Issue #13 - Wednesday 18th August - FREE
PLEASANCE IS A CABARET...
Already this festival, the Pleasance at Ghillie Dhu has provided the location for some of the greatest parties of the festival. Throughout the day, talented singers, dancers, storytellers and performers entertain packed crowds, and then in the evening everything heats up even further with cabaret acts and and live music. Rounding off eveningss at Ghillie Dhu for the remainder of the festival are two fantastically talented acts; Michael Zegarski and Denise Black, each of whom are bringing a brand new show to the Pleasance.
DENISE BLACK
Denise Black, who is also performing in a production of Calendar Girls in Glasgow earlier every evening, began her run three nights ago. “The shows so far has been glorious” enthuses Denise “the place has been packed out, and the venue itself is simply breathtaking.” Although clearly tiring to star in two shows in two different cities every evening, Denise is a devout Fringe fan who knows that “that’s just the spirit of Edinburgh. It’s full on.” “The Loose Screw is the name of the band but also the tone of the evening” says Denise. “It’s a very relaxed, friendly and just a little bit chaotic evening. Some of the songs people will know and some will be new, but there’s always a kind of sense that you know it. The music is upbeat and pop-y and rock-y, but actually what I really like about songs is not just melody but lyrics, and we’ve got great lyrics.” Denise Black ‘s Loose Screw, Pleasance at Ghillie Dhu, 15-29 Aug 00:15
Michael zegarski
Internationally acclaimed singer Michael Zegarski has constructed a show about the different moods encountered when living in a large city. Living in New York, Michael experiences day in, day out, the notion that “you think your day is going to go in one direction, and then all the tonnes of stimuli you encounter throw you completely in the other direction.” Michael has translated this experience into music, covering genres from pop to classical to opera to original material. Having begun as an actor, then trained as a singer, Michael has the technical expertise to belt home an impressive performance. “When I need to deliver the goods I can do so, but when I don’t I can mess around more and have fun with it.” As Michael suggests in his opening section about bustling city life, you have a choice; you can either react, run and protect or simply sit back, get comfortable and enjoy the mood swing. Mood Swing, A Manhattan Cabaret With Michael Zegarski Pleasance at Ghillie Dhu, 17-30 Aug 22:45
INTERVIEW: OVID’S METAMORPHOSES The Pleasance Times meet cast members Jonathon Davenport (JD) and Alex Parker (AP). It’s been a successful first Fringe for many of you, has the pressure been high? AP: It certainly was daunting coming up here, but it’s been far better than we ever expected. Peter Bramley, our director, has brought shows up before, although not recently. From an actor’s perspective it’s an extremely draining show, so it has been invaluable to receive complements and support from audiences. How did the show come about? JD: Peter teaches at Rosebury College in Sidcup, from which we are all graduates. He worked through a few ideas for a production, and then invited a group of us to audition and then construct it. He originally
wanted to use the 1940s film A Matter Of Life and Death, but then discovered the stories of Theseus, the Minotaur and Areande. AP: We’ve used the 1940s aesthetic of A Matter Of Life And Death to tell Ovid’s stories; the heroes, the villains, the Nazi power drive, the iconic blitz spirit. The production is extremely stylised and also inventively staged – who devised it all? JD: We began with a scripted structure of the stories. Some of the staging had been created previously, but we spent a while workshopping new elements in a playful, fun and creative manner. Our reviews have all picked up on the ensemble feel of the piece, which I think comes from all of our involvement with the devising process. With so many magical moments on stage, it must be chaos backstage?
AP: We often joke that if we filmed backstage we could produce a hilarious spoof movie in its own right. I think we’re getting the hang of making it look slick on stage now. How does Ovid’s Metamorphoses relate to 2010? AP: The stories are still fully relevant, despite their 2000 year age. JD: At the beginning of the poem, Ovid describes the earth as ‘a ball with five temperate zones, the hot one in the middle, two arctic poles and two temperate climates in between’, and this is 1000 years before people were convinced that the world was flat. JD: He also comments on industrialism and mechanics, particularly their impact on the relationship between human and nature. It’s
completely relevant to issues like global warming today. But we’re not preaching that people should recycle more, or anything. Next steps? JD: Before we arrived we were vaguely hoping to take the show somewhere after the festival. We’re really lucky to have just signed up for a three week run at the Croydon Warehouse, and we’ve got other venues interested too. It’s definitely creating a buzz. Ovid’s Metamorphoses Pleasance Dome 4-30 Aug 12:00
MOCK THE STRONG - PAKISTAN FLOOD RELIEF GIGS Pakistan’s worst flooding in nearly a century has severely affected the lives of more than twelve million people. It has claimed the lives of at least 1,600 people, and will endanger
the lives of many more through direct causes, as well as indirect causes such as spoiled crops of food and damaged housing. Floods are to a certain extent inevitable in Pakistan, however the scale and damage of this particular rainfall has hit the country hard. Comedians from
all over the Festival Fringe, including many from Pleasance’s programme, have signed up in droves for a rapid-response comedy event, starting today. Mock The Strong will feature headline acts like Stewart Lee, Mike Wozniak, John Hegley, Janey Godley, Jollie, Shappi Khorsandi and many more. Over eleven nights of cabaret and comedy, money will
be raised for the victims of Pakistan’s floods. The Pleasance wishes host Simon Munnery and the rest of the performers every success in their commendable aid effort. Mock The Strong Banshee Labyrinth, Niddry Street 18-28 Aug [Please note that this event is not produced or ticketed by the Pleasance]
CHRIS RAMSEY FEARS THE FESTIVAL My main Edinburgh fear is the overpopulation. Every year during the festival the pavements become rammed with lost tourists, dancers, jugglers, frustrated locals and more flyers than you could build a fort with. This overcrowding is a huge problem for me, I panic and feel overwhelmed in normal excess pedestrian situations, so this just pushes me over the edge. That’s what my show is about this year… sort of. It’s about my fear of random social confrontation or aggro as I have called it in the show, and busy streets are my main worry. I’m normally on my toes while walking around a strange city but having all of the standard Edinburgh
whimsical, theatrical and basically unpredictable behaviour makes me feel like I have blinkers on. I sometimes get myself into such a panic that I don’t think I’d be able to spot the difference between a drunken mugger and an Oxbridge theatre student flyering in a tutu. Having said that, if you are like me, keep your cool. Take a deep breath. Try to find the a spot near a bin to have a moment of personal space, dive into the odd doorway… phone boxes are good too. And never take a corner blind on the inside lane of the pavement, you’ll come face to face with another panicking pedestrian and inevitably end up doing the dilly-dallying dance
of indecision, face to face, for what feels like a week. Then you’ll have to pretend you found it funny and give them a good old fashioned ‘oh what are we like!’ look. The scariest thing is when someone looses it, it all gets too much and they just explode with anger and scream in the street. Its normally some poor guy who lives in Edinburgh, and has to put up with all this festival stuff every year. What is normally a 5 minute trip to the shops now takes him an hour as he snakes through the hordes of tourists and drama students getting peppered with flyers every step of the way like some kind of paper based
TECHNICIANs IN TROUBLE With just three minutes left on the turnaround, a call comes in accross cans. Queen Dome’s lampy claims a failt with the VL100TS. They’ve already cross-patched two sockets on the spider fan-out along sections of the LX3 truss, but nothing has worked. Panic! He has power surged the unit and suspects no fault with the module on the art rack. The unit is lamped on but is not responding to any attribute outputted by the orb. The unit is running on universe one and should
be adressed to 120. Decision time - do they require the assistance of zero88 or should they try getting the zarges out to take a closer look? a) Tweet your suggested solutions with the hashtag #pleasancetimes, email times@pleasance.co.uk or discuss on your preferred radio fequency. b) Bonus points for defnitions of each piece of jargon.
@ThePleasance #pleasancetimes RT @ThePleasance @scott_mills and the brilliant @BBCR1 team are back @thepleasance Courtyard this week. RT @nathoncaton #ThePleasance Halfway party? Cool! #edfringe RT @edinspotlight Loving the classical music and famous faces at Pleasance Dome just now #edfringe
Saving Private Ryan… still, at least he doesn’t have to buy any toilet paper. Chris Ramsey: Aggrophobic Pleasance Courtyard 4-30 Aug 20:30 RT @mirandafey On the plus side, pleasance dome is air conditioned, playing classical music, and i can see @watsoncomedian. RT @jstanier Go see The Big Smoke at the Pleasance Dome, best thing I saw all week. :) RT @ThePleasance If you ever wanted to know who does the Pleasance Tweets, I’m the one with the sunburnt face walking around the festival
WEDNESDAY 18TH BBC COMEDY PRESENTS Pleasance Dome 23:00 Carl Donnelly Ginger & Black Bridget Christie Matt Green Jon Richardson BEST OF EDINBURGH: THE SHOWCASE SHOW Pleasance Courtyard 13:10 Mc SIMON EVANS PAUL B. EDWARDS DAN ATKINSON BRIDGET CHRISTIE THE BOY WITH TAPE ON HIS FACE
ITCH: A SCRATCH EVENT Pleasance Courtyard 14:00 Steve Frost (Blackadder) Richard Vranch (Paul Merton’s Impro chums) Paul Foot Sara Pascoe Segue Sisters NICHOLAS PARSONS: HAPPY HOUR Pleasance Courtyard 17:10 David Benson Caroline Rhea (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) Lorraine Chase
RONNA AND BEVERLY Pleasance Courtyard 17:45 Rich Fulcher Joe Power VIVE LE CABARET Pleasance at Ghillie Dhu 21:30 Des O’Connor (host) Loretta Maine Peter Straker Morgan & West Sarah-Louise Young Peekaboo Pointe (NYC) Pippa the Ripper The Kitsch Kats Gypsy Charms Please note that all line-ups are subject to change. Check the Box Office for the latest information.