis-shapes". As it happens I didn't enter, but Stephen Thompson did, and he wrote about Mis-shapes. His article says everything mine would have, but better. Here it is:

"Mis-Shapes by Pulp

Even as a 16-year-old, the irony of private-school toffs jumping around to Common People was not lost on me. It was everybody’s favourite track on Pulp’s 1995 album, Different Class, but not mine. The song of choice for the socially awkward, painfully shy, bespectacled teen was Mis-Shapes. It screamed that it was okay to be different, because you were no longer alone. Jarvis Cocker’s lyrics empower the listener, including you and flattering you: “Brothers, sisters, can’t you see? The future’s owned by you and me... We won’t use guns, we won’t use bombs/We’ll use the one thing we’ve got more of — that’s our minds.” So, things might be shit now, but it won’t be like this for ever. Every time I heard that song, it was like an older, more successful version of me had put a friendly arm round my shoulder and said, “Don’t worry mate, everything’s going to be okay.”

Steven Thompson"

The Sins of the Fathers....

2006-10-16T22:42:00.000+01:00

I have just written a "fan letter". It feels a bit strange. I was going to say that it was the first one I have ever written but I know that isn't true on at least one count. I can quite confidently say that it is the first one I have written for over 15 years, however.

My previous fan letter was to Sylvester McCoy, and I'm pretty sure it was to the actor Sylvester McCoy rather than the fictional Doctor Who- but I can't be certain. I also remember being quite surprised when a reply came back because I thought I had thrown the letter away and not sent it. I think it must have been rescued by the parents and sent. I'm glad they did because the signed photo I got in return has been treasured ever since, indeed I admired it only this afternoon, as it was pinned up on my kitchen notice board.

I have my parents to thank for so many things, and most of the autographs I have are down to their persuasive skills that I could approach Sam Torrance (Dunhill Cup 1987) or Johnathon Watson (St Andrews 1990) or Terence Stamp (Filmhouse 1987 - he even bought me some posters!) or Peter Davison (Aberdeen 1995) or Neil Innes (Aberdeen 1999 with stinking cold) and ask them for their name on a bit of paper and tell them I enjoyed whatever it was they did. It was this influence that means I now have a copy of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road signed by Richard "sleazy" Whiteley or Elvis Costello's Armed Forces signed by Jimmy Nail (both good stories, but not to concern us here).

Today's fan letter was to Chip Taylor. Who? I hear you ask. Well, put simply Chip Taylor is the man who wrote Wild Thing and Angel of the Morning. I first became aware of his particular brand of Americana (ok, country music) when my Dad bought a CD called "Chip Taylor's Last Chance" and played it one Sunday morning. It turned out this was one of the great long-lost albums, which he had encountered at University, but lost track of thereafter. We went to see Chip in Aberdeen in 2001, and after that he became one of the things that got me through the hell that was the pre-Apollo days with a certain large semi-public distribution company. In the years since I've seen him again in Edinburgh at the height of the Apollo deluge in 2002 and, remarkably and coincidentally, in Texas in 2004. And now Chip is coming to Edinburgh, to within five minutes of my front door, and the tickets are booked and the fan letter was written to let him know how much I'm looking forward to it, and how much I've enjoyed his music.

The truth is, though, that Chip is only one of many, many of my favourite musicians who I have been introduced to by my Dad, his list is the hipper end of my taste (The Beatles, The Band, early Rod Stewart, Dylan etc.) but he's never been too disparaging of the artists I like that her thinks are massively over-rated (Bryan Ferry, Steely Dan and, of course, Lord Paul of McCartney - First Duke of the Alofted-Thumb) and he's never berated me too much for buying music and enjoying it. I think in his own cynical and grumpy way he still enjoys music with the same wonder he did when he was younger, the same way I do.

So, thanks Chip, but most of all, thanks Dad.

Oggi! Oggi! Oggi!

2006-09-25T11:04:00.000+01:00

We won the cup !!

(as Golf Monthly once put it)

..and now the recriminations will inevitably begin in the USA. How could the team that once so dominated this event (holding the cup from 1959 to 1985 with only 1 draw in 1969) now seem so unlikely to hold it again?

Looking round the US media commentators they seem rather lost for an answer. Tom Lehman seemed to do a good job as captain, certainly the team on the course seemed more bonded than I can ever remember, even Tiger seems to have forgiven his caddy for dropping his nine iron in the water.

The truth is in the scorelines; results ground out on the 18th green, half points fought for and won by Europe when they could just have easily gone as a full point to the USA. In 2002 Europe were passionate, determined (all credit to Sam) and incredibly lucky, in 2004 the US imploded, in 2006 two teams met and to a large extent matched each other stroke for stroke, putt for putt, with Europe just edging it through dint of still wanting it more. The scars of Brookline have healed but are still irritating at the sight of the cup with the little man on it, like the dull ache of arthritis on a cloudy day.

Why can't the Tiger perform in the Ryder Cup? It's the same reason his dominance is so disheartening to the club golfer. He doesn't play any one hole, he doesn't even play one round, he plays 72 holes. His game is geared towards that. Look at the way he wins tournaments, 4 under on Thursday, 8 on Friday, 12 on Saturday, 16 on Sunday. He doesn't have good rounds and bad rounds, the round he plays on Thursday will more than likely be the round he plays on Sunday. In between his nearest rivals will have started well, or had a cracker on Saturday, and probably a stinker on Sunday. Consistency is the key to Tiger's dominance, and in Matchplay the last round has no bearing on this round, the last hole has no bearing on the next, and in Foursomes the last stroke wasn't even yours. How can the embodiment of "total golf" play as well under these conditions? (the fact that there's no money involved seems spurious given his poor showing at the World Matchplay)

Unfortunately he is so good a player that successive captains have been unable to drop him from the first two days play, and you can understand why, he kept the pressure on, even when he didn't make the points, and what if he had caught fire, especially in Fourballs?

That the scoreline was the same as at Oakland Hills is the amazing part, given the quality of golf the Americans played. It was a victory but it wasn't the drubbing/whitewash/thumping of 2004. It was a hard fought contest between two teams of equals, the Americans may have had the top 3 based on world rankings, but between them and the next US players were Garcia, Donald, Stenson and even dear old Monty. The scoreline flattered to deceive, this was a tough match and the Europeans were as likely to lose as to win in almost every match.

Turning to the future there have been calls for a tougher US captain, to fire up the 2008 team, and having Paul Azinger in the frame would seem to support this. I wouldn't have thought he would have too much of a job to do, in reality, with the reputation of upcoming Euro captain Nick Faldo being of someone who even Tiger might call "a bit stand-offish". In order to reignite the spark of the Ryder Cup in America there needs to be a US victory in Valhalla, and, truth be told, I don't really want Nick to stand in the way of that. Too many memories of the most boring, robotic golfer the UK has ever produced; the heartbreaking demolition of Greg Norman at the Masters in 1996, the typed message of encouragement to the boys at Brookline and, most unforgiveably of all to someone who was there, claiming not to be able to see the pin on the 18th green at St Andrews, one of the most famous holes in golf? even I know where to aim off the tee on the 18th! and the fact every other person could see it. Let's hope Monty doesn't make the team, that Nick's boys are slaughtered as the Americans have been in the past two cups and that the American zeal for this competition returns for another classic in 2010.

But as a final thought on this weekend, I think Tiger did get it right when he said "... they just outplayed us." And the truth is the Americans played as well as they should have. Our boys should be immensely proud.

Ole, ole, ole, ole, ole, ole

Nursery Cryme

2006-09-04T09:03:00.000+01:00

So, with the festival over (and weren't those fireworks loud!) it's time to return the Valves, as literally no-one is calling the blog, to the usual meandering trivia.

Meandering trivia number one is the analysis of nursery rhymes. As I was reading a book I've been trying to get on with for about a week now I came across a passage dealing with a child who had an imaginary friend called Jack. This led to his father wondering where he had chosen the name Jack from and suggesting Jack Frost, Jack Horner or Jack - brother of Jill.

This struck me as odd because I had never thought that Jack and Jill were brother and sister, only that they were friends. I began to ask people what they thought, and it turns out I am currently in a minority of one. Every other person I have asked has said they thought they were brother and sister.

My first caveat to this is that I have yet to ask anyone else who is an only child, as I think at the early age one is introduced to Jack and Jill one still sees the world entirely in terms of one's own situation. Therefore, I had no brothers or sisters so my first instinct would be that anyone I heard about would be the same.

Secondly I have analysed the rhyme in more depth and concluded that there is one statement in the verse that supports either side. In the "brother and sister" category is the fact that they went to fetch a pail of water, there seems to be consensus that they were sent to do this (although there is no evidence of this in the poem) and this would suggest siblings. However Jill's attempts to nurse Jack I think sway the opposite as I believe a sister would simply have run back home to tell their parents.

Why not have your own analysis of this and other nursery rhymes, and see where the thinking leads you. If you get to the point where you are discussing what the relationships are between the Wombles you'll be well on track!

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

2006-08-28T08:49:00.000+01:00

So farewell then, Fringe 2006.

A definite improvement on the 2005 vintage, but there are some issues that need to be faced by the organisers. Chief amongst these is how much more can the Fringe expand? This is especially prescient given the fact that as the number of shows has expanded the area within which the majority of venues is situated has contracted. The so-called big 5 definitely dominate the scene like massive corporate behemoths, with every nook and cranny seemingly an outpost of one or more of them. Ticket sales are up, attendance is up, I have never seen Edinburgh as busy as the first full Saturday this year, yet still they complain the fringe needs more promotion. And, it's so obvious it hardly need be said anymore, it's still far too expensive.

More importantly, the Pleasance Courtyard in particular has become the worst managed venue on the fringe for waiting time for box office (half an hour when the queue is barely out the door) and more importantly, staff attitude. It was not uncommon this year for staff to ask customers to wait a moment whilst they went to get themselves a cup of coffee (I saw it three times) and their knowledge of what shows were about or even whether they were comedic or dance or whatever was useless. A legacy of employing people who "want to work on the fringe, daahling" rather than proper customer-focussed operatives. Running out of booze twice on the opening weekend was signal enough of the dismally poor planning involved.

Luckily, the quality of the shows this year seems to have been very high. Certainly I have experienced a few shows that were, quite frankly, superb. Special mention must go to Black Watch and Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer here, and old hands like Will Smith, Andy Zaltzman, Justin Edwards and Phil Nichol came up with the goods too.

If there has been a "theme" to the fringe I experienced this year it must be either (a) accordians, (b) self-conscious "opening songs" or (c) close shaves with the smoking ban.

My final sobering thought is the fact that even in a year when I cut down my fringe going (and therefore, spending) I still managed to see more shows than the arts editor of The Scotsman.

Slacker kids rule! You shoulda been here, man!

Back to ranting for another year, then.

Let Them All Talk

2006-08-28T08:45:00.000+01:00

Talk Radio, Udderbelly

Inside the giant inflatable cow, which I must confess I was sceptical about in my reactionary way, lurks an excellent and comfortable venue. And before me (eventually) were the cast of Talk Radio.

The ubiquitous Phil Nichol stars as night time talk jock Barry Champlain as we are privy to an evening of his show. Eric Bogdosian's play gives us a slice of 80s American life, darkness and all, and the cast throw themselves fully into it. The performances carry the play through the passages where the dialogue is a little too stuck in it's time and Nichol remains as watchable as ever.

A minor classic.

NTW : The not-quite-lighting-a-cigarette moment seemingly de rigeur in every show this year.

JTD : The cast as an ensemble and Nichol in particular

Coming back for more

2006-08-28T08:35:00.000+01:00

David Benson - Why Pay More?, Pleasance Courtyard

Fringe institution (and no one is more bitter about that than the man himself) David Benson returns. Having confessedly run out of ideas he turns to the fringe itself for the inspiration for his new fringe show. Swapping the comfort of the Assembly Rooms for a portacabin round the back of Pleasance (as he himself says "Why pay more?") Benson leads his audience on a trip down his own memory lane, punctuated, as always, by bursts of popular song.

The show is a step up from the rather dreary "Conspiracy Cabaret" of 2005, and probably on a par with 2004's "The Haunted Stage", but it's "work in progress" nature means it never reaches the heights of "Star Struck" let alone the majestic wonder of "Think No Evil of Us". An hour in Benson's company is never really dull (although Conspiracy... came close) and his stories were well told and his songs well sung. If you're looking for a show that goes somewhere, this isn't it. If you want a diversion from the everyday world with a charming host, rush rush !

NTW : Please tell me the lovely old ladies haven't been dumped in a fit of pique! And one must wonder if he isn't going the way of old KW himself, feeding off his own anecdotes to diminishing returns.

JTD : The sparkly jacket... and after the disappointment of 2005 he has earnt himself a reprieve, especially if he brings back Mourning Glory next year.

Mmm-haw-he-haw-he-haw

2006-08-25T09:12:00.000+01:00

Marcus Brigstocke, Pleasance Courtyard

Thank goodness Marcus Brigstocke's stand up shows aren't in the Fringe brochure, it means I don't have to review it and tell you that at least 75% of the material will be familiar to those who saw "Planet Corduroy" in 2004 or listened to The Now Show. However, at least Brigstocke's comedy rants - which, lest we forget, he absolutely believes in - bear repeat listening, so roll up for your old favourites : Consolidated loans, "He blocked my extension", EuroDisney fight and, of course, The Mrs Brigstocke Story!

There was some new bits, notably slagging of Anne Robinson and Ron Atkinson, but still no formal apology for "The Savages".

Nonetheless, Marcus Brigstocke is great and I laughed like a drain.

Only three more shows to go. I am sad.

Having trouble with the word "applause"?

2006-08-23T09:33:00.000+01:00

An Evening With Michael McIntyre, Potterow

Away with your "Pleasance Dome"!

Michael McIntyre was a very pleasant surprise, firstly he was 2-for-1 which is always good, secondly he was very funny. Imagine if Pierce Brosnan was squashed and permanently smiling and you have some idea of the toothy-grinned, floppy-haired midget's physicality. Add to this a quick wit and strong material and you have a recipe for a brilliant hour.

Unfortunately a couple of his gags were a bit long in the tooth (visual representation of the green walking man, anyone?) but he made up for this with sparky interaction with the crowd, including a couple who left after 20 minutes but not before trying to recruit McIntyre for their charity gig and an idiot who let his mobile phone go off during the show (reader, it was I, forshame!). Well worth his ecstatic reviews.

NTW : Closing the show on a gag first seen on Absolutely 16 years ago.

JTD : Natural charm and rapport in spades

Don't you think your voice is a bit high?

2006-08-21T12:11:00.000+01:00

Lawrence and Gus - Next In Line, Pleasance

Lawrence and Gus are likeable and amusing, and at times this show is firmly in the hilarious category. What creates a slightly uneasy feeling is the question of where this sort of comedy can go? Is a Radio 4 slot the best that well-observed character comedy can aspire to at the moment, and if so, isn't that a shame?

In providing a show where each sketch features a character from the preceding one, L & G maintain audience interest until, just at the point where fatigue may be setting in, they break out into a mock argument between "themselves". This has been cleverly sewn into the fabric of the preceding sketches and is the highlight of an enjoyable hour.

NTW : The "Starship Enterprise under fire" staggering and swaying between sketches.

JTD : The move from characters to "themselves"

Diamond Dogs

2006-08-21T12:04:00.000+01:00

La Clique, Speigeltent, George Square Gardens

My dislike of Dance and Physical Theatre is well documented, so how come I enjoyed this so much? Well, firstly it's done well and secondly no particular act outstays their welcome.

From rubber men to acrobats and rollerskaters, La Clique provides a solid show of spectacular cabaret and if you're not too keen on this, there'll be something else along in a minute. Deserving of it's excellent reviews elsewhere.

Which brings me to another spot of righteous indignation which, I am pleased to say, does not stem from perceived wrongs against myself. The audience for La Clique pay around £17 per ticket with no caveats or warnings. I would be very unhappy, therefore, to discover that there are not, in fact, enough seats for all the ticket holders. Equally I was unimpressed by the amount of "reserved" signs on many of the best seats, a signifier of the dangerous creeping inequality of the famously egalitarian fringe. As I say, this did not effect me (only because I jumped the queue) but it did effect a middle-aged woman who was not allowed to sit on a "reserved" seat which was subsequently not filled. A bitter aftertaste to an amazing spectacle.

NTW : Some of the singing and miming went on a little too long and the emmcee was particularly smug and dislikeable.

JTD : The truly amazing Skating Rollers, the very flexible Miss Gyulnara.

4th Time Around

2006-08-21T11:59:00.000+01:00

Natalie Haynes - Watching The Detectives, Pleasance

Some shows are a gamble, some are a confident punt on an hour or so of entertainment, some are like a warm reunion with old friends, only one is a pilgrimage.

The annual trip to see Natalie Haynes holds nothing but good memories for me, and this is an easy bargain to keep on my side, I just need to turn up. Natalie's side of the bargain is harder to keep - come up with and perform new material to the same standard as previously. After 4 years she hasn't let me down yet!

Taking US detective shows as her starting point, Natalie hangs all her usual subject matter on a quest to find the man or woman to solve all the world's problems. On the way we visit such familiar territory as Natalie's hatred of children or stupid people and the annual update on the hate-mail she has received from pro-lifers. It's obvious from the start that the winner will be Dick Van Dyke, but watching Natalie get there is, as always, a treat.

Same time next year.

NTW : No Jim Rockford?

JTD : A dissection of Jessica Fletcher's conveneient ability to solve so many murders...

Telly's for sellouts!

2006-08-21T11:44:00.000+01:00

Andy Zaltzman Detonates 70 Minutes of Unbridled Afternoon, The Stand

Structure, structure, structure, material, material, material. It seems so easy written down, but the truth is that very few acts I've seen at Edinburgh this year have managed to put that magic formula into practice. Andy Zaltzman has, and how !

All the more remarkable is this achievement, considering this show was conceived, written and rehearsed as a duo with John Oliver. In truth it was Oliver who led me to Zaltzman, but with the former seduced by the bright lights of New York City it has been left to the latter to wow the Edinburgh crowds.

And wow them he does with pin-sharp yet playful political satire. A big laugh roughly once a minute and above all images and ideas to set the imagination racing. As a taste, Zaltzman suggests such brilliant concepts as a Subbuteo Home Office, the retrospective purchasing of sporting victories and John Reid's nightwear, as well as comparing bad voting judgement to a hangover and casting aspertions on the Rolling Stones' social beliefs.

Andy Zaltzman may bemoan the state of the world but, thanks to him, for 70 minutes every day until 28 August things will be just dandy.

NTW : Alas, the show ended!

JTD :So many to choose from; the Zaltzman Encyclopaedia of Explanatory Bullshit, the Interval quiz, the inspired ending...the list goes on.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

2006-08-21T11:33:00.000+01:00

Sarah Kendall stepped offstage in the Pleasance 2 years ago and steppeed back on stage this year seemingly wearing exactly the same jeans and checked shirt. Thankfully, her material has changed in the interim and, after a shaky start, she kept the large audience entertained.

Loosely based around Kendall's search for the perfect comeback, the show ranges from dealing with mouthy kids to expressive ribbon twirling to the peculiar punishments meted out in schools. Throughout, Kendall and her extraoridanry mane of hair kept a friendly demeanour, even when her material was not being ecstatically received.

In common with a few performers this year, Kendall got a bit paranoid after about half an hour and her structure stuttered a little as a result. She's a solid performer but perhpas the room was too big for her chatty, laid-back style.

NTW : Allowing wide-faced arsecocker Jimmy Carr into the room.

JTD : Kendall's first attempt at audience interaction.

Adam Hills can kiss my ass!

2006-08-21T11:25:00.000+01:00

Rich Hall, Assembly Rooms
Now a well kent face from appearances on UK TV, Hall nonetheless would seem more comfortable in a smaller venue than the expansive Music Hall of the Assembly Rooms.
His prepared material seems to peter out after about 40 minutes, but this is 40 minutes too late as it is the interaction with the audience and off the wall extemporising on random subjects where Hall shines.
Attempts to turn the show into some kind of "event" are half-hearted at best but reveal a delicious envy of the more populist performers, even if this is entirely fictional.
After a long day out and about in Edinburgh, Hall's weary cynicism is a perfect finish.

One Word Art Reviews

2006-08-21T11:24:00.000+01:00

Van Gogh and Britain, Dean Gallery
Nutter

Robert Mapplethorpe, Modern Art Gallery
Bender

Harry Benson - Being There, Portrait Gallery
Ligger

Anne Redpath & The Edinburgh School, City Arts Centre
Dauber

Albert Watson - Frozen, City Arts Centre
Voyeur

Toulouse Lautrec & The Art Deco Poster, City Arts Centre
Poster

Rub The Stump!

2006-08-21T11:20:00.000+01:00

Phil Nicol - The Naked Racist, The Stand

The most entertaining stand-ups also stand out, and Nicol certainly stands out. His manic energy is in evidence from the first as he welcomes his audience and builds your trust of him, a trust that will become very important as the hour wears on.
Basing his routine around the aftermath of a split from his girlfriend and subsequent mini-break in Amsterdam, Nicol riffs on Irish pubs, amputee sex, fetish clubs and death metal - accompanied by full band.
All this leads up to the explanation of the title of the show, be warned, however, in this depratment Nicol leaves nothing to the imagination.

NTW : The death metal interlude goes on about a verse too long.

JTD : The intimate venue suits Nicol and his material well.

"Not to scale"

2006-08-20T17:10:00.000+01:00

Corinne Grant - Nice Lady Hour, Gilded Balloon Teviot

Corinne Grant doesn't give anything away easily. By the end of the hour you understand why this little-promoted act has sold out one of the Gilded Balloon's smallest rooms with Aussies.
Grant is a confident performer and this carried her through a rocky opening five minutes while the audience unfamiliar with her cottoned on to her style.
The material itself was good, though some of it was chucklesome rather than hilarious. It was in her interaction with the audience that Grant really scored the big laughs.
Her county-comes-t0-town, girl making her way in the ccrazy world schtick served her well and her ability not to take herself seriously ensured the hour passed quickly and she won over another small slice of the non-Australian public.

NTW : Opening with a boisterous song and dance routine meant the more reticent in the audience took a little longer to warm to her.

JTD : Working off the cuff is Corrine's greatest strength, she should exploit it a little more.

Here they come, walking down the street...

2006-08-20T17:07:00.000+01:00

Three Mo' Tenors, St George's West

Three spirited performances lie at the heart of this enjoyable show as the titular tenors work their way from opera to jazz, broadway to rhythm and blues.
There is fun to be had here, sometime unintentional as the performers are often more than a little camp. The music was good and the boys can sing but I would imagine a wide musical taste is a pre-requisite to enjoy the full show.

NTW : Some fo the non-vocal performances go a little OTT

JTD : Good to see a group with their own theme song, allowing the Three Mo' Tenors to stand proud among the likes of the Monkees and S-Express

"That didn't happen to you, that happened to Jed Clampitt"

2006-08-20T17:03:00.000+01:00

Levelland, Assembly Rooms

Rich Hall has taken a tentative first step into the world of serious theatre with this play presenting a vision of an America where oil prices have risne about 2000%. Hall himself plays a provocative talk radio host whose assured, confident world view is shaken by the arrival of a young hitch-hiker to his studio, followed by two of the young man's "business partners".
Hall's script soars in places, and the idea is an intriguing one. Unfortunately it is let down by a poor structure in places; meaning some of the piece is very wordy, espeically before the arrival of the 3rd and 4th characters. Once the situation escalates and the tension is ratcheted up a few notches the piece starts to bubble and Hall's nightmare vision of a world where no one can be fully trusted reaches what must be one of many similar conclusions.

NTW : Sound effects of doors opening and closing.

JTD : Little "stumps" of door frames to indicate doors.

Alas poor Yorick, I knew his puncture repair kit

2006-08-20T16:57:00.000+01:00

Bouncy Castle Hamlet, Roxy Art House

One of the glories of the fringe is the opportunity it gives to brag about bizarre theatrical sights. In this case I know I will forever more be able to halt all discussions about Hamlet by saying "Of course, you've never really seen it until you've seen it on a Bouncy Castle." And indeed, this is what you get, a straight version of Hamlet performed on a Bouncy Castle.
The young cast tackle their casue with enthusiasm, although the performance I saw was marred by Hamlet sustaining an injury, deciding the audience had taken a dislike to him, losing hi slines and eventually quitting the stage in high dudgeon, leaving his fellows to make as fair a fist of it as they could. That the rest of the cast managed to do this is testament to their skill and application.
The Bouncy Castle was distracting at times, but at others it did actually add to the drama, during Ophelia's madness, for example.
A couple left after 30 minutes and it was only Hamlet's injury that made the rest of the performance worth sitting through. Ultimately the concept is what you come for and being able to see you've seen Hamlet on a bouncy castle is worht £7 of anyone's money.

NTW : The player king's lying back each time she changed characters in the play-within-a-play.

JTD : Staging the play-within-a-play on a mini Bouncy Castle

Fresh Prince of Bel-size Park

2006-08-20T16:50:00.000+01:00

Will Smith - How To Be Cool, Assembly Rooms

Why isn't Will Smith a household name? (I know that there is a Will Smith who is a household name - but why isn't this Will Smith a household name?)
He kept an audience from 16 to 65 (and that was just the front row) near hysterical fo 60 minutes with his dissection of what is and isn't cool and his own difficulties in understanding the dividing line.
Utilising his display screen less than in previous years, it was still integral, but his show was stronger for its use. When he isn't beholden to slides and video clips, Smith's self-dissection soars to well-crafted heights of absurdity and hilarity.
If Smith's skill and likeability were not proven in his material, then his wonderfully polite dealing with a drunken audient demonstrated it admirably.
As well as making you laugh, Smith really does make you wonder why Pete Docherty is cool but Dire Straits are not.

NTW : None at all

JTD : The ever-expanding "conversations with girls" diagram.

Put Big Light On !

2006-08-20T16:44:00.000+01:00

Black Comedy, Greenside

The beauty of the fringe is seeing the legendary "concept" plays that don't get performed in the mainstream theatre anymore. Peter Shaffer's lights on/lights off piece is exactly in this mould, and this year has been tackled by a talented group from the University of Liverpool.
Special mention should go to Mark Rawle as the crusty Colonel, James Percy as the camp Harold (though his is probably the easiest part to play), and especially James Dale as struggling artist and Harry H Corbett dress-a-like Brindsley. The performers raise laughs and throw themselves into the slapstick with gusto and the set is well laid out to comic, if not aesthetic, effect.
Alas these efforts are let down by slack lighting cues and the atrocious acting of Elizabeth Ford, the one weak link in the cast. Despite the fact it ran 30 minutes longer than promised, Black Comedy represents a solid production of an oddly austere swinging 60s classic.

NTW : Nothing obvious, but the whisky was oddly clear.

JTD : A little character touch...Carol collecting a large soft toy along with her belongings when leaving.

He may be some time

2006-08-20T16:38:00.000+01:00

Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer, Assembly Rooms

The story of humanity has always been the story of exploration. In the early 20th century the frontier of exploration was the Antarctic; the so-called "last place on earth." As is pointed out at the start of this show, the leaders of these polar expeditions have become household names, Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton, but the men who supported them have been somewhat forgotten.
Adrian Dooley redress the balance in this one-man show in which he plays Tom Crean, the only man to go on three polar expeditions.
Crean's stories are gold anyway, and Dooley weighs them superbly to excite, entertain and on accaion move his audience deeply. His solo walk to base camp under Scott and Shackleton's last night off the coast of South Georgia are told so vividly there were times I forgot that the man on stage had not actually experienced those things.
Filled with character, insight and incident, this an hour and a quarter of pure quality. Tom Crean deserves to be celebrated for his exploits, so does Adrian Dooley.

NTW : None whatsoever

JTD : Dealing with audience distractions in character.

Litmus

2006-08-20T16:37:00.000+01:00

Robin Ince Isn't Waving, Assembly Rooms

I've sat to start this review a few times now and have struggled as I have very little, good or bad, to say about the show. Perhaps that says everything it needs to. I laughers, so did others. It made it's mark at the time but has faded since. See it as a fringe benchmark.

Mid fringe week madness

2006-08-17T12:17:00.000+01:00

Panic not, gentle readers ! I have not been lynched by angry mobs of performers, fellow audients or ticket vendors, but have simply been watching too many shows (and writing reviews thereof) to post them on the site.

Stand by at the start of next week for :

Antarctic Exploration, Moonraker, My mum getting picked on by a comedian, actorly strops, one word reviews of art exhibitions, koalas, koalas, koalas, stuff and, let's not be coy about this, nonsense, and more ranting than you can shake a stick at!

*Edit : just noticed that actually I didn't mention Will Smith's obsession with Moonraker, Corinne Grant's banter with my mum or the fact we went to the Zoo and saw Koalas, sorry*

Syb - ill!!

2006-08-11T08:19:00.000+01:00

In Pursuit of Cardenio, Underbelly

The legendary Ken Campbell tackles the legendary William Shakespeare, what can possibly go wrong? Read on, if you dare!

I had misgivings from the start but the show began strongly, with Ken outlining the differences between "soft" improvisation of the "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" variety and the "hard" improvisation we were going to see tonight. This would be improvisation without the gimmicks and flighty-ness as he and his troupe attempted to improvise the "lost" Shakespeare play Cardenio. Each of the improvisers was given an object from the audience and began to improvise around it in iambic pentameter while the audience went among them to observe. This was fascinating and I began to put my previous dislike of improvisation aside and braced myself for a rigorously stimulating evening.

Unfortunately we were then treated to 50 minutes of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" with a Shakespearean twist. No attempt to move on from (apparently) 7 previous "episodes" of Cardenio, no attempt to even make a coherent narrative, just - as always with comedic improvisation - arsing about for the delight of their fellow performers and friends in the audience.

A show with potential, and some of it was amusing, but being promised a different kind of improvisation and getting basically, the same old schtick was very disappointing. As the sainted TOM once said "..but what's it FOR?" If performing in general is basically showing off, then comedic improvisation is the two-year-old proudly showing you a freshly produced turd.

JTD : A couple of excellent performers really hitting their stride (Kelly and Adam)....

NTW : ....being overshadowed by a typically "look at me" old hand (Josh)

And now, an unbecoming, unpleasant, probably hypocritical and unjustified rant.

The sinking feeling in my stomach came while waiting to go into the venue when I spotted a contingent of middle-aged suburban bohemians also going in. These are the people who make the fringe unbearable at times for me. You know the type, all M&S cardigans, various bits of fabric tying their hair into a constructed bird's nest and applying make up more and more liberally with each passing year to end up resembling a cross between Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally and Bette Davis in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane. As Scotland The What once put it "Talk about mutton dressed as mock chop."
They sit in shows and bray at their friends about what they've seen and the last time they were in a venue this dark and dingy (indicating how few fringe shows they have actually seen) and delight at their digs being in "Spittal Street".
Made worse, of course, by their having friends among the cast (the most smug and self-satisfied members of the cast, of course) who then proceed to perform for them and elicit hilarious shreiks of laughter at every semi-funny gag.
If I had the oft-mentioned extra horn in my car I would be sounding it now.

What's in a name...

2006-08-10T08:36:00.000+01:00

A question has been raised about the title of the blog.

To which I can only answer : "Hells bells, Ann! If you're looking at the blog you must be using the internet, a huge information resource. I haven't got time to explain everything in the minutest detail. I am trying to type up the minutes of the Resident's meeting, plan the car treasure hunt and work out the fixtures list for the Cricket Club. The Close doesn't run itself you know."

Magically Delicious

2006-08-10T08:26:00.000+01:00

Andrew Maxwell- 'Round Twilight, Pleasance

Charming Irish fellow Andrew Maxwell has made a bit of a splash on the Fringe for the past two years, and this year he has brought two shows to Edinburgh for the balmy August nights.

'Round Twilight is his basic, stand up show, centred around his love of the night time and the adventures you can get up to there. In reality this is a hook around which to hang a couple of lengthly anecdotes and the theme doesn't really reach much of a conclusion in any way.

Maxwell's material is more prominently hard-edged than the routines I recall most fondly from last year, and the show suffered a little as a result. Maxwell is an accomplished story teller, however, and there was only one point when my mind wandered a little from his tales.

Added to this Maxwell has bags of charm, which meant the Americans next to me continued to laugh heartily through a venomous dissection of the problems with their country and its power.

Perhaps if Maxwell had done more "slipping in" and less "forcing in" of politics I would have enjoyed his show more, but a chance to see a master at work nonetheless.

NTW : Difficult, but running through old material for the purposes of explanation didn't require such a long run up and milking the laughter for the gag a second time.

JTD : Either his Leith schemie accent or out-weirding the Cape Town muggers.

Thar She Blows!

2006-08-07T09:08:00.000+01:00

Moby Dick - Rehearsed, C3

American Students tackle Orson Welles' script of a play of a book thought to be unperformable and step into the shoes Gordon Jackson, Kenneth Williams, Patrick McGoohan, Christopher Lee and Joan Plowright with a bravery and gusto that can surely only be shown by those who have no idea who their predecessors were.

Thank God for their Yankee energy though, because my word it was long! The actors carry their audience through the more sedate and contemplative sections of the script to lead up to a rip-roaring climax of whale hunting as Ahab and his crew go down with the beast their captain has so single-mindedly hunted.

Kudos for casting Chad Jones as Father Mapple, possibly America's tallest man, ensuring there is no need for a pulpit as he is already several feet taller than the reat of the cast! Excellent work by Zac Hoogendyk (just for having that name!) as Ahab, Katherine Miles McPherson as Pip (never has a small black boy been so convincingly played by a blonde, white actress with a tambourine) and Brooks Asher as Starbuck (hats off to the inheritor of Noddy Holder's sideboards). Special praise, however, for Micah B. Hardt as the exasperated, slightly manic Stage Manager and third Mate Flask, keeping ship and theatre together with determination.

Be warned, however, there is a fair amount of singing goes on in this production, some of which could easily have been cut to reduce the running time (what is it about August that means one's attention span is reduced to 60 minutes?). Worse, some of it seems entirely bizarre, especially a song about women when half the crew are women! Suspension of disbelief becomes very difficult with a cast of radiantly beautiful students.

If you like whales, Welles or just ogling college girls (or boys! I'm assured) this is a show you'll very much enjoy.

NTW : The student's origins mean there's no chance of a sly Williams impersonation slipping in (sit Ryan MacKenzie down in front of Carry On Doctor and let's have the carpenter declaiming "ooh, cap'n Ahab, look at your thing, it's gone all limp, let me run my hands over it and I'll have it stiff in a jiffy! Nah, stop messin' about") Also don't put all your mates in the best seats. They'll laugh and clap anyway, and some of them are spectacularly ugly in a way only Americans seem to be able to be. Having a "Dramaturg" listed in the programme. (Can I just put NTW : They're American, take your pick! ?)

JTD : So that's what a lightning sheet looks like!

Cheggers Can't Be Boozers !

2006-08-07T08:59:00.000+01:00

Justin Edwards - Unaccompanied As I Am, Pleasance Courtyard

Justin Edwards, as part of The Consultants and children's "entertainer" Jeremy Lion, has always employed music as a mainstay of his comedy, and this year's show concentrates solely on this side of his talent. Alas, this has the effect of reducing his mid-show alcohol consumption considerably - but perhaps that's the point?

Presenting an old favourite - A suit of blue, of powder blue - at the top of the hour means starting on a laugh, and it's a standard largely maintained throughout the 60 minutes. Keeping an audience from 16 to 65 enchanted with, basically, smutty gags is testament to Edwards' way with a clever rhyme and unusual subject matter.

The hit-rate is so high that neither technical hitch nor early-run hesitancy can mar the enjoyment of Edwards' show. Songs about "man walks into a bar" gags, Edwards' guardian angel and, most brilliantly, the career of Paul Shane are of a high musical and lyrical standard and his many versions of Dean Martin's "That's Amore" are equally stunning and groan-inducing.

A solid, hilarious and good value hour.

NTW : A disappointing critique of "You Rang M'Lord" (surely the pinnacle of the Perry/Croft oeuvre) during the Paul Shane number, saved by the....

JTD : ...appearance of the Chuckle Brothers, theme from Chucklevision and the "To Me, To You" catchphrase.

You Were Right, Lovejoy !

2006-08-07T08:52:00.000+01:00

Dudley Sutton - Pandora's Lunchbox, Pleasance Courtyard

Like a slightly down-on-his-luck Tom Baker, Dudley Sutton can recount improbable tales of his life with charm and great humour. Structuring his show around the addictions his "inner Pandora" steers him towards, Sutton fits in anecdotes, poems and songs. None of which are brilliant but all of which are better than you expected.

Benefitting artistically, if not financially, from a small performance space and audience, the hour passed swiftly as if in the company of a much loved Uncle, or given his bare feet and aged baby face, an overgrown Hobbit. With his talking blues and poems nicely spaced out and relevant to the subject matter Sutton is never less than engaging. A long, blank verse tirade against modern life through the frame of Chelsea manages to amuse, outrage and inspire all at the same time but a closing punt at Tony Blair seems rather less focussed, although the central message (if "1984" is banned I don't want to live in such a state) is sound enough.

NTW : A rather too graphic description of the birth of his grand-daughter

JTD : Writing your cues on little stickers on the floor.

Carry On Oop La Scala

2006-08-07T08:42:00.000+01:00

Cooking With Puccini, St George's West

What if TV had been around in Puccini's day? What if the great Italian composer had appeared on a "Light Lunch" style cookery and chat programme? What if, on the show, he was candid not guarded?

I think that's probably at least one "what if" too far, and that's just the first of three major problems with Cooking With Puccini.

The second is the breakneck pace necessary to make what feels like a 1hr 30min show fit into a 1hr 15min slot. This means the crucial connection between actors and audience is difficult to establish and never really gels. As a result, what could have been a climactic communal performance of the Humming Chorus from Madame Butterfly is more than a little awkward.

The final problem is the difficulty in writing and acting supposedly spontaneous dialogue. This difficulty is not helped by a leading lady obviously case for skills other than acting. (Singing ! Settle down at the back!)

When Puccini does hit his stride the show works well, including the clever conceit that allows Puccini from Lucca (up north in Italy) to sound like he's from Leeds (oop north in England). That doesn't explain the widely varying accent of the "presenter" of the show, however. Overall it's an interesting idea, but it just falls flat.

NTW : The Whore's Dance - with dialogue whizzing past at 100 miles an hour you resent such a slow interlude.

JTD : Employing a stagehand with harmonising capabilities - highlight of the show.

Bussman (not Quantick) KINGSIZE!!

2006-08-07T08:29:00.000+01:00

...although in fact she is quite petite.

Bussman's Holiday, St George's West

About 10 years ago I listened to a radio sketch show called Bussman & Quantick Kingsize about which I can remember very little other than "Rabbis In Love", a preoccupation with wolves and that it was very funny. In the intervening years, the exploits of David Quantick have been quite obvious to me, as a music journalist and comedy writer his work has dovetailed nicely with my own interests, but what of Jane Bussman?

Turns out I've probably seen quite a bit of her stuff too, UK and US TV comedy scripting and celebrity journalism. Jane's show tells us of her disillusionment with this life and her attempt to escape from it into the world of more serious journalism. This takes the form of a self-funded (beacuse no one will sponsor her story) trip to war-torn Uganda to report on the bizarre, entrenched and tragic social situation there.

Making comedy out of politics and tragedy is a tightrope and not one Bussman walks with complete dexterity (perhaps it's the glamourous but impractical shoes?), she never needs the safety net but her balancing cane is pressed into service regularly.

Technical problems plagued the performance I saw, most often - unfortunately - when the reveal of her slide show was the punchline of a gag. However, even with technology issues, Bussman relates an intriguing and incident packed narrative with great humour. Best of all, she doesn't hit you on the head with what you can do to help. (although if she wielded the riding crop she uses as a pointer for the purposes of discipline I wouldn't be complaining !)

NTW : The "National Geographic" filmed inserts

JTD : Turning her celebrity technique on Colonal Otema generating the response "I love Marks and Spencer...but they always try to make me get a storecard."

"It's like the Perth Road on a Saturday night...only with mortars"

2006-08-02T08:31:00.000+01:00

So, day 1, show 1, National Theatre of Scotland's BlackWatch. And another excellent start to the Fringe. The staging was ambitious but well managed, the performances were of a uniformly (no pun intended!) high standard, and the writing was right on the button. A challenging and thought-provoking analysis of the modern Scottish squaddie, that repeatedly demolishes and confirms your beliefs, prejudices and hopes.

The "passing show" strucutre usually worked to the show's credit and lightened what could have been a very sombre evening but I felt the contruction at times needed a bit of re-arrangement to more effectively highlight the extremes of desert (or, indeed, any) warfare. Perhaps the most striking parallel was the clear link made between the modern army regular and the mineworker or shipbuilder of 40 years ago. It remains a dirty job, but someone has to do it and that someone tends to be sons from the more deprived end of society.

My only criticism would be that at times the "Dance and Physical Theatre" aspects went on a bit too long. I would particularly single out the closing "tattoo", although part of me suspects this was intended to signify the seemingly endless pointlessness of some aspects of the military life. The show's greatest strength, however, is its merciless skewering of all the attempts at political point-scoring (veiled or otherwise) using the lives of young men who consider themselves to be "just doing their job."

NTW (Needless Theatrical Wank) : Most of the choreographed fight scenes lacked the bite and impact of the more "casual" violence in the pub.

JTD (Justified Theatrical Device) : Either "letters from home" or the initial emergence of the fatigue-clad soldiers (they'll get through a lot of baize - the good people of Shrewsbury must be rubbing their hands in glee)

In other observations of Edinburgh in August 2006; I'm not happy with the large cow being constructed in Bristo Square or the seemingly regulation fly-postering that has taken place in the past few days - which seems to me to have too much of a hint of corporate muscle about it. I'm loving the massive banners draped on the Kirk Assembly though. That's probably rather contradictory I know. (I like the inside decor of Nazi rallies but not the publicity?).

Strangest feeling is one of being overwhelmed by the Fringe in a way I never have before, but this is probably due to having the new flat etc. to deal with.

We are on the brink of a new era, if only...

2006-08-01T08:30:00.000+01:00

So, August is finally here, the signs are up, the flags are flying. It is festeeval time in Edinburgh once more.

One of the points of Mole Valley Valves was to post my festeeval diary. So here we go.

Currently I have booked a few shows, but intend to see many more. The heights of 2004 (44 shows) or even 2005 (34 shows) will not be reached, but at least 20 will be seen.

First show is going to be BlackWatch tonight... watch this space...

The Thrill of the New

2006-07-27T09:29:00.000+01:00

Just a quickie today (ooh, matron, no!)

Have moved into my new flat and I love it. That "Englishman's home is his castle" is so true, and I'm not English!

This means I have been coming from the opposite side of town to get to work, and I think the combination of the less familiar, the beautiful weather and the joy of my flat and my things has meant I have a new appreciation for the beauty of Edinburgh. The view from North Bridge over Waverley Station to the Scott Monument to the New Town and the Castle is one of my favourites anyway, but it has sparkled over the past few days with a new luminescence. Everybody should come to Edinburgh, it is the greatest city in the world!

I think late July is my favourite time of year in Edinburgh. The city is gearing up for the festival (box office in place at the Assembly Rooms, Pleasance Courtyard being converted etc.) but the deluge of performers, fringers and other associated hangers-on has not yet descended. It is a city on the edge of it's moment in the sun and has an anticipatory buzz.

It begins again....

Some ideas you might like to try at home

2006-07-20T12:10:00.000+01:00

Been a while, but moving into the new flat is taking up most of my time, and work most of the rest of it.

Anyway, I thought I'd list some potentially revolutionary ideas I have had in the past and the reasons why I never carried them out, for your entertainment....

1. Starting in October 1992 only listening to Beatles songs that had been released by thirty years previously. Meaning, for example, that I could not listen to Rubber Soul until November 1995. This may have given me a better appreciation for the progression in the group's work. It was never done because it would have been too much hard work and probably impossible given that you hear the Beatles everywhere.

2. Writing down every thought you have in a day. It was never done because it would have been impossible and discussion with friends suggested you would probably go insane. I still think it's an interesting idea, however I think you would need a dictaphone type deal to do it, perhaps a modified MP3 player would have sufficient capacity. There would also be that scientific thing about the very act of monitoring something causing it to change.

3. The interesting list of "words that are not part of a mobile phone's basic text predicting dictionary". Every time I get a new phone I think about this one, because there are some basic words that are not there, and some interesting ones that already are. I have found that "nike", "coca-cola" (but not, interestingly, "pepsi") and "eastenders" are there for you to use but "inclement" is not ! What gives? Never done because I am too lazy.

4. Milk cubes !!!!! Potentially revolutionary way to add milk to drinks, they would come in a clear cube, the covering of which would degrade on contact with hot liquid. This could help dieters who need to use only a particular amount of milk. Never done because I am not a scientist.

5. The Macca Project. I did "Tug Of War" I really did, I will do it, but the flat is my concern now.

Randomnity

2006-07-03T13:27:00.000+01:00

Subject 1 - stuff.

I have a lot of stuff. I went to my parents' house this weekend (and now that I *nearly* own my own house, I will have to stop referring to it as "my house", which I still think of it as, even though I haven't lived there in any permanent sense for nine years) and started to sort my stuff out. I genuinely didn't realise how much stuff there is. I bought three big "moving" boxes, and filled them within about an hour. I also have an issue with how to categorise and prioritise stuff. I started with what I thought would be easy, my books by, about or relating to The Beatles. I split them into three types - books I want to take to my new flat, books I don't want to take but I don't want to get rid of and books that can go out. I started to ruminate on this, because I am a hoarder and there are books there that contain no information not contained in other books and which I will probably never look near, but I don't want to just throw them out, it implies that they are worthless and they are not. So I have resolved I will sell them on eBay, and hopefully make a nice wedge. Hopefully. However, in order to do that I will need to secure the agreement of the parents to leave them boxed in their home for some time.
Anyway, I filled the box of Beatles, and it is too heavy to lift, so it will have to be decanted at a later date (when I have more boxes).
Next I moved on to videos, mainly of Doctor Who (old skool Who that is!) but also old telly ("three words, more. old. telly.") and, inevitably, The Beatles etc. That's another box full, and a little file box too.
Next was Douglas Adams and Monty Python - a little box, some charity shop bound (ulp!), and part of a big box.
This was followed by old music magazines, filled with interesting articles! you never know what bands you might get into!! and I even have nostalgia for certain issues - read that backstage at Romeo and Juliet!, made up a compilation tape from the list of great Queen tracks in that one!, I think that was the best article on Pink Floyd I've ever read and it was in the kitchen when I came back from watching England v. Scotland at Wembley in 1999. Some of these filled the bigger box, and others have been set aside as "more research is needed" before they can be definitively thrown away.
So I now have a half cleared bookshelf, and a half-cleared cupboard. Only the books on top of the cupboard and the big bookshelf to go. Wish me luck.

Subject 2 - the lost art of the compilation tape
I dropped the heavy black bag onto the patio, there were 100 sickening crunches as 100 cassettes - marginalised by the compact disc, rendered obsolete by the iPod - gave in to the pressure of their brethern bearing down upon them. In a sort of music format peace process the pre-recorded, cassingles, C60s, C90s and even a couple of C100s and C120s were put "beyond use".
As part of the great purge of my past the cassettes had to go. Simple nostalgia for old friends is not a good enough reason to hold onto things in the current climate. (As TOM said "....but what's it FOR!!!") I did keep a few : unique, unavailable in other formats, or at least not owned by me. But everything else had to go. Including a fair number of compilations. While going through this painful process that the compilation tape must have held sway for at least 25 years, possibly as many as 35. The satisfaction of a good compilation tape, one that ends mere seconds before the tape itself, is one that the current formats cannot hold a candle to. The CD-R compilation does not have the same thrill of gambling with time; as close to 90 minutes as possible, and not one second over. The CD-R software won't let you start if you can't finish. The MP3 compilation doesn't demand the same self-control, as there is no time limit, hence a 90 minute "best of" Rod Stewart expands to a behemothic 4 and a half hour playlist. Honestly, when am I ever going to listen to 4 and a half hours of Rod Stewart to appreciate the progression of a musical journey? I threw away three compilations of which I was immensely fond, two "soundtracking" comps, one for vocal songs from films (I believe there was a caveat that the songs had to be written and recorded especially for the film, or at least turn up there first) and one for instrumentals (all hail the City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra! and John Barry's theme to Midnight Cowboy) and the pre-club compilation, compiled in 2000 and was more usually the post-club, must-hear-some-good-music compilation. I actually played this on Saturday afternoon, and the sequence of Say You'll Be There-Happy-Young Americans-The Seeker is uplifiting in too many ways to detail.
As well as these multi-artist compilations, there were excellent single-artist compilations too, from the cleverly titled ("These Stories I've Known - The Best of Kenny Rogers", "The Beach Boys - Love And Mercy, Heroes And Villains", "Fleetwood Mac - Singles Bar") to the matter of fact ("The Sting Cassette", "Rolling Stones Compilation", "Elvis").
And, of course, there were the bittersweet, High Fidelity style memories of compilation tapes made for others where the songs themselves, or the subtle ordering of the tracks were the message...
All of which is to say, so farewell then, the Compilation tape.

Subject 3 - How memories attach themselves
Today was a "very 2000/2001" day I thought. I meant the weather and temperature etc. reminded me of days at that time. But how does that work? There must have been days with rain in the air before then, and after, so why is it a 2000/2001 day?

Oh, the sweet mysteries of life...

A picture of health !

2006-06-29T11:10:00.000+01:00

For those who may be concerned I am no longer deaf !

Dreams of being one third of the way to being a pinball wizard dashed !

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