Edinburgh
Festival Theatre 2003 Theatre
reviews, alphabetical by show title. 3
at
C
central,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
An
exciting physical, visual and aural exploration of female identity. A sensory
and emotive soundscape leads three women through their search for the deep rooted
connection between woman to woman, mother to daughter and birth to pain.
Natasha Hulugalle 4.48
Psychosis
at
Smirnoff Underbelly, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
'What
happens to a person's mind when the barriers which distinguish between reality
and different forms of imagination completely disappear…' An emotional, atmospheric
and deeply moving interpretation of Kane's text set in the cavernous depths of
Smirnoff Underbelly.
Andrew Chippindale 7
Assilon Place
at
C,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
A
metaphorical tale from Nathan Osgood about sharing the place in which we live.
This is dynamic physical theatre from the only theatre company in Europe to specialise
in Meyerhold's Biomechanics.
Shirley Dent Abomination
at
C, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
When
new boy Scott befriends Martha, their classmates are shocked. Martha's different.
Martha has a secret - a shameful secret. Its name is Abomination. Physical tour-de-force.
Stuart Simpson
Adolf
at Smirnoff Underbelly, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Adolf
returns. Writer/performer Pip Utton. Director Guy Masterson. As brilliant and
relevant as ever.
Rob Lyons Affirmation
at
C
Cubed,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Two
societies are at war, one religious, the other atheist. Three individuals are
preparing themselves to cross the political divide but are they being honest with
themselves and each other? A searching new play from young writer Simon Ackroyd.
Ravi Bali After
Sex All the Animals Are Sad
at
C
Chambers St,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The
opening scene sets the theme clearly enough. Jerry and Anna fumble about passionlessly
in bed, while Max is getting hot and sweaty alone in his cell, with a great deal
more enthusiasm.
Stuart Simpson All
this…and heaven too? at
Venue 45, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
A surreal
comedy following the life, death and life of Ian Ramsbottom, miraculously returning
to life after committing suicide. Hilarity ensues as two angels race to return
the soul to God and save the world!
Tom Ogg The
Argument - A Family Portrait
at
Jurys Inn Edinburgh , Edinburgh Festival Fringe
From
the company that brought you 3 Dark Tales, this is the irrepressible, irresponsible
and incredible story of the Strong family. It is a story of madness hilarity,
of an eccentric family crisis.
Andrew
Chippindale Babba
Ghanoush and Bagels
at Hill Street Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Two
competing market traders, Sharif a Muslim, Shlomo a Jew, are haunted every day
by childhood problems. Sharif has an alter-ego, 'the suicide bomber', whilst Shlomo,
suffers from 'Small Schlong Syndrome' - blamed on a misguided circumcision.
Tim Markham Baby
Jane
at the Traverse, Edinburgh
Festival Fringe
People Show's latest production sees four people
locked in a nightmareish studio, obsessively re-enacting scenes from the film,
in front of a backdrop of television screens showing pretty much the same thing.
Chris Wilkinson Bad
Play
at C, Chambers St, Edinburgh
Festival Fringe
WARNING THIS PLAY IS TERRIBLE. Don't see it.
Andrew Chippindale Bedtime
for Bastards
at the Old Red Lion, London
Van Badham seems
less prone to polemics than most political humourists. What she has contributed
to the nexus between politics, comedy and art is refreshing.
Luke Robins-Grace Bedtime
Story
at C
cubed,
Edinburgh
Festival Fringe
A
Nazi war criminal narrates the Mahabarata while lurking enforcers terrorise the
audience. Provocative dramaturgy makes Indian mythology force you into thinking
critically. A non-Indian cast brings you theatre that was banned in India for
17 years.
Munira Mirza Sol
Bernstein
at the Broadway Theatre, London
'You look a
lot like my wife', he said to a cringing member of the audience, 'just before
she died'. Comic timing is all and political correctness a bore.
Dave Clements Blood
on the Stones
at
Stockbridge Parish Church, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Edinburgh's
notorious body snatchers Burke and Hare return to the Fringe in this musical by
Edinburgh-born composer Peter D Robinson.
Stuart Simpson Brilliant!
The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla
at
C, Chambers Street , Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The
rise and fall of the visionary inventor, whose pioneering work in electricity
ushured in the modern age. Genius and obsession, conspiracy and isolation.
Mark Tyson Burke
and Hare
at C, Chambers Street , Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Edinburgh,
1827. Surgeons pay good money for corpses, so Burke & Hare are making a killing.
Literally. New black comedy brings the murderous pair to life - one double act
that won't be nominated for the Perrier Award!
Stuart Simpson Camarilla
at C,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Today. London. A bomb.
No one knows who the terrorists are or their motives. The company behind 2002's
smash hit Kitchen - 'Perfection' Edinburgh Guide - return with an explosive new
play from Aussie hotshot Van Badham.
Dolan
Cummings Candide
at
The
Zoo, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
'This
is a story rich and rare/of philosophic interplay/'twixt optimism and despair/by
François Marie Arouet/who calls himself Voltaire.' A slick and exuberant new production
of Bernstein's musical masterpiece.
Natasha Hulugalle Cathy
Holroyd: With Condiments
at
Co2, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Cooking
for one is fun...on Valentine's Day. Join TV chef Cathy Holroyd as she launches
her very own cable TV channel whilst struggling through an inedible divorce and
a stubborn souffle. With special guests.
Mark Tyson The
Child-Killer: A Portrait of a Paedophile at
The
Zoo,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
'Why
are there people like me?' asks Bartsch, 19 year-old serial-killer, in this horrifying
true story. 2 actors, 1 character. This compelling theatrical experience asks
the tragic question, 'Why do victims become monsters?'. Tom Ogg/Andrew Chippindale Cleansed
at C central, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Shocking
and unforgettable drama. In an institutionalised world of torture, seven characters
are pushed to their physical and mental limits. Sarah Kane's critically acclaimed
play tests and manipulates love, gender, brutality and identity. A terrifying
echo of our current political climate.
Dolan Cummings Cloning
Mary Shelley
at
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Cloning
Mary Shelley pieces together biography, scientific research, and personal discovery
as Edie Campbell delves into the life of Mary Shelley, her Frankenstein, his Creature,
creation myths, cloning research, turning 40, origami, making choices and making
babies.
James Gledhill Confessions
of a Justified Sinner
at Netherbow Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
'A
tale so replete with horror I dare not put my name to it.' John Carnegie derives
a spine-chilling drama of duality from Hogg's original masterwork.
Dolan Cummings Count
Arthur Strong's the Greatest Story Ever Told
at
Metro Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Come
walk with Count Arthur Strong on his much acclaimed Biblical odyssey through the
mists of time!
Geoff Kidder Corpus
at
C, Chambers Street, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
New
musical inspired by the shocking Bodyworks exhibition, from talented songwriter
Jonny Berliner and Emmerdale writer Fintan O'Higgins. Lovable characters, macabre
humour and dark melodic undertones in this scathing critique of Britart. Featuring
the Jonny Berliner band live on stage.
Dolan Cummings 'Crave'
by Sarah Kane
at
pend fringe@gateway, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The
voices of the play's four characters take us with a painful, yet almost musical
lyricism through journeys of love, loss, desire and desolation. Highly physical,
inspired: Kane's work hasn't been seen like this before.
Tim Markham Dark
Earth
at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Scotland
2003. One nation, many divides. City and country, past and present collide in
David Harrower's intriguing new comedy of manners. 'The artistic heart, soul and
conscience of the Edinburgh Festival' Daily Telegraph.
Tim
Markham Dark
is the Night / Starving Necrophilia
at
Greyfriars Kirk House, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
An
intensely theatrical exploration of obsession, twisted love, despair and destructive
passion. Don't miss this riveting double-bill of new writing from a young, international
company. Breathtaking, intelligent, insightful and disturbing.
David Clements David
Benson-Star Struck
at Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
I
threw a party in my head, all-star guest list, all quite dead: Noel and Judy,
Frank and Fred (Perhaps I should have stayed in bed … ). Directed by David Sant
(Peepolykus).
Mark Tyson David's
Balls
at
C central, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
90
minutes. Three characters. One actress. The hypothetical explosion of David's
testicles heats up this satiric farce. Three women and one whole theatre company
confront sexual betrayal and imminent death with outrageous lies and more outrageous
truths.
David Clements Death
in the Chapel at
St.
Cut's,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
11th
September 1930 - Agatha Christie's wedding day and there's been a murder! In the
chapel where she was actually married the wedding guests will play a crucial part
in solving the mystery, and you are invited…
Tom Ogg Desdemona,
A Play about a Hankerchief
at
Hill
Street Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Lusty
mistress + cunning maid + wandering hanky + love-sick harlot + saucy spanking
+ raging husband = Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel's dark, sexy take on Shakespeare's
Othello…
James Gledhill The
Donahue Sisters at
C
Cubed,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Geraldine
Aron's award-wining Irish rural thriller. Briefly re-united, three sisters discuss
their lives before re-enacting a disturbing incident from their childhood. Will
bring a smile to your face and send shivers down your spine. Capitivating…
Dave Clements Don
Q at
Smirnoff
Underbelly,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Time
Out Critics Choice Company presents unique, dynamic physical theatre that assaults
the senses in an adaptation of Cervantes' classic, Don Quixote. Imagine a world
where windmills are giants, inns are castles and islands are yours to bestow…
Shirley Dent Down
Dog at Smirnoff Underbelly, Edinburgh
Festival Fringe
Violence, love, sex and fantasy are brutally
portrayed in Mark O'Thomas' (3 times Time Out Critics Choice winner) latest work.
Two couples get entangled in their twisted fantasies trying to escape their festering
lives. Viciously sharp.
Natasha Hulugalle Dr.
Jekyll and Mr.Hyde
at Greyfriars Kirk House, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Ironduke
bring to life the classic tale of 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'.
It begins in fog-bound nineteenth-century London, with the story of the door,
and ends in the diabolical creation of an all-consuming alter-ego.
James
Panton Elizavieta
Bam
at
Gateway
Theatre,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Explosive
Canadian production of the hallucinatory and surrealistic play by Russian writer
Daniil Harms. A woman's triumphant struggle against torment, finally overcoming
the obliterating forces of an irrational world. Pure delirium in the theatre of
the absurd.
Tom Ogg Emulator
at
Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Digital
World. Digital Life. Technology and reality merge. Intense physical theatre and
acrobatics fuse with stunning live Vjing and live sampling. A darkly eloquent
nightmare.
Geoff Kidder Emily
Dickinson and I
at
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The
true story of an actress Edie Campbell's struggle to write a one-woman play about
her heroine, Emily Dickinson. What emerges is a beautiful woven tale about writing,
acting, and getting into Emily Dickinson's dress.
Mark Tyson English
Journeys
at
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Steve
Waters' acclaimed play sets the intimate recollections of a failing couple on
the mesmerising open roads of Blair's Britain. Kathy's now driving solo and Peter's
attentions are focussed on Joanne, his mysterious 15-year-old travelling companion.
Dolan Cummings The
Erl King at
Smirnoff
Underbelly,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
'You're
an ogre people tell me. An ogre? A magical creature emerging from the mists of
time?' From troubled childhood to Nazi collaborator, this is a fast-paced, physically
inventive adaptation of Michel Tournier's celebrated novel.
Tom Ogg An
Evening with Joe Stalin the Musical
at
C, Chambers St, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
A
fast-paced controversial satire on the great dictators life. Featuring hits such
as ' Gulag Rag' and 'Mrs Stalin Regrets'. Hilarious and Dynamic musical puts the
show back into show trial.
Andrew Chippindale The
Exam at
Rocket @ Demarco Roxy Art House, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Mazdram
present Andy Hamilton's new comedy, commissioned by the National Theatre, in which
three exam candidates come to terms with themselves, their papers and their parents.
Tom Ogg Face
the Wall
at
Venue 13,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
A
businessman's admission. A woman's confession. A man shoots schoolchildren one
by one. Three stories unfold and ask, 'Does it matter how the nice man with a
nice house could do a thing like that?'
James Gledhill Family
Romance
at
The Zoo, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
A
fast-moving physical theatre exploration of the romance which turns us into the
people we are: our families, and whether we actually have the power to make choices.
Emotionally affecting; a pumping soundtrack; comic and severe.
Tom Ogg Family
Snaps
at
The Garage, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Played
beautifully by a troupe of pre-teenage actors, and minimally-staged, the play
addresses the issue of divorce, and the effects of family break-up on the lives
of the children involved.
Taff
Llewellyn Fat
at
Venue
45,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
'Fat'
features the contemporary struggle for physical perfection… the rhythms, the emotions,
the trance-like state of the gym… 3 characters and the motives behind their need
to work out. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll love your gut!
Ravi Bali Faust
at
Sweet at the Crowne Plaza, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
TEV
sheds new light on Goethe's Faust. The result is vibrant, living theatre - with
the essence of Goethe's philosophies transmitted through the hearts and minds
of the actors and musicians. Imaginative and unmissable.
Tom Ogg Finding
Bin Laden
at Metro Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Chasing
the CIA's $25m for capturing Bin Laden, an Afghan War reporter uncovers murder,
ghosts and espionage… Half of Parsons and Naylor, Henry's written for 'Spitting
Image' and 'Dead Ringers'.
Natasha
Hulugalle Footers
at
Assembly
Rooms,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Direct
from Zambia, two irrepressible chancers travels the streets of Lusaka meeting
con-men, evangelists and streetgirls who live there. 'You feel a surge of warmth,
fun and endurance that typifies the true African spirit' Zambian Post.
Dave Clements Gary
Le Strange- Polaroid Suitcase
at
Smirnoff Underbelly, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Dancing.
Cowboys. Robots. Dandies. Harlequins. Furniture. Showroom dummies. Gary is a warrior.
Fashion is his weapon. 'One of the true pioneers of stnth-pop' Guardian.
Andrew Chippindale The
Girls of May
at The Zoo, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Footage
from the 1968 Parisian revolution sets the scene as The Girls of May narrate their
experiences. You'll be swept off your feet by their passion as they protest, fall
in love and fight for their ideals.
James Panton
Glengarry
Glen Ross at
Stage by Stage Edinburgh Academy, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
David
Mamet's Pulitzer-Prize-Winning play follows salesmen battling for supremacy in
a sales contest. A fast-paced drama exploring what men will do to live. Steal.
Cheat. All in a day's work.
Ravi Bali The
Gospel of Matthew at
C, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Right
Here, Right Now! Internationally acclaimed award-winner in fresh translation of
the earliest, most human, complex and shocking account of Jesus, with original
music and video.
Dolan Cummings The
Grimm Tales at
Komedia Roman Eagle Lodge, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Spellbinding,
vibrant and at times gruesome storytelling from Carol Ann Duffy and Tim Supple's
acclaimed adaptation of the classic Grimm tales. Will delight and enchant children
and adults alike.
Ravi Bali Hanjo:
An Autumn Lullaby at
Diverse
Attractions,
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Hanako, a mentally disturbed girl, waits for Yoshio. A traditional Japanese Noh
play which explores Hanako's mind, expressing her thoughts in strikingly original
physical forms using a combination of traditional Noh theatrical styles and Western
expressionism.
Ravi Bali Harry
is Always Right
at The Garage, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
'Business
opportunities' become 'major threats', diplomacy fails and the bombing begins
as the Elected Supreme turn facts into mayhem at break-neck speed. Performed with
hair-raising intensity this is razor-edged propaganda-bashing satire with teeth.
Dolan
Cummings Hello
Dali
at
clubWEST @ Edinburgh Theosophical Society, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Andrew
Dallmeyer's hard-hitting Fringe First winning play returns in a production first
seen at the National Theatre. An audience with Salvador Dali - the master of Surrealism
- genius or madman? You decide. This is five star, x-rated entertainment.
Tom
Ogg Henry
V
at
The Zoo, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Using
a minimalist set and modern dress, fused with sharp lighting, powerful music and
striking televisual images, Shakespeare's Henry V is brought starkly up-to-date.
'Disturbing to watch, but nonetheless compelling' Gairrhydd.
Stuart Simpson
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