The List Festival 2019 - Week 2

l a v i t fes 7–14 AUG 2019 | WEEK 2 LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL

FREE

150

SHOW + THIS S TO SEE MONT H

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PHOEBE ROBINSON JOANA VASCONCELOS TRAUMBOY / TRAUMGIRL VAL MCDERMID GINGER JOHNSON SCOTTISH OPERA KALAKUTA REPUBLIK GRAYSON PERRY

ANNA CALVI MERCURY PRIZE NOMINEE PAINTS THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL RED

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

CHVRCHES

BOOKS | CABARET | COMEDY | DANCE | KIDS | MUSIC | THEATRE | VISUAL ART

and YUCK Circus

“perfect balance of flying through the air and being disgustingly hilarious”

“ This show made me feel like I could fight a bear (and possibly win)”

fringe feed

audience member

adelaide advertiser

fringe feed

“SO EXCITING YOU CANNOT LOOK AWAY FOR A SECOND” EVENING STANDARD &

N OMPA SEnC R O t H prese R ACE

T “EL EC

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O ON T R , UNCI A N D , W IL D

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TIME OUT

THE TIMES

9PM (10PM) 02 - 24 AUGUST (NOT 7, 12, 19) 9PM (10PM)

4PM (5PM) 4 Sheets.pdf

1

6/18/19

03 - 24 AUGUST (NOT 7, 12, 19)

7:30 AM

02 - 24 AUGUST 2019 (not 7, 12, 19)

and MANUAL CINEMA present

Untitled-20 1

25/07/2019 15:

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“ENDLESSLY IMAGINATIVE...

EXQUISITELY BEAUTIFUL”

“…AN EXQUISITELY STYLIZED, SELF-CONTAINED REALITY”

THE NEW YORKER

THE NEW YORK TIMES

“A MAJESTIC ACCOMPLISHMENT THAT BOGGLES THE MIND.” CHICAGO THEATRE REVIEW

4PM (5PM) 2.45PM (4PM) 03 -JULY 24 AUGUST (NOT 7, 12, 19) 31 - 26 AUGUST (NOT 12)

2.45PM (4.00PM) 2.45PM (4PM)

“...IMPOSSIBLE TO LOOK AWAY.” DAILY BEAST

4PM(6PM) (5PM) 5PM 03 JULY - 24 AUGUST (NOT 7, 12, 19) 31 - 26 AUGUST (NOT 7, 12,19) 5PM 5PM (6.10PM) (6.10PM) 3131 JULY - 26 AUGUST (NOT 7, 19) 12, 19) JULY - 26 AUGUST2019 (NOT 7, 12,

festival

CONTENTS FESTIVAL 2019 | ISSUE 2 | LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL

Big Fat Bribes

2

Top 20

5

News

11

FEATURES

16

Anna Calvi

16

Joana Vasconcelos

24

Chvrches

33

FOOD & DRINK

34

Book Festival food strand PHOTO: MAISIE COUSINS

BOOKS

37

Val McDermid

39

CABARET

41

Colin Cloud

41

Ginger Johnson

45

Alfie Ordinary

46

Phil Wang

49 53

Josie Long

56

Giants

58

Sofie Hagen

60

Reviews at a Glance

63

67

Kalakuta Republik

67

Yuck Circus

69

The Desk

70

KIDS

Recently nominated for the Mercury Prize for her third studio album, eclectic musician Anna Calvi returns to the Edinburgh International Festival with her thundering live energy. We chat to Calvi about speaking her truth, the new direction she’s taken with Hunter and why it’s a great period for queer musicians in general. Find out more on page 16.

49

Jessica Fostekew

DANCE

ANNA CALVI

37

Markus Zusak

COMEDY

COVER STORY

34

73

The Listies

73

Feast of Fools

75

Fox-Tot!

76

MUSIC

79

This is the Kit

26

PHOTO: PATRICK MATTRAUX

PHOTO: MINDY TUCKER

20

OFFERS

COVER PHOTO: MAISIE COUSINS

85

Deer Woman

85 87

Sea Sick

88

Fempire: Mess

93

Think You’re Funny?

Fringe

Daniel Hellman and Anne Welenc present two works that respond to tensions around sex work.

THEATRE

Grand Final of So You 8

Brandi Alexander

97

Reviews at a Glance

98

VISUAL ART

Micky P Kerr this

Co-creator and co-star of hit podcast 2 Dope Queens makes her UK stand-up debut.

82

Burgerz

Win tickets to see

TRAUMBOY / TRAUMGIRL

81

Sarah Jane Morris

Win tickets to the

2019

PHOEBE ROBINSON

79

Johnny Marr

8

99

Grayson Perry

99

Win tickets to Art

Night Walk for Edinburgh

101

Late – Leith, as part

Hanna Tuulikki

103

of Edinburgh Art Festival

8

EVENTS Fringe by the Sea

104 104

TOP RATED SHOWS AT LIST.CO.UK/FESTIVAL You’ll find over 150 reviews across these pages but for even more, head to list.co.uk/festival. We’re adding new festival reviews every day, so you can stay in the loop and find out what not to miss. Plus, check out our Top Rated page, where we rank shows by their average review score from multiple publications, for a definitive guide to what’s hot at the festival.

BIG

fat BRIBE

Here at List Towers we’re not above a wee bribe to make us sit up and take notice of a show – so come on, what are you waiting for?

CONTRIBUTORS PUBLISHING Editor Arusa Qureshi Subeditors Paul McLean, Yasmin Sulaiman Senior Designer Lucy Munro Designers Stuart Polson, Seonaid Rafferty

A box filled with a surprisingly large assortment of time capsule-like items, from (we hope clean) tissues to a Spitfire tea towel and some classic mint imperials, from the members of Paradise Lodge, Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug (not 12).

Head of Development, Publishing Andy Carmichael Section Editors: Books Lynsey May, Cabaret Arusa Qureshi, Comedy Brian Donaldson, Dance / Kids, Kelly Apter, Festival Food & Drink Deborah Chu, Front / News Deborah Chu, Katharine Gemmell, Music Henry Northmore, Theatre Gareth K Vile, Visual Art Rachael Cloughton Editorial Assistant Arabella Bradley Advertising & Events: Senior Events and Promotions Manager Rachel Cree, Senior Account Managers Ross Foley, Debbie Thomson, Account Manager Jakob Van den Berg, Ad Ops Executive Victoria Parker, Events Development Executive Amy Clark, Events and Promotions Intern Shaun Scott Publishing Director Sheri Friers

DATA AND CONTENT SERVICES

We spent some time here in the office pretending to be a literary genius thanks to this shadow puppet of Mary Shelley at her desk, penning the inception of an entire genre of literature.

See this and many more creations at Manual Cinema’s Frankenstein, Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug (not 12).

Content Manager Murray Robertson, Senior Content Producer Alex Johnston, Content Producers Deborah Chu, Megan Forsyth, Katharine Gemmell, Sofia Matias, Affiliate Content Executive Becki Crossley, Head of Data Development Andy Bowles, Data Developers Alan Miller, Stuart Moir Director Data and Content Brendan Miles

THE LIST Head of Accounting & HR Sarah Reddie Director Robin Hodge CEO Simon Dessain

A full day of throwback hits was had (through more modern means than the included cassette tape, sadly) when we received this parcel filled with memories from another time, courtesy of Scream Phone, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until 26 Aug (not 7, 14).

2 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Published by The List Ltd HEAD OFFICE: 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE Tel: 0131 550 3050 editor@list.co.uk GLASGOW OFFICE: at the CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD Tel: 0141 332 9929, glasgow@list.co.uk; list.co.uk ISSN: 0959 - 1915 © 2019 The List Ltd. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden without the written permission of the publishers. The List does not accept responsibility for unsolicited material.

The List provides this content in good faith but no guarantee or representation is given that the content is accurate, complete or up-to-date.

Use of magazine content is at your own risk.

Printed by Acorn Web Offset Ltd, W.Yorkshire.

The List Sinful quarter page ad vec_Layout 1 19/07/2019 14:09 Page 1

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ROMESH RANGANATHAN BIG VALUE 2011 + 2012

TWO DAILY SHOWS EACH WITH FOUR UNIQUE ACTS

Simon Wozniak Tom Taylor Matt Bragg Tom Toal

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Hosted by Robin

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18:10 - 19:10 1st - 25th August (Not Mondays)

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festival

TOP 20

COMEDY

Fern Brady: Power and Chaos

PHOTO: MATT CROCKETT

In her latest hour, the Bathgate comic fearlessly delves into sexuality, feminism, nationality and power with her trademark wit.

See review, page 53. Monkey Barrel, until 25 Aug (not 12).

PHOTO: FRASER RICE

PHOTO: DOUNE PHOTO

MUSIC

DANCE

Kalakuta Republik

Val McDermid

As part of the Summer Sessions, the psychrockers bring their hits to Edinburgh with support from former Smiths guitarist Marr (pictured). See feature, page 81. Princes Street Gardens, 10 Aug.

Serge Aimé Coulibaly takes inspiration from Afrobeat pioneer and political activist Fela Kuti to explore political revolution and resistance in this dance work. Lyceum, 8–11 Aug.

The crime writer hosts guest strand Home/Less that aims to get to grips with the alarming reality of the UK’s homelessness crisis. See feature, page 39. Charlotte Square Gardens, 12, 14, 15 Aug.

Primal Scream + Johnny Marr

BOOKS

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 5

PHOTO: MIHAELA BODLOVIC

PHOTO: MATT STRONGE

COMEDY

DANCE

Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang

The Desk

The Taskmaster star discusses race and The Muppets’ role in the downfall of his latest relationship in this powerfully funny new show. See review, page 49.

Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 12).

Ensemble work about the seductive power of dogma and discipline, based on director Reetta Honkakoski’s lived experience of a cult. See review, page 70.

Summerhall, until 25 Aug, (not 12, 19).

PHOTO: JAMES GLOSSOP

The East London drag star welcomes us into her world of delusion. See feature, page 45. Pleasance Dome, until 26 Aug (not 12, 19).

PHOTO: MINH

Ginger Johnson’s Happy Place

PHOTO: © GRAYSON PERRY. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND VICTORIA MIRO, LONDON/VENICE

PHOTO: HOLLY REVELL

CABARET

BOOKS

VISUAL ART

KIDS

Fox-tot!

Markus Zusak

The Turner Prize-winning artist explores the life of an ordinary woman through the medium of tapestry. See review, page, 99.

Dovecot Studios, until 2 Nov.

New opera for 12 to 24-month-olds which explores a magical woodland world through music and puppetry.

See review, page 76. Edinburgh Academy, until 16 Aug (not 12).

The Australian author makes his first Book Festival appearance to introduce the follow-up to The Book Thief. See preview, page 37.

Charlotte Square Gardens, 12 Aug.

Grayson Perry

PHOTO: REBECCA NEED MENEAR

PHOTO: MAISIE COUSINS

MUSIC

KIDS

Fresh from a Mercury nomination, Anna Calvi’s ‘thundering guitars, dramatic dreamscapes and operatic vocals’ take to the stage at Leith Theatre as part of EIF’s contemporary music strand. See feature, page 16. Leith Theatre, 11 Aug.

Dexter and Winter head out on a madcap adventure to spring Dexter’s mum from jail when she gets mixed up in a jewellery theft. Roundabout @ Summerhall, 10 & 11, 17 & 18, 24 & 25 Aug.

Anna Calvi

6 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Dexter and Winter’s Detective Agency

PHOTO: ALLAN POLLOK MORRIS

VISUAL ART

THEATRE

Joana Vasconcelos: Gateway

Fempire: Mess by Kirsten Vangsness

The debut of a new permanent commission from the Portuguese artist. It takes the form of a brightly designed pool with motifs ranging from sacred geometries to the zodiac. See feature, page 24. Jupiter Artland, until 29 Sep.

Solo show that meanders from Christian rock to quantum uncertainty, as the actor familiar from Criminal Minds delves into her own consciousness and finds pleasure in fragmentation. Assembly Rooms, 8, 11, 15, 18, 21, 24 Aug.

PHOTO: CHLOE ELLINGSON

PHOTO: SALLY JUBB

Night Walk for Edinburgh

THEATRE

Sea Sick

BOOKS

COMEDY

A mesmerising video walk from Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. See feature, page 101. The Milkman, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19).

Alanna Mitchell reports from the front line of the greatest crisis of our times in this remarkable storytelling hour.

See review, page 88. CanadaHub @ King’s Hall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19).

The Shetland poet and winner of the 2018 Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize presents her debut collection Moder Dy. Charlotte Square Gardens, 11 Aug.

Giants take to the stage as Eurodance duo Fjörd to record a live album for our listening pleasure.

See review, page 58. Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 13).

VISUAL ART

Roseanne Watt

Giants are Fjord

PHOTO: TILL BOÃÀCKER

PHOTO: MINDY TUCKER

COMEDY

THEATRE

As a woman of many talents (podcast creator, author and actress to name a few), Robinson makes her debut on the UK stand-up scene with her Fringe hour. See feature, page 20. Assembly George Square Studios, 12–25 Aug.

Two solo shows which explore sex work from a male and female perspective, exploring with humour the stigma still associated with the profession. See feature, page 26. Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 19).

Phoebe Robinson: Sorry, Harriet Tubman

Traumboy / Traumgirl

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7

READER OFFERS WIN TICKETS TO ART LATE – LEITH

WIN TICKETS TO SEE MICKY P KERR

The List are teaming up with Edinburgh Art Festival to offer readers the chance of winning a pair of tickets to their Leith edition of Art Late.

Art Late is a special culture crawl with artists’ talks, handson workshops and one-off performances – celebrating the city’s galleries by night.

With drinks provided by Edinburgh Gin and Bellfield Brewery.

The next instalment in the Art Late series will begin with an exploration of the exhibitions at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, before continuing on to Travelling Gallery, and finishing with performances at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop.

To be in with a chance of winning, simply log onto list.co.uk/offers and tell us:

The List are teaming up with Get Comedy to offer readers the chance to win tickets to see Micky P Kerr at the Edinburgh Fringe.

In this hilarious rags to more rags tale of becoming a ‘proper’ musician, one of the UK’s finest musical comedy talents dissects the winning pop song formula and offers his own unique reconstructions.

Last year Micky P Kerr made the finals of Britain’s Got Talent and wowed the judges: ‘So funny, so different, so original’ (Simon Cowell).

This year he takes on the pomposity of the popular music industry in a show which will make you laugh, sing and wonder why on earth Micky isn’t a global phenomenon by now!

How many venues will you travel to in this instalment of the Art Late series?

To be in with a chance of winning, simply log onto list.co.uk/offers and tell us:

Edinburgh Art Festival: Art Late Thu 15 Aug 5.30pm – 10pm Various locations

Micky P Kerr: Kerr in the Community Sun 11 – Mon 26 Aug 5.45pm Underbelly – The Dairy Room Bristo Square Edinburgh EH8 9AG

edinburghartfestival.com TERMS & CONDITIONS: Competition closes Mon 12 Aug 2019. Entrants must be 18 or over.

The List’s usual rules apply.

Which TV show competition did Micky get to the final of?

getcomedy.com TERMS & CONDITIONS: Competition closes Wed 14 Aug 2019. The List’s usual rules apply.

WIN TICKETS TO THE GRAND FINAL OF SO YOU THINK YOUR FUNNY? 2019 The List are teaming up with So You Think You’re Funny? and Coors Light to offer readers the chance to win a pair of tickets to the Grand Final of this year’s competition.

After touring the country in search of new comedy talent, it’s time to crown the 32nd winner of So You Think You’re Funny? Hosted at Gilded Balloon Teviot, watch some of the UK’s breakthrough stars of comedy battle it out in the final round to win the coveted prize of So You Think You’re Funny? 2019. The newly crowned winner will join the comedy hall of fame, which includes the likes of Dylan Moran, Daniel O’Docherty and Maisie Adam, to name a few.

Supporting UK comedy talent, Coors Light are offering you the chance to say you saw them here first! To be in with the chance of winning, simply answer the question below:

Who has previously won So You Think You’re Funny?

So You Think You’re Funny? Grand Final Thu 22 Aug 7.30pm Gilded Balloon Teviot Teviot Row House 13 Bristo Pl Edinburgh EH8 9AJ

soyouthinkyourefunny.co.uk #SYTYF TERMS & CONDITIONS: Competition closes Mon 19 Aug 2019.

The List’s usual rules apply.

8 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

VENUE 26

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 2019

“Host to some of the most provocative, avant-garde works to be found anywhere in Edinburgh during the festival season.”

The List 2019

PERFORMANCE

Caroline Horton - All of Me Sh!t Theatre Drink Rum with Expats Kopergietery - Buzz Superfan - Like Animals … and many more …

Image: Ed Collier

11am-6pm Exhibitions are FREE

VISUAL ARTS

Alan Smith - The New World Robert McDowell - Beuys in 1000 items Extinction Rebellion … and more …

OPEN: Tuesday - Sunday

Image: Alan Smith, Flagellum, Courtesy of the artist © Alan Smith

MUSIC Start to End perform Taylor Swift's 1989 Kathryn Joseph - From When I Wake Peter Broderick sings the songs of Arthur Russell Dylan Carlson … and many more…

FOOD AND DRINK The Royal Dick ´ Summerhall Cafe The Courtyard Bar ` Rost Fire & Dough Pizza … and plenty more …

Box Office

0131 560 1581

www.summerhall.co.uk

#SHFest19 Photography - Human brain synapses, Anon

Image: The Royal Dick / Peter Dibdin

31July - 25Aug

We know the ingredients for impressive events

Our events live in the hearts and minds of guests for years to come. For professional advice on venues and sample award-winning menus, speak to our planners.

0131 287 0530 | info@hickoryfood.co.uk

10 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

HICKORY

NEWS NEWS AND GOSSIP FROM ACROSS THE FESTIVALS

fast ts fa

• Through the Fringe of Colour campaign, young people of colour aged 30 or under can apply for free tickets to 16 shows which are being staged by performers of colour. Launched in 2018 by Jess

• The List have partnered with sustainable tourism podcast Hidden Trax to help guide you through the madness of the festival season. Tune into the first episode of The List Podcast: Festival Edition to hear our top picks for comedy, music and theatre, what we dread about Fringe-time and what keeps us coming back for more, year on year. Find out more at hiddentrax.co

#FRINGEISAWYOU

• The gender pay gap is unfortunately alive and kicking at the Fringe. A study carried out by theatre company Power Play, in collaboration with Pleasance and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, has revealed that despite women making up the majority in almost every category at the Fringe, men’s wages both on and off stage are on average 60% higher. Moreover, approximately 30% of people working at the Fringe are doing so without pay.

Brough to address the scarcity of shows by people of colour at the festival, Fringe of Colour’s ticketing scheme aims to not only highlight these acts, but also inspire the younger generation by helping them to see themselves and their experiences represented on stage.

WHAT A SELL OUT GOING, GOING . . .

Ahir Shah: Dots Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang Enough

GONE . . .

Frank Skinner Live Joel Dommett: Work in Progress Iain Stirling: Work in Progress

It’s back! If you feel the spark with some festival random, let us know via Facebook message, tweet us at @thelistmagazine or send us an Insta DM on @thelistuk. #FringeISawYou.

I saw you singing Gold

by Spandau Ballet at the top of your lungs at The List Festival Party.

I was the sweaty mess cheering you on from the sidelines. I think you’re indestructible!

I saw you at the Underbelly press launch at George Square Gardens, being nuzzled by a giant dinosaur puppet. I think you’re dino-mite.

S BIRD BRAIN

Goss Foley EDINBURGH’S #1 AGONY AUNT

Dear Goss,

I’m a firsttime performer at the Fringe – how can I get reviewers to come to my show?

JOHN, STAND-UP COMIC, 23 Reviewers love celebrities (like Calum Best) so, if you’re really looking to attract their attention, it’s probably best to be famous before you arrive in Edinburgh. I’m sure your follow-up is, ‘That’s all fine and well, Goss, but how the heck do I (a mere ‘ordinary joe’) get famous?’

Well, if we take the aforementioned Calum Best as an exemplar, it’s really very easy: you simply make memorable appearances on Fool Around With (E4), The Match (Sky One), Celebrity Love Island (ITV), Calum, Fran, and Dangerous Danan (ITV2) and then launch three successful male fragrances: ‘Calum’, ‘Best’, and ‘Day and

KEVIN MCGAHERN | GLENN MOORE | VIKKI STONE Brits love a bit of headwear for every occasion, but these comics have taken it to new, avian levels, replacing respectable fasteners and hatbands with a fine feathered friend in an attempt to catch our eye. Here are some of our favourites from the flock.

Night’.

It’s like the great Andy Warhol said: ‘Fame is easy, admirable, and universally desirable.’

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 11

F EST I VA L F E AT URES | Festival Party

f est ival PA R T Y

The first week of the Edinburgh Festival means one thing for us; the return of the mother of all festival bashes, The List Festival Party.

The crowds descended on Summerhall on 1 Aug to celebrate in style and to all those who helped us make it a success, we cannot thank you enough.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to our sponsors Johnnie Walker and Innis & Gunn for making the night so incredible. Thanks also to our supporters Red Bull for tropical drinks, DJ’s and fun, Popchips, Ruffians and Bleach Please for giving out festival makeovers, We Throw Switches for providing oldschool arcade fun, Locked In Edinburgh for caging our attendees (at their own will) and to Silent Adventures who led tours around the party.

Thanks also to Emily Cuthbert, Hilary Macrae, Karen Hemmati, Jessica Johnstone McBride, Gilly Bain and the team at YOURgb. And of course, our programmer extraordinaire Amy Russell, (who celebrated her tenth party in 2019) who once again, put a killer lineup of acts together. And thanks to our wonderful comperes Sian Bevan, Liam Withnail and Ginger Johson for keeping everyone entertained and our DJ Sarra Wild too, as well as all of our talented performers (see full list, right).

More thanks go to our photographer James Gourlay and videographer Sandy Butler; stage managers Jessica Ward, Michael Heasman and Laura Hawkins; and of course the Summerhall team, especially Rowan Campbell, Amber Cordiner, Morgan Tooth and Brian Hutchison.

And not forgetting our hard-working volunteers on the night: Louise Thompson, Erin Barbour, Lauren McLean, Emma Johnson, Anna Guix Mestre, Weronika Gohling, Hope Lawson, Paloma Fernandez Pulido, Ana Blinstrubaite, Cameron Hughes, Anne Sippel, Zoe Crawford, Arvy Avo and Lisa Mouette.

Lastly, we’d like to thank our party organisers Sheri Friers, Rachel Cree, Amy Clark and Shaun Scott who worked relentlessly for months to pull this event together.

See you in 2020 for another great night at #ListFestivalParty.

#LISTFESTIVALPARTY

PERFORMERS: Tom Brace, Filament, Jekyll & Hyde, YUCK Circus, The Latebloomers: Scotland!, Heroes, Raven, Sara Barron, Blind Date, LIAM WITHNAIL, Patrick Monahan, NIGHTCLUBBING , Frisky & Mannish, Cruel Intentions, Alfie Ordinary, Reuben Kaye, DJ Sarra Wild , Gareth Waugh, Donald Alexander, Robin Grainger, Marjolein Robertson, Stuart MacPherson, Divet Show, Faulty Towers , Bad Aunts, Along 12 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

list.co.uk/festival

Festival Party | FEST I VA L F E AT U RES

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 13

CO-PROMOTION

southside best of the

PLEASANCE WALLACE & GROMIT’S MUSICAL MARVELS CARROT PRODUCTIONS Pleasance at EICC – Pentland Theatre, 15 & 16 Aug, 1pm & 3.15pm, £18 (£15.50).

Join everyone’s favourite dynamic duo as Wallace prepares to perform his musical masterpiece with help from his faithful canine companion Gromit. This interactive experience features specially created animations from Aardman, as well as live orchestral accompaniment from some of the UK’s top musicians and presenter Matthew Sharp.

A WOMB OF ONE’S OWN WONDERBOX AND THE PLEASANCE Pleasance Dome – 10Dome, until 26 Aug (not 13, 22), 2.50pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).

Funny, clever and politically challenging A Womb of One’s Own follows 18-yearold Babygirl on her journey of self and sexual discovery, exploring the emotional rollercoaster that is an unwanted pregnancy and asking why it’s still such a taboo.

Supported by the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund for Theatre.

SUMMERHALL WINNER OF THE MELBOURNE FRINGE SUMMERHALL AWARD

MY BEST DEAD FRIEND

PRO HELVETIA’S SWISS SELECTION EDINBURGH

21 – MEMORIES OF GROWING UP

ZANETTI PRODUCTIONS Until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 5.15pm, £12 (£10).

Set in Dunedin, New Zealand, Anya TateManning & Isobel MacKinnon’s comedy about death, revolution, unfulfilled love and a possum is a true story of heartbreaking grief and enduring friendship.

‘Funny, beautiful and devastating.’ Theatre Review NZ

MATS STAUB Until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 10am/noon/2pm/4pm, £8.

When did you turn 21? The Scottish première of Mats Staub’s video installation, exploring how world history is mirrored in personal memories, includes new interviews with Edinburgh residents.

‘I spent four hours flicking through the faces . . . it’s addictive, and I could have spent four more.’ The Guardian

STYX

LOVELY GIRLS

ZOO SECOND BODY ZOO Southside, until 17 Aug, 3.05pm, £14 (£12).

Award-winning gig theatre about memory loss, legacy and myth performed by an international supergroup of musicians. An exploration of what it is to lose the memories that make us who we are and the stories that connect them. Original songs, live soundprocessing and personal recordings bring light to the experience of living and dying with dementia and the imprints that outlast us.

14 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

THE HICCUP PROJECT ZOO Southside, until 17 Aug (not 12), 8.50pm, £14 (£12).

Chess and Cristina are multi award-winning duo, The Hiccup Project, often introduced as ‘the lovely hiccup girls’. At first, they didn’t react, because women are supposed to be lovely. But then they started to wonder what else they could be. Using their powerful blend of dance, theatre and comedy, they delve into the ridiculous and limiting contradictions and clichés of being a woman today.

F EST I VA L F E AT URES | Anna Calvi

HUN TI N G SEASON With her third album recently nominated for the Mercury Prize, 2019 could finally be Anna Calvi’s year, after two previous nominations for the music industry’s most coveted award. Arusa Qureshi meets with the unconventional and extraordinary singer-songwriter ahead of her return to the Edinburgh International Festival

A

nna Calvi is dressed in her signature red and black, with dark shades covering her eyes, when we meet backstage at London’s All Points East festival.

Clutching a carton of coconut water and exuding a very calming presence, her revered trademark theatricality is concealed. In person, she is mellow and softly spoken; a far cry from the raw magnetism and bold sensuality that manifests itself on stage.

‘It just feels really natural,’ she says, when asked about her live persona.

‘I think it’s just about really being in the moment and using my voice and the guitar as this way of accessing something really free and not inhibited by anything. And that’s what music does for me and that’s why I love it so much.’

On stage, her voice soars and simultaneously hypnotises, spiralling around the stab of her guitar and its intense melodrama. Here is a performer so driven by the intensity and passion of her art that being totally engulfed is the only option for those lucky enough to bear witness.

‘It’s about just losing yourself and that’s what I need and that’s what I think an audience needs,’ she continues. ‘They need to see somebody who is willing to take that risk. It’s so rare in life that you can take the risk because there’s so many restrictions on how we behave and what’s socially acceptable. But here’s this moment where you can just completely let go. I think it’s infectious and really healthy.’

Released last August after a five-year gap between records, Calvi’s third album Hunter provides the perfect backdrop for her musical prowess and bewitching on-stage animalism, with fierce meditations on gender, identity and sexuality throughout.

‘It’s been such an amazing record to play live because it’s really visceral and it has a lot of energy. And it’s been interesting because with my first two records, audiences would be very still and politely listen. Whereas this one, it’s a little bit more confrontational and it’s just exciting to see how that relationship with the audience can change as your music develops.’

For Calvi, there have been many changes in the five years since the release of her second record, both musically and more personally, that have fed into the creative process of Hunter.

‘After One Breath, I broke up with someone I was with for eight years and then I moved to France to be with my current girlfriend. And that was just a very big life change and I guess it encouraged me to take more risks in general and definitely with my music, kind of spurred me on to be as expressive and explore the concept of pleasure. And actually politically, as a woman, that feels like a really important subject to explore.’

Looking more broadly at the world of popular music, it can be said that we’re currently in a fairly fruitful period as far as queer representation goes, but especially, queer female representation. Calvi agrees that there has been a noticeable sea change in the way the music industry responds to queer artists, but for her, it’s always been essential to speak her truth.

16 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

‘There’s something about being queer that allows you to maybe very slightly more easily wriggle out of those shackles. I think maybe it’s always been there in me, this idea of not feeling like I fit the mould of what a woman is meant to be in our heteronormative society and maybe that’s always given me a bit of fuel and energy for my music.

And I’ve always felt that music is really genderless. It’s always been an escape from these very sort of strong ideas that are put onto you about how you should behave and who you should be. And I think those feelings of needing freedom and needing to find freedom are always what can drive really good music.’

On Hunter, Calvi unequivocally presents a more intimate insight into her world, providing urgent ruminations on feminism and her own queerness, which feel more carnal and candid than ever before.

‘It’s always been important to me,’ she explains, ‘but with exploring my own identity and also I suppose being inspired and frustrated by what I was seeing around me, I just really felt like it was something I wanted to explore in more depth.

‘I think one of the first songs I wrote was “Hunter” actually and I just really liked the idea of this woman who’s exploring what she likes, what she doesn’t like, without any sort of sense of shame. There’s something really beautiful about a sexual experience and what a weird thing it is that we’re meant to feel slightly ashamed of something that’s so natural. Maybe this is the closest we can get to a sense of feeling higher than just the animal inside us. I find that quite a beautiful idea.

And that kind of set me off in terms of what the record could be about.’

Calvi’s self-titled debut, released in 2011, and follow-up One Breath which arrived two years later, were both nominated for the Mercury, losing out to PJ Harvey and Young Fathers respectively. But with a third nomination recently announced for Hunter, could 2019 be her year?

Calvi has some insight into what the Mercury panel are looking for, having been a judge herself. ‘It’s cool because it really makes you think about how important how you start an album is. Because it’s that moment to really grab someone and say hey, come and spend some time with me and my world. Follow me down this rabbit hole. I think it’s made me think about just how important those first few seconds are.’

It’s often said that speaking things into existence can be a powerful way to bring your goals to life. In Calvi’s case, it feels as though there is a collective attempt by those that admire and respect her, from fans and peers to members of the press and media, to make her Mercury Prize win a reality. Hunter would not only be a hugely worthy winner, but it’s a timely and critically compelling record that demonstrates the mastery of an artist who continues to push creative and aesthetic boundaries. So here’s our attempt at speaking it into existence; 2019 will be Anna Calvi’s year.

Anna Calvi, Leith Theatre, 11 Aug, 8pm, £30.

list.co.uk/festival

Anna Calvi | FEST I VA L F E AT U RES

PHOTO: MAISIE COUSINS

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 17

F EST I VA L F E AT URES | If You’re Feeling Sinister

FO R WHOM T HE B E LL E TOL L S If You’re Feeling Sinister, the classic second album from indie pop legends Belle & Sebastian, is set to be reborn as a play with songs. Eve Nicol talks to Fiona Shepherd about the complexities of adapting a treasured album for the stage

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heatremaker Eve Nicol has form when it comes to suffusing her work – whether as director or playwright – with Scottish music.

Her 2018 Fringe hit One Life Stand wove the music of indie pop outfit Honeyblood into the action, she has recently worked with Glasgow songwriter Carla J Easton on the National Theatre of Scotland’s adaptation of Them! and she was assistant director on What Girls Are Made Of, Cora Bissett’s glorious gig theatre memoir of her brief tenure as pop starlet, which returns to the Fringe this year.

‘I think it’s the closest I’ll ever get to actually being in a band,’ says Nicol. ‘Theatre can take itself quite seriously sometimes, so it’s always wonderful working with people from different forms.’

Her latest musical undertaking is her most challenging yet – adapting Belle & Sebastian’s seminal second album, If You’re Feeling Sinister, as a ‘play with songs’ with the full blessing of the band and, in particular, frontman and songwriter Stuart Murdoch.

‘It’s been a great act of generosity for Stuart and Belle & Sebastian to offer up – in my eyes – this complete masterwork,’ says Nicol. ‘Theatre does adaptations of films and books really well but how do you take these songs that people have so much personal relationship with, and reappropriate them as a whole new story?’

How indeed? Nicol gave herself some ground rules, retaining the original album tracklisting, using the lyrics to create a first draft, teasing out some of the named characters and the rich descriptions of people and place, and trying on a variety of genres for size.

‘There was something about a lot of the driving energy and rhythms that exist within the music and the idea of taking something that isn’t yours which felt a little bit spicy to us so what we have ended

18 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

up with is a very low-key heist / unconventional romance story,’ she says.

The play is a two-hander – Alan McHugh plays fiftysomething academic Boss and Sarah Swire (pictured) plays thirtysomething artist Kid. And when they met, it was murder – or at least a bit of a crime escapade.

Swire is also the show’s musical director, and can call on her Belle & Sebastian connections as their sometime choreographer and cast member of Murdoch’s film God Help the Girl.

‘It’s not a jukebox musical, this is a much more DIY affair,’ says Nicol. ‘We’ve been referring to this piece as a busking musical in the same way that you can go down Buchanan Street and catch snatches of songs as you go. This is a Belle & Sebastian alternate universe that we are occupying and not a tribute act version.’

Apart from Boss and Kid, who sound like they could easily have sprung from one of Murdoch’s whimsical album sleeve short stories, the other big character in the play is the city of Glasgow.

‘If Glasgow’s not getting used as a backdrop for Philadelphia or New York, you often see the not so nice side,’ says Nicol, who is Glasgow born and bred, ‘but we’re also a city with a huge amount of cultural and educational institutions and a great deal of civic pride and beautiful spaces, and there’s something about Glasgow in summer, that magic energy that comes through a couple of days a year, that we are trying to capture here.

‘Our big headlines are shame, desire and death, which I think are right the way through the album. The tone I’ve been aiming for is “sad that it’s over, but happy that it happened” with some cracking tunes along the way.’

If You’re Feeling Sinister: A Play With Songs, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until 26 Aug (not 12), 3.45pm, £15–£16.50. (£14–£15.50).

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7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 19

F EST I VA L F E AT URES | Phoebe Robinson

HOLDING COU RT

Phoebe Robinson brings an unfiltered goofiness to some serious subject matter in her Fringe debut. Claire Sawers catches up with the TV and podcast star who hopes that Edinburgh audiences will be ‘down to clown’

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o, not the Phoebe that wrote Fleabag and Killing Eve. Or the Phoebe with the smelly cat in Friends. The other Phoebe – from the 2 Dope Queens podcast and TV shows – is making her UK stand-up debut at the Fringe. Phoebe Robinson recorded a warm, woke podcast in Brooklyn with her friend Jess Williams back in 2016, featuring guest POC comedians and feminist allies, then watched it slide straight into number one on the iTunes podcast charts the first week it aired.

Spin-off podcast, Sooo Many White Guys,, followed quickly after, produced by Robinson’s pal Ilana Glazer from Broad City. Or maybe you’ve spotted someone Instagramming Robinson’s essay collections You Can’t Touch My Hair (& Other Things I Still Have to Explain) or last year’s Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay,, where she shares funny, daft anecdotes and lets off righteous steam about race, gender and pop culture.

After making her film acting debut in Ibiza and scriptwriting for Portlandia among many other things, the comedian is touring a show about the escaped slave and political activist Harriet Tubman. Or rather, it’s about how Robinson has failed to live up to Tubman’s heroic legacy. ‘What Phoebe has done with freedom has mostly been . . . trash,’ her press release confesses. ‘From being a failed wannabe activist to using a food delivery app to pick up the morning-after pill because she didn’t feel like getting out bed.’

‘This week was pretty nutty because I had to fly to LA to do one of my favourite TV shows,’ says Robinson.

‘I can’t tell you what it is because I signed an NDA and I’m trying not to get cussed out for spilling the beans, but I’m excited! Now I’m on my way back to NYC to do another

20 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

shoot, a bunch of meetings and some stand-up. I’m pretty tired, but I’m taking my Goop vitamins and it’s getting me through it all.’

So what can Edinburgh audiences expect from her show? ‘If you’ve seen 2 Dope Queens or read my books, you’re familiar with my unfiltered, goofy side. Jokes about my boyfriend, gender, not wanting to have kids etc. I think you’ll feel like you’re hanging out with one of your best friends for brunch.’

After trading tips on where she can buy make-up (sorry, there’s no Sephora in Edinburgh yet) I ask if she still gets nervous before shows. ‘Definitely, but I remember to have fun and that the audience wouldn’t be there if they didn’t also want to have a good time.

I’m definitely worried about the weather and getting lost.’ Has she asked her comedian friends for any Edinburgh tips, like the excellent Tig Notaro for example, who was on 2 Dope Queens sharing very wise, queer relationship advice with listeners?

‘I haven’t gotten a chance to chat with Tig about the festival yet because we’ve been so busy. But other comics have told me to just have fun, go in there with an open mind, be ready for your hour to morph and take different shapes, and check out as many other shows as possible. So honestly, I can’t wait to see how I’m going to be surprised.’

Despite all her gags about white guys, she’s clearly not that offended by them: she lives with one, and doesn’t mind if more come to see her show. ‘As long as the crowd is smart, down to clown, and not disruptive, I’ll be so happy. You can’t control who will show up, which I think is part of the fun of stand-up. It keeps it fresh for me. And all the white dudes can come to the show as long as they’re open to learning and don’t manspread too much in the audience.’

Phoebe Robinson: Sorry, Harriet Tubman, Assembly George Square Studios, 14–25 Aug, 6.45pm, £14–£16.

Previews 12 & 13 Aug, £12.

Until 22 September 2019

Bridget Riley Royal Scottish Academy Princes Street, Edinburgh Tickets £15-£13 (concessions available) 25 & under £10-£8.50 Free for Our Friends Beat the queues and buy at nationalgalleries.org #NGSBridgetRiley

“A bobby dazzler of an exhibition which burns its way into your retinas and feeds your soul.” The Herald

nationalgalleries.org Bridget Riley, Blaze 1, 1962. Private collection on long loan to National Galleries of Scotland 2017 © Bridget Riley, 2019. All rights reserved.

National Galleries of Scotland is a charity registered in Scotland (SC003728)

“… it’s a rollercoaster of the mind … This is a festival.

Let’s go wild.” The Guardian

Beatboxing for kids | FEST I VA L F E AT U RES

list.co.uk/festival

PHOTO: TOM LEIGHTON

B E AT I T

Kelly Apter meets the beatboxers teaching kids how to weave magic with just their mouths and a microphone

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ith a shiny new drum kit to play, Shlomo (aka Simon Kahn) got ready to make some noise. But, as is often the case in childhood, his parents had other ideas. ‘They asked me not to practise it too much because it would annoy the neighbours,’ he recalls. ‘So I started using my voice to practise rhythm instead. I didn’t realise other people did that until I hit my teens and saw beatboxers and thought “oh, that’s kind of what I do”.’

From there, Shlomo says he ‘caught the bug’ and started doing shows.

Meanwhile, with two musicians for parents, Hobbit (aka Jack Hobbs) was surrounded by instruments – but his journey to beatboxing was much the same.

‘I always had music around me growing up, and really loved rhythm,’ he says. ‘My mum says I used to bang my head on my cot along with the beat, which is slightly concerning, but I’m OK now.

‘When I was at school I started playing drums, and then somebody showed me a clip of a guy beatboxing and I thought “oh, I kind of do that when I’m imitating a drum beat”. So I found out more about it, and became addicted to it.’

Both Shlomo and Hobbit have carved out impressive careers on the beatbox circuit, playing gigs and festivals and winning awards. Back when they both started out, there were no online resources to gather tips and ideas from – they had to learn the hard way. So now they’re keen to inspire the next generation of beatboxers, with both men bringing shows for families to this year’s Fringe.

‘In the Mighty Kids Beatbox Comedy

Show we do a lot of interaction,’ says Hobbit, of his two-hander with comedian Jarred Christmas. ‘And there’s one section where I teach the audience how to beatbox, which as a dictionary definition is about imitating drums, percussion, instruments and other stuff using just your mouth, throat and vocal chords. You don’t need anything else, just a microphone so that you’re louder than the audience. And the quickest way to teach beatboxing is to make a sound and get people to imitate it as they see fit.’

Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure For Kids also introduces the crowd to beatboxing techniques – and despite the title, everyone’s invited to get involved. ‘I started doing kids shows because my audience had grown up with me,’ explains Shlomo, ‘and a lot of them have got children and can’t necessarily come out to my nighttime shows. So this is a kids show, but the parents get to have a lot of fun, too.

‘Beatboxing is much simpler than it looks, it’s about breaking it down into safe and easy chunks. So part of my show is getting everybody expressing rhythms with their voice using letters from the alphabet. And what I say to the kids is that beatboxing is 10% technique and 90% swagger – it’s about delivering it with style and like you really mean it.’

Jarred Christmas and Hobbit: The Mighty Kids Beatbox Comedy Show, Assembly Rooms, until 24 Aug (not 12), 3.50pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure For Kids, Underbelly Bristo Square, until 18 Aug, 3.35pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 23

F EST I VA L F E AT URES | Joana Vasconcelos

PHOTO: KEITH HUNTER, COURTESY JUPITER ARTLAND

CO LO U R M Y WO R L D

24 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

COURTESY JUPITER ARTLAND

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hen Joana Vasconcelos steps into the pool area where her new sculptural intervention sits in the grounds of Jupiter Artland, it is with the otherworldly grace of a Greek goddess walking among us. The multi-coloured robe the Portuguese artist is wearing adds to the effect, a perfect match with the criss-crossing network of coloured lines navigating more than 11,000 hand-painted tiles that map out the customised nine-metre swimming pool she calls ‘Gateway’.

Commissioned as the latest permanent work at Jupiter Artland, the contemporary sculpture park just outside Edinburgh, ‘Gateway’ looks for all the world as if some giant celestial raindrop fell from the heavens, crash-landing dead centre in what Vasconcelos describes, with a nod to David Hockney, as ‘a big splash.’ The force of such a seismic event appears to have sent waves spilling outwards, so it now looks like a giant flower, while its colour-coded tentacles snake out from the centre to the landscape beyond.

If creating the aftermath of such a transcendent explosion in Jupiter Artland’s garden of earthly delights was Vasconcelos’ goal, getting there was a more painstakingly intricate affair.

‘It was such a long process,’ Vasconcelos explains while reclining in a deckchair, again

bearing the pattern of the pool that inspired her robe. ‘It felt impossible at times. There was so much complexity involved, and we never knew until the end how everything would connect.’

The initial idea for ‘Gateway’ focused on Jupiter Artland’s founders, Robert and Nicky Wilson, who commissioned Vasconcelos. Last year, they showed work by her that included ‘Carman Miranda’ (2008), a giant stiletto shoe made of pots and pans, and ‘Coracao Indepedendente Vermelho’ (Red Independent Heart) (2005), a hanging heart constructed of plastic knives and forks, and accompanied by the soft crooning of a Portuguese Fado song.

‘The idea was to first connect the family,’ Vasconcelos says of ‘Gateway’. ‘The pool has six petals, one for each member of the family, and it was about bringing them together, so it’s both a public and a private project, where people can come and swim in a very open way.’

This is borne out by the presence of a starfishshaped inflatable that bobs on the water’s surface bearing matching markings to those on the pool’s floor. Even the two lifeguards watching the swim sessions sport identically patterned t-shirts.

‘Gateway’ took three years to create, with Vasconcelos working closely with architects to build both the pool and the space-age looking pod beside the topiary that surrounds both. A key influence came from the idea of ley lines that allegedly shoot through Jupiter Artland, bringing a cosmic energy to the project that also saw Vasconcelos incorporate her own astrological chart.

‘I didn’t know much about ley lines or the chakras of the earth when I started,’ Vasconcelos says, ‘but it was very interesting, because when I learnt about this specific ley line at Jupiter Artland, I discovered it goes on to various different locations, and one of them is Fatima in Portugal.’ Fatima was where Vasconcelos made ‘Suspensao’, a giant glow-in-the-dark

PHOTO: ALLAN POLLOK-MORRIS,

Neil Cooper explores the latest permanent commission at Jupiter Artland, an eye-popping work by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos with a fully functioning swimming pool at its heart

rosary first illuminated in 2017 during a visit

by Pope Francis. Such celestial synchronicity made ‘Gateway’ a very personal project for Vasconcelos.

‘The important thing is the ability it has to connect things that wouldn’t otherwise be connected,’ she says. ‘Art projects can do many things, they can show you things and make you think, but in a way they’re all about connecting.

This project specifically connects a lot of dimensions that I wasn’t expecting to be able to work with – private and public, sky and water, all these different elements, but water is what I know best. I’m from a water country, my studio is in front of the water, so to connect everything to that says something about me as well.’

Jupiter Artland, Wilkieston, is open until 29 Sep, £8.10 (£4.50–£7.20); Gateway bathing sessions until 22 Aug, £5, tickets from jupiterartland.org

18:00

31 JUL - 25 AUG

16:30

01 - 25 AUG

SCENESTR MAGAZINE

16:25

01 - 26 AUG

13:30

31 JUL - 26 AUG

F EST I VA L F E AT URES | Traumboy / Traumgirl

L E T ’S TA L K ABOUT SEX PHOTO: PATRICK MATTRAUX

26 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Traumboy / Traumgirl | FEST I VA L F E AT U RES

list.co.uk/festival

Traumboy and Traumgirl are parallel shows that explore sex work in all its forms. Created by Daniel Hellmann and Anne Welenc respectively, both pieces ask vital questions about identity and boundaries, exposing the tensions between paying for sex and a hyper-sexualised, capitalist society.

Arusa Qureshi kicks of a conversation with the pair

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aniel Hellmann’s solo show Traumboy – part of Pro Helvetia’s Swiss Selection Edinburgh – provides a unique insight into his experiences in the field of sex work. Having initially met Anne Welenc during their theatre studies in Bern, Hellmann went on to team up with the actress and performer for a collaboration that would result in her creation of Traumgirl, a new response piece performed in tandem with Traumboy. As the pair head to Edinburgh with their respective pieces, they explain how their shows address the challenges of life as a male and female sex worker.

under the given circumstances of a capitalist structure. And as long as everyone still has to work, they deserve a respectful public discussion about their working circumstances, where they are taken seriously as workers and not as victims.

Arusa Qureshi: How did you come to create Traumboy and how did you first connect as performers?

at an intersection. I was still singing in opera productions and feeling at ease in the fields of ‘high culture’, yet at the same time I felt as much at home in underground contexts like sex worker protests or sex-positive parties. Traumboy was an attempt to show that these worlds can very well exist in one and the same person. Over the past few years, and also as a consequence of the exposure I have had with Traumboy, I moved more and more away from the classical art context and my art, my activism and my life choices have become more radical.

Looking back at the time of the premiere, I have one big regret which is that I didn’t consider that my family would also have to deal with the stigma that comes along with it. Many people confronted my parents with weird questions, as if they had failed their job as parents, because their son was performing as a sex worker. Suddenly my performance project had an impact not only on my own life beyond the stage, but also my parents’ lives.

Daniel Hellmann: I created Traumboy because I felt that it was necessary to show an insider perspective of a sex worker, who doesn’t have the experience that most people would expect when they think about prostitution. In Traumboy, I’m presenting myself as a sex worker who is a man, who chose to do this work and who suffers not from the work itself, but from the stigmatisation around it. These elements might come as a surprise, but they dismantle the stereotypical image of the female prostitute who is somehow coerced into this field of work. I wanted to show that sex workers are multifaceted individuals with complex stories.

DH: With the premiere of Traumgirl approaching, how do you feel, Anne, about making this new piece and about having it presented next to Traumboy?

Anne Welenc: I’m extremely blessed to do Traumgirl for the first time

AW: Daniel, it’s been around four years since you premiered Traumboy and I guess you may now research or present things differently. What has changed?

DH: When I was working on Traumboy four years ago, I was artistically

DH: Anne, what are your goals and wishes for this year’s Fringe?

in the context of this festival. In fact, it is a show that is outing me, in many ways, as a sex worker. It is worrying for me to think about what might happen afterwards. [But] I feel that everyone in the team that invited us is extremely sensitive about the risk that we are taking and we are definitely aware that it will cause controversial discussions and strong feelings, both towards the show and also towards me as a person.

I try to be prepared for everything and I’m aware that I will not be able to draw a complete picture of this part of sex work, but hope that it will make people start asking questions.

AW: I would hope to leave the audience with a feeling that sex work and sex workers are as complex as every other field of job and everyone that we know. I would love for people to question the global conditions of work, educational resources, migration conditions, valuation of foreigners, and our value system towards women in general instead of blaming and judging them. I don’t want anyone to feel guilty but responsible and interested. There are so many spaces that I was not able to explore, but I hope that Traumgirl is able to trigger that.

AQ: Do you think sex work remains a taboo subject in the context of art?

AW: What are you hoping that audiences will take away from each show?

AW: I think sex work is, in any other field, a definite taboo – but not

DH: Having Traumboy and Traumgirl next to each other allows us to

in the arts. For me, it is the only context where it is discussed and presented in multiple ways and from the people who are actually in contact with it.

On the other hand, many forms of sex work are missing in the discussion, which is the attempt with Traumgirl. There are many artistic works about extraordinary fetishised forms of sex work or sex work that is in the field of healing or about sex work happening under precarious conditions out of horrible political global circumstances. Traumgirl focuses on the field of sex work in between these extraordinary and highly interesting fields.

There are ‘ordinary sex workers’ that are not politically engaged or trafficked, but trying to make a living for themselves, for their families,

look at the central questions more precisely. I hope that both shows can contribute to the debate of how to politically and legally deal with sex work. The two works show realities of sex workers in Switzerland and Germany, where the legal framework is totally different than in the UK and grants sex workers more rights and autonomy.

I hope that audiences will walk out of the shows emotionally and intellectually stimulated, with more curiosity, more listening, less prejudice and maybe also with their libido awakened.

Traumboy / Traumgirl, Summerhall, alternate nights until 25 Aug (not 19), 8.10pm, £12 (£10).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 27

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Roseanne Watt | FEST I VA L F E AT U RES

list.co.uk/festival

A P L ACE TO CA L L H O M E Deborah Chu chats wilderness and literary tradition with Roseanne Watt ahead of the poet’s appearance at Edinburgh International Book Festival

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hen Shetland poet Roseanne Watt was announced as the winner of the 2018 Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize, judge Janice Galloway praised her verse for its ‘celebration of language, place and the mystery of being alive’. Though the works collected in her debut Moder Dy (translated from ‘mother wave’ in the Shaetlan dialect, and published

by Polygon) range across the complex, often unfathomable dimensions of human experience, they all return ceaselessly to her native home on the island archipelago, and the language which shapes its place in the world.

In Moder Dy’s ‘A Note to the Reader’, Watt meditates briefly upon the ‘wilderness’ that exists within the Shaetlan tongue. When asked about it now, she explains that this description is intended to encapsulate ‘the word in all its guises; as much a place devoid of the wild as it is abundant with it.’ ‘For me,’ she says, ‘Shaetlan is strung with the tensions of that paradox.’ With roots in the extinct language of Norn, which was spoken in the Shetlands until the end of the 19th century, what remains of Shaetlan’s rich oral tradition is unfortunately a mere handful of fragmentary texts. ‘It reminds me of a line by Iain Crichton Smith; “he who loses his language loses his world,”’ says Watt.

‘Whatever world or thought existed back then, I can’t know it through the literary tradition, as much as I would like to. So what’s left in its place is absence. A wilderness. And that’s a difficult inheritance to navigate, sometimes.

There’s a sense of grief that comes with it, which on some level I’ve aligned with the grief I feel for the current state of the natural world.’

Indeed, the natural world often emerges through her poetry in Shaetlan, such as ‘Haegri’ and ‘Mareel’, which deftly weaves together the cadences of both Shaetlan and English. How does she decide to write in one language or another? ‘In all honesty, I couldn’t say for certain,’ says Watt. ‘Once it’s done, I find it so hard to cast my mind back over the writing process of a poem. I could say the choice was something to do with cadence, or subject, or even pulse, but I don’t really believe that’s the true essence of it – at least, certainly not for every poem.’ She cites

the American poet Mark Doty’s idea of ‘our metaphors going on ahead of us’ as being most akin to her own experience. ‘Sometimes it’s like the poems know where they belong before I do,’ says Watt, ‘and the rest is just about trust, and finding out how to get there.’

This sense of journey echoes throughout Moder Dy, which is saturated with a desire to return, whether to a moment in one’s history, or to a much-loved place. ‘In terms of time, it’s really the impossibility of return that fascinates me, and the way you deal with that knowledge without giving in to grief or nostalgia,’ says Watt. ‘I know the version of Shetland I have in my memory is not the one that exists now, and sometimes I do wonder if what I’m trying to do is find a place to put my love for something that no longer is. But to return to a space is a different thing. It’s to be drawn to the present essence of a place, I

think. I know I’d much rather be there than linger on the threshold of grief in any case. It’s definitely a better place to be writing from.’

And yet despite these powerful feelings of grief – for a past, a place or a language that cannot be fully restored – Watt will not be overwhelmed by them. ‘You have to move through it, or believe that you can,’ she says.

‘It’s a reminder that language is still precious and vulnerable, and that poetry might matter something in that respect. You turn your attention to what thrives in the present, and how you might be part of that process. That’s the other side of it, I think, where the wildness of it is.’

Roseanne Watt appears with Niall Campbell at Rising Stars of Scottish Poetry, Charlotte Square Gardens, 11 Aug, 6.30pm, £8 (£6).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 29

F EST I VA L F E AT URES | Leyla Josephine & Harry Clayton-Wright

PHOTO: DANIEL HUGHES

PAPA DON Leyla Josephine and Harry Clayton-Wright have never met before but their their Fringe shows share common thematic ground – how our parents raise us and set the template for our future relationships.

Lorna Irvine got the pair together to chat about their different approaches, taking risks and how their families feel about being portrayed on stage

30 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

I

n Summerhall’s Royal Dick Bar, two fierce (and accidentally colour coordinated) theatremakers are discussing their respective shows at the venue for the Fringe. It’s the first time they’ve met each other, but there is an instant rapport between these articulate young artists.

Both create work which defies easy genre but has the immediacy of live art.

Leyla Josephine, bringing her new show Daddy Drag to Edinburgh, is a spoken word performer based in Glasgow, while Harry Clayton-Wright, currently based in Brighton, mostly performs queer cabaret, having toured with Briefs, but is flying solo this year with Sex Education.

Leyla Josephine: This is my second solo

show. I’m a spoken word performer and poet by trade, but I studied contemporary theatre.

This doesn’t have any spoken word in it. It’s about my dad, my relationship to him and in order to try and understand him, I become an archetype of a dad. I do it in drag. My dad died, so it’s been a grim process in some ways. But although it’s dark in places, there’s a lot of heart. It’s quite funny and silly as an experience. My mum features in recordings too.

Harry Clayton-Wright: Mine is about how

we learn about sex and how it shapes us later in life. My mum didn’t speak to me about sex whatsoever, but when I was 14, my dad bought me some gay porn DVDs. So I decided to interview my mum and that conversation plays throughout the show. I found the porn recently, under my bed, so the audience can see the porn I was exposed to watching as a kid. I also delve into my sexual history – good, bad and everything in-between – and it tries to link it all together, and work out how it all sits and it’s funny and moving. I found out stuff about my mum and dad’s relationship that I didn’t know.

LJ: Did you want to know?!

HC-W: Yeah, it’s fascinating. My mum hadn’t asked any of the questions beforehand. You hear me finding out this for the first time. It’s very explicit, quite full-on.

LJ: A true juxtaposition.

HC-W: Yeah. My mum and I have got closer through the experience.

LJ: Can she see it [the show]?

list.co.uk/festival

Leyla Josephine & Harry Clayton-Wright | FEST I VA L F E AT U RES

PHOTO: HOLLY REVELL

N’T PREACH HC-W: She can’t ever see it. It’s too . . . it goes quite far. All my family are banned from seeing it!

LJ: Me and my mum went on a total journey with it. One of the reasons I am in drag is that I found some drag clothes of my dad’s so that got us on the step to making a drag show and there were no answers around it.

We don’t know if it was a sex thing or a costume thing. My mum has no idea.

HC-W: The ethics of working with a parent come into it, and you want them to feel comfortable.

HC-W: I amassed a lot of research. Had to whittle it all down. It became a process of cue cards on the floor, and of trying to piece it together. I had the idea in Brighton in 2016, developed it there, I’ve been thinking about it for roughly four years. How long was yours?

LJ: I’ve been working on it for two years.

For me, I do believe that the personal is political, so that fed into it. I’d been working with [performance artist] Diane Torr’s pupil Annabel Cooper in creating the Daddy character. It’s not only fatherhood though, it’s picking apart what a woman is meant to be on stage.

LJ: Yeah, what does that mean for the family – whose story is it to tell? Everyone has their own version of the truth, it’s a thin wire. You have to be considerate. My mum was great, she was never going to stop it.

LJ: Yes, it’s so important. I have had to look at a lot of dark stuff.

HC-W: It was exactly the same for me, I

HC-W: I dealt with a lot of trauma, sometimes

went through that. How do you deal with it?

I feel she enriched it, made it a fuller picture.

LJ: You’re trying to fit a situation into a show. What was your technique for creating it?

HC-W: Do you think this is the work where you are taking the most risk?

HC-W: There have been points where I’d have to tap out for the day. But I have used it in a way to process it. I think this show is the most exposed I’ve ever been. I’ve created ways through the craft of dealing with it. My experience before with the Fringe was with cabaret shows, working with Miss Behave and Briefs, so the crowd are always receptive.

Cabaret is designed to get the crowd pumped, with loud music and flashing lights. This will be very different.

LJ: Because I’m based in Scotland, a lot of my friends come to see my work. My previous work, like Hopeless, was more like a gig. A lot of my audience don’t come to see theatre, so it’ll be interesting to hear what they think.

HC-W: I am so excited to see your show!

LJ: And yours. Can’t wait!

I live with it onstage, but I do think it’s important to deal with it . . . saying it, pushing it forward.

Daddy Drag, Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 5.45pm, £10 (£8).

LJ: Do you feel you’ve been traumatised by making autobiographical work?

Sex Education, Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 7.10pm, £12 (£10).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 31

P R E S E N T S

EDTVFEST PRESENTS: RUSSELL T DAVIES

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HYPOTHETICAL

IS TELLY A TURN OFF FOR NEW TALENT?

Tuesday 20 August 18.00 to 19.00

Wednesday 21 August 16.45 to 17.30

Wednesday 21 August 15.15 to 16.15

JESS PHILLIPS MP IN CONVERSATION WITH JOE LYCETT

DOROTHY BYRNE: THE MACTAGGART LECTURE

Wednesday 21 August 16.45 to 17.30

Wednesay 21 August 18.15 to 19.00

WHEN DAWN MET LOUIS THEROUX

SOLD OUT

Thursday 22 August 9.30 to 10.30

Bafta-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist and broadcaster, Louis Theroux will join writer and journalist, Dawn O’Porter in discussion about his pioneering careerto-date, at this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival.

HUGH LAURIE: OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

TOP BOY: EXCLUSIVE MASTERCLASS

Thursday 22 August 12.45 to 13.45

Thursday 22 August 13.00 to 14.00

JERRY SPRINGER: THE ALTERNATIVE MACTAGGART

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Chvrches | FEST I VA L F E AT U RES

list.co.uk/festival

LOS I NG M Y R ELI G I O N As synthpop trio Chvrches return to Scotland to play Edinburgh’s Summer Sessions, vocalist Lauren Mayberry talks fame, criticism and lost luggage with Clare Sawers

T

he former Around Town and LGBT editor of The List is in a hotel room in Romania, doing press interviews on the phone, while her bandmates Iain Cook and Martin Doherty do the same down the corridor.

Lauren Mayberry left her job at the Scottish magazine around a year after her band Chvrches started getting big and has been touring the world ever since, living in New York City when she’s not on the road.

On their way to play a festival in a 15th-century Transylvanian castle, the airline has lost the band’s luggage. ‘We went on a tragic team trip to buy clothes – the band that shops for emergency pants together stays together!’ she jokes. She’s hoping their bags will show before they go onstage tonight. ‘I’ve had a wedgie since yesterday,’ she confides.

The band are playing Latitude festival after Romania, then returning to Scotland for a Summer Sessions outdoor concert in Princes Street Gardens before dates in South Korea and Hong Kong. Will she be mobbed by fans when she’s back in her home country of Scotland, I ask?

‘It’d be different if Scottish people were dicks’, she says. ‘But people are always super nice. Actually, one of the most Beatlemania moments I’ve ever had was in a chip shop in Glasgow. It was around 2.30am a couple of Christmases ago and I was with some friends. We decided to leave the pub and get some chips. People went nuts in there! By and large though, fans are very cool if they recognise me.’

Mayberry has had more than her fair share of uncool reactions too, to put it mildly. Death threats, rape threats and accusations of ‘selling out’ have all been levelled at her over the years — a recent online beef came when the band expressed disappointment with Marshmello, their collaborator on this year’s single ‘Here With Me’, for

working with artist Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty to assault after hospitalising his girlfriend Rihanna.

‘There are definitely times when I go into the mindset where I just wanna fuck it all off,’ Mayberry says. ‘Dealing with that kind of stuff is tiring, and can be depressing. But for me it’s important that we stay consistent; we have a responsibility to speak out for what we believe in. Taking a stance can also make me feel galvanised and really energised. We are lucky enough to have a certain amount of privilege and it would be profoundly ungrateful of us to not use that for something positive.’

The band have a long track record of supporting feminist and LGBTQ+ causes, and last year Chvrches sponsored Girls Rock Glasgow, a community summer music school facing closure after its funding was pulled.

‘A friend in Glasgow sent me a link and we were really psyched to be able to get involved. I was very lucky and had supportive parents growing up who could afford to buy me instruments. Girls Rock is a local project that will make a big difference and really empower girls. I’m obviously not in Glasgow right now, but I look at their Instagram and try not to cry at how cute it is.’

For August’s concert, Mayberry says fans can expect tracks from latest album, Love is Dead, plus hits from the previous two, Every Open Eye and their debut, The Bones of What You Believe, with a live drummer adding to the mix. ‘There’s a bit where we play “Never Say Die” and I leave the stage and leave the boys to do this big proggy ending. I get to stand in the wings and look out at the audience going crazy. I love that bit.’

Chvrches play Summer Sessions, Princes Street Gardens, 11 Aug, 6pm, £38.50–£61.85.

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 33

F EST I VA L FOOD & DR I NK | Edinburgh International Book Festival

festival

FOOD & DRINK

CREAM OF W THE CROP David Pollock discovers what’s going into the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s new foodinspired programme strand

L to R: Giles Yeo, Eleanor Ford, Robyn Metcalfe, Jack Monroe 34 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

hen food entrepreneur Nikki Welch appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last year to discuss her own book The Pocket Guide to Beer (the followup to a similar previous title on whisky), she began to wonder if a trick might not have been missed in the way the festival covers the booming business of food titles. Discussing this with some Book Festival programmers, she found herself organising The World on a Plate, this year’s brand new strand dedicated to the discussion and celebration of food.

‘For me there’s something really interesting about talking about food,’ says Welch. ‘It brings together a lot of different elements – not only is there a big trend for cookery programmes that lots of people are interested in, and consuming food books based upon them, but for me the Book Festival is also a place where we can explore social and world trends through the lens of food; so why don’t we turn that lens on books about food?’

The programme moves between celebrity chefs discussing the flavours they create, and scientists and industry insiders dissecting the social and cultural issues surrounding arguably the most important business in the world. The former category includes the headline appearance of celebrated journalist, writer, novelist and Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith (10 Aug), whose talk is unsurprisingly already sold out, as is the Shetland foodie travelogue by broadcaster Tom Morton and his Bake Off finalist son James Morton (25 Aug).

Elsewhere, the Afternoon Tea with . . . serieswithin-a-series focuses on individual food writers bringing their specialisms to the floor, among them Alissa Timoshkina (11 Aug) discussing

Russian fine dining; Caroline Eden (12 Aug) relaying her culinary journey on the shores of the Black Sea, from Russia to Turkey; Palestinian food writer Joudie Kalla (14 Aug) exploring the taste of her homeland; sommelier Davy Zyw (15 Aug) popping the cork on champagne and sparkling wine; and international explorations in Persia with Sabrina Ghayour (23 Aug) and Eastern Asia with Eleanor Ford (24 Aug).

With a foot in both sides of the discussion, Jack Monroe (16 Aug) has made her name for recipewriting for those who want to enjoy food but can’t necessarily afford to in this age of austerity, while food historian and futurist Robyn Metcalfe (19 Aug) looks at the global food supply chain, and geneticist and television presenter Giles Yeo (Mon 12 Aug) discusses the science of dieting.

‘Food means different things to different people,’ says Welch. ‘Not just in terms of our shared need to eat, but also the connection to home it has for a lot of people, the way it brings them together. The Book Festival have been out working with community centres in Edinburgh and lots of those centres have community kitchens, and the people working in them told the festival about how important those kitchens are.

‘These are places where people come together, a lot of whom feel isolated and now have a way of connecting with other people,’ she continues.

‘The World on a Plate just grew from there, it’s been really interesting to explore how food and words are both ways that people come together and share their experiences.’

All shows are at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Charlotte Square Gardens, 10–26 Aug. For more information, go to edbookfest.co.uk

10 — 26 AUGUST 2019

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MARKUS ZUSAK Best-selling Australian writer makes his Edinburgh International Book Festival debut Success is a magical, fragile and occasionally immobilising thing. In the 13 years since the publication of Markus Zusak’s stupendously popular The Book Thief (which spent over 10 years on The New York Times bestseller list), there was a worry that its triumph had thwarted any future work. With Bridge of Clay, Zusak proves that the lengthy wait was more than worth it.

This expansive Australian family saga follows a band of five brothers left to fend for themselves following the death of their mother and abandonment of their father. In a world with no rules, the Dunbar boys find their own ways to fight, love and ultimately grow. One son, Clay, sets about building a bridge in search of something beautiful, and uncovers their father’s secrets in the process.

Zusak first penned Bridge of Clay when he was 20 but knew then it was not yet the book it was supposed to be. The one we have now is the result of decades of adding, refining and taking away, until the structure and story was whole.

He’ll chat about his ambitious family saga with author and presenter Janet Ellis at his first Edinburgh International Book Festival appearance.

(Lynsey May) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 12 Aug, 5pm, £12 (£10).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 37

F EST I VA L BOOKS | Hitlist

BOOKS HITLIST Lynsey May picks the best events from the first week of the Edinburgh International Book Festival FATIMA BHUTTO Returning to the book festival to talk about her second novel, The Runaways, Fatima Bhutto will chat about a powerful story which examines the way inequality breeds anger and the reasons marginalised people are targeted and recruited into terrorism.

Charlotte Square Gardens 10 Aug, 10.15am, £12 (£10).

KIT DE WAAL WITH DAMIAN BARR The publishing world is waking up to the fact it’s been stifling working class voices. Among those leading the charge is Kit de Waal, who’ll be discussing Common People, her collection of essays by working class writers, with Damian Barr who is also included in the book. Charlotte Square Gardens, 10 Aug, 5.45pm, £8 (£6).

NIALL CAMPBELL & ROSEANNE WATT Two rising stars in Scottish poetry will be twinkling in Charlotte Square

38 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Gardens this year as Roseanne Watt, winner of the 2018 Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize, and Niall Campbell, who won the same in 2014, chat about their recent collections. Charlotte Square Gardens, 11 Aug, 6.30pm, £8 (£6).

CAN XUE With a Booker International Prize longlisting for Love in the New Millennium, one of China’s most important modern writers is about to gain a new generation of readers. Hear Deng Xiaohua – who works under pen name Can Xue – in conversation with literary critic Boyd Tonkin. Charlotte Square Gardens, 12 Aug, 5.45pm, £12 (£10).

NATHAN FILER & HELEN THOMSON In an event focusing on the power – and tragedy – of the mind, Nathan Filer, who won Costa Book of the Year for The Shock of the Fall, and Helen Thomson, former editor of New Scientist and author of Unthinkable, will discuss schizophrenia and rare brain disorders. Spark Theatre, George Street, 13 Aug, 12.15pm, £12 (£10).

Kit de Waal

CHIGOZIE OBIOMA & NAMWALI SERPELL Discover some dazzling and ambitious fiction. An Orchestra of Minorities is Obioma’s Nigeria-set follow-up

to Booker-shortlisted debut The Fishermen, while Serpell’s debut novel The Old Drift is set mostly in Zambia.

Charlotte Square Gardens, 14 Aug, 7.30pm, £12 (£10).

Home/Less | F EST I VA L BOOKS

list.co.uk/festival

‘Home is where you’re safe’ Scottish crime writer Val McDermid is getting bolshy about homelessness. Katharine Gemmell finds out more about the author’s book festival strand which aims make people sit up and take notice

A

more nuanced than just not having a place to sleep. ‘It completely wrecks your life chances.

It’s very hard to get a job when you have nowhere to live . . . the whole thing becomes a spiral where you lose everything you have.’

Home/Less also explores the meaning of home and what home means for those who have been forced to leave theirs.

The first event Home for Migrants and Refugees? features Karine Polwart, Nayrouz Qarmout and Ali Smith; the second What Is Home? brings together Leila Aboulela, Robin Robertson and Kamila Shamsie; the third explores What Does Homelessness Mean? with Danny Dorling, Geetha Marcus and Joelle Taylor.

McDermid is heartened that such a long list of prominent people from different fields wanted to help. ‘The speakers didn’t need to be asked twice – it was “of course!”’ And she knew that each of them had a particular interest in the subject matter. ‘I knew from their work, and what I’d heard about them, that they had something to say, that they were articulate, and angry.’

For McDermid, growing up in working-class Kirkcaldy, studying at Oxford and living in various parts of the UK has meant her own personal meaning of home has often been in flux. But she believes that home isn’t something you can dictate with static geography. ‘It’s an emotional connection that you feel; it’s a moment where your shoulders drop and you breathe. And that might not necessarily be the place where you grew up. Home is where you’re safe.’

Ultimately, she hopes to raise the profile of voices that have been ignored. ‘The more we get voices that have not been heard speaking, and

the more we get what they’re saying, the harder it becomes to be completely hostile to people in that situation.’

With the EIBF and Edinburgh’s other August festivals overwhelmingly attended by privileged people, McDermid hopes that Home/Less will be both an eye opener – ‘I want them to be made to feel uncomfortable’ – and a call to action.

Karine Polwart, Nayrouz Qarmout & Ali Smith with Val McDermid: Home For Migrants And Refugees?, 12 Aug, 10am, £12 (£10).

Leila Aboulela, Robin Robertson & Kamila Shamsie with Val McDermid: What Is Home?, 14 Aug, 10am, £12 (£10).

Danny Dorling, Geetha Marcus & Joelle Taylor with Val McDermid: What Does Homelessness Mean?, 15 Aug, 11.45am, £12 (£10). All events Charlotte Square Gardens.

PHOTO: FRASER RICE

mid celebrating the achievements of housing and homelessness charity Shelter Scotland when it marked its 50th anniversary last year, there was some selfreflection going on, namely ‘why are we still here after 50 years?’.

One person with this question on their mind was the bestselling and award-winning Scottish crime author, Val McDermid. ‘I was shocked to discover the extent of homelessness and the precariousness of so many people’s lives,’ she recalls.

At the end of last year, Shelter found that 320,000 people (about 1 in 200) were homeless in Britain – a 4% year-on-year rise despite government promises to intervene. However, Shelter estimates the figures could actually be much worse as they do not include ‘hidden homelessness’ like sofa-surfing and insecure living arrangements.

Having had an interest in this subject since she was a student, McDermid realised the homelessness epidemic had never been as bad.

‘It seems to be reaching crisis levels. And it’s completely offensive that we are in a country with the riches we have. The people who run the country seem quite happy to let the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.’

Inspired to take action, McDermid suggested to Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, that they should do something about it. ‘There wasn’t very much in a practical sense that I could do, but the access I have to be able to shout loud and be bolshy is one way to go,’ she laughs.

And so, Home/Less, McDermid’s guest strand at EIBF was born. It aims to get to grips with the alarming reality of the UK’s homelessness crisis and show that it is much

Val McDermid

L to R: Karina Polwart, Leila Aboulela, Danny Dorling 7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 39

F EST I VA L BOOKS | Top Tips

TOP TIPS PHOTO: BLAIR CALDWELL

A longer selection of this week’s best events at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

10 AUG 50 YEARS OF THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR Charlotte Square Gardens, 11am, free. Celebrate 50 years of Eric Carle’s classic picture book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by dropping into Story Box for lots of exciting colouring and craft activities inspired by the much-loved tale. You might even get the chance to meet the greedy insect himself.

ROWAN HISAYO BUCHANAN & YELENA MOSKOVICH Charlotte Square Gardens, 5pm, £8 (£6). Meet two writers whose new novels explore hybrid identities, LGBTQ+ metropolitan life, and love.

Starling Days by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan opens with a woman staring over the edge of George Washington Bridge while Yelena Moskovich’s Virtuoso is a love story set in 1980s Prague. In conversation with author Helen McClory.

AIDAN O’ROURKE, JAMES ROBERTSON & KIT DOWNES Charlotte Square Gardens, 5pm, £12 (£10). In 2013, James Robertson wrote a story every day of the year, each 365 words long. Then, Scottish fiddler Aidan O’Rourke wrote a tune a day as a musical response. 2019 marks the next chapter: O’Rourke launches Volume 2 of the music; the trio created a new commission for the New Music Biennial; and the EIBF launch an ambitious installation collecting all the voices and songs, before it tours the country.

RUSS LITTEN & CHRIS MCQUEER Charlotte Square Gardens, 8.30pm, £8 (£6). Nurtured in Scotland’s spoken word scene and described as ‘Charlie Brooker on Buckfast’, Chris McQueer’s stories illuminate lives on the margins, while novelist Russ Litten’s first story collection centres on Hull in its City of Culture year, and has drawn comparisons to James Kelman. Join the pair as they discuss their respective works.

UNBOUND WITH EDINBURGH GIN: VIC GALLOWAY BRINGS THE RUCKUS! Charlotte Square Gardens, 9pm, free.

DJ Vic Galloway is back at the festival exploring ideas of identity, love, soul and struggle. Live music from Joseph Malik, Callum Easter, Heir of the Cursed and an acoustic set from Vic’s own band, with readings from Saskia Vogel, Dean Atta and Will Ashon.

14 AUG

DeRay Mckesson

MALORIE BLACKMAN: CROSSFIRE Charlotte Square Gardens, 1.30pm, £5. One of the UK’s most influential children’s authors, Malorie Blackman brings you the highly anticipated new book in her groundbreaking Noughts & Crosses series, Crossfire, which deals with racism, politics and terrorism. Hear this masterful writer discuss a novel that packs a powerful punch.

DERAY MCKESSON Charlotte Square Gardens, 5pm, £12 (£10). Educator and activist DeRay Mckesson, a key figure in the Black Lives Matter movement, discusses his deeply-moving book, On the Other Side of Freedom, in which he inspires the hope and belief that together we must imagine – and build – a more equal world. In conversation with Lauretta Charlton, Race/Related editor of The New York Times.

11 AUG

JUNO DAWSON: THE DARK SIDE OF GLAMOUR Charlotte Square Gardens, 5.45pm, £5. Discover the dark underbelly of the fashion industry with Juno Dawson’s honest, raw novel Meat Market and join her for an insightful discussion on the #MeToo movement and why she thinks women must work together to create a cultural shift.

EDINBURGH COMIC ART FAIR Institut Français d’Ecosse, 10am, free. Swing by for a vibrant and inspiring gathering of comics authors, artists and publishers at the French Institute. Discover and buy exciting new comics and support and meet the indie creatives behind some incredible works.

KEVIN BARRY Charlotte Square Gardens, 8.30pm, £8 (£6). Kevin Barry’s Night Boat to Tangier is a novel dripping with tenderness, remorse and laconic humour. Join Barry to hear about his two fading but irresistible Irish gangsters trying to piece together the shards of their shattered lives.

40 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

2pm, £35 (£30). Rachael Ball is a cartoonist and graphic novelist with over 16 years of experience teaching art. In this masterclass, she shows you how to create comics dealing with difficult subjects like grief, guiding you through the connections between visual narratives, memories, emotions and catharsis.

12 AUG KARINE POLWART, NAYROUZ QARMOUT & ALI SMITH WITH VAL MCDERMID Charlotte Square Gardens, 10am, £12 (£10). Guest Selector Val McDermid explores stories of individuals and families who’ve faced the decision to leave their homeland.

Nayrouz Qarmout talks of her birth in a Damascus refugee camp and her subsequent move to Gaza; Ali Smith discusses those she encountered in her work on the Refugee Tales project; and singer-songwriter Karine Polwart shares some of her powerful, deeply felt music and ideas about the migrant experience.

MARKUS ZUSAK Charlotte Square Gardens, 5pm, £12 (£10). Thirteen years since his multi-million bestseller The Book Thief, Markus Zusak makes his first Book Festival appearance with his much-anticipated follow-up, Bridge of Clay. In a conversation with author and presenter Janet Ellis, Zusak discusses his ambitious portrait of a family, introducing us to the Dunbar brothers, who are living and fighting in a house with no parents and no rules.

13 AUG JOANNE HARRIS Charlotte Square Gardens, 11.45am, £12 (£10). Joanne Harris revisits the world of Chocolat 20 years on with The Strawberry Thief. Dip into Harris’ expertly crafted world for an unrivalled sensory experience.

MASTERCLASS: DRAWING ON GRIEF Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel,

LEILA ABOULELA, ROBIN ROBERTSON & KAMILA SHAMSIE WITH VAL MCDERMID Charlotte Square Gardens, 10am, £12 (£10). Val McDermid leads a lively and thought-provoking discussion on the shifting nature of home with Leila Aboulela, Kamila Shamsie and Robin Robertson, three leading authors who have written about the topic.

OUTRIDERS: JENNI FAGAN & HARRY JOSEPHINE GILES Charlotte Square Gardens, 1.45pm, £12 (£10). In 2017, ten writers were sent across the Americas for Outriders, a project of complex journeys, exploring controversial themes during which the writers exchanged ideas. Ahead of Outriders Africa later this year, Jenni Fagan and Harry Josephine Giles return to discuss how their journeys influenced them.

NEW DAUGHTERS OF AFRICA WITH MARGARET BUSBY Charlotte Square Gardens, 5.45pm, £12 (£10). New Daughters of Africa is the companion volume to Margaret Busby’s historical anthology Daughters of Africa, published 27 years ago to international acclaim. Contributing authors Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Bernardine Evaristo, Leila Aboulela and Candice Carty-Williams join Busby to discuss the remarkable collection.

WILL ASHON Charlotte Square Gardens, 8.30pm, £8 (£6). Founder of record label Big Dada and author of Chamber Music: About the Wu-Tang (in 36 Pieces) discusses his book about the groundbreaking music of the group’s debut album, which traces everything from the history of jazz to social housing, fashion and politics, and drugs to racism.

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COLIN CLOUD: SINFUL The Sherlock Holmes of entertainment returns to Edinburgh with another hour of illusion

PHOTO: STUART ROBERTSON

Are you an honest person?

Acclaimed stage mentalist Colin Cloud ponders this question in his brand new show Sinful, revealing in the process why it’s so much more fun to ask for forgiveness than permission.

‘As an artistic proposition, the show examines and explores the human psyche,’ Cloud explains, ‘why we act and behave the way we do, specifically the sins we allow ourselves to become wrapped up in and how, as a result, they can define our perception of the world and ourselves.’

Sinful is set to feature more of Cloud’s traditionally jaw-dropping stunts and astounding illusions, but the addition of special guest Chloé Crawford promises to take

the show to new heights.

‘I wanted to create something bigger, better and very different to what I’ve done before, so, to ensure it stays fresh for loyal fans, the insanely talented Chloé Crawford has kindly agreed to tag team the show with me, allowing us to accomplish demonstrations and stunts that would otherwise be impossible.’

Training for the show has been intense, says Cloud, ‘but it’s in taking these risks and pushing the boundaries of expectation, I’m able to give the audience something they won’t experience anywhere else.’

(Arusa Qureshi) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 13), 8pm, £15.50–£17.50 (£14–£16).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 41

F EST I VA L CA BA RE T | Hitlist

CABARET HITLIST Arusa Qureshi picks out the best cabaret to check out in week two of the Fringe GINGER JOHNSON’S HAPPY PLACE In a valiant, ridiculous attempt to cope with the increasing horror of everyday life, Ginger Johnson packs her bags and poses the question: how far are we willing to run to escape reality, and at what cost?

A show is crammed full of songs, chats, puppets, music and an acute awareness of how messed up everything is. See feature, page 45. Pleasance Dome, until 26 Aug (not 12, 19), 9.40pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).

REUBEN KAYE Reuben Kaye finally returns to Edinburgh with his solo show which just won the prestigious Green Room Award for cabaret in Melbourne. Prepare for an explosion of high camp and filthy humour as Kaye delivers drama, stage presence and scandalous storytelling in equal measure. See review, page 46. Assembly Checkpoint, until 25 Aug (not 7, 21), 9.30pm, £13–£14 (£12–£13).

JUST DESSERTS Join Michelle Pearson, the creator of the

award-winning Comfort Food Cabaret, for the UK debut of her new show.

Featuring a live soundtrack, this sensual chanteuse explores empowerment, social pressure, our obsession with perfection and desire through song, sex and sugar. Includes dessert! See review, page 46. Underbelly Cowgate, until 11 Aug, 10.40pm, £14.50–£15.50 (£13.50–£14.50).

ASK A STRIPPER Join Morag (aka Gypsy Charms) and Stacey Clare (The Ethical Stripper) for an X-rated exposé of their industry.

With 30 years of combined stripping experience, a PhD, a TED Talk, a book, three properties and several ex-fiancés, the creative team behind Illicit Thrill bare their souls, not just their bodies. Heroes @ Bob’s BlundaBus, until 25 Aug (not 14, 21), 7.50pm, £5.

COLIN CLOUD: SINFUL In Sinful, Colin Cloud will charm the demons in your head and reveal whether you are saint or sinner. With special guest Chloé Crawford, Colin will reveal why it’s so much more fun to ask for forgiveness than permission.

See preview, page 41. Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 13), 8pm, £15.50–£17.50 (£14–£16).

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42 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

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GOLDEN GIRL Ginger Johnson’s gang of oddball puppets are gearing up to take on their first Fringe. Claire Sawers caught up with the drag diva to talk Big Bird, crematorium gigs and the state of the world in general

PHOTO: HOLLY REVELL

‘P

uppets are really just drag queens with fewer bones,’ says Ginger Johnson, creator of the furry stars of Ginger Johnson’s Happy Place, her first ever Fringe solo show. ‘They’ve got the funny faces, the big eyes and they don’t give a shit about the rules,’ she shrugs, sucking on a cigarette.

Ginger, the alter-ego of comedian and costume maker Donald Marshall, is celebrating one decade in drag, during which time she’s been hauling her waspish one liners and helium balloon curves around all kinds of theatres and club nights, including shows at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, Glastonbury, the basement of Selfridges and even, very recently, a gig at a crematorium. This marked a first for Ginger, performing a special request eulogy for a mum who’d been a big fan and a huge supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.

‘I wasn’t sure I could do it, it was obviously so emotionally charged, but it turned out to be an amazing experience.’ That booking came shortly after the six-week smash hit How to Catch a Krampus at the London Pleasance over Christmas 2018, written, directed by and starring Ginger.

This August, Ginger will be inviting Edinburgh audiences into a wonderful world of delusion. ‘The world is really terrifying right now. For anyone other, or queer or weird . . . it’s a scary time. I want to ask, how far are we willing to take the absurd in order to escape? Ginger’s Happy Place is a dissociative place, where I’m joined by a choir of sweaty sock puppets. It’s got a kid’s show format, but is definitely not suitable for children.’

Ginger is part of East London queer collective Sink the Pink and often performs alongside drag icons Jonny Woo and Lavinia Co-Op (the 68 year-old radical drag legend, and member of 1970s Bloolips comedy troupe), but will be joined onstage in Edinburgh by her handmade puppets.

‘About five years ago I was at home watching telly. Sesame Street Street, which I love, came on with this episode about Hurricane Katrina. Big Bird’s nest had been blown away and everything was wrecked. They all pulled together to help one another, it was really wonderful. I was having a bit of a crisis myself – not weather related, more mental health – and I got the idea to create my own Happy Gang.’

She lives with about 25 puppets in London but is only bringing a lucky handful on tour, including the cyclops Peek and Boo, very serious Simon who’s in a rocky relationship with Philip Seymour Hoffman (not that one) and a lively baked potato. ‘Ginger tries to help them them all, but she’s not necessarily very good at it. Let’s just say it’s not long before the apocalypse arrives.’

She’s terrified but also excited about the show, and concerned for her dysfunctional puppet friends. ‘I’ve made a little first aid kit for them, with spare fur patches for everybody. They take a lot of punishment in the show and I’ll have to keep them nice. Plus sewing is a good way for me to de-stress!’

With a discount for queer folk under 25, Ginger wants the show to be an oasis for anyone in the queer community finding things tough right now. ‘They say things are getting better, that’s just not true. The Happy Place is a way of offering an absurdist hand to people who need it. It’s funny and practical too – I’ve got a song about the top ten presents to buy for the lesbian therapist who saved your life.’

Ginger Johnson’s Happy Place, Pleasance Dome, until 26 Aug (not 12), 9.40pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 45

F EST I VA L CA BA RE T | Reviews

HELP! I THINK I MIGHT BE FABULOUS

Sequinned and uplifting foray into the world of the drag prince As the son of a drag queen, Alfie Ordinary lives a truly fabulous life.

Decked out in sequins and a platinum bowl cut, sparkly backpack and keyboard in tow, he invites the audience to spend an hour with him as he regales entertaining tales about his days at Madame LeCoq’s Prep School for Fabulous Boys.

Help! I Think I Might Be Fabulous is an insight into a world where your teachers encourage you to be your most fabulous self and each assembly begins with a school-wide rendition of 'I Am What I Am'.

But with Alfie's ‘muggle-born’ classmate John having to hide his sequinned uniform from his parents every day, the drag prince takes it upon himself to provide some much-needed support so that John doesn't have to be ashamed of who he is.

With the help of Whitney Houston and Bette Midler (as puppets), and some stunning versions of songs by Sugababes, the Village People and Christina Aguilera, Alfie encourages John to embrace his fabulousness and in turn reveals how important it is to be accepting in a world that doesn't always promote such ideals.

Life may be sequinned and full of song for Alfie, but the uplifting and hilarious stories are matched by truly poignant moments in which we see the impact of being true to yourself regardless of society's limitations. The interlude where Alfie admits to being a fan of football, asking Siri to explain the off-side rule, for example, is a sharp and inventive flipping of the traditional coming out narrative.

Spending an hour in Alfie's world is refreshing, with the pressures and restrictions of heteronormativity slipping away as this utterly charming character embodies self-acceptance, inspiring others to do the same. There may be a twist here that, when revealed, adds a touch of sadness to the show, but the overall message is made all the more powerful as a result. (Arusa Qureshi) ■ Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre, until 25 Aug, 6pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9).

FRISKY & MANNISH’S POPLAB

JUST DESSERTS

REUBEN KAYE

This is Frisky and Mannish’s tenth Fringe anniversary, and it shows. From their perfect synchronicity during an improvised jazz rendition of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, to the slick production of their ‘experiments’, they are pop professionals at the top of their game. Setting out to eradicate ‘tropical house disease’ from the genre (Ed Sheeran is patient zero, naturally), they whisk the audience through a dizzying mash-up of songs past and present, demonstrating a truly encyclopaedic knowledge of pop music. A Fleetwood Mac and ‘The Lonely Goatherd’ mash-up? Sure, why not!

Because most importantly, they make it all sound so good. Laura Corcoran’s vocal prowess is thrilling, transitioning from a bluegrass drawl to scat with ease.

Matthew Jones’ comedic timing also remains pitch perfect, spinning new meaning onto old favourites.

As they tinker with pop music’s very DNA, some of their findings are genuinely inspiring, paying homage to the greats but also clearly unafraid to have a bit of irreverent fun. Given their track record, the Pop PhD has never been bestowed upon two more deserving acolytes. (Deborah Chu) ■ Assembly George Square Gardens, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), £14–£16 (£13–£15).

Adelaide-based singer and cook Michelle Pearson returns to the Fringe with her latest effort to combine her two great loves: music and food.

Backed by a four-piece band, Pearson performs covers of popular songs and shares her musings on a range of topics, from Tinder and unsolicited dick pics, to body image and transitioning into motherhood. Her chosen covers are all over the musical map, including renditions of songs by Shania Twain, 50 Cent and Queen. Pearson’s strikingly beautiful voice is best showcased on her version of Jessie J’s hit about being true to yourself, ‘Who You Are’.

An assortment of candy, lemon cupcakes, sour cream mousse and chocolate fudge brownies are distributed to the audience throughout the show.

Pearson does a bit of sexy baking using whisks and an electric mixer while singing Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’, but it’s simply all for show as the desserts have been prepared in advance and are waiting to be enjoyed.

All in all, Just Desserts is a charming, sensual and delicious cabaret that offers some food for thought and makes for the perfect late-night treat after a long day of Fringe-ing. (Megan Forsyth) ■ Underbelly Cowgate, until 11 Aug, 10.40pm, £15.50 (£14.50).

If you come to Reuben Kaye’s solo show expecting a dose of whimsy, then you should probably just go home. Strutting in with sky-high heels – an outfit he describes as ‘Mum I need to tell you something’ – and a microphone with a Kim Kardashian ponytail, this isn’t cabaret for the faint-hearted.

Backed up by his band, the Kaye Holes, it’s a very modern cabaret that makes whip-smart references about everything from Bernini to blow-jobs, as well as putting his stunning pair of pipes on display.

Kaye takes the audience on an unapologetically camp journey through his life growing up as a young, queer, Jewish boy in 90s sports-obsessed Australia.

Told through a mix of storytelling, comedy and classic songs with original lyrics, Kaye manages to dive into the personal without ever taking himself too seriously.

Audience interaction is paramount to the show and nobody is safe, especially not if you’re a heterosexual male. Throw in a couple of outfit changes (even the microphone ponytail gets one) and Kaye manages to reclaim the cabaret genre as his own diverse and dangerously addictive brand.

(Katharine Gemmell) ■ Assembly Checkpoint, until 25 Aug (not 7, 21), 9.30pm, £13–£14 (£12–£13).

Seasoned cabaret duo apply the scientific method to the top of the pops

46 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Rock-pop hits and delectable sweet treats

Whip-smart cabaret from the Australian superstar

Looking for Fringe inspiration?

Take a chance with our #InspirationMachine online and on the Mound from 02 – 26 August

Have a spin @ edfringe.com/inspiration

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 47

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PHIL WANG: PHILLY PHILLY WANG WANG A brightly shining stand-up star in the ascendant ‘The power of Taskmaster’, as one admiring fellow comic put it, helped Phil Wang to sell out his entire Pleasance Courtyard run even before setting foot in Edinburgh, with extra dates trying to sate the astonishing demand. Stepping out on to his Cabaret Bar stage, Wang looks like the most relaxed headlight-staring rabbit you’ve ever encountered. Constantly and amusingly referring to himself in the third person, his self-assuredness is perhaps understandable given that he identifies as ‘white Chinese’, a racial identity twin-set Wang views as the most powerful pairing of them all.

Edging ever closer to the end of his 20s, he feels in a good place despite his own body bringing him unexpected aches and odours, the world going to hell, and his recent relationship having reached its conclusion.

As the comic notes in hindsight, maybe they shouldn’t have gone to see The Muppets at the O2: a delight for him, a mystery to his partner, with Wang’s attempts to describe exactly what’s happening on the enormous stage only making matters worse.

The daft and stupendously titled Philly Philly Wang Wang has treats and pleasures at every turn and within each sentence. The only moment of deliberately unfunny contemplation arrives when he discusses whether comedy should be considered as a high artform. TV may be propelling Phil Wang onto big things, but his brilliant stand-up career is shining brightly all on its own. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 12), 8pm; 10, 17, 24 Aug, 11pm; 16 Aug, 11.15pm, £12–£13 (£11–£12)

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 49

F EST I VA L COM E DY | Hitlist

Brian Donaldson picks out some of the comedy highlights from week two of the Fringe FERN BRADY Bathgate’s finest appears to be on the road to somewhere as she unleashes a wonderful new Fringe hour which focuses on her power and sidelines the chaos. See review, page 53.

Monkey Barrel, until 25 Aug (not 12), 6pm, £7–£10 in advance or donations at the venue.

PHIL WANG The global-dominating ‘white Chinese’ stand-up (task)master delivers a powerhouse show about race, ageing and The Muppets. See review, page 49. Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 12), 8pm; 10, 17, 24 Aug, 11pm; 16 Aug, 11.15pm, £12–£13 (£11–£12).

PHOEBE ROBINSON Hoping for smart Edinburgh audiences, the podcaster, actor, scriptwriter and comic is thoroughly down to clown for her Fringe debut. See feature, page 20.

Assembly George Square Studios, 14–25 Aug, 6.45pm, £14–£16.

Previews 12 & 13 Aug, £12.

PHOTO: MATT CROCKETT

COMEDY HITLIST GIANTS Comedy duets featuring naff Europop acts seemed liked a thing of the past, but in the shape of Norway’s Fjörd, Hislop and Fishwick have pulled off a blinking little miracle. See review, page 58.

Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 13), 4.30pm, £9.50– £11.50 (£8.50–£10.50).

JESSICA FOSTEKEW When a man in the gym dubbed Fostekew as ‘hench’, she decided to come up with a show to analyse language and gender roles, while recalling one of the toughest days of her life. See review, page 53. Monkey Barrel, until 25 Aug (not 12), 1.30pm, £5 in advance or donations at the venue.

GARRETT MILLERICK Following up last year’s trauma-filled yet gag-packed hour can’t have been easy, but the pressure has led Millerick to pushing forward with a strong set of quasi-opinionated fun.

See review, page 60. Just the Tonic at The Tron, until 25 Aug (not 12), 5pm, £7 in advance or donations at the venue.

Fern Brady

‘BELLYWRENCHING LAUGHS’

BEST COMEDY PLAY

MOLIÈRE AWARD 2017

Le Figaro

‘A COMIC EXPLOSION’ Télérama

OIS

BY PIERRE GUILL

HHHHH HHHHH Le Monde

Le Parisien

1.00 PM (75min)

50 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

31 Jul – 26 Aug www.pleasance.co.uk No performance 14 Aug 0131 556 6550

Reviews | F EST I VA L COME DY

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PHOTO: JAMES DEACON

GOODBEAR: DOUGAL

Clever, meta and cool sketch comedy

ELEANOR CONWAY: YOU MAY RECOGNISE ME FROM TINDER

Apparently at the top of the show, the Goodbear guys are nowhere to be found. Instead Joe and Henry who work at the venue are going to fill in. Joe is nervy and Henry disrespectful of authority but the pair turn out to be surprisingly skilled . . .

Joe Barnes and Henry Perryment (see what they did there?) have returned to the Fringe after a break last year. Like the shift from their reluctant understudy alter egos, the movement from one scene to the next in Dougal is a subtle one. Their show begins with Henry’s imaginary gun and a competition as to who can fake the best death. Then off it runs dipping into filmic sequences, surprisingly sentient chimps and sinister puppets while occasionally swinging back to the pretence of the absent performers.

The sketches, if indeed you can call them that, don’t necessarily have the strongest of actual punchlines but weirdly that doesn’t matter. Slinking into the next skit before you know it, the overall effect is simply mesmerising. The most bizarre and offthe-wall sections are suddenly and wildly hilarious.

It’s clever, meta (which of course they signpost themselves at one point) and positively oozes cool.

(Marissa Burgess) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug, 7.30pm, £11.50–£14.50 (£10.50–£13.50).

Eleanor Conway greets her capacity crowd as they enter, methodically directing them to fill the various nooks and crannies of this spacious venue. As she segues into a warm-up act for her own show, it’s clear that this comic is very eager to please others, even if one of the main themes running throughout this hour is a very determined pursuit of her own pleasure.

While it’s 12 years since she’s had a relationship, Conway explains that her singledom should not be confused with celibacy. And so she goes into excruciating detail about her numerous sexual peccadilloes. However, the spectacle of a sexually confident woman relating her myriad erotic adventures seems to encourage some crowd members to heckle, and some of her jokes lose momentum as she deals with yet another irritating interruption. It’s particularly annoying because when she’s on a roll, Conway is a really animated, engaging performer.

As she approaches her conclusion, the atmosphere falters a little. Nevertheless, Eleanor Conway is a comedian with a singular voice that’s well worth hearing. (Murray Robertson) ■ Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, until 25 Aug (not 13), 7pm, donations at the venue.

A singular and engaging performance about modern relations

BRODI SNOOK: HANDFUL

A tale of relationships with dark undercurrents Beneath Brodi Snook’s caustic, tough shell also beats a cold heart, or so she’d have us believe. Actually, it turns out that the Australian comedian is getting her head around some pretty complicated gender and relationship stuff while trying to be a feminist looking for love.

After giving some background on her family (we hear about her mum’s fridge magnets and her dad’s job as a detective in the drug squad), she shares a few Tinder disaster stories. So far, so normal, until she drops in that she was also the victim of a prolonged harassment case with a high-profile comedian. Suddenly her jokes take on new depth.

When a guy sexts her ‘I want to do bad things to you’, she replies with ‘I want you to be prosecuted accordingly’. Her initial reaction to the incident with a former friend that turned sour when she didn’t sleep with him was to put herself into ‘self-imposed isolation’, staying home having what she describes as a ‘year-long panic attack’. Now she’s ready again to make sassy jokes and self-respecting observations like ‘women are not rehabilitation centres for broken men’. (Claire Sawers) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 26 Aug (not 13), 8.15pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

FELIX AND THE SCOOTERMEN: SELF-HELP YOURSELF FAMOUS Music industry satire is funny in patches

Remember the Hoosiers? During the era of landfill indie, they topped the charts, caught the NME’s ire, and played to massive crowds at sell-out music festivals. They had two top-ten singles (‘Worried About Ray’ and ‘Goodbye Mr A’) and an album, The Trick to Life, that went double platinum in the UK. The release of a second album brought a third ‘top 11’ single and not much else.

The chances are you never heard of them again. Until now.

The band’s remaining members, Irwin Sparkes and Alan Sharland, are trying their hand at comedy this year, with mixed results. Self-Help Yourself Famous has the two playing ‘Twitterverified celebrities’ Felix Scoot and Lee Delamere (of the successful band Felix and the Scootermen). The thread of the show is a Brit School-accredited five-step programme that will bring fame and fortune to anyone wise enough to follow it. This device allows the duo to bring their real-life experiences to the table, satirise the music industry’s worst elements and air some grievances through a fictitious frame.

But the universe they’ve built isn’t especially believable. Felix and the Scootermen function only as a placeholder for the Hoosiers, with very little of the band’s already limited backstory thought out well. The five-step plan is a flimsy plot device too, abandoned to the extent you forget it’s happening.

Still, it's occasionally inspired, with the choreography and music both wonderfully silly, and Scoot’s delusions a frequent source of comedy, while Delamere’s more grounded reflections show a lesser-seen side of fame. It’s not a million miles from After the Screaming Stops, the unlikely hit Bros documentary, but this is not nearly as well executed. (Craig Angus) ■ Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug (not 10), 4.40pm, £11–£12 (£10–£11).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 51

GILDED BALLOON presents the UK’s biggest and best new comedy competition, back for it’s 32nd year!

Now in its 15th year, The Pleasance Comedy Reserve has helped launch the careers of 60 comedians at the Fringe.

this year’s

pleasance

comedy reserve

Josh Jones

21:30

Lily Phillips

2018 WINNER: DANNY GARNELL

“Getting to the final was probably the most exciting moment of my life” Rhod Gilbert

Mo Omar

Mamoun Elagab

Comedy

“Changed my life forever!”

Jason Byrne

Reserve 19:00 Below

Sophie Duker

18:00 Bunker One

Helen Bauer

Alumni

at the pleasance

SEMI-FINALS 22:15 (90 MINS) 4-6, 11-14 AUGUST

17:30 Bunker Two

Michael Odewale

17:45 Below

Jack Gleadow

18:00 Upstairs

Catherine Bohart

GRAND FINAL 19:30 (120 MINS) 22 AUGUST

18:30 Above

Rhys James

18:45 Bunker Two

Nigel Ng

18:50 Jack Dome

Alasdair Beckett-King

MEDIA PARTNER: SOYOUTHINKYOUREFUNNY.CO.UK 19:00 Attic

Yuriko Kotani

20:15 Beneath

Darren Harriott

21:30 Baby Grand

Simon Brodkin

Supported by the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund

52 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Reviews | F EST I VA L COME DY

list.co.uk/festival

Lumpen hour about a lame comic

When Les Dawson played the piano terribly, it was so convincing only because he was very accomplished on that instrument. Zach Zucker has energy to burn and technical physical ability in spades, but whether he has the innate stand-up ability to pull off being a deliberately awful solo comedian is open to debate.

Best known for his semi-surrealist tomfoolery with stage partner Viggo, in the last couple of years he’s produced his own anti-comedy sets in which audiences have been sorely put to the test.

Here, he’s created a more obvious persona, Jack Tucker, a terrible comic with an opinion of himself way out of proportion with his qualities who is best described as a Neil Hamburger on more uppers and brimming with desperation. But while Hamburger’s addled misanthropy is textured and compelling, Zucker / Tucker simply irritates with repetitive sound effects and infantile ‘jokes’.

In order to break up the less than distinguished mugging, the scene occasionally switches to his tortured inner monologue, where he wishes he was somewhere else on the planet . . . sometimes jokes can write themselves. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 14), 9.20pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

FERN BRADY: POWER AND CHAOS

PHOTO: STEVE ULLATHORNE

PHOTO: MATT CROCKETT

JACK TUCKER: COMEDY STAND-UP HOUR

A theme-free hour of sparkling comedy

NJAMBI MCGRATH: ACCIDENTAL COCONUT

Previously Fern Brady has addressed how the public perceives her and how she perceives herself, coming across as alternately confident and riddled with selfdoubt. All that seems to have been cast away for this year’s show, in which Brady owns the stage with an effortless authority. More importantly, she looks like she’s enjoying herself.

Jumping from topic to topic with no need of conceits or even sticking to a theme, everything Brady turns her coruscating gaze upon falls prey to her comedic powers. Her hour features perceptions of the Scottish to her courting online infamy by baiting the DUP, as well as her thoughts on how to deal with catcalling and the ethics of using videos of cute baby animals as a mood enhancer.

The title of her show is Power and Chaos, with Brady exhibiting oodles of the former while seemingly having left the latter behind. This is an accomplished demonstration of a comedian ably balancing the relatable with the provocative and the personal with the political. Her run is close to being sold out but luckily she’s about to embark on a UK tour as well as having filmed a stand-up special for Live from the BBC. (Suzanne Black) ■ Monkey Barrel, until 25 Aug (not 12), 6pm, £7–£10 in advance or donations at the venue.

At comedy shows, audiences fearful that they’ll become the focus of a sharp joke, tend to refuse to populate the first few rows. Njambi McGrath, however, is quick to make the crowd feel safe in her hands. ‘I don’t pick on friends,’ she says, as she easily convinces half the room to move closer. McGrath has a magnetic personality, and the confident manner in which she delivers the introduction to Accidental Coconut (covering black stereotypes and the racist connotations of the term ‘coconut’) elicits easy laughter.

The irony of delivering an hour on the effects of the British Empire on African identity to a majorly white and British audience is ever present, but it doesn’t seem to intimidate the Kenyan comedian. If anything, she takes the opportunity to educate less historically inclined minds, an aspect of the set that she perhaps stretches too thin; at points, Accidental Coconut feels more like a university lecture than a comedy show.This, coupled with a slightly overused catchphrase, are the staples of a show still finding its feet. But the first half indicates that it’s well on its way there. (Sofia Matias) ■ Just the Tonic at Marlin’s Wynd, until 23 Aug (not 12), 4.05pm, donations at the venue.

Engaging but sketchy look at African identities

PHOTO: IDIL SUKAN

JESSICA FOSTEKEW: HENCH

Strong show about language, gender and Nordic walking When Jessica Fostekew was harassed at her local gym and called a ‘hench’, she decided to take assertive action in the only way she could possibly think of: she wrote an excellent Fringe show about it. If you were called ‘hench’, chances are you might have to look up the word. Those who frequent the world of personal trainers and body building will know that this is a technical term for someone who has well-developed muscles. And is a man.

So this Hench has Fostekew darting from subject to subject with agility and skill, discussing feminist flirting (very different from the toxically masculine variety), the cult of Nordic walking which has ensnared her mother (whose unofficial motto is ‘grace and composure’ resulting in occasional conflict with her offspring), and the ways in which her son has established himself as a three-year-old sexist.

Language and gender stereotyping are at the core of this show, with one of her son’s grandads being a firm example of a man for whom blue is for boys and pink is for girls. Fostekew largely has to bite her tongue on how this might be shaping her son, but she’s more outspoken on the diet industry and the hypocritical attitudes shown towards athlete Caster Semenya (she’s still having legal battles about her testosterone levels) when compared to the non-issue of swimmer Michael Phelps’ atypical biology (he’s an Olympic hero, pure and simple).

A show for different comedy tastes, when things get too thinky, there’s always the hysterical grand guignol sequence about her giving birth to keep the other constituency happy. After a fine run of shows, Jessica Fostekew is ramping up the quality, and for this Fringe she proves to be as much of a powerhouse on stage as she is on a squat bench. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Monkey Barrel, until 25 Aug (not 12), 1.30pm, £5 in advance or donations at the venue.

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 53

F EST I VA L COM E DY | Reviews

PHOTO: STEVE ULLATHORNE

KONSTANTIN KISIN: ORWELL THAT ENDS WELL A cheeky ode to free speech

Konstantin Kisin attracted some attention towards the end of last year after refusing to sign a disclosure form for a student gig.

The comic took exception at being asked to refrain from making any jokes around all manner of ‘isms’, tweeted about it and then went to bed. When Kisin awoke, he discovered that his evening’s activity had garnered a lot*2 of interest with the less enlightened – Piers Morgan and Fox News were among those media outlets who picked up on the story. At the risk of becoming a poster boy for those that love to complain about snowflakes, he was also dubbed a ‘soy boy’ by Katie Hopkins.

Let’s get this straight from the off: it’s not that Kisin wants to be able to insult all and sundry without remorse but that he vehemently defends free speech. It’s hardly surprising for someone whose grandfather was picked up by the KGB for privately criticising Russia’s involvement in Afghanistan.

Kisin teases and pushes gently at boundaries with cheeky and crucially ironic jokes about his own Jewish heritage, his Ukrainian wife or Russia’s lax attitude to borders.

Fundamentally, he questions whether saying whatever you feel should be illegal and it is genuinely eye-opening to hear how many people have been arrested for hate speech. Kisin questions the notion that this country isn’t welcoming to immigrants and the concept of white privilege is challenged too. While this is based on his own experience and that many of us in the UK are welcoming of immigrants, at the same time the sections of hostility in society can’t be ignored. But surely sustaining a dialogue is better than simply shutting down for fear of causing offence or of being offended. When we stop talking, that’s when the trouble truly starts. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 26 Aug (not 13), 7pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

PHOTO: ANDY HOLLINGWORTH

LUCY BEAUMONT: SPACE MAM

TOM LENK IS TRASH

NICK ELLERAY: BIG NICK ENERGY

After a few years’ hiatus in which time she produced a whole new human being, Lucy Beaumont returns to the Fringe. The Hull native has been down to Surrey and all the way up again having moved back north, as well as spending time exploring her new role as a mum.

Though her Yorkshire hometown features less than it did at the start of her career, it does make a reappearance.

Despite these life changes, there’s a truth to herself as this salt-of-the-earth, ordinary woman exudes an irresistible warmth. Though jocularly dressed up, she goes on to explore her post-natal depression, caused by the lack of an immediate bond with her child and the frustrations of sleep deprivation. Space Mam is very much an honest and frank portrait of motherhood.

Beaumont’s big skill is capturing the poetry in the ordinary, especially evident in her depiction of her own Hullian mother where she beautifully evokes the nuances of her speech, and random, unselfconscious acts such as taking her bra off in the middle of a meal.

Somehow, Beaumont also maintains an otherworldly quality, at one point donning an alien mask to throw flying-saucer sweets to the crowd despite Professor Brian Cox once telling her that extra-terrestrials don’t exist. An excellent return. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 12), 4.45pm, £12 (£11).

Fans of the addictive Instagram account of LA comedian Tom Lenk, who recreates red-carpet looks from celebs like Cardi B and Sandra Bullock using only garbage found lying about his house, are in for a treat with this live version. Lenk, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, has a passion for fashion, knocking up couture gowns from bin bags, plastic toys and bath towels, then posing in wigs or copycat hairdos made from pasta. He explains his philosophy through a Broadway number which morphs into ‘Trashdance’; he loves collecting trash and doesn’t understand the ‘joyless’ Marie Kondo approach.

After delivering a pleasantly incoherent ‘Trash Talk’ about why the past is better than the future, he introduces his character Eileen, ‘America’s number one crafting sensation’. In this interactive bit, she teaches the audience to unwind and make jewellery from pipe cleaners while mumbling withering asides about their efforts under her breath.

He brings Tilda Swinton onstage via video, to time a #lenkslewksforless costume-making competition (a handy opportunity to plug his other Fringe show, Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist). Grounded but sassy, his warm, camp style is a joy. (Claire Sawers) ■ Assembly George Square, until 25 Aug (not 12), 6.35pm, £11–£12.50 (£10–£11.50).

Part way through the show, Nick Elleray states that you can’t just claim wisdom these days from managing to stay alive; it’s what you do that matters. Indeed it is, but it’s also how you process that information and how much insight you can shine on to it. Elleray has that in abundance, providing him with a hugely perceptive take for a show that is a beautiful portrait of middle age.

Taking the quote from former Australian PM Malcolm Fraser that ‘life wasn’t meant to be easy’ as his way of dismissing many niggles, Elleray has come to terms with the fact that he has anger issues. He’s decided that he can probably change it, but it’s not going to be through meditation. Elleray also touches on wider issues felt by anyone who grew up in the western world during the 70s and 80s, and looks at how much the inherent toxic masculinity in society seeps into your world view: he chooses to take it all out on wheelie suitcases.

Elsewhere there are brilliantly penned gags on the reason why John Lennon was the best Beatle plus a look at the positive aspects of a lie-down and mangoes. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, until 25 Aug (not 12), 12.45pm, donations at the venue.

Warm and lively return for Hull native

54 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

A sassy 'trashy' treat

A perceptive portrait of middle age and wheelie suitcases

HHHH ‘ACHINGLY FUNNY...

WORTH SEEING AGAIN AND AGAIN.’ TIME OUT

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 55

F EST I VA L COM E DY | Reviews

PHOTO: ANDY HOLLINGWORTH

LOU SANDERS: SAY HELLO TO YOUR NEW STEP-MUMMY Former surrealist in politically engaged hour

After a profile-boosting turn in TV gameshow Taskmaster earlier this year, where she excelled at completing a series of bizarre and futile contests, Lou Sanders’ latest Fringe hour feels like a culmination of her previous shows. Familiarly, there’s plenty of material about her much-discussed labia, now with tote-bag merch to boot. Jill in the Pyrenees (her energy healer and spiritual adviser) makes a reappearance and provides the motive for many of Sanders’ exploits.

There are copious amounts of the kind of ‘yer dad’ jokes she likes to share on Twitter as well as oodles of frank sex chat in which she clearly believes there’s no such thing as TMI. The surrealism of shows past has been cast aside in favour of more political engagement as she tackles feminist issues, especially in relation to sex and being a public figure.

Mary Beard’s recent book, Women & Power: A Manifesto, describes the more-than 2000-year history of women who speak out in public being called strident, whinging, whining and much, much worse.

In Say Hello to Your New Step-Mummy, Sanders addresses the abuse which women, especially the opinionated and funny ones, are subjected to online. Her persona is a refreshing antidote to all of this rancour, and she presents herself as unabashedly horny and with bullet-proof self-esteem. And so she should.

There are a few elements in the mix that don’t work, such as a folk song with barely intelligible lyrics which leaves the audience a few steps behind her accompanying commentary. As a side note, it’s early days for Lou Sanders’ show and her new venue, but the seating arrangement may deny a number of the audience a chance to see some of her fine visual gags. But don’t let that put you off a comedian of genuine calibre. (Suzanne Black) ■ Monkey Barrel, until 25 Aug (not 14), 3.15pm, £8 in advance or donations at the venue.

PHOTO: IDIL SUKAN

PHOTO: JEFF ZORABEDIAN

ZACH ZIMMERMAN: CLEAN COMEDY

JOSIE LONG: TENDER

Positive hour amid the global wreckage

MAT EWINS: ACTUALLY CAN I HAVE EIGHT TICKETS PLEASE?

Raised in the American south by a Christian pastor father and his similarly conservative mother, Zach Zimmerman faced a lot of challenges when he realised he was gay. He was brought up to feel ashamed of his sexuality, was bullied at school and encouraged to regularly pray for salvation. Happily, he managed to navigate his way into adulthood, and in Clean Comedy he recounts the various trials and tribulations that made him the man he is today.

It’s a fun journey through the comedian’s varied experiences, including a hilarious tale of unsportsmanlike conduct during his time performing as a football mascot. When he rhetorically asks ‘has anyone else here been a mascot?’ he’s astonished by a positive response from a fellow American.

And it serves him well to regularly dip in and out of audience interaction given that he handles his crowd with aplomb.

As is often the case with a life-story show, it’s not all fun and games. By the end of this hour, events take an unexpectedly tragic turn, but Zimmerman deftly balances darkness and light, culminating in a barnstorming finale that sends everyone out on a high. (Murray Robertson) ■ Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until 26 Aug (not 19), 10.45pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).

In the five years since her last Fringe show, one major life change has occurred for Josie Long and this forms the basis of her new hour. Tender is not just about her journey into motherhood; it explores the dichotomy between feeling full of hope at the arrival of a baby, and the dread and guilt that comes with knowing their future is, in many ways, already damned.

There may be an expectation for Tender to be a deeply political hour of stand-up but the three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee’s return goes beyond her thoughts and observations on the dire state we presently find ourselves in. Her jokes about the unglamorous reality of being pregnant and giving birth fit neatly with some asides about the growing anxiety that comes with knowing time is literally running out to save the world.

Still, it's a genuine joy to spend an hour with Long, and despite her admission of being unable to avoid the perpetual doom and gloom, her quoting of Greta Thunberg and ‘children are the future’ approach provides a sliver of positivity among the horror. As she notes here, it’s not edgy to be a prick anymore; what’s really unconventional is showing love and kindness amid the mayhem. (Arusa Qureshi) ■ The Stand, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 8.20pm, £12 (£10).

First things first, Mat Ewins does not look like the picture above. Or the photos on his website. He gets those from his favourite site, Shutterstock, in a longrunning joke that’s confounded some journalists at the Fringe for some years.

It’s typical of Ewins’ anarchic comic style to keep such an inane gag running for so long. That it continues to be funny is testament to his talent and his ability to make sublime jokes out of the truly ridiculous, with a little help from Adobe After Effects. This year’s show takes on everything from Fleshlights and fire-exit signs to the bad video games which Ewins made himself. For most of the show, it’s literally one laugh after another, and while a few technical hitches bring the pace down a little, Ewins recovers quickly (even if he does self-consciously refer to ‘The List reviewer’ a little too often).

Since his Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination in 2017, Ewins has broken out of his cult following to become a must-see in August. This year’s show is more brilliant nonsense, which will likely win over new devotees before the month is over. (Yasmin Sulaiman) ■ Just the Tonic at The Caves, until 25 Aug (not 12), 9pm, £8–£9 in advance or donations at the venue.

Finding fun despite the tragic darkness

56 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

More brilliant nonsense from former Comedy Award nominee

Reviews | F EST I VA L COME DY

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NIGEL NG: CULTURE SHOCKED British mores gently mocked by a smooth operator

If Malaysia has been on the look-out for its very own Jerry Seinfeld, then there’s a good chance Nigel Ng could eventually be the man for that job. His slickly performed and technically astute observations on the differences between East and West are so crafted and riven with a sense of pained disbelief about trivial human nonsense that you might well start to hear ‘what’s the deal with . . . ?’ before each new bit.

There’s nothing mean-spirited about Ng, with his affection clear for the UK he has happily settled in, but his pained incredulity about YO! Sushi, Butlin’s and Wagamama lead to nice routines which play to a pleasingly diverse Fringe audience.

He has plenty of jolly chat on tap for interactions with East Asian latecomers and some well-heeled Brits in his front row. But nothing gets in the way of Ng’s prepared material as he plunges headlong back into the jokes which only threaten to get vaguely serious when he discusses the Other category on passport applications. But fear not, there’s a carefully chiselled section just around the corner about the different ways in which rice is packaged across the cultures. What’s the deal with that? (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 12), 6.45pm, £7.50–£10 (£6.50–£9).

JAYNE EDWARDS IS TOP BODYBUILDER BRIAN

ADAM ROWE: PINNACLE

Pleasantly daft character comedy

Controversial and contentious material that doesn’t always land well

Taking to the stage wearing an England baseball cap, crop top and badly-drawn tattoos, Welsh bodybuilder Brian is a sight to behold. Brian (winningly performed by comedian Jayne Edwards) proceeds to tell his life story, letting us in on how he lost his wife, put on weight and embarked on a career as a stand-up comedian ‘to pay off a whey protein debt’.

Bodybuilder Brian is not a studied character but Edwards succeeds with levity, charm and a knowing smile. Although the quality of her material is variable, it’s hard to avoid getting caught up in the fun and, as she delivers her best punchlines, it seems there’s a real chance she’ll just lose it and burst out laughing.

Edwards is accompanied by some short video sequences, including an impressively constructed claymation nightmare. And while there isn’t much depth to the character, we discover that Brian is a Brexit supporter extolling the power of ‘sovereignty’, while clearly not understanding what the word actually means. Throughout the whole show Edwards feeds off her appreciative audience, and while it’s roughshod and sketchy, there are some fun lines and daft moments. (Murray Robertson) ■ Heroes @ Dragonfly, until 25 Aug (not 15), 10pm, £5 in advance or donations at the venue.

The dog whistles can be heard in Adam Rowe’s publicity material, which offers ‘opinionated, no holds barred stand-up’ and heralds a barrage of offensive material presented as a common-sense rebuttal to things like diversity going too far. He tackles a whole host of thorny topics, often in similarly controversial ways. An uncomfortable tirade against overweight people seemingly misunderstands the fat acceptance movement’s efforts to reshape culturally constructed beauty standards. His discussion of transgender individuals claims acceptance while undermining it.

Rowe’s material veers between the offensive and the genuinely inquisitive. His material on ingrained racism and homophobia learned in childhood fares well, as does his frustration with his girlfriend and descriptions of his sexual hangover habits. These sections engage with difficult matters rather than the contentious jabs he offers elsewhere.

But Rowe is good at what he does. He is clearly clever and tapped in to hot-button issues. With material that’s well-written, well-paced and welldelivered, there’s definitely an audience for the provocative views he's peddling. (Suzanne Black) ■ Just the Tonic at The Caves, until 25 Aug (not 12), 7.30pm, £5 in advance or donations at the venue.

JENA FRIEDMAN: MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE A wry paean for positivity

On the weekend of yet more mass shootings in the US, Jena Friedman is still trying to find hope in small places. If we all get out there and vote in every single election, then some good might come of it eventually, she reckons. Then again, more people voted against rather than for Trump in 2016 and he still managed to kick open the door of the Oval Office to lay a supremacist siege upon his nation.

Still, the power engendered by the #MeToo movement might one day bring about positive change. On the other hand, Friedman ponders, given that men are still not quite programmed to channel their own emotions or view women as anything close to equal, then sexual assault and dehumanisation are likely to remain rampant. At least until the robots take over.

Friedman, herself, readily admits to being drawn into certain patriarchal tropes. Her own obsession with true-crime podcasts and documentaries bolsters the societal constructs that overwhelmingly revel in the murder of women. Brexit is a disaster, while Trump and his Russian cronies might fiddle the polls for him to be re-elected in 2020 and hope will once again take a back-seat as chaos and hatred drives us over a cliff.

While she makes us simultaneously laugh and cringe, Friedman gives us a brief glimpse into her own life with routines about a partner and their imaginary future child. But, as you’d imagine, there’s nothing other than bleakness poking its head round that corner. While there’s a generous splash of taste-nudging material about death, destruction, and disaster, the shocks do wear off a little too quickly, and certainly swifter than Friedman herself might be expecting. A show featuring blunted audience reactions to terror seems appropriate in a world where outraged calls for gun control will be off the front pages by tomorrow. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Assembly George Square Studios, until 25 Aug (not 12), 9.20pm, £12–£13 (£11–£12).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 57

F EST I VA L COM E DY | Reviews

GIANTS ARE FJORD

Naff charm and big 80s flourishes from ‘Scandi’ duo Things get ‘a little goddam crasy’, when Norwegian Eurodance act Fjörd come to play what they believe is ‘Scotland’s Glastonbury’ in a shipping container at the Pleasance. ‘Say goodbye to the roof, feel free to vape’, they smoothly suggest to a slightly stunned crowd, before sliding into the ‘big in Bolivia’ hits from their hot back catalogue. Their own biggest, obsessive fans, Will Hislop and Barney Fishwick, collect a few new ones with this loving flashback to the glory days of the Vengaboys and Basshunter.

Casually dressed in white polo neck and matching slip-on shoes, Lars is an unapologetic fiend for his butterscotch e-cigarette, and ‘identical twin’ Ulrich claims to have been to lots of ‘naughty parties’ with ‘shorties’, when the reality seems to be one car-crash fling with Gabriela from the Cheeky Girls. The Förd double act has popped up for a cameo in previous Fringe sketch shows from the old friends and excellent comedy partners, but justifies a full show here, with musical sections including a vocoder-laden scene from a sci-fi, futuristic Oslo and a big, earnest, 80s synth-banger finish.

In pop-star documentary style, the beautiful bromance upon which Fjörd’s success is built has its dark secrets, and bitter vibes grow onstage, sometimes mid-duet. The Harry Potter musical interlude bit may be lost on some (maybe it was added in for the family-friendly, afternoon time-slot?), but the pair carry off even their clunkiest lines (and unexpected technical blips) with total assuredness, effortlessly spinning 6-karat gold live onstage as things go wrong.

When a member of staff leaves the shipping container, straight after a touching a capella ballad on mouth organ and acoustic guitar, Lars nods knowingly, realising it was probably ‘too much for some’.

Delusional dreamboats with beer bottles in holsters, Fjörd’s naff charms could melt glacier hearts. (Claire Sawers) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 13), 4.30pm, £9.50–£11.50 (£8.50–£10.50).

PHOTO: ALAN POWDRILL

OLAF FALAFEL PRESENTS KNITTING WITH MARACAS

Magical ride into family-friendly silliness Olaf Falafel is back and as daft as ever. This year we’re all on an international space station with the crowd good-naturedly playing along. The catering staff choose a cheese for the sandwiches, Patricia (possibly not his real name) on the front row is captain and there’s an engineer in the second row.

But who would not get involved? This tall, endearing Swede sells his childlike nonsense to us with aplomb plus his audience interaction is of the most gentle kind. In this early show of the run, the energy dips a touch halfway through but is soon cranked up again, with many big laugh-out-loud moments featuring cats and bagpipes while the human factory resets button is revealed.

It’s a bonus that it’s family-friendly, though as Falafel points out, the kids might struggle with the references to Phil Collins or MC Hammer (who is working in the art gallery) plus there’s a cheeky interactive bit where they might learn a new phrase. Elsewhere there’s the return of Biscuitology personality predictions in a cunning new form and the philosophy shopkeeper is on hand for some wise words. A magical ride into the ridiculous.

(Marissa Burgess) ■ Laughing Horse @ The Pear Tree, until 25 Aug (not 13), 2.50pm, donations at the venue.

58 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

STEVE N ALLEN: BETTER THAN Relaxed and assured look at positivity

LANGSTON KERMAN: THE LOOSE CANON

Steve N Allen, best known for his appearances on The Mash Report, leaves the political stuff behind in his new show. Instead, Better Than is an exploration of how to be more positive and a better person.

The premise is interesting but some of the gags feel a little worn, with Allen firing shots at the usual suspects of Trump and Weinstein. These jokes raise more of a collective groan from the audience rather than a chortle, and although certainly topical, the gags don’t feel fresh.

However, there are plenty of original observations that make for much stronger routines, most notably the one about Allen’s sexual mathematics. He takes us through several equations for successful threesomes, foursomes, and more; this seems to have inspired plenty of audiences, as one fan letter reveals. Another highlight is when Allen ‘comes out’ as an introvert, prompting a series of well-observed gags about why the bashful are sexier.

Allen is an assured and experienced performer, with a relaxed on-stage manner, even in the face of audience heckles and disruption. However, you might leave not entirely sure about what exactly he is doing to make himself better than. But does it really matter when you’ve had a good laugh? (Lauren McKay) ■ The Stand 2, until 25 Aug (not 12), 8.50pm, £9 (£8).

Langston Kerman’s professed topic of how to be a good person is really just an excuse to delve into how terrible people can be. Some of the offences are mild (like his girlfriend’s expectations for Christmas cards) and some are literally criminal (like the exploits of his sex-offender roommate). Most of the material leans heavily into the puerile, with mentions of defecation and Kerman’s penis featuring prominently within his assessments of marriage, sexual politics and his life as a teacher. A section on the racial aspects of having a baby is a highlight, relying on acute social observations rather than gross bodily functions.

Edinburgh audiences are notoriously melanindeprived and so some of his references are likely to suffer. For example, the mention of the name ‘Jerome’ elicits specific connotations for a British audience – namely Jerome Flynn, the actor known for Game of Thrones and duets with Robson Green – and not the associations that Kerman’s joke depends upon.

With this Fringe debut, Kerman may have tried to present himself as an edgy, filth-spewing provocateur but he still manages to seem like a really good guy.

(Suzanne Black) ■ Underbelly Bristo Square, until 25 Aug (not 12), 7.45pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

Debut mixing politics and the puerile

Reviews | F EST I VA L COME DY

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PHOTO: JIKSAW

SUZI RUFFELL: DANCE LIKE EVERYONE’S WATCHING A great show about acceptance

There’s a theory that happiness doesn’t produce good comedy, so Suzi Ruffell begins Dance Like Everyone’s Watching with an apology. She loves her job, is getting married, has made it onto the property ladder and – on top of all that excitement – got hold of a life-changing device, the NutriBullet.

Ruffell knows that a little bit of edge goes a long way over the course of a Fringe hour, and so takes a recent heckle (‘she loves herself’) and returns to it throughout the show. Dance Like Everyone’s Watching becomes a proper meditation on happiness, both the kind that you get from love and other people, and the sort that comes from within. The finale is a trip to a Pride march in New York, an emotionally charged ending that discovers joy in acceptance.

Ruffell’s improvement over the last few years has been truly impressive and this is another big step forward from her. She’s a motormouth, rarely passing an opportunity to deploy a snappy wisecrack but also vitally she understands the importance of (and is skilled enough to pull off) a tonal shift. With gags and gravitas galore, this is a deeply wholesome and intelligent hour of stand-up. (Craig Angus) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 12), 8.30pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£10).

CRYBABIES: DANGER BRIGADE Zany and chaotic character-filled romp

If you’ve not sat in a basement bar at the Fringe with one other audience member for company, been assigned the bit part of ‘Greta, child-torture liaison’ and watched as the man onstage in pants says a painful goodbye to a broken mop, well, you’ve probably made some good life choices.

This zany WWII romp hits peak Fringe about three times in an hour, if you can stick with it long enough.

In fairness to the manic cast, they double down and inflict their Inglourious Bellends plot on an unwitting audience, building a chaotic storyline around dysfunctional, attention-desperate, schoolgirl-chasing baddies, trying to right wrongs done to them.

Chester Daggerboot, son of emotionally unavailable thespian Gammon Daggerboot, has a gaping hole in his heart which he tries to fill through cabaret performances. Meanwhile, Skipps McCoy is using his sex obsession to keep his mind off that incident at a football match where he let his young child die in very unusual circumstances. Jumpers for goalposts, table legs for nipples, and three actors in four-character scenes won’t bring back McCoy’s bitter ex-wife Susan, but it will create indelibly strange new Fringe memories. (Claire Sawers) ■ Heroes @ Boteco, until 25 Aug (not 14), 4pm, £5 in advance or donations at the venue.

LUCIE POHL: REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY REAL Online fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

Lucie Pohl’s return to the Fringe after a two-year hiatus offers an entertaining insight into life as a video-game celebrity. As the voice of Mercy on Blizzard’s Overwatch, Pohl is adored by players around the world for being the game’s healer / guardian angel character. In reality though, life isn’t as glamorous as those weeping fans at comic cons might think.

Tthe New York-based comedian attempts to dispel the myths surrounding online fame, providing an hour that traverses topics which shatter the illusions projected by social media. From holding in farts in front of a partner to constructing the perfect post about a dead family member (only to have them actually survive), this is a frank and often brutal look at life behind the filters and hashtags.

While Pohl’s ill-fated tales of participating in comic cons around the world provide the hour’s best moments, there are occasional issues with connectivity between her anecdotes. But it’s her storytelling skills and attempts to convey her authentic self that ultimately provide the most laughs.

(Arusa Qureshi) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 26 Aug, 9pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

SIMON MUNNERY: ALAN PARKER URBAN WARRIOR FAREWELL TOUR

Protests, poems and placards from the retiring anarchist A relic from the mid-90s who even then was anachronistically banging on about Thatcher, it’s even funnier today that bedsit rebel Alan Parker is still obsessed with the late Tory dominatrix.

Arguably Simon Munnery’s finest character creation, Alan has been resurrected for one final howl at the impending doom that faces us all. Though the reason he’s called it his ‘farewell tour’ might have something more to do with the planet imploding than any career-closing decision on his part.

Alan is here with hastily sketched placards, protest songs, ill-fitting poetry, a jacket full of curious props, and a stare so intense that would it make the most hardcore Momentum activist wilt under the pressure. Proving that he’s still down with current affairs, he namechecks everyone from climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg to, um, Igor Stravinsky (‘his opera started a riot: good!’), but the modern world has not always been kind to Alan.

You might still find him cornering blokes down the pub, but you certainly won’t find him ranting on social media given his distaste for technology and distrust of all machines. Wisely reckoning that a solid hour of Alan could potentially get wearing, Munnery inserts a lengthy ‘dance break’ into proceedings, featuring an ambient track you’d have heard at the sort of chilled 90s house parties Alan would have inevitably ruined due to his ‘opinions’.

Can ‘art effect change?’ he wonders. Maybe. But change has certainly affected art, with Alan’s brand of blokeish anticapitalism being left far behind by inconvenient obstacles such as strong women. He may not have veered from being a lefty youth into a middle-aged right-winger, but Alan’s subtle sexism is neatly exposed by Munnery’s script. An enjoyable blast from the past. (Brian Donaldson) ■ The Stand, until 26 Aug (not 12), 3.20pm, £12 (£10).

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F EST I VA L COM E DY | Reviews

PHOTO: MATTHEW HALL

GARRETT MILLERICK: SMILE

Another simmering gag-filled opinionated delight Just prior to the 2018 Fringe, Garrett Millerick had a show locked and pretty much loaded. Full of jokes, it was designed purely to keep us grinning through the gritted teeth we all had a mouthful of due to Brexit, Trump et al. Then a family medical emergency forced him to swiftly rewrite that hour to balance out the jollity with a slice of trauma: the result, Sunflower, was his finest show to date, and he’s back in the same room at more or less the same time of day trying, as he notes, to somehow follow up that success. Happily, the victim of that emergency (his wife) pulled through, and he’s back to delivering the kind of quality, sharply opinionated stand-up that he’s made his Fringe name with.

Thing is, well . . . this isn’t quite the sort-of show that flies with TV execs who saw Millerick thrive professionally last August while dealing with personal calamity. One particularly craven media troll is mercilessly taken apart by the comic who can only humbly apologise for not being so messed-up in the head this year.

Anyone who’s seen Millerick in full flow will revel in his glee at a dual celebration and mockery of everything from fighting the eco-emergency (he fully realises recycling is the right thing to do, but, really, what’s the point?) to Gordon Ramsay (a man who somehow can’t properly pronounce a word that’s vital in his industry) and Remainers (he might have voted to stay in the EU, but he’s sick and tired of liberal-fuelled sanctimony).

And don’t get Millerick started on social media. He doesn’t want you following or liking him, because he cares not a jot about your opinions (outside of The Tron’s snug basement that is). You might never want to be stuck in a lift with the Garrett Millerick stage persona, but watching him let rip for one hour at an arts festival is a unique joy. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Just the Tonic at The Tron, until 25 Aug (not 12), 5pm, £7 in advance or donations at the venue.

SARAH KEYWORTH: PACIFIC

SOFIE HAGEN: THE BUMSWING

SCUMMY MUMMIES

After a triumphant debut year featuring a cherrytopped Best Newcomer nomination, Sarah Keyworth follows it up with another confident and accomplished hour. The title Pacific appears to be a one-line throwaway about her dad’s propensity for saying that word when he actually means to say ‘specific’. But it might well stand in for the difficulties we all have for getting this thing called life right all the time, especially when we live in an era when any tiny error can be jumped on by a baying online mob.

Keyworth starts amiably from the off, boasting a new haircut while apologising to anyone who thought they were here to see a woman and not a teenage boy. She then digs into the details of her four-year relationship with fellow comedian Catherine Bohart (the other side of that story can be heard across the Pleasance Courtyard around the same hour, a timeclash which Keyworth puts down to a deliberate act of babysitting by her partner).

Things do get a little serious when Keyworth recalls the time she was sexually harassed at an Australian comedy festival by someone in a position of influence, but in the main, this is a feelgood hour of well-crafted stand-up. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 12), 5.45pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).

What is it about the Danes and their plot structures?

The framework of Sofie Hagen’s latest show The Bumswing (yes, that title is given an explanation but it’s best heard in person) is so intricately played out that it makes The Killing look like it was created by amateurs.

Red herrings are flung about all over the place as Hagen wrestles with her unreliable memory: she can’t recall anything from her first ten years.

So with holes in her tale she tries to piece together the details of a sex holiday in Swansea and exactly what it was she did at the age of 12. Previous shows have addressed her anxiety, depression and traumas, but in this one she promises to be more upbeat. The Bumswing is not entirely without its pathos but it gives meat to the set rather than being the focus of it. Hagen seems in a good place personally, while comedically she’s flying high.

Material about the differences between excessive British politeness and Danish bluntness seem like throwaway observational gags at the top of the hour, but everything has a purpose in this beautifully created narrative with an apparently deliciously unreliable narrator. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Pleasance Dome, until 25 Aug (not 12), 7pm, £10–£14 (£9–£13).

Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn want to create a safe place for people just like them, who are less-thanperfect parents. Followers of their Scummy Mummies podcast (featured by The Sunday Times and Radio 4, with over 100,000 Instagram followers) snake a queue along the pavement beforehand. Scummy Mummies love gin in a tin, napping when they can and pissing without spectators. The almost 100% female crowd is in high-pitched (steaming) raptures as they list their peeves: fathers who talk about ‘babysitting’ their own kids, passy aggy WhatsApp groups and swimming lessons.

On their podcast they chat with diverse guests about adoption and racism but there’s nothing so taxing tonight, just wine-fuelled rants about him indoors, dance skits in hot pink vagina catsuits and an erotic reimagining of CBeebies.

Gibson and Thorn’s friendship is super warm, over the moon that they’re doing their first Fringe show.

Old-fashioned heteronormative stereotypes and clichés about women loving housework / hating sex run rampant, but their chummy support group isn’t here to be progressive. (Claire Sawers) ■ Assembly George Square, until 25 Aug (not 12), 7.50pm, £12–£14 (£11–£13).

Feelgood consummate stand-up

60 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Everything exists for a reason in Dane’s latest fine hour

Warm and supportive set airing some pet parental peeves

31 JUL – 26 AUG 2019 (NOT 12 AUG) BIG YIN

22:30 60 MINS

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 61

Reviews at a Glance | F EST I VA L COME DY

list.co.uk/festival

REVIEWS AT A GL ANCE For full length versions of these reviews, see list.co.uk/festival

ALASDAIR BECKETT-KING: THE INTERDIMENSIONAL ABK The flame haired, wizard-like ABK is here to spread a little positivity, seek out a better world and chuck in jokes about Games Workshop and physics. His voice is undoubtedly original and confident, and he’s taken a lot of care making surreal animated visuals and spoof film posters to project throughout the show. It’s slickly done, and although there are plenty nice points deftly made about capitalism and racism, it does trigger flashbacks to try-hard office joker, Colin Hunt from The Fast Show. (Claire Sawers) Pleasance Dome, until 26 Aug (not 19), 6.50pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£10).

ANNA DREZEN: OKAY GET HOME SAFE!!

US stand-up and Saturday Night Live writer Drezen opens with some screened footage of serial killer Ted Bundy’s trial, focusing on the women who attended it due to their fear and fascination with the man and his brutal crimes. It sets up an intriguing question but disappointingly concludes on nothing more weighty than it’s ‘fun to be scared’. This would be more forgivable were it surrounded by gags aplenty, but they are in seriously short supply. (Brian Donaldson) Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 14), 4.30pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).

ARI ELDJÁRN: EAGLE FIRE IRON Eldjárn is from Reykjavik, the city that never sleeps (except on weekdays), where he’s a huge star.

An hour of sharp, smart gags in his brand new show hints that he’s well on his way to becoming just as big outside of his home country. There Eleanor Colville: Google Me

are jokes about the literalness of the Icelandic language, the monopoly certain companies have in such a small economy, and the common status of the country’s president. You might struggle to pronounce it, but Ari Eldjárn is definitely a name to keep in mind.

(Lauren McKay) Monkey Barrel, until 25 Aug (not 12), 7.30pm, £8 (£6) in advance or donations at the venue.

BABA BRINKMAN’S RAP GUIDE TO CULTURE Starting with the dictionary definition of ‘culture’, Brinkman proceeds to rap and exposit his way through human evolution from its infancy through the spread of agriculture to the invention of hip hop. The show does flag in a section on sexual difference but excels when Brinkman shares his obvious love for the musical artform, whether exploring the rules for white boy rappers or comparing hip hop to Chaucer.

(Suzanne Black) Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until 26 Aug, 4.15pm, £10.50–£11.50 (£9.50–£10.50).

BECKY BRUNNING: BLOOM Sipping on some of Lidl’s finest own-brand Malibu, Brunning presents a feelgood hour about love and family. Much hilarity ensues as she recalls coming out to the extended family through a wedding invitation and documents the couple’s attempts to find a suitable sperm donor. There are laughs and acute observations throughout and Brunning’s an endearing presence who makes sitting in an impossibly hot and crammed box on the Cowgate an enjoyable, wholesome occasion. (Craig Angus) Laughing Horse @ The Lock Up, until 25 Aug (not 19), 3pm, donations.

CALLY BEATON: INVISIBLE Over the course of an hour, Beaton riffs on the process of aging

and the menopause, the trials and tribulations of being a single mother in her 50s, and the London dating scene. The show is infused with feminism, including an awesome tirade against the question ‘can women be funny?’ Beaton is good with running gags, and her engaging storytelling style walks a fine line between humour and sadness as she processes what it means to be invisible, and how she overcame that.

(Lauren McKay) Assembly George Square Studios, until 26 Aug (not 13), 5.10pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).

DALISO CHAPONDA: BLAH BLAH BLACKLIST Chaponda, a comedian from Malawi, cheerfully bemused by assumptions that his childhood must have been like an Oxfam advert, jokes that, actually, his family owned a Volvo and he learned Latin at private school. After sharing some problematic views (he admits he’s been called ‘Uncle Tom’ by angry, woke black people), there are redeeming moments, like when he drops in a Richard Pryor quote, reminding us that funny moments often come from complex situations.

(Claire Sawers) Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 26 Aug (not 14), 6.30pm, £12–£14 (£10–£12).

ELEANOR COLVILLE: GOOGLE ME Colville’s character comedy promises an exploration of social media use, digital culture and her personal journey navigating the online and offline worlds of relationships. She has clearly put a lot of effort into this show with homemade props, musical numbers and a high concept, as well as several well-defined characters.

By trying to incorporate too many elements, the quality inevitably suffers but it is overall an enjoyable digital diversion. (Suzanne Black) Just the Tonic at The Caves, until 25 Aug (not 12), 4.40pm, £6.50 (£5.50) in advance or donations at the venue.

ELEANOR MORTON: POSTMORTON Morton’s standup focuses on the trials of being a twentysomething millennial, stuck between the freedom of childhood and the daunting responsibilities of adulthood. Her accurate descriptions of the cringe-worthiness of hen parties, the difficulties of being close to someone with depression, and the Babe film franchise ring true, although the injection of some artistic license to add oomph to more of her punchlines would not go amiss. (Suzanne Black) The Stand 4, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 12.05pm, £10 (£9).

DARREN HARRIOTT: GOOD HEART YUTE Harriott is ready to shake things up a bit this Fringe, if his comparison of Instagram influencers with Jesus Christ is anything to go by. Good Heart Yute has plenty of leftfield parables like this, each more comical than the one before it. He even manages to pick up on topics that can easily be a comedic minefield, such as the recent accusations against musician R Kelly, and weaves together a series of jokes that cause explosions of laughter.

(Sofia Matias) Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 14), 8.15pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).

EMMY BLOTNICK: PARTY NIGHTS US comedian Blotnick discusses the many ways she’s attempted to improve her life and mental health, from seeking out the right vitamin to cure her depression, to reading self-help books written by angry CrossFit instructors. Nothing has quite worked thus far, but her experiences have at least resulted in this supremely self-deprecating, yet still warm and cheerful show, and perhaps the greatest complaint email to Dyson’s customer service team ever written.

(Deborah Chu) Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug (not 13), 7.55pm, £10.50–£11.50 (£9.50–£10.50).

DREAMGUN: FILM READS Each night, Dreamgun rewrite the script of a classic blockbuster, tackling a different film with every show. What transpires is a version of a cinematic favourite that amps up the jokes, gags and clichés to the max. With tonight’s version of GoldenEye, James Bond becomes an insufferable lad backed by a crew of madcap villains and exaggerated versions of M, Moneypenny and Q, not to mention those stereotypical Bond girl moments and hackneyed catchphrases. Its energy and reliable wackiness is what ultimately makes this a consistently fun show to catch.

(Arusa Qureshi) Underbelly Bristo Square, until 25 Aug (not 13), 10.15pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

GARETH WAUGH: JUST ME . . . ?!

A few minutes in, Edinburgh comedian Waugh admits that he finds it harder to write these days; not great news for the crowd who have dropped in for an hour with him. It feels like he’s padding out a lot of stories or repeating the same observations, and his revelation that men get erections on bumpy buses doesn’t get the shock response he seems to expect.

His clever wordplay and rhyming work much better. (Claire Sawers) Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug, 2.45pm, £10–£12.50 (£9–£10).

GEORGE EGG: MOVABLE FEAST During the course of an hour, Egg cooks three different dishes on stage and even finds time to fit some 7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 63

F EST I VA L COM E DY | Reviews at a Glance

REVIEWS AT A GL ANCE poetry in between the jokes. Although some of the jokes are cheesier than an aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, and for some reason he thought it a good idea to use a butane torch in a heatwave, Egg serves up one of the freshest experiences on the Fringe. (Suzanne Black) Assembly George Square Gardens, until 25 Aug (not 12), 4.30pm, £10–£12.

GLENN MOORE: LOVE DON’T LIVE HERE GLENNY MOORE Playing around with the notion that you can’t entirely trust what a comedian says, in a style akin to James Acaster’s, Moore’s material harbours an otherworldly quality. He sets out his mendacious stall with his now traditional engagement joke, then pulls back to reveal he’s not entirely telling the truth. Even the method by which he suggests Dignitas off their customers probably isn’t true either. (Marissa Burgess) Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug, 4pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).

GUY MONTGOMERY: I WAS PART OF THE PROBLEM BEFORE WE WERE TALKING ABOUT IT New Zealander Montgomery has realised that he, as a straight, white male, has privilege, and he’s ready to do something about it. The concept might be very of the moment, but Montgomery has a fresh take on it, with sardonic observations and gags interwoven with his own personal experiences of growing up in a monoculture, and the impact that’s had on his interpretation of the world around him. (Lauren McKay) Assembly George Square Studios, until 25 Aug (not 14), 8.55pm, £9–£11 (£8–£10).

HARRIET DYER: THE DINOSAUR SHOW Dyer takes to the stage enrobed in a saggy green sack that, she assures us, will transform her into a dinosaur in due course: but first, we the audience must hatch her.

Without giving too much of the hour away, it’s safe to say that there is literally nothing about this show that makes any sense whatsoever. Despite setting out to unmask the nefarious government conspiracy behind how, exactly, dinosaurs became extinct, the show is more of a complete free-fall through Dyer’s absurdly anarchic stream of consciousness. (Deborah Chu) Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until 26 Aug, 8.15pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

JACK BARRY: ALIEN Recovering from a four-month cough, Barry still has a frog in his throat as he bounds onto the stage. You wonder, is he going to make it or will he croak halfway through? He admits that being bed-ridden with a cough does sound a bit childish, but he wins us over with 64 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

his warm, self-deprecating wit and we’re happy for him to surf home on a sea of laughter. (Tom Bruce-Gardyne) Banshee Labyrinth, until 25 Aug, 8.55pm, donations.

revealing some vulnerabilities, with his confessions adding an intriguing layer of pathos. (Marissa Burgess) The Stand 4, until 25 Aug (not 12), 8.15pm, £10 (£8).

JAMIE LOFTUS: BOSS, WHOM IS GIRL If you like your comedy weird, make an appointment to see Loftus. The LA native has a hilariously bizarre show that’s occasionally challenging but never at the expense of humour. This is rip-roaringly funny, highly intelligent and deeply surreal, asking big questions in strange ways.

Some brilliantly released moments of audience participation and a wild, rambling non-disclosure agreement are all part of the fun. A weird and wonderful triumph. (Craig Angus) Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 12), 10.45pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

NAOMI KARAVANI: DOMINANT New Yorker Karavani starts her show with an inauspicious introduction that sets the tone for a long hour. Her inability to focus on the material is possibly compounded by its lack of structure. While it might be refreshing to see a comedian avoid the usual tropes of a Fringe show (a story, jokes, callback), Dominant is a meandering mess. ‘We’re almost done here guys,’ she promises near the end, before adding ‘I think it’s you, not me.’

It’s her. (Murray Robertson) Just the Tonic at Marlin’s Wynd, until 25 Aug (not 12 & 13), 8.05pm, £7 (£4–£5) in advance or donations at the venue.

JAMIE OLIPHANT: THE OLIPHANT IN THE ROOM Another in an increasingly lengthy list of stand-ups making their way to comedy via the teaching profession, Oliphant is a likeable if largely uninspiring sort on stage. He starts awkwardly with some non-descript front-row chatter before it picks up, and by the end, with his story about being knocked off his bicycle by a motorist, we’re all rooting for him.

(Brian Donaldson) Just the Tonic at The Tron, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 11.40am, £5 (£4) in advance or donations at the venue.

JOEY PAGE: AFTERLIFE (AN IDIOT CONSIDERS A SERIES OF DISTRACTIONS BEFORE DEATH) Page has entered his 30s and, as such, now spends a lot of time at John Lewis and owns a tagine. He’s also been thinking a lot about death lately, both his own and the audience’s, and throughout the hour pulls out his ‘Wheel of Death’ to help people divine how they meet their end. There’s the sense that Page isn’t quite sure what kind of comic he wants to be, as he oscillates between observational comedy and sillier, more abstract sketches at a jarring pace.

(Deborah Chu) Just the Tonic at Marlin’s Wynd, until 25 Aug (not 12, 15), 6.45pm, £7 (£5) in advance or donations at the venue.

MARC JENNINGS: GETTING GOING Glaswegian Jennings begins with a deconstruction of the idiosyncrasies of his home city’s accent and phrasing. The call-centre job that fuelled a good section of comedy material has been kicked into touch, largely because it features rather strongly in a video clip of his stand-up that went viral. It’s all goodnatured, affable stuff but towards the close he digs a little deeper

PAT CAHILL: UNCLE LEN NEEDS A NEW PART FOR HIS HOOVER Cahill steps out under the lights caked in orange goo and sweating beneath a shaggy orange wig. The colour is in homage to ‘cinnamon brown’, Uncle Len’s shortlived cabaret act he performed after 40 years of engineering widgets for Rolls Royce jet engines. Len’s stern expression stares out at the audience via a 3-D print-out of his head as his nephew rambles through this tale of man versus machine, digressing to bring in Mr Tickle and take a wellaimed swipe at recumbent cyclists.

(Tom Bruce-Gardyne) Monkey Barrel, until 25 Aug (not 12), 3.15pm, £6 in advance or donations at the venue.

PRIVATES: A SPERM ODYSSEY The ‘privates’ are a trio of comedians dressed in tight-fitting morph suits, kitted out this way to resemble sperms for a mock lecture on human reproduction. It’s a very Fringe conceit, one that could work as a short sketch but is here dragged out to feature length. There’s some nice chemistry between the performers and they seem to be having a lot of fun on stage but, despite attempting some audience interaction, they really struggle to connect with the crowd. (Murray Robertson) Heroes @ Boteco, until 25 Aug (not 10, 14), 5.20pm, £5 in advance or donations at the venue.

ROB AUTON: THE TIME SHOW Recalling George W Bush’s simplistic War on Terror diktats, Auton insists that people who come to see his shows are either immediately for or against him. There is actually a middle ground here though, as he enjoyably ticks off some of our concepts about time, though the highly emotional section seems to spring from nowhere

and then drifts off, which rather lessens the intended impact. But the Yorkshire ‘comic’ (even he questions that description) is an intriguingly edgy presence with some good lines and fine audience patter. (Brian Donaldson) Assembly George Square Studios, until 26 Aug (not 13), 2.50pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).

ROISIN AND CHIARA: GET NUPTY Prepare for an hour of bizarre sketches with dynamic duo Róisín O’Mahony and Chiara Goldsmith as they explore sexuality, love and female friendship. The duo are gleeful as they bounce around on stage, and behind the slightly absurd sketches and costumes is a thoughtful message, as they come to the realisation that love is a work in progress. (Lauren McKay) Heroes @ The Hive, until 25 Aug (not 10, 20), 6.20pm, £8 (£5–£6) in advance or donations at the venue.

ROSIE JONES: BACKWARD After a highly praised 2018 debut, Jones is back with an hour about the crazy year she’s had since and the changing perceptions towards her as a disabled person now that’s she’s a bit famous. The set doesn’t always crackle with zingers and there’s the odd stand-up cliché interlude, but Jones is an enjoyably cheeky host. (Brian Donaldson) Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug (not 12), 7pm, £7.50–£10 (£6.50–£9).

SUNIL PATEL: WHITE KNIGHT Patel’s set is made of lowkey, no-nonsense stuff which at its core reflects on growing up as Indian in the UK and being regularly forced to relate to his ancestry. He counters this with gags on his dad’s favourite comedian being Bernard Manning, and the fact India probably wouldn’t let him in if he was forced to go there.

Overall, Patel’s main point about not having to engage in political discourse surrounding race isn’t that convincing, given he has the privilege to ignore it. (Katharine Gemmell) Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug, 8.30pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£6.50–£8.50).

TOM PARRY: PARRYOKE! A member of fêted comedy troupe Pappy’s, solo comic Parry’s shenanigans are renowned for being precision-planned nonsense. He has some staples – such as his yellow t-shirt and his propensity to take it off at the slightest provocation – while playground games, unflattering photos and best-man speeches pop up this time. The karaoke of the title is present, although not at all in the form you would expect. (Suzanne Black) Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 13), 6pm, £9.50–£12.50 (£8.50–£11.50).

13 shows 6 venues

edinburgh 2019

13 SHOWS 6 VENUES

13 SHOWS 6 VENUES

EDINBURGH 2019

EDINBURGH 2019

‘One of the silliest, most consuming shows of the Fringe.’

 Times

WINNER: HORSE LAUGHING THE OF T AC EW N 18 20 AR YE CLUB WINNER: 99 ARY 2019 RS COMEDY BU

‘Unadulterated dumb genius.’

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JAN I N E I HAROU N EATE D) S IN A M E R must-see ( P L EAS E ‘One of the at this newcomers year ’s Fringe.’ dard Evening Stan

31 JUL - 25 AUG, 5.45PM PLEASANCE.CO.UK 0131 556 6550

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13 SHOWS 6 VENUES EDINBURGH 2019

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THE EDINBURGH COMEDY AWARD NOMINEE RETURNS

S PE N C E R J O N ES

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TH E TH INGS WE LEAVE B EH IN D

31 JUL - 25 AUG, 5.45PM PLEASANCE.CO.UK 0131 556 6550

A man walks into a bar and orders a pint of Innis & Gunn.

We’ll save you the jokes this Fringe and just serve you the beer.

Please drink responsibly @innisandgunn

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l a v i t s e f

DANCE & PHYSICAL THEATRE

FOR MORE INFO GO TO

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KALAKUTA REPUBLIK Contemporary dance meets African activism When most tracks are done and dusted in three and a half minutes, it takes a bold musician to keep a song going for a full half hour. But that’s what Fela Kuti did, along with all manner of rebellious acts in 1970s Nigeria.

Inspired by the man, his music and his political activism, choreographer Serge Aimé Coulibaly created Kalakuta Republik, named after the compound Kuti lived in alongside his family and band members. In the Kalakuta Republic (note the different last letter), Kuti did whatever he liked (until he was arrested), and Coulibaly follows suit on stage, creating an echo of Kuti’s philosophy, rather than an autobiography.

In a show of two distinct halves, the first section is a testament to the dancers’ stamina, as they keep going through Kuti’s half hour track and beyond. Then, in the second half, Faso Danse Théâtre conjures up the spirit and chaos of a late night Kuti party.

‘The second half is a bit wilder,’ says Coulibaly. ‘It’s the kind of work I love to do, it’s more about the artists and what mess they can create. We have a saying in Africa that the most beautiful flowers grow in the dirt – so I wanted to see how we could create beauty out of the mess. And to put in perspective all the absurdity of our world.’ (Kelly Apter) Lyceum, 8, 10 & 11 Aug, 8pm; 9 & 10 Aug, 2pm, £20–£25.

PHOTO: DOUNE PHOTO

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 67

F EST I VA L DA N C E | Hitlist

DANCE HITLIST Kelly Apter picks out the dance, physical theatre and circus highlights from week two of the festival action THE DESK A wordless, physical theatre performance from Finland’s Reetta Honkakoski Company, The Desk was inspired by the real-life experiences in a cult, and we’ve given this exploration of human behaviour the big five stars. See review, page 70. Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 11.35am, £10 (£8).

LIMB(E)S A slow-burning, penetrating aerial duet from two former Cirque du Soleil performers, set to an evocative soundscape, our critic found Limb(e)s to have a ‘mysterious beauty’. See review, page 69. Assembly Roxy, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 9.25pm, £13–£15 (£12–£14).

KALAKUTA REPUBLIK Dividing his time between Africa and Europe, choreographer Serge

The Desk

Aimé Coulibaly has absorbed the best of both worlds into his productions. Blending dance, physical theatre and political activism, Kalakuta Republik marks his Edinburgh International Festival debut. See preview, page 67.

Lyceum, 8, 10 & 11 Aug, 8pm; 9 & 10 Aug, 2pm, £20–£25.

THE CHOSEN Company Chordelia takes a look at the inevitability of death, how it comes about and what happens before it, in this beautiful and deeply moving new work choreographed

by Kally Lloyd Jones. See review, page 70. Dance Base, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 5pm, £13 (£11).

YUCK CIRCUS Showing the fellas how it’s done, this all-female Australian troupe takes a dig at macho culture and tells it like it is when it comes to being a woman, in this show filled with strength, agility and humour.

See review, page 69. Underbelly’s Circus Hub, until 24 Aug (not 12, 19), 4pm, £13.50–£15.50 (£12.50– £14.50). Preview 6 Aug, £10.

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PHOTO: CHRIS GOFF

XOXO MOONGIRL

LIMB(E)S

YUCK CIRCUS

A glass of milk teeters on a table edge as Nicole Burgio walks backward in its direction. Soon she will clamber down to look at it, nudge it over the edge, and catch it before it spills.

This precariousness is woven throughout xoxo moongirl. Burgio’s account of her father’s rage and her mother’s retreat into booze and pills is depicted through acrobatics, aerial dance and comic storytelling, with a live score by Mel Hsu. That tension comes not just from the story, but also from the audacity of attempting to explore childhood trauma through such a mishmash of artforms. The glass never quite clatters to the ground, but while Burgio is a vivid, charming storyteller, and a skilled aerialist, xoxo moongirl sometimes suffers from a dissonance between its themes and its largely comedic approach.

It all stays aloft thanks to the moments when Burgio takes flight on silks and trapeze. The closing routine, in which she lives out her escapist fantasy of flying to the moon, before facing up to the realities of adult life, is a glorious tumble through space. (John Lyndon) ■ Assembly Checkpoint, until 25 Aug (not 13, 19), 7.50pm, £13–£15 (£12–£14).

A bare stage and stark lighting are just about all the theatrical elements Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes need to create this quietly riveting slice of aerial circus.

The work arose, at least in part, from the pair’s desire to satisfy deeper creative urges than they had derived from performing in Cirque du Soleil.

Fair warning: this slow-burn show makes no concessions to populist impulses.

The visual focus is a cluster of looping black ropes of varying lengths, suspended above the centre of the stage. Either together or alone, Martin and Hughes hoist themselves up into this device, curving round or climbing upon each other with a precision that can be taut or tender. Their suggested relationship – of desperate struggle and disappointment, occasionally relieved by a cradling solace – follows a thinly elliptical, ambiguous narrative path.

It’s all set to an evocative soundscape of ticks, hisses and booms. Limb(e)s may be newish and is still, so to speak, finding its feet, but it has pockets of uncommonly mysterious beauty. (Donald Hutera) ■ Assembly Roxy, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 9.25pm, £13–£15 (£12–£14).

Big on macho posturing and even bigger on laughing at the same, the seven strong YUCK circus troupe struts out onto the stage in nothing but black crop tops and big knickers. Bold, it may be, but it’s the pair of socks down the front of those big pants and the double smear of black make-up across their upper lip area that sets the tone for the tightly choreographed opening acrobatic routine.

In full-on drag king mode, the performers pull their Australian bloke poses and get laughs for their lascivious winks and leers at the audience. But there are proper shows of strength and agility amid the comedy and at least one balance routine that no male could pull off, no matter how toned they were.

The reason for the show’s title becomes clear in a dance sequence, performed to a comic monologue about periods which also reveals that there aren’t just socks down the front of those big pants. And that is just the start, as the show hits topics such as alcohol boasting, lady gardens and a unique presentation of the old nail up the nose trick, before ending on the high of lip-synching to ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’. It’s a ripper. (Thom Dibdin) ■ Underbelly’s Circus Hub, until 24 Aug (not 12, 19), 4pm, £13.50–£15.50 (£12.50–£14.50).

Comic storytelling and circus skills unpack childhood trauma

Dark, quietly riveting gem of aerial drama

All-female Australian troupe with bags of strength, agility and humour

PHOTO: KATE PARDY

DNA

Impressive circus skills exploring gender politics A refreshing alternative to old-fashioned circuses, where the female acrobats’ only chance to shine is looking cutesy or being artfully thrown around, Casus Circus always likes to bend stereotypical gender roles just as much as limbs.

This Australian troupe brought Knee Deep to the Fringe in 2012 not long after the company formed, then followed it with Driftwood and last year’s You & I, focusing on a male couple.

DNA features the most humans on stage so far, with four female and three male performers dressed in shades of red, wowing the audience with human origami routines on the trapeze, graceful balancing on towers of chairs and skilful aerial rope tricks.

A woman balances people on her head, a man gets flung through the air and the traditional sexy-lady-on-a-swing bit gets a nice twist when Sarah McDougall hangs off metal chains in red stilettoes, clowning as she pretends to make a clumsy mess of it all, tripping over her huge, cumbersome, frilly pantomime frock.

The staging and choreography is creative, making spinning playground roundabouts from people and showing how much trust and cooperation is needed for each routine, with someone literally left dangling at one point.

There is a little gilding of the lily in places, with some distracting mingling among the crowd and a few too many routines going on at once, taking the focus away from individual performers. And one section, where Jesse Scott does a menacing lip sync to ‘Tear You Apart’ (a song about a predatory crush that sounds like a dark incel anthem) seems to be commenting on unwanted male attention, but ironically keeps the audience’s eyes on him, rather than the four women doing cool stunts. Still, it’s impressive stuff, using circus skills to explore 2019 gender politics. (Claire Sawers) ■ Assembly George Square Gardens, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 3.15pm, £14–£15 (£12–£13).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 69

F EST I VA L DA N C E | Reviews

PHOTO: NADINE BOYD

THE CHOSEN

Reflection on death proves to be full of life Choreographer Kally Lloyd-Jones’ piece about death and dying opens with the loud throb of a heartbeat. Six dancers sit on mirrored cubes looking relaxed, apparently completely unaware of the sound of life that’s booming out of the speakers around them.

Lloyd-Jones wanted to create a work that explores the universal, complex reality of death, following a horrible year where she lost four people, including her best friend. Although The Chosen is about dying (the title is a reference to Stravinsky’s ballet, The Rite of Spring, where the chosen one is sacrificed, but also honoured), what the show mostly focuses on is how people go about the living part, knowing that the dying part is unavoidably in the post.

The movement is often intensely physical; athletic, near-violent, exhilarating spins and falls follow more stationary sections including one sequence where the dancers tap feet, bite nails, sigh impatiently then pace the floor, as if to remind us how much of life is spent waiting for something. That’s a long section compared to the brief, beautiful flashes of love; two boys tenderly locked in each other’s arms for a few seconds, friends wrapping arms around shoulders or a brief burst of grinning and partying.

The dancers from Glasgow-based Company Chordelia are soaked in sweat by the end, having rippled themselves through swirling patterns of ebbing water as a soundtrack of crashing waves plays, then interlocking limbs and dangling torsos off each other in a clumsy, entangled relationship section, with some incredible paired work. A fast-forwarded section of twitchy, hurried actions is also impressive, another reflection on the passage of time; sometimes dragging, then suddenly speeding by. The subject matter could have made for a maudlin piece, but instead the dancers coax out ideas about how we waste or embrace the time we spend being alive. (Claire Sawers) ■ Dance Base, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 5pm, £13 (£11).

PHOTO: DANNY WILLEMS

PHOTO: MINH

PHOTO: NOOMI LJUNGDELL

THE DESK

FRONTX

STEVE REICH PROJECT

Finnish physical theatre group Reetta Honkakoski Company presents a brilliant piece of wordless storytelling, based on the founder’s own experience of a cult. Taking the role of a dictator in this balletic masterwork involving only six desks and a lot of tightly synchronised movement, Honkakoski and the rest of the all-female cast explore group behaviour, totalitarianism, human ego and toxic seduction through corporeal mime.

Watching infighting, backstabbing, sycophancy and narcissism danced out in a series of impressive sequences, while their beloved leader casts a sinister spell over them with manipulative power games, is terrifyingly well done. The subtle creep of power is portrayed with micro movements from Honkakoski while the fear and adulation from her disciples is conveyed with precise patterns of frenzied flicks of hands reading books, or eyes darting about in terror.

The soundtrack is minimal and tense, using simple percussion and melody to build suspense, while the facial expressions, use of the wooden desks and a particularly powerful pas de deux on wheels between the leader and her uniformed lackey make this a very memorable Fringe highlight. (Claire Sawers).

■ Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 11.35am, £10 (£8).

This heartfelt show directed by Belgian breakdance champion Milan Emmanuel is an immersive blend of live art, hip hop, mime and classical singing. Six international artists – all of whom Emmanuel met while working as a street performer – weave their stories together to create an empowering tale that celebrates resilience and a passion for performance.

We are introduced to Micael, a talented b-boy who moved to Belgium from the Ivory Coast as a teenager; Slowmotion Phax, who was part of the first generation of hip hop artists in France in the 1970s; Kosovan burlesque dancer Hello Shelly, who confronts ideas of femininity through pole dancing and Thai boxing; and Iranian-Australian Roya the Destroya, a dancer and actress born with one leg.

Their movements are soundtracked by Walloon singer Aurélie Castin, whose style spans opera to jazz and R&B, and Big Ben, who has twice been crowned Belgium's Champion of Beatboxing.

Their musical offerings elevate the show; Big Ben's beatboxing in particular is seriously impressive. And while the transitions feel clunky in places, ultimately FrontX is an uplifting hour of movement, music and story. (Yasmin Sulaiman) ■ Summerhall, until 24 Aug (not 12, 14, 21), 3pm, £9 (£7).

Belgian director, choreographer and visual artist Isabella Soupart collaborated with the members of MP4 Quartet for this intermittently effective hybrid production. The work draws on three Steve Reich compositions: ‘Different Trains’, a propulsive and layered evocation of his Jewish-American childhood during World War Two; ‘WTC 9/11’, pinned to the September 11 terrorist atrocities; and, sandwiched in between, ‘Pendulum Music.’

In the first and longest section, a dancer (Shantala Pèpe) dashes sharply around the stage, sometimes speaking – largely unintelligibly – into a microphone.

Meanwhile the expressionless players saw away at their instruments while also shifting location depending on where Pèpe positions their music stands. The action is pretty po-faced and Teutonic, qualities that mark the performance as a whole.

Excellent musicianship is the saving grace, along with Kurt D’Haeseleer’s eerily distressed video of people who appear to be progressing forward on a beach at an alarmingly slanted angle. Near the close, there’s also a welcome apotheosis of sorts, as Pèpe spins as if trying to understand what has happened to herself and the world. (Donald Hutera) ■ Dance Base, until 18 Aug (not 12), 7.20pm, £13 (£11).

Balletic masterwork of life in a cult

70 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Uplifting cross-artform collaboration

Curious hybrid of movement and music

CANADA EDINBURGH FESTIVALS 2019

Canada returns to Edinburgh in 2019 with an array of artists, performers, comedians, musicians, writers and many others who will descend on the city.

This year, the CanadaHub @ Edinburgh Fringe will feature five performances – showcasing some of the very best of Canada’s contemporary performance scene. From circus to music, to dance and literature and everything is between – there is something for everyone!

To see all that Canada offers, at the CanadaHub and beyond, check out The List’s dedicated Canada brochure or visit www.list.co.uk/canada

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 71

www.OwleSchrea.me

“The best morning show at the Edinburgh Fringe”  Inkblot

In 1642 theatre became illegal.

Theatre didn't die. “the perfect note between farce and historical appreciation”

“a hysterical, stomach-achingly funny … stroke of genius”

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 The Skinny

“everything about Owle Schreame’s production rejects theatrical formality. Chatty, musical, and theatrically self-aware … the actors fully embrace a no-holds-barred approach to performance”

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10:45AM Gilded Balloon Teviot The Billiard Room August 2 – 26 (not 13) £6-9, 60 mins

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PHOTO: ANDREW WUTKE

Fart gags and messy fun from the dynamic duo It’s just as well Matt and Rich have arrived at the Fringe armed with toilet paper guns, because as always with these two, the toilet humour comes thick and fast.

In a bid to broaden our minds, Rich has brought along a dictionary – but much to his disapproval, Matt hasn’t done his homework, keeps farting and, shock horror, has made up his own words instead. Cue lots of inventive word play, plugging the gaps in the English language with new inventions such as ‘spewtiful’ and ‘fartle’ (you’ll have to see the show to find out what they mean).

In the best tradition of comedy duos, Rich is the straight man to Matt’s relentless silliness and ineptitude. Both win a place in our hearts – Matt for his boundless enthusiasm and love of body rolling, Rich because he has to put up with him.

Squeals of delight from little ones accompany each burst of silly string from a can or fake wind from a bottom; grown-ups chortle at the less obvious gags – but much of the time we’re all laughing at the same thing during this hour of ridiculous mayhem. (Kelly Apter) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 18 Aug, 1.30pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9)

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 73

F EST I VA L KI DS | Hitlist

Kelly Apter picks out the highlights for children and families from week two of the Fringe FOX-TOT! We loved this new show from Scottish Opera so much, we’ve given it five stars. Following on from the success of their previous show for little ones, BambinO, Fox-tot! is aimed at toddlers aged 12–24 months, who are very much encouraged to get involved.

See review, page 76. Edinburgh Academy, until 16 Aug (not 12), 10am & 11.30am, £12 (adult and baby); £7 additional adult.

DEXTER & WINTER’S DETECTIVE AGENCY Two fearless 10-year-olds set out to prove an injustice in this fun, energetic but ultimately honest and compassionate show from the acclaimed Paines Plough theatre company. See review, page 76.

Roundabout @ Summerhall, 10 & 11, 17 & 18, 24 & 25 Aug, 11.20am, £10 (£8).

74 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

PHOTO: JAMES GLOSSOP

KIDS HITLIST FEAST OF FOOLS Quick-witted and captivating storyteller Daniel Serridge invites you to join him for a banquet of stories, where you get to choose whether they’re ‘disgusting’ or ‘delicious’.

See review, page 75. Scottish Storytelling Centre, until 18 Aug (not 13 & 14), 1.30pm, £8 (£6).

ERTH’S DINOSAUR ZOO Meet a cute baby triceratops, stalking tyrannosaurus rex, giant titanosaur and more in this large-scale hit international show, with lucky volunteers given the chance to get up close and personal.

See review, page 76. Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug (not 12), 11am, £14.50–£15.50 (£13–£14).

ALICE AND THE LITTLE PRINCE A joyous mash-up of classic authors Lewis Carroll and Saint-Exupéry, when Alice and the Little Prince meet up in the Queen of Heart’s Rose Garden. As good for adults as it is for children. See review, page 76.

Pleasance Courtyard, until 18 Aug (not 9), 1.30pm, £8–£9 (£7–£8).

Fox-tot!

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PHOTO: JASSY EARL

DOWN WITH THE POETRY KING!

FEAST OF FOOLS

LITTLE TOP

A red velvet gown, glowing gold crown and sparkling sceptre sit to one side of the stage, longing to be worn. Next to them stands Mark Grist, the man who would be king. Can we help bring the two together?

Grist is a poet, rapper, teacher and all-round clever wordsmith. He’s delivered hundreds of shows, gathered millions of views on YouTube – the only thing he’s lacking, is a book publishing deal (not really, but for the purposes of the show, we’ll pretend he is).

To help him in his quest, he needs an agent and is looking for an audience member ripe for the challenge. Along the way, he delivers witty poems and raps about being highly competitive at board games and the fateful night as a 7-year-old he almost poisoned his father.

Grist is a natural performer, with a personality you instantly warm to. Audience involvement is never patronising or humiliating, just a fun chance to play with words. And his ultimate message – that there are no real rules in creative writing and poetry, you should just let your imagination run wild – is to be applauded as much as his performance. (Kelly Apter) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 18 Aug, 11.30am, £8–£9 (£6.50–£7.50).

Welcome to dinner with storyteller Daniel Serridge, whose in-the-round show is marked out by a circle of paper plates on the floor, with coloured pens in place of cutlery. No actual eating will be going on during our hour-long banquet, but the intention is to let our imaginations feast until we leave the room filled with hunger – or feeling like we might never eat again.

We begin with a choice of two story menus to vote for; it’s close – but not that close – in favour of the 'disgusting' menu over the 'delicious' one. His trio of story courses are sourced from Hungary (he notes the irony), Syria and Japan, and adapted to suit a local palate.

The disgusting menu ('sadly democracy means you don't always get what you want,' he says to the 'delicious'-voting kids, with a nod in the direction of the grown-ups) is delivered to just the right level of gross-out, with some mild audience participation and creativity called upon amid stories of a marauding pork pudding and a raccoon which lives in a kettle.

Throughout, our host is as quick-witted and captivating as any young audience demands.

(David Pollock) ■ Scottish Storytelling Centre, until 18 Aug (not 13, 14), 1.30pm, £8 (£6).

It seems an ambitious task that early years specialists Starcatchers (along with circus-theatre group SUPERFAN) have set themselves: creating a circus for babies, surely the pickiest group of customers out there. But it also makes sense – circus is made of colour, light, bodies doing extraordinary things, creating beautiful patterns. Babies love these, and there are plenty of all of them in Little Top. Aaron Sparks deftly juggles mesmerising white balls; Nat Whittington and Gabrielle Cook are elegant acrobats, gracefully morphing into swaying giraffes or leaping into tall towers. But the show’s limitations are reached early on when we are asked to sit behind a dotted line and prevent our babies from crossing it.

The problem is the piece is pitched for 0–18 months, an age range encompassing toddling, and toddling babies are not known to sit still for long.

Consequently, the first ten minutes felt for me like wrestling a python (I enjoyed it a lot more once my 17-month-olds had been removed by their father, but I don’t think that was quite the piece’s intention). However, looking around at the awestruck faces of the pre-walking younger babies, it’s clear Starcatchers is on to something. (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Pleasance at EICC, until 17 Aug (not 12), 10.30am & 1.30pm, £8 (£7).

Fun wordplay with the rhyming rascal

Engaging storyteller feeds the imagination

Soothing circus for younger babies

PHOTO: STEVE ULLATHORNE

BASIL BRUSH'S FAMILY FUN SHOW

Lively show from endearingly rude puppet legend There are people in their 60s who will remember the upper-crust and endearingly rude puppet persona of Basil Brush, a tweedy country gent fox who has been an on-and-off staple of British children’s television since the 1960s. Even now, although the heights of his own prime-time show are behind him, he still turns up on such disparate and grown-up programmes as The Last Leg. This year – his 50th in showbusiness, apparently – Basil and his human envoy / helper Mr Martin (Martin Cabble-Reid, aka former Britain’s Got Talent finalist Kevin Cruise) have two shows at the Fringe, one for grown-ups in the evening and the more traditional kids show during the day.

This one is ‘Basil’s Greatest Show’, and the thin link to The Greatest Showman sees Basil cast as Hugh Jackman while Mr Martin is ‘the lady with the beard’; the indignity in these things is always the sidekick’s, and the latter ends up bellowing ‘This is Me’ while under the supposed influence of strong laxatives.

The pace is lively, the room more often noisy than not. The audience is led in sing-a-long versions of contemporary-sounding new songs, for example the insufferably catchy ‘Boom Boom Basil’, which riffs on his catchphrase, and the humour well-pitched to gee up an excited young crowd. There’s just the right knowing edge to satisfy equally thrilled parents (Brexit is only mentioned once, and that’s because Basil’s quest to stop talking about it has failed).

Having a puppet character sell a show from behind a desk naturally cuts down the options for things to do – although Mr Martin gleefully helps out here, taking custard pies in the face with the best of them – and if the running time is shorter than the usual Fringe hour, that’s because the photo opportunities with the star of the show at the end are enthusiastically taken up by all ages. (David Pollock) ■ Underbelly Bristo Square, until 15 Aug, 1pm, £11.50–£12.50 (£10.50–£11.50).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 75

F EST I VA L KI DS | Reviews

PHOTO: JAMES GLOSSOP

FOX-TOT!

Scottish Opera hits right notes in second opera for infants There is something alarming and delightful in equal measure about watching your toddlers run amok on the Scottish Opera stage. It breaks every rule you know about ‘going to the opera’. No fourth walls here, no silent reverence for the classical craft. Fox-tot! is Scottish Opera’s second production for infants – it’s geared to the 12–24 month age range, following BambinO for 6–18 months – and the company has thoroughly embraced the chaos that comes with an audience in its peak fidget-heckler phase.

We sit on benches and cushions in a semi-circle (musicians are protected on podiums) while mezzo-soprano Katie Grosset and countertenor Daniel Keating-Roberts sing a simple story about a fox (tot) who transforms into different animals; a cat, a butterfly, a frog.

Giuseppe and Emma Belli’s set is made of tactile, inviting colours and textures, with a swirling, whispering pile of fabric leaves in autumnal colours at its heart, begging to be tossed and scattered around by performers and toddlers alike. When a fluffy yellow sun is rolled out by Grosset there is a collective gasp before many legs teeter towards it, hands held out to touch its surface.

Both Grosset and Keating-Roberts are wonderful performers – you’ve got to take your hat off to anyone who can do their job with such focus and brilliance while gently wrangling an army of small people.

And Lliam Paterson’s original score is glorious – a gorgeous piece of music in its own right, but also one that is subtly tailored to its audience, quenching thirsts for discovery by weaving in different musical styles and references, and switching form and instrument frequently for short attention spans.

It’s a show that places its audience at the centre (quite literally at times), never once condescending, but always gently challenging small ears and eyes. (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Edinburgh Academy, until 16 Aug (not 12), 10am & 11.30am, £12 (adult and baby); £7 additional adult.

PHOTO: REBECCA NEED MENEAR

ALICE AND THE LITTLE PRINCE

ERTH'S DINOSAUR ZOO

Thrilling international puppetry hit

DEXTER & WINTER’S DETECTIVE AGENCY

Gentle, charming and deeply philosophical, Toby Mitchell and Verity Clayton’s clever mash-up of Lewis Carroll’s Alice and Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince is one of those joyous pieces of children’s theatre that could happily have an audience made up solely of adults eating from its wonderfully drawn hand.

It takes place in the Queen of Heart’s Rose Garden where Mitchell, as the Little Prince, sits drawing sheep to keep the weeds down on his home planet, asteroid B-612. He soon has his audience of over-fives drawing more for his flock, as he wanders off into Saint-Exupéry’s clever examinations of the contradictions of adult life.

The appearance of Clayton’s sympathetic Alice brings another level of logical perambulation, which puts delicious questions into its young audience’s heads while letting just enough slip right past for the adult’s comprehension.

The result, as the Prince has to explain himself to the inquisitive Alice, is a show that gets further inside both stories than many other much more sophisticated pieces –there is no drawing back for simplicity’s sake.

A treat for fans of either book. (Thom Dibdin) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 18 Aug (not 9), 1.30pm, £8–£9 (£7–£8).

An international stage hit before arriving in Edinburgh, Sydney-based company Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo is an easy recommendation to make. A large-scale centrepiece event, it’s an absolute necessity that this is performed in the large McEwan Hall – because a puppet show on this magnitude doesn’t work anywhere but a concert hall.

The show – led by palaeontologist/zookeeper/ ringmaster figure Scott – comes across as a routine zoo animal demonstration, which is an affirmation of just how realistically crafted the puppets are.

With the help of a trio of puppeteers, we meet a cute baby triceratops and parasaurolophus (and hear the unappetising story of how they receive dinner); witness a stalking tyrannosaurus rex and experience the most thrilling part of the show when a young audience member is invited to place their head in its mouth; and enjoy a well-worked moment where a very brave volunteer feeds flowers to a giant titanosaur.

Of course, this isn’t the CGI of Jurassic Park, and older kids might enjoy spotting the hints of unreality. But both the dramatic and educational potential of the show has been crafted to such a degree that everyone should take something from it. (David Pollock) ■ Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug (not 12), 11am, £14.50–£15.50 (£13–£14).

With crime fiction such a hit with the grown-ups, it’s only fair kids get a bite of the bad apple. But unlike the dark detective stories that adults lap up, this lively show for ages 7+ is as light as a feather. Well, almost.

Dexter and Winter are best friends, they’ve known each other forever and regularly hang out at each other’s houses. This arrangement is made semi-permanent, however, when Dexter’s mum is imprisoned for robbery. Convinced of her innocence, the two 10-year-olds set out to clear her name.

Each scene arrives on the stage like a brick through a window, jam-packed with energy and humour.

Charlotte O’Leary as Winter and Toyin Omari-Kinch as Dexter breathe pre-teen life into the characters, whether they’re high on problem-solving or suffering the low blows of disappointment. Charlotte Bate puts in a cracking performance as everyone else, from mums to shopkeepers and even an aerobic granny.

Yet despite the abundant wit and charm, this show doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of life, looking them square in the face with warmth and compassion. (Kelly Apter) ■ Roundabout @ Summerhall, 10 & 11, 17 & 18, 24 & 25 Aug, 11.20am, £10 (£8).

Joyous mash-up charms both adults and kids

76 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Chasing criminals has never been so much fun

Theatre Fideri Fidera WINNER PRIMARY TIMES CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARD 2018 FES TI FUN VAL THE FOR W FAM HOLE ILY!

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THIS IS THE KIT Kate Stables discusses travelling, working with the National and life in Paris ‘It feels like everything that’s ever happened to me or This is the Kit has been a fluke or a one-off,’ says Kate Stables, who is both the artist who bears that alias and the leader of the sparse folk-rock group who use the name. The question is whether or not she can pinpoint the moment This is the Kit shifted from the underground to the kind of group which plays the Edinburgh International Festival.

‘I think it depends on who you ask about us,’ she says. ‘Most people still haven’t heard of us, so might think of us as an “underground” band, but some people have been listening to our albums since the first one in 2007 and consider us to be pretty mainstream and around for ages. Old hat!’ She’s communicating from the road in America, midway

through both a journey between tour dates in Los Angeles and Portland, and a year which began with a trip to Morocco for the BBC’s Sound Odyssey series.

2019 has also included a Glastonbury appearance, and recording and touring with the National.

It’s a long way for a singer raised in Winchester (where she went to school with her bandmate Rozi Plain), made in Bristol and now based in Paris. ‘It’s home, and I’m missing it a lot at the moment, having been away so much recently,’ she says. ‘I need a lot of solitude to write, so the new album is going pretty slowly at the moment. It feels like I’ve got about 43% of it written – I’ve just got to say “no” to some gigs for a while to get the rest finished!’ (David Pollock) ■ Leith Theatre, 13 Aug, 7pm, £25.

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 79

F EST I VA L M US I C | Hitlist

Henry Northmore picks out music highlights from across the Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival

Nothings (as seen on BBC’s The Choir).

TheSpaceTriplex, 12–24 Aug (not 17) Aug, 5.15pm, £10 (£7–£8).

THE ROLLER DISCOTHEQUE Recapture the golden days of disco, funk and soul at this late-night roller disco from Michael Haj and the Edinburgh Disco Lovers. La Belle Angele, 7 & 8, 14 & 15, 21 & 22 Aug, 11.30pm, £6–£12.

ABSOLUTELY (NOT) FREE An evening of Frank Zappa music from Pygmy Twylyte so expect bizarre lyrics, weird flights of fancy, noodling jazz rock and abstract lyrics.

Bannerman’s, 13 & 14 Aug, 9pm, £10.

COLIN STEELE / MARTIN KERSHAW QUINTET Scottish jazz five-piece fronted by trumpeter Steele and saxophonist Kershaw paying tribute to the music of Cannonball Adderley (Steele also returns to the Jazz Bar with a night of Miles Davies from 16–20 Aug). Jazz Bar, 12 & 13 Aug, 10pm, £10 (£9).

LEWIS CAPALDI The Scottish man of the moment, the funniest man in pop, Noel Gallagher’s arch nemesis and ‘wee chubby guy doing sad songs’ (his words, not ours).

Debut album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent has been a monster hit, powered by maudlin ballads ‘Grace’, ‘Someone You Loved’ and ‘Hold Me While You Wait’. Scots indie scamps the Snuts support. Princes Street Gardens, 13 & 14 Aug, 6.30pm, sold out.

ANNA CALVI Dramatic expansive indie rock and darkly romantic gothic pop as Calvi returns to the Edinburgh International Festival. See feature, page 16. Leith Theatre, 11 Aug, 7pm, £30.

OCEAN’S 9 A heist told via acapella with songs from the movies and classic pop from classy all-female, multi-voiced ensemble Sweet

KATHRYN JOSEPH Theatrical staging of Joseph’s deeply personal album From When I Wake the Want Is. At times beautiful and fragile, at others disquieting and scarily dramatic.

You’ll get goosebumps. Summerhall, 13–15 Aug, 8pm, £16.50.

PHOTO: LENA GALOVICOVA

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Johnny Marr | F EST I VA L MU S I C

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S H I N I N G STA R Johnny Marr mixes sci-fi and politics on latest album Call the Comet. Craig Angus chats to the former Smiths guitarist about the inspiration behind the album ahead of his Summer Sessions gig alongside Primal Scream

J

ohnny Marr has to put off our phone call this morning. The perils of jetlag don’t discriminate – indie rock royalty or not – and when you need to take a nap that’s the end of the matter, theres no fighting it. Marr and his band are freshly back home from a sizeable US adventure, taking in 17 shows (‘actually a fairly short run for us,’ he offers), returning to the UK to immediately open for the Strokes at Hyde Park and then travel to play a festival in Newcastle. ‘My body is somewhere over the Atlantic,’ he yawns, before sleepily confusing the metaphor; ‘and my body is somewhere over . . . Edinburgh.’ We can forgive him some well-earned shut eye.

He probably still needs a bit more.

The Smiths ostensibly ended when Marr, one of the most innovative guitarists of his generation, quit the band in June 1983. He was 23 years old then, with a back catalogue most musicians could only dream of in the bag, the fruits of a magical songwriting partnership up there with the greatest. It would have been easy for Marr to bask in that glory and take early retirement – creatively speaking – but not possible for a man who loves his craft. A quarter of a century on, after stints with the The, the Cribs and Modest Mouse, he’s wholly invested in a solo career that sees him graft as hard as ever, and he’s not complaining about it for a second. ‘When I was a kid,’ he says, ‘even the more challenging stories of the life of a musician sounded great to me. Which is pretty handy – when those things happen, you know you’ve signed up for it.’

The touring is a knock-on effect from the success of Call The Comet,, Marr’s 2018 album which imagined a better alternative universe as a response to the annus horribilis that was 2016. The approach was a peaceful one and the output meditative, rather than furious and explicit (unlike a certain someone).

‘The impulse for Call The Comet was all about escape from the political dialogue’, he tells me, calling his creation a ‘sideways version of sci-fi ’ that happened by accident.

He adds, wryly, ‘I wanted to avoid mentioning names and politics directly, which I felt would have just been crass.

Once I had “Rise”, “New Dominions”, and “The Tracers” I identified that was what I was doing, and re-read HG Wells, JG Ballard, EM Forster . . . that’s one of the great things about doing art. You stumble upon things during the process.’

Science fiction influences aside, the writing process for Call The Comet offered Marr the chance to do things in a different way, one which he embraced, which in return led to his most accomplished collection to date as a solo artist. ‘I didn’t go in the way I usually go in to make a record, prepping the band and getting the demos together.

I just went into this big space on the top floor of a factory on the outskirts of town, mostly on my own, and started plugging guitars into machines, drum machines into guitar effects, as a kind of experiment and form of expression’.

Unsurprisingly, Marr was particularly horrified by the Manchester bombings, channelling that into the album’s highlight and closing track, ‘A Different Gun’. That creative process is something he found very cathartic, adding: ‘I feel very fortunate not only to have that aspect of my life, but that it happens to be my career as well.

That’s something I’d be doing if I was successful or not, I think.

That creative necessity’s been with me since I was a little kid.’

Johnny Marr plays Edinburgh Summer Sessions with Primal Scream, Princes Street Gardens, 10 Aug, 6pm, £50.65–£75.90.

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 81

F EST I VA L M US I C | Reviews

SARAH JANE MORRIS: SWEET LITTLE MYSTERY

Heartfelt tribute to the music of John Martyn Sometime Communards and Pere Ubu collaborator Sarah Jane Morris is a dependable Edinburgh festival presence, having brought Compared to What, the live performance of her album with virtuoso guitarist Antonio Forcione, here in 2016. Her latest gig is on an altogether different musical subject, yet it follows the same route of pairing Morris' fiercely dynamic contralto voice with the playing of a master guitarist – in this case the project's co-originator Tony Remy, whose credits include Herbie Hancock and Annie Lennox, alongside Tim Cansfield on second acoustic guitar.

Together, the pair bolster Morris' mighty vocal performance amid a show that is something more than a tribute to the music of the Glasgow-raised singer and songwriter John Martyn. Directed by the comedian turned theatrical storyteller Mark Thomas – ensuring he isn't entirety absent from the festival in 2019 – the songs are wrapped in pre-recorded video inserts from key names: folk lynchpins Richard and Linda Thompson, separately; friend of Morris and Martyn, Eddi Reader; Martyn’s Glasgow drinking buddy Jim McKnight; and Martyn’s younger sister Julie Purdey.

We wind through robust versions of the show’s title song and ‘Head and Heart’, through to ‘Solid Air’, amid tales that it was written in Nick Drake’s honour. There’s a mighty communal finale of ‘Don’t Want to Know’, and the sense is not of an easy biographical tribute, but a conjuring of Martyn’s very spirit through heartfelt song and loving anecdote. (David Pollock) ■ Assembly George Square Studios, until 11 Aug, 6.45pm, £14–£13 (£13–£12).

BACK TO BLACK: THE MUSIC OF AMY WINEHOUSE

MUGENKYO TAIKO DRUMMERS: BEAT GRRRLS

JOHN HUNT FOUR O’CLOCK AFTERNOON BLUES & SWING

The Fringe can be unpredictable. Not everything goes right every time. Perhaps unconsciously echoing the real Amy Winehoue’s hectic life, a powercut means tonight’s performance almost doesn’t happen, until someone gets the bright idea of an alfresco acoustic show in the courtyard.

Thankfully Reine Beau Anderson Dudley doesn’t don a cheap black beehive; Back to Black is about the music rather than fancy dress, and she puts everything into tonight’s show, valiantly battling to save it from technical meltdown.

So while you won’t get exactly the same show indoors, we can report that Dudley has a fantastic voice that does justice to the material. Her vocals are rich and thick with character, capturing Winehouse’s distinctive twang without drifting into parody. The band are also light on their feet, effortlessly adapting to the turn of events as they play all the hits you’d want to hear.

You can’t fault their effort, and they almost manage to turn disaster into triumph. But factors outside their control mean their skill and resilience is sorely tested. (Henry Northmore) ■ theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall, until 24 Aug, 7.20pm, £14 (£12.50).

Traditionally, women weren’t even allowed to touch Taiko drums. Now the women of South Lanarkshire’s Mugen Taiko Dojo have taken charge for this year’s all-female Fringe show.

A powerful performance of percussive beats showcasing the ancient art of Japanese drumming, it’s hypnotic and primal, the beats churning and reverberating through the audience. 'Hibiki’ in particular impresses with its lightning fast synchronisation across multiple drums. It looks utterly exhausting, with all five musicians bashing out complex rhythms on these huge barrel-sized instruments. Yet they never miss a beat – in fact one member of the group broke her foot during the previous night’s show but is still on stage, proving their complete commitment to their art.

Reading through the programme, you learn the chanting and rhythms are loaded with meaning and spirituality. Inevitably, it does get repetitive over the course of an hour, practically pummelling you into submission, but there are moments of humour and reflection. This is drumming as a martial art, rather than simply musical enjoyment. (Henry Northmore) ■ Assembly Rooms, until 24 Aug, 5.30pm, £13–£15 (£12-£14).

Simplicity is the key in this show: it’s just one man, a homemade guitar and John Hunt stamping out a percussive beat in the Delta blues tradition. The music is instantly evocative of the deep south but the lyrical content of his self-penned material is distinctly British. It’s an interesting juxtaposition – especially on a wryly amusing track about his uncle’s wedding.

There’s a raw, grizzled quality to Hunt’s playing and vocals that makes it feel more lived-in and real. At times, eyes closed, he looks happily lost in music. His DIY guitars are suitably eccentric, matching his style. One is a solar-powered contraption made from an old B&Q shelf; the other a paper mache number constructed from old issues of Melody Maker dating back to1986.

There’s a unique old school R&B take on a Frank Sinatra number alongside a clever James Bond mash-up and a couple of classic covers. However, you get the impression Hunt plays fast and loose with his setlist, performing whatever takes his fancy, so you might get a completely different set on any day. But whatever he plays, it feels refreshingly authentic. (Henry Northmore) ■ The Jazz Bar, 7, 10, 14, 16–18, 24 & 25 Aug, 4pm, £9 (£7).

Things don’t go to plan at this celebration of modern jazz

82 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Powerful, physical, rhythmic drumming

DIY guitars and raw blues

Becky Barber-Sharp & Something for the Weekend present

Directed by Lisa Cagnacci 31 July - 26 August, 11:30am (not 13; 1hr)

pleasance.co.uk

0131 556 6550

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 83

Right in the Eye Alcoléa & cie The cinema of Georges Méliès in concert 2-25 August

VIVE Quatuor Mona Plays Debussy & Beethoven String Quartet 18 August

LE FRINGE 2019 k look at infidelity and Worldwidewestern Raphaël Gouisset digital theatre 12-25 August

Ensemble 1880 Plays Wagner & Brahms Directed by Alec Frank-Gemmill 13 August

French Institute (Venue 168) West Parliament Square Edinburgh EH1 1RF

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“Intimate and intricate ” THE SUNDAY TIMES

by Kenny Emson directed by Eleanor Rhode

12:40 31 JUL - 25 AUG

84 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

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DEER WOMAN Hard-hitting political work confronts violence and misogyny

PHOTO: ARTICLE 11

Presented as part of the Indigenous Contemporary Scene programme, ARTICLE 11 return to Edinburgh with Deer Woman, a new solo work that traces one woman’s response to years of extreme trauma. A hard-hitting and raw piece of theatre, it questions the lengths that we go to when driven by severe injustice and, in turn, vengeance.

Through the monologue of ex-army Blackfoot woman Lila, the play traces the story of her sister’s death, with reference to the deaths of the thousands of other Indigenous women recorded as missing or murdered in Canada in the past few decades. Refusing to sit back and do nothing when the man behind the murder of her sister – and many others – is discovered, Lila sets out to get her revenge in a brutal yet calculated manner, using the very skills taught to her by the Canadian government during her army days.

Cherish Violet Blood is an extremely powerful and affecting performer whose storytelling prowess and addition of little hints of comedy in this uncompromising tale add a great deal of weight to the severity of the situation. Delivering her story via a confession told to a camera, with her face then projected behind, the set-up feels suffocating in ways, until we reach a dark and unexpected climax that is difficult to stomach.

Deer Woman is ultimately a political work confronting a moral and societal crisis that is not spoken about nearly enough. It embraces anger and pain, highlighting the need to move past any form of complacency when it comes to such violence and misogyny.

(Arusa Qureshi) ■ CanadaHub @ King’s Hall, until 24 Aug (not 12, 19), 2.30pm, £11 (£9). ●●●●●

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F EST I VA L T H E AT RE | Hitlist

Gareth K Vile picks out some of the best theatre highlights for week two of the Fringe FEMPIRE: MESS BY KIRSTEN VANGSNESS Chaotic and dynamic solo show that draws on quantum physics, a Joycean sensibility for wordplay and the forceful character of performer and writer Vangsness.

Packed with ideas, and following an idiosyncratic structure, Mess is a unique bravura performance that refuses to be pinned down. See review page 93. Assembly Rooms, 8, 11, 15, 18, 21, 24 Aug, 8.15pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

BRANDI ALEXANDER Brandi Alexander finds that her return to stand-up comedy is less a gentle reconnection with her audience than an opportunity to release the demons that have haunted her: she is opening for her rapist, and this ferocious solo (played by Tatiana Pavela) lets the pain out in a cathartic explosion of rage. See review, page 97. Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre, until 25 Aug, (not 12, 19), 9.45pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).

86 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

PHOTO: THE OTHER RICHARD

THEATRE HITLIST EVERYTHING I SEE, I SWALLOW Asking questions about control, freedom, liberation, and control protection, a mother and a daughter confront the feminist implications of Japanese bondage, erotic photography in a work that combines aerialism, Shibari and intense conversations that ponder the problems of contemporary Instagram culture. See review page 94. Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 6pm, £13 (£11).

SEA SICK Alanna Mitchell reveals the realities of climate change, while celebrating the beauty of the world in an emotional, yet scientifically rigorous reflection on the importance of participating in a change for the better. Compassionate and passionate, this is a theatrical polemic that catches the zeitgeist.

See review, page 88. CanadaHub @ King’s Hall, until 25 Aug, 12.30pm, £11 (£9).

BEACH BODY READY Intimate and informal, semiimproved but with a clear message of body positivity, The Roaring

Everything I See, I Swallow

Girls take on shaming and discover joy in their bodies – regardless of social pressures and their own anxieties. Based on the company’s lived experiences, this is a show

filled with energy, mischief and a determination to own their identities.

See review page 88. Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 12), 1.10pm, £10 (£9).

Reviews | F EST I VA L T HE AT RE

list.co.uk/festival

PHOTO: BRONWEN SHARP

PHOTO: HOLLY REVELL

PHOTO: ELEANOR KELLY

BEAT

BURGERZ

POPS

Young Alfie loves to play the drums. To the point of obsession. To the extent, in fact, that he has room in his mind for little else – school work, friends, family.

So when he finds himself propelled into a rock band, he makes a naive decision that has devastating consequences for those around him.

Cédric Chapuis’ poignant solo play is at once a coming-of-age drama and a study of music as a crucial outlet for a fractured mind, with the true extent of Alfie’s condition only emerging through his encounters with irritated head teachers, school bullies and unexpected girlfriends. There’s a lot going on here, but Chapuis spins his threads together elegantly – also drawing in Alfie’s beloved drumming itself.

Daniel Bellus performs a remarkable feat as both actor and expert drummer, delivering licks and rhythms with all the devotion Alfie clearly feels, while bringing to vivid life the boy’s wide-eyed naivety and obliviousness to the problems he’s causing.

Beat might benefit from a little tightening, and its conclusion – though subtly set up – feels unexpectedly shocking. But it’s a beautifully crafted show, delivered with panache and searing conviction, packing a powerful emotional punch. (David Kettle) ■ Pleasance Dome, until 26 Aug (not 14), 2.30pm, £10.50–£13.50 (£9.50–£12.50).

Somewhere between performance art, tone poem and cookery show, lies Burgerz. In 2016, when Travis Alabanza was attacked in a busy London street, catcalled and had a burger thrown at them, nobody intervened. So in an act of resistance, redressing the balance and achieving some kind of catharsis, they created this wise and witty show.

Trans identity and black ethnicity is, as Alabanza explains, double the fuel for abuse. They ruminate on the constant need for being moulded into something.

Burger boxes represent limitations and the shaping of a burger patty is akin to an unfinished body, something shaped and yet not quite ready.

Alabanza is a sweet, quick-witted presence throughout. But this is not simply a pop culture literate show; history is woven into the fabric of the performance, with reference to the gods that were beyond gender two thousand years ago – nongendered bodies are not a recent phenomenon.

Burgerz is a beautiful, poignant piece. It’s a stark reminder of how labels are unhelpful, and how far British society has to go to become more tolerant with those who refuse to be boxed-in. (Lorna Irvine) ■ Traverse, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), times vary, £21 (£15.50)

‘People are not kind anymore’ agree the duo in Pops, a new play by Charlotte Josephine that explores the darker side of a father-daughter relationship. Pops (Nigel Barrett) sits in his chair, watching TV, firmly stuck in a past that no longer exists other than in his mind; the return of his daughter (Sophie Melville) challenges that drab status-quo.

The two are on a collision course, with the daughter's unsuccesful job searches and failing relationships elements that Pops finds hard to deal with. After his daughter is let down on a proposed date, he tries to comfort her. ‘There’s plenty more fish in the sea,’ says Pops. ‘I hate the sea, I’m drowning,’ caustically replies his daughter.

It’s one of the best lines in a play that doesn’t have enough articulation; repeating dialogue is a tiresome feature, and an extended, near wordless sequence doesn’t add much. The lack of kindness the characters complain about isn’t pinned down to anything more than an encounter with a snooty receptionist, and dramatic flourishes in staging are at the expense of key character information. Yet Barrett and Melville work wonders to make their relationship convincing. (Eddie Harrison) ■ Assembly Roxy, until 25 Aug (not 12), 6.35pm, £11–£12 (£10–£11).

How to find yourself through drumming

Flipping brilliant meditation on othering and surviving

A family struggle to find common ground

PHOTO: CONNOR HARRIS

M.E.H

Intellectual and hilarious feminist histories The Outbound Project are a beautiful example of how the Fringe allows space for dynamic dramaturgies and forceful philosophies.

Rapidly introducing a meta-theatrical commentary on both the show’s retelling of the work of Jean-Martin Charcot and their own process, the ensemble cast sprint through the history of mass epidemic hysteria while commenting wryly on the conventions of contemporary performance.

Between magic tricks, audience interaction, and comic episodes from the lives of Charcot and the ‘hysterics’ who were both the subjects of his research and the stars of his ‘performance lectures’ in the 1800s, M.E.H makes serious points about agency, the manipulation of women by patriarchal science and the way that theatre itself models an excluding hierarchy of power. A lone dancer is caged in the corner, enacting wild choreography that either comments on the episodes or seeks to distract from the words of the ensemble. The magician commands the stage as the director, challenging the performers to get in line and reflect on their process – and the failures of those others.

Interruptions of scenes by the magician, or the self-consciously rudimentary beards that transform a performer from female to male, offer an advance on the kind of fourth wall breaking that comes from Brecht but is now an over-familiar trope. Yet these weaknesses are exaggerated, without descending into farce, conjuring an atmosphere that is bracing, antagonistic and familiar.

While there is a heritage of similar feminist theatre that is selfaware, witty, broad in its populism but precise in its critiques, The Outbound Project bring a new perspective to Charcot’s psychological invetsigations and the way that theatre can both illuminate and obscure. (Gareth K Vile) ■ Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 12), 12.10pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 87

F EST I VA L T H E AT RE | Reviews

PHOTO: CHLOE ELLINGSON

SEA SICK

A masterclass in storytelling and a vital perspective on the climate crisis In this remarkable feat of storytelling and reportage, journalist Alanna Mitchell lays bare the realities of what is currently happening to our world’s oceans, and its catastrophic consequences for all life on earth. Having spent the past ten years interviewing marine scientists around the world and observing their research, Mitchell has experienced first-hand both the manifold wonders and devastating destruction that is taking place beneath the ocean surface, and is now here to report back from the front lines of the greatest crisis of our time.

As a seasoned journalist, Mitchell believes in the importance of an objective presentation of facts. This is one story, however, that no one can absent themselves from. Thus Mitchell deftly weaves together emotional accounts of the research that has taken her far, wide and deep, as well as the hard science that spell out the rapid toxification of the seas. Speaking from a bare stage with nothing but a chalkboard and shifting coloured lights, Mitchell is still able to paint a vivid picture of life at its most mysterious and miraculous, evoking coral blooms and chilling dead zones using only her words.

In contrast to the sonorous, booming tones of David Attenborough, which works to highlight nature’s stunning grandeur, Mitchell’s softly-spoken narration fosters a sense of intimacy, seeking out the personal grief that is so often lost within climate change discourse.

But all is not yet lost. Mitchell expertly manages the tension in the room, warding away the paralytic effect of despair through funny anecdotes about pissing herself at the bottom of the ocean and a compassionate examination of why people of her generation tend to be slower to accept the facts of climate change. The future of our planet has yet to be written, she says, but we must decide how this crisis ends together, before it’s too late. (Deborah Chu) ■ CanadaHub @ King’s Hall, until 25 Aug, 12.30pm, £11 (£9).

PHOTO: TOM ARRAN

ALGORITHMS

IT’LL BE ALT-RIGHT ON THE NIGHT

BEACH BODY READY

It’s a familiar story: a young woman, approaching the threshold of the dreaded 3-0, sees her love life go into a tailspin when her girlfriend dumps her.

Compounding her heartache, she works for a dating website, programming the algorithms that help others find love in cyberspace. Throw in a domineering mother and plenty of opportunities for public humiliation, and it seems no rom-com cliché will go unturned in this hour.

Thankfully, Algorithms is self-aware enough to wink at its adherence to these tropes. The heroine Brooke discusses how films like Bridget Jones have been formative in her expectations of love, but is savvy enough to note how toxic these influences have been to her notions of body image and self-worth.

Unfortunately, the play’s conclusions don’t exactly tread new ground.

But performer Sadie Clark has charm in spades.

Brooke’s evolving relationship with her mother is genuinely touching, and a moment that explores the particular kind of fear that women in same-sex relationships face in public is especially resonant.

(Deborah Chu) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 13), 12.45pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£10).

Don’t let the jokey title put you off. Wound Up Theatre’s breathless, breakneck solo show from writer-performer Matthew Greenhough (of 2015’s successful Bismillah! An ISIS Tragicomedy) is often blisteringly funny, but it’s deeply serious in its intent.

Greeny and Stevo are inseparable childhood mates, driven together by parental neglect, and taking a stand against authority and bullying by transforming themselves into convention-rejecting punks. But their lives seem set for collision when Greeny finds a job in London media, while Stevo begins to see sense in the rhetoric of intolerance he once abhorred.

Despite his larger-than-life characters, Greenhough is impressively even-handed in his depictions of two lives drifting ever further apart, painting an alltoo-plausible picture of deprivation, exclusion and resentment that nimbly takes in Trump, Brexit, the 2008 financial crash and Tommy Robinson. Most impressive is his feverishly intense performance of his sharp script, delivered with a delirious energy.

Jazz trumpet interpretations of punk tunes from Steven Wright provide witty and increasingly relevant interludes. This is a bold, powerful show with a deep vein of compassion running through it. (David Kettle) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 12), 2pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).

Beach Body Ready explores the pertinent issue of self-image with enough energy and rigour to send any body-shaming individual running. Through a mixture of frank discussion, angsty choreography and music video-style film clips, Rachael, Josie and Sarah bare all, emotionally and physically, in this stunning show.

The girls begin by declaring that this is about them, preparing the audience for the fact that things are going to get personal. What follows is a perfectly pitched selection of individual experiences which range from painfully funny to brutally awkward and sad. The trio are fantastic performers, guiding the audience through their emotional journeys with ease (and the help of the odd biscuit break and boogie).

The dialogue is relaxed but poignant, offering audience involvement without being too pushy, and the autobiographical elements never become self-indulgent. While the show jumps on a clear bandwagon of current feminist thought, it does so with such clear intention that it never feels clichéd.

Beach Body Ready successfully evokes a sense of hope through its commitment to celebrating women’s curves and crevices with unequivocal pride and unapologetic candour. (Rachel Baker) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 12), 1.10pm, £10 (£9).

One-woman show about a bisexual heroine of the Bridget Jones school

88 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Hilarity from the radicalised young men

Celebrating sexy bums and cellulite tums

FEATURING EDDIE IZZARD DYLAN MORAN REGINALD D HUNTER ED BYRNE MARK WATSON CHOIR OF MAN

IN SUPPORT OF

MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED! LINE UP SUBJECT TO CHANGE

17:30 19 AUG

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 89

F EST I VA L T H E AT RE | Reviews

PHOTO: GIGI GIANNELLA

YUKON HO! (TALL TALES FROM THE GREAT WHITE NORTH) Childhood hardships in a freezing land

Taking on elements of cabaret alongside a linguistic guide to the dialect of the area most famous for the gold rush, as well as the inevitable presence of death and danger, Jennifer Irons presents a charming solo show that disguises heavy themes beneath an informal, chatty structure.

The Yukon – which was settled by colonial whites following the lure of the abundant gold in the ground – remains a tough place.

Growing up, Irons realised that both the environment and the culture were deadly. Her reflections on her childhood are rarely sentimental. Her bursts of dancing to deal with the deaths of her friends, her description of popular cocktail ‘the sour-toe’, the translation of her father’s anecdotes, and the reiteration of the Yukon’s ‘do-or-die’ philosophy all provide a snapshot of an area still indebted to its Wild West origins.

Throughout the show, Irons threatens to perform a can-can: her earliest dancing engagement had been at the casino, high-kicking for ‘enthusiastic’ audiences. As she gradually prepares herself for this grand finale, she reflects on how the dancing-girls were an important factor in the ‘civilising’ of the Yukon, highlighting their resilience, determination and the feminist subtext of the dance.

This idiosyncratic reading of history, reclaiming a space for women in a culture that exhibits plenty of toxic masculinity, reflects a broader intention. Having left the Yukon, Irons wants to reclaim her heritage. Through witty anecdotes, very dark humour and an ambivalent attitude to the antics of her family and friends, she attempts to reconcile her artistic practice with their roots in a land that breeds hardy and fatalistic individualists. Irons’ charisma is balanced by this iron in the soul, and her playful wit covers a serious, intense heart. (Gareth K Vile) ■ Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 5.30pm, £10 (£8).

PHOTO: TODD RICHTER

PHOTO: NTSMEDIAPICS

WIRELESS OPERATOR

A GAME OF DEATH AND CHANCE

UMBRELLA MAN

Written by Bob Baldwin and Max Kinnings, drawing from Baldwin’s father’s experience in WWII, Wireless Operator is an intimate look into the experience of a Bomber Command squad on a mission to kill.

John (Thomas Dennis) enters into this disturbingly violent experience, and the play explores notions of conscience and guilt when you are allegedly on the side of the good guys.

Dennis carries the performance, displaying talented physicality when things get risky and emotional depth when recalling memories of home.

Audio clips from other actors constitute the rest of the Bomber Command, and Dennis convincingly evokes true relationships with these bodiless characters. The show’s slick sound design ensures that despite the minimalistic set, the sense of being in a plummeting plane is both convincing and compelling.

While the sound design and nifty set are initially impressive the first time that the squadron approaches danger, by the third time it begins to lose effect. Nonetheless as we approach 75 years since the end of the war, this is an important show that gives voice to vital stories from history. (Rachel Baker) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 12), 12.40pm, £9–£11.50 (£8–£10.50).

Gladstone’s Land is one of Edinburgh’s oldest buildings, and proves an excellent source of inspiration for director Ben Harrison, who has constructed a series of vignettes depicting Scottish history from the bubonic plague of 1645 through to the Act of Union.

The cast work up an excellent rapport with the audience, giving a face to major events and avoiding a generic run through Scottish historical highlights. Unfortunately, as the actors hit their stride, the audience is directed to another room and another era. Nevertheless, the atmospheric setting complements the various tales of disaster and dashed hopes of Scotland becoming an economic (read: colonial) superpower, before begrudgingly entering into union with England.

These vignettes reveal that nothing lasts forever and that hope follows catastrophe, so perhaps we have something to look forward to in spite of the current cultural and political mayhem. Yet the final caricature of Caledonia as a self-pitying old woman, whining about her lost glory, suggests a backwards glance at a historical stereotype. (Liam Rees) ■ Gladstone’s Land, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), times vary, £15 (£12).

Doug comes from the Black Isle in northern Scotland, but has spent the last year or so showing tourists around Angkor Wat, with disarming charm and desert-dry humour. How he ended up in Cambodia, though, is a long and convoluted story of lost love, bizarre conspiracy theories and a terrifying poker scam. And he’d like to tell you all about it.

If you can brave a 10am start, Edinburgh-based poet Colin Bramwell’s tender solo show makes for a beautifully thoughtful – and often very funny – start to the day. Using anecdotes from an unassuming life, poems railing against the establishment and a dose of fine piano playing too, Bramwell paints a picture of a life adrift, of a futile search for the edge of the flat Earth, and of how to charm customers in Portobello’s Subway. There’s plenty of whimsy in Bramwell’s sometimes elusive creation, but as its threads draw together at its understated conclusion, it packs a surprisingly potent emotional punch.

Bramwell is a naturally witty performer, charming with anecdotes while teasing with studied understatement. But it’s the richly resonant layers in this bittersweet show that linger longest in the memory. (David Kettle) ■ Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 7, 12, 20), 10am, £10–£12 (£8–£10).

One-man show inspired by WWII pilot

90 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Theatrical vignettes engaging with Scotland’s problematic past

Life on the road with humour

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PHOTO: LARA CAPPELLI

ENOUGH

Drama shimmers with rage and tenderness

Exploring the stupidity of technology

BEEP BOOP

BOULDER

Sometimes, the cracks in gloss paint are easy to see, but only if the viewer moves closer. Underneath the perfect glamorous smiles and slick retro uniforms of air stewardesses Toni (Amanda Wright) and Jane (Louise Ludgate) lies desperation, physical abuse and crumbling family units, and no amount of Pinot Grigio will wash it all away.

Playwright Stef Smith has created a pearl here: shining and incandescent, but with grit underneath it. A seemingly simple set by Kai Fischer, with sand on the ground and basic minimalist furniture, reveals more jagged lines as the story evolves.

Bryony Shanahan directs the two like a bizarre karaoke duet between friends where the tempo keeps changing and words are improvised. Wright and Ludgate are outstanding, vacillating between prim humour and grim horror, as they peel off the veneers of meaning in Smith's lyrical writing.

Female friendship and the roles of women are dissected in a production that's hard to resist. It's savage, funny and heartbreaking, because it chases the truth that lurks in the shadows, confronting the secret selves that only we know. (Lorna Irvine) ■ Traverse, until 25 Aug, (not 12), times vary, £21 (£15.50).

Beep boop, a performance by Richard Saudek (created with Jess Novak and Wes Grantom), explores the world’s unhealthy addiction to technology and the loneliness it evokes. Physical comedy, sound and visuals are used effectively to magnify this intense relationship in a darkly funny show. Using no dialogue, beep boop manages to detail one man's journey from infatuation to discontentment.

As expected, no social platform is safe from Saudek’s microscope and everything from Instagram to instant messaging comes under fire. Repetition is used as a simple yet powerful tool in this piece, pointing out the new ways in which people move and react to technological overlords.

The sound work accompanying the show is essential to its success, and rapid fire sound effects prove the central nerve system of the piece. In among the storytelling, Saudek finds time to play a live version of Tinder with the audience, which perfectly encapsulates the app’s problematic approach to finding true love (or not). Beep boop is an inventive, slick and exciting show that delivers laughs with serious undertones. (Becki Crossley) ■ Assembly George Square, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 2.45pm, £12–£11 (£10–£11).

Kent-based Half a String theatre company had a hit two years back with the enchanting A Heart at Sea, and they return this year with a far more ambitious show. Combining puppetry, animation, live music and an elaborate set, Boulder takes as its starting point the Greek myth of Sisyphus, condemned to push a giant rock up a mountain for eternity, only for it to ceaselessly crash back down again.

While there’s inevitably a fair amount of repetition in Boulder, it’s to the company’s credit that they discover so much humanity in their story, as their grouchy central figure – given plenty of character by puppeteer Nicholas Halliwell – develops a strange relationship with his burden. Equally impressive are designer-director Peter Morton’s intricate puppets and props, not least the massive boulder itself and the mysteries it contains.

But Boulder is a far opaquer show than Half a String’s previous work: it’s not always entirely clear what’s going on, and a little spoken storytelling wouldn’t have gone amiss. Its conclusion – that determination and resilience can be ends in themselves – is laudable, but the route they take to get there could be better signposted. (David Kettle) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 17 Aug, 12.10pm, £9–£12 (£8–£11).

Classical myth meets total theatre

PHOTO: STUDIOCANO

THE POPULARS

An energetic celebration of the unifying power of dance Volcano Theatre insist on a dynamic dramaturgy that challenges existing ways of making theatre. Their previous visit to the Fringe radically reworked Chekhov’s Seagulls with a tough, physical style, and a tank of water that transformed their venue into a watery dreamscape. For 2019, director Paul Davies wants to get political.

One of four frenetic dancers stops briefly to grab an audience member’s hands, look them square in the eyes and say: ‘Are you ready?’ They’re not given time to answer before their hands are flung across the dancer’s sweaty face, onto his stubbly, sweaty neck and down onto his soaked chest. They’re thrust aside before they can process what’s happened.

The Populars manages to gather its audience of stand-offish Brits into all sorts of random interactions with strangers, and its actors manage to make these interactive moments not feel contrived or like forced fun.

Nearly three quarters of the show comprises the cast dancing wildly and erratically to nostalgic pop and rock songs in the space, contorting their bodies in ways that almost become gruesome, but are addictive to watch all the same. The pace and spectacle of the show are thrilling enough to make you forget you’re standing the whole time and haven’t been offered a seat.

The thread that connects all this is the sweet message that dancing is a coping mechanism for us all in tough times. But in moments of speech, the show shoehorns in political themes about Brexit which feel unnecessary: having a show about the power of friends united by dance – and indeed the power of dance to unite us all – is a powerful enough political message as it is. (Adam Bloodworth) ■ Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 9.20pm, £12 (£8).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 91

Theatre . Comedy . Kids Shows Dance . Circus . Music . Magic

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MONSOON SEASON

COMA

Exploring the terrors of the mind

RICH KIDS: A HISTORY OF SHOPPING MALLS IN TEHRAN

Julia is a mother with a drug problem, several jobs, not enough money and probably another 99 problems to solve, but her ex isn’t one. Danny (Richard Thieriot) is out of the house and out of her hair. Except Danny is finding his way back into her life, even if only to peer through a hole he’s cut in her screen door.

Most rom-coms deal with a relationship coming together. This one deals with one unravelling – big time. Thieriot kicks things off with a Bill Murray-type deadpan insouciance as he outlines his predicament, wringing laughs easily from observational humour as he develops his moan about how his ex gets everything her own way.

At the mid-point, the audience swaps places and listens to Julia’s side of the story; the fresh POV reveals that neither character is able to see the bigger picture. Thieriot and Plaehn nail their characters, and while the scene-changes are a little lugubrious, this is a model of what a Fringe show should be from Off Broadway’s AFO company. Monsoon Season’s accessibility, humanity and high level of engagement make this show easy to recommend. (Eddie Harrison) ■ Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 2.25pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

Darkfield return once again with their shipping container of horrors. Previous outings Seance and Flight explored fears surrounding the supernatural and of a plane spinning out of control — this year, the fear lies within, as they delve into the terrors that lurk in the mind.

Participants are filed in and made to lie down on bunk beds, where a metal dish with a small white pill awaits. Audience members are then asked to ingest the pill, before the container is plunged into darkness and a deep, sonorous voice fills the space.

As ever, Darkfield's design is flawless. The show's multimedia elements – the engulfing noises, the smells that hover over the clinical tang of a hospital — are spot on, and truly do create an immersive, heart-pounding experience. COMA's central conceit, however, doesn't entirely hit its mark. Certain parts are frightening, and they do elicit a helplessness that is akin to lying paralysed on a hospital bed, but things never truly take the psychological turn that is promised. The monologue is alternatively chilling and soporific, but fails to elicit much more of a response.

COMA is magnificently crafted, though there is the sense of promise unfulfilled. (Deborah Chu) ■ Summerhall, until 25 Sun, times vary, £7.50 (£5.50).

Javaad Alipoor and Kirsty Housley's explosive, remarkable piece of theatre bombards the senses, emulating the quick fix of technology and the relentless flurry of 24-hour news bulletins.

Taking as their theme the titular rich kids, it seeks to address the empty pursuit of hedonism in place of a richness of mind and spirit. It also interrogates the increasing obsolescence of technology, which scientists refer to as ‘techno fossils’.

Alipoor and fellow performer Peyvand Sadeghian's theatrical TED talk is at once chilling and insightful, augmented by audience interaction through Instagram, Thom Buttery and Tom Newell's video projections, and Jess Bernberg's eerie lighting.

As a counterpoint to the wealthy, entitled youth (represented here by two 19-year-olds and the Porsche they crashed after a champagne binge) they posit a return to culture, espousing Walter Benjamin and his assertion that where we sit globally can be seen symbolically through our shopping malls.

It's witty in places, yet horrifying and as Alipoor and Sadeghian turn the camera towards the audience, there's a real sense of culpability. (Lorna Irvine) ■ Traverse, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), times vary, £21 (£15.50).

Deft two-hander about a relationship on the rocks

Potent look at capitalism and culture

PHOTO: DARRETT SANDERS

FEMPIRE: MESS

Sex, religion and quantum mechanics Who is Kirsten Vangsness? She’s an actress, recognisable from police-procedural show Criminal Minds. It looks like she hangs out with author Neil Gaiman, who provides a recommendation for her show, the cheekily titled Mess. She’s got a second show at the fringe called Cleo, Theo and Wu. So, just another US import, visiting the Fringe to fan the flames of a TV hit? Quite the opposite. Kirsten Vangsness is a confident performer, but what she’s performing is anyone’s guess; she’s certainly not dining out on past glories. ‘Now, where was I with my show?’ she asks the audience as she lobs another tablecloth of scribblings about quantum theory into a bin.

No answers are forthcoming, but the lack of response should not be mistaken for disinterest. This semi-autobiographical account of the performer’s upbringing in California explores her struggles with her own religious and sexual issues, and her consideration of herself at various ages. Name-checking the film Arrival and it’s non-linear portrayal of time, Vangsness considers every age in her life to be happening at once, each informing each other.

So don’t go expecting cosy anecdotes about working on the small-screen with Mandy Patinkin; Vangsness is more interested in articulating Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and other aspects of quantum mechanics. The show bears the marks of a passion project, meticulously sculpted. Vangsness’s reference points are wonderfully arcane; a reference to Helen Mirren’s performance in Excalibur can hardly be described as zeitgeisty, given that hardly anyone saw that film in 1981 let alone watches it now, but Vangsness isn’t trying to create buzzword recognition. Her highbrow show is a groaning buffet of loop-the-loop logic and cosmic questioning; delivered in inimitable style. (Eddie Harrison) ■ Assembly Rooms, 8, 11, 15, 18, 21, 24 Aug, 8.15pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 93

F EST I VA L T H E AT RE | Reviews

DETOUR: A SHOW ABOUT CHANGING YOUR MIND Life-affirming show from engaging ex-academic

Detour is a one-woman show from multidisciplinary performer Diana Dinerman, who quit her history PhD. As an ex-academic, it seems fitting that this performance is pitched as a faux lecture (with additional meditation and dance). The piece analyses life issues like listening to your body, dealing with struggles, the best (and worst) ways to make new beginnings and how to keep your identity intact throughout.

The setting for this show is minimal but the bare performance space is filled with the performer’s captivating presence.

Dinerman uses thought-provoking anecdotes to speak frankly of her experiences and is quick to expose her bad behavioural patterns that are central to the show. At this point in her life, she is unapologetic for the mistakes she has made and has instead churned them into empowering parts of her personality.

Dinerman is a confident, intriguing and engaging performer who delivers a quick-witted show at a racing pace, transporting the whole room to defining moments of her life with poetic flair.

She is able to articulate ineffable emotions and sensations with such clarity that, in these moments, the show moves the audience and begins to feel like the self-help talk everybody in attendance genuinely needed.

It examines feminist concerns with kick-ass style and tears apart social stereotypes with sophisticated ease. Dinerman's approach to these topics is far from typical, using dance to deconstruct matters like the silencing of the female body. This trailblazing piece ties everything together neatly before ending with a positive message about embracing life’s detours and rejecting its pressures. (Becki Crossley) ■ Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug (not 13), 2.35pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

PHOTO: SEAN LONGMORE

PHOTO: ALEX BRENNER

FOX

DROWNING

EVERYTHING I SEE I SWALLOW

Katie Guicciardi’s script addresses a trinity of serious issues: homelessness, perinatal mental health and the impact of patriarchal neglect. A new mother, played with understated confidence

by Guicciardi, finds herself isolated and obsessed with a homeless man who has taken up residence across from her home. With her husband increasingly absent and unsupportive, she deteriorates from a proud mum full of love for her child to a state of despair, with the metaphor of the fox, an urban predator known to have attacked babies, referring both to her depression and the threat of the outsider.

The measured pace allows a convincing description of the mother’s anxiety and the progress of her anguish, and time for philosophical reflections on the relationship between homelessness and security. The weaving of the themes is not precise, and the three issues connect only vaguely. But everything is considered with an appropriate seriousness, revealing a compassionate exploration of a set of very contemporary problems. (Gareth K Vile) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 13), 11.30am, £9–£11 (£8–£10).

Jessica Ross’s debut play explores philosophical questions of mortality through the story of four Austrian nurses charged with the deaths of 49 patients in 1991. The play embarks upon an attempt to explain the actions of these women through a narrative that addresses as many moral conundrums as the nurses’ epic body count.

The stage is simply set: white bathtubs are dimly lit with blue light, and this stark set-up magnifies the stirring performances of the play’s small cast of four. The effort and energy of the actors is sadly unsupported by the absence of any exposition. The plot is continually distracted by new concepts, as relationships rise, fall and then take jarring U-turns, so that the play fails to construct a convincing argument for these nurses’ motives. As a result, Drowning fails to achieve what it sets out to do.

The script is nonetheless unsettling, framed by a series of monologues from each nurse. These moments of atmospheric clarity and haunting selfconfession are, however, interrupted by scenes which lack as much depth or sense. Overall, a show that lets too many ideas drown what is an eerie and deeply affecting premise. (Rachel Baker) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 12), 2.30pm, £12 (£11).

This fusion of theatre, aerial rope work and Japanese bondage art (shibari) explores cross-generational ideas of feminism and what it means to own your body in the context of your own life. The definition of this differs greatly to the mother-daughter duo central to the piece.

The daughter (Maisie Taylor) has struggled since a young age to own her beauty and to feel her body is her own and doesn’t belong to those who look upon it. She finds solace in shibari, an erotic art that allows her to reclaim her sexual and physical identity. To her, this is empowering and feminist; to her mother (Tamsin Shasha), who discovers this through Instagram, this is overt, hypersexualised and bordering on pornography.

Aerialism requires the characters to have complete and utter control of their bodies and the blend of performance styles is utilised to forceful effect throughout. Rope scenes appear both effortless and exhausting; much like the seemingly unsolvable conflict at hand, and the chemistry between the two is transfixing and intimate as they work to iterate their perspectives on femininity. (Becki Crossley) ■ Summerhall , until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 6pm, £13 (£11).

Compassionate exploration of contemporary problems

94 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

Drama about four murderous nurses

Feminist ideas collide and combine in intimate aerialist piece

IT’S THE DEVLIN SISTERS VERSUS THE WORLD

Traverse Theatre (Scotland) is a Scottish Charity (SC002368).

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7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 95

'Tour-de-force'

— BroadwayBaby.com

'Deserves to sell out' — ScotsGay

'MUST-SEE'

— London Evening Standard

IVANKAPLAY A dazzling meditation on heroism

by Charles Gershman.

Directed by Rachel Dart.

PRAISE IS FOR PREVIOUS WORk.

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1.50PM (2.50PM) | 01 - 25 AUGUST 2019 96 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

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PHOTO: CAM HARLE PHOTOGRAPHY

BRANDI ALEXANDER I am woman, hear me roar

FROM JUDY TO BETTE: THE STARS OF OLD HOLLYWOOD

BOBBY & AMY

Celebrating four Hollywood greats

After a five-year hiatus, Tatiana Pavela’s Brandi Alexander is back in the stand-up business and she has something not very funny to say: she was raped, and now she’s opening for her rapist.

It might not sound like the premise of a fun show, but Brandi Alexander is an outrageously funny and shocking study of the position of women under rape culture. Pavela demonstrates a masterful understanding of the art of performance, both as a comedian and as a woman: her Brandi Alexander starts off eager and manically upbeat, a smile plastered on her face as she bounces from joke to joke, her humour crude and incisive and every second edging closer to discomfort.

It’s when the anger shows, however, that Brandi Alexander really comes into its own – a tour de force of female rage that won’t play nice anymore. Pavela viciously tears apart the broad gamut of misogyny and rape culture, from the power structures inherent in the comedy world to the complete lack of repercussions for men who perpetrate rape.

Fearless and uncomfortable, it’s a show that demands to be heard. (Anahit Behrooz) ■ Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 9.45pm, £9.50-£10.50 (£8.50-£9.50).

Bittersweet look at the foot-and-mouth epidemic’s impact on rural Britain

There is a fierce feminist undercurrent in Rebecca Perry’s celebration of the lives and work of four great Hollywood women: from Bette Davis’ sardonic humour to Lucille Ball’s clowning brilliance, these women challenged the status quo of the movies and discovered power and independence through their talent and hard work. While much of the tragedy in their lives is downplayed, especially in the case of Judy Garland, and the contemporary resonance is left to cheeky asides, Perry celebrates through song and anecdote a remarkable collection of women.

The pace of the show is dynamic and relentless: sentimental rather than critical – except of those who sought to stifle the talent – it is a primer of the Golden Age of film that revives the joy inspired by these pioneers of feminism.

The musical numbers are solid and the anecdotes witty and resonant: Davis’ dry humour, Betty Hutton’s warm screen presence and Garland’s acceptance of her gay following in a time of public prejudice are all lauded. Despite the political subtext, Parry is as determined as her inspirations to entertain and delight. (Gareth K Vile) ■ Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until 26 Aug (not 7,14, 21), 7.30pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

‘The day the cows started burning, my community was changed forever’, says Emily Jenkins, writerdirector of this new two-hander, looking at the impact of the early 2000s foot-and-mouth outbreak through the eyes of two teens.

Bobby (Will Howard) and Amy (Kimberley Jarvis) are both outcasts in their sleepy Cotswold town; Bobby can’t seem to work out social interactions, and Amy has turned inward after the death of her father. When they bond helping out the village farmer, life becomes a little easier as a pair. Soon foot-and-mouth disease rears its ugly head and the community is torn apart.

With the colourful mix of village characters portrayed by Howard and Jarvis, the dexterity at which they switch from the likes of the chippy owner to vapid school bullies is slick and charming.

The poignancy of the piece is in the quiet ways the epidemic impacted rural communities and the fact that such harrowing consequences have not yet made it into the widespread cultural consciousness.

It’s a bittersweet ode to the forgotten voices who were drowned out in the wake of a national catastrophe. (Katharine Gemmell) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 12), 12.45pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).

PHOTO: PAMELA RAITH

RIPPED

A taboo-breaking one-man show about male-rape What is it to be a ‘real man’? What are the obstacles to being comfortable with your own sexuality, and how can you reconstruct a sense of self which has been damaged by a violent sexual act?

Ripped is a play looking to explore the taboo subject of male rape.

Written by and starring Alex Gwyther, Ripped takes no prisoners in its unswerving efforts to portray an unpleasant truth. Ninety-six percent of male rape goes unreported, according to Gwyther, and his show, directed by Max Lindsay, attempts to suggest why. Jack (Gwyther) sits watching Rambo movies with a friend; whatever brutality he encounters, Rambo doesn’t flinch, Rambo doesn’t bleed. From Jack’s point of view, the stoic quality of the Sylvester Stallone character is something to look up to.

Jack has a secret to hide, something that no amount of male camaraderie, manipulative sexual encounters and snorted lines of white powder can delete. Eventually, the past catches up with Jack, and he’s forced to face up to what he most fears in this challenging one-man show.

Gwyther has the knack of capturing the audience’s attention as he brings Jack to life. The weakness here is that Jack’s understanding of his situation is limited. His reaction to his trauma is presented in binary terms: he’s either a victim or an aggressor.

There are no grey areas here; he acts out in a physically and emotionally violent way, and he’s caught in a negative cycle. How that cycle might be broken or even addressed isn’t clear.

There’s a lot of pain in Ripped, but there’s also a lack of humanity that might illuminate Jack’s problems. Gwyther has run a successful Kickstarter campaign to put this brave play on and, based on these results, he’s not far from a breakthrough show about this distressing but undeniably important subject.

(Eddie Harrison) ■ Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 12), 1pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 97

F EST I VA L T H E AT RE | Reviews at a Glance

REVIEWS AT A GL ANCE 8:8 Inspired by the decision, approved by Swiss voters, to expel foreign visitors convicted of crimes, this is a deceptively slight work, whose 25-minute length belies the huge impact of what it addresses. In the compassion and connection that 8:8 generates, it feels like vital theatre for troubled times. (David Kettle) Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), times vary, £8.

ANE CITY In an era of extraordinary female coming-of-20s stories, Ane City does not say anything new, and the warmth and momentum that carries the play through becomes unravelled in its inwardly polemic denouement. Both love letter and hate mail to the city that spawned it, it’s an authentic reflection of contemporary Scotland. (Anahit Behrooz) Assembly Roxy, until 26 Aug, 2.20pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).

ARGUING ON-AIR It’s hard to know where theatre starts and reality stops in this chaotic comedy.

Filled to overflowing with a raw, breathless energy, it ends up being as much about its duo of performers as it does about a third-rate outback radio station in rural Australia. (David Kettle) C viva, until 26 Aug (not 12), 4.45pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£5.50–£7.50).

BIBLE JOHN Four women who seemingly have nothing in common, discover that they share a mutual fascination with true crime.

While the structure feels rather muddy, the piece is a laudable attempt to critique a very modern compulsion.

(Katharine Gemmell) Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 13), 3.50pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).

BLOOD AND GOLD For the first five minutes, Blood and Gold threatens to be an essential Fringe performance. Mara Menzies introduces her hour of storytelling by passionately and persuasively challenging Scottish exceptionalism on the issue of racism, connecting the nation’s historical complicity with slavery and more contemporary acts of racially motivated violence.

Unfortunately, her storytelling cycle can’t maintain the link and descends into abstract reflections on good and evil. (Gareth K Vile) Scottish Storytelling Centre, until 26 Aug (not 12, 19), 2pm, £12 (£10).

THE DE NOVA SUPER Although it has many more richly resonant references, The De Nova Super has the atmosphere of Waiting 98 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

for Godot in space: the duo replace Beckett’s sharp dialogue with evocative choreography and Godot turns up in the form of a sentient computer (which does what they always do by getting freaked out by humanity and becoming tyrannical and murderous). (Gareth K Vile) Assembly George Square, until 26 Aug (not 12, 19), 3pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).

FULFILMENT What’s revealed here through unadorned testimony and drama suggests that one person’s personal comfort is usually achieved at someone else’s expense.

That’s probably true, but plays like Fulfilment are going to have to be more persuasive if their complaint is going to seem like more than sour grapes in the face of progress. (Eddie Harrison) Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 12), 3.40pm, £10–£11, (£9–£10).

IF YOU’RE FEELING SINISTER: A PLAY WITH SONGS Adapting a musical work to the stage is notoriously difficult to get right.

Luckily, Eve Nichol’s take strikes the right balance. Her writing is excellent: while Stuart Murdoch’s lyrics are well integrated into the plot. However, certain elements feel underdeveloped, and the ending screeches to an abrupt halt. (Deborah Chu) Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until 26 Aug (not 12), 3.45pm, £16.50–£15 (£15.50–£14).

ILLEGAL The topic of migration feels like a nuanced way to address the rise of nationalism and though the sum can’t quite live up to the isolated moments of drama, Jess Phillippi’s incorporation of the challenges of her own lived experience of relocating to Scotland as a single woman feels uncomfortably close.

(Adam Bloodworth) Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 12), noon, £10–£11 (£9–£10).

IVANKAPLAY Over an hour-long monologue, McLean Peterson delivers a tirelessly committed performance, mimicking Trump’s daughter’s mannerisms and intonation in a way that is impressively creepy.

She may as well actually be on stage: this show may seem narrow in outlook, but it feels expansive and constantly rich. (Adam Bloodworth) Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 14), 1.50pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).

LADYBONES While the portrayal of mental health – in this case OCD – has advanced in the last decade, the genre is now taking on a distinctive set of tropes and structures, rendering personal experience as an uncomplicated narrative through illness to redemption. Charming and quirky, with a winning performance,

PHOTO: PAULO SALUD

For full length versions of these reviews, see list.co.uk/festival

IvankaPlay

Ladybones falls too easily into a familiar and generic narrative pattern.

(Gareth K Vile) Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 12, 19), 11.25am, £9–£11 (£8–£10).

LIKE ANIMALS Peter the dolphin is used to draw upon the true case of a 1960s study undertaken by Margaret Howe Lovatt, during which she had sexual encounters with her dolphin subject. Through dreamlike ‘human’ scenes and laughter-inducing animal imitations, the show examines emotional attachment in its most oppressive form. (Becki Crossley) Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 2.15pm, £12 (£10).

LONG PIGS Dark, bloodsoaked, and amusing, Long Pigs is the ideal Edinburgh circus act. Set in a strange abattoir filled with creaking instruments and ominous shrieks, three little pigs undertake a strange task: to rid the world of every red clown nose. Part Burke and Hare gothic, part ridiculous physical theatre.

(Anahit Behrooz) Assembly Roxy, until 25 Aug (not 7, 12, 19), 7.30pm, £14–£16 (£13–£15).

LOVE (WATCHING MADNESS) Based on performer Izzy Kabban’s own experience with her mother’s bipolar disorder, SpeakUp Theatre’s one-woman show investigates the complexity of growing up with a mentally ill parent.

Despite being slightly underdeveloped, the analysis of the subject is a commendable aim. (Katharine Gemmell) Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 18), 11.35am, £10 (£8).

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DROLL When Cromwell banned theatre, it went underground into pubs and taverns, with bawdy updates of the shows like A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is a rewarding glimpse into a barely remembered form, which led directly to music hall and stand-up. But

it could do with more unbridled energy to make it compelling. (David Kettle) Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 26 Aug (not 13), 10.45am, £8–£9 (£7–£8).

NEARLY HUMAN It’s hard to see Nearly Human, from London-based progressive brass band Perhaps Contraption, as theatre.

But surrender yourself to the radiant harmonies and slick choreography, and you’ll get swept up in their abundant energy. (David Kettle) Pleasance Dome, until 26 Aug (not 13), 11.50am, £9–£12 (£8–£11).

PATHETIC FALLACY Vancouver-based performer Anita Rochon created Pathetic Fallacy as a means of examining humankind’s evolving relationship with the weather.

Rochon’s decision to absent herself implicitly points the finger at the arts community, forcing us to examine our own contribution to the current climate crisis. This is especially resonant at a festival on the Fringe’s scale. (Deborah Chu) CanadaHub @ King’s Hall, until 25 Aug, 5pm, £11 (£9).

PINK LEMONADE The narrative follows Mika, as they uncover their transmasculine identity, navigate through the micro-aggressions that come with being a person of colour, and pick apart toxic expectations of masculinity: a crafty introspective on gender, sexuality and race, that marks a triumphant Fringe debut for a dynamic young artist. (Katharine Gemmell) Assembly Roxy, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 Aug, 3.45pm, £10 (£9).

PHOENIX Phoenix is an ambitious one-man musical with a fun concept and a lot of hard work. Andy Gallo plays Ash Phoenix, a wannabe rock’n’roll star who is suddenly landed with the responsibilities of fatherhood. At times likeable, funny, and sweet, overall Phoenix doesn’t quite hit the right note.

(Anahit Behrooz) Pleasance Dome, until 26 Aug (not 13), 1.20pm, £10–£13.

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GRAYSON PERRY – JULIE COPE’S GRAND TOUR Impressive tapestries tell a story in the artist’s trademark gaudy palette

PHOTO: KATIE HYAMS AND LIVING ARCHITECTURE

There is an ecclesiastical aura to this exhibition: from the display of the poem ‘Ballad of Julie Cope’ on lectern-style stands, to Grayson Perry’s recital of it echoing around the space, and of course the large-scale tapestries that are the focus of the show. It’s an unexpected tone for such an unconventional artist to strike, but intriguingly so.

All becomes clear upon learning of Perry’s architectural project A House for Essex, which also features briefly through photographs and objects; the building was intended to function as a ‘secular chapel’ and it’s here where the tapestries were originally housed.

For Dovecot Studios’ lower, less chapel-like ceiling, they are presented on tilted plinths in order to fit in the space and, as a result, viewing is slightly obscured. But the sheer scale of the tapestries is impressive nonetheless and in deliberate contrast to their subject matter, which depicts the life of Julie Cope, a fictional everyday woman, using Perry’s signature gaudy palette and busy compositions.

Dovecot is an apt venue for them as it’s a working tapestry studio, and the exhibition provides an informative approach to the process involved in making the works.

(Arabella Bradley) ■ Dovecot Studios, until 2 Nov, £9 (£8). ●●●●●

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 99

F EST I VA L VI S UA L ART | Hitlist

Rachael Cloughton selects a handful of the best visual art to explore over the festival’s second week NIGHT WALK FOR EDINBURGH Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller have made ‘Night Walks’ for cities all over the world; they are intimate, one-on-one video walks in which the audience are guided through the city by the artists’ voice. This offering, commissioned by the Fruitmarket Gallery, takes audiences through Edinburgh’s Old Town at twilight, conjuring a parallel city where past and present seem to collide. See feature, right. Fruitmarket Gallery, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 8pm, £15. Walks start and end at The Milkman on Cockburn Street.

TRISHA BROWN: TIME, SPACE, GRAVITY Jupiter Artland’s ballroom provides an apt platform for the first major UK retrospective exhibition dedicated to this pioneering American choreographer.

Works are taken from Brown’s moving-image archive and span her 40 year career, from early

100 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

PHOTO: LYDIA HONEYBONE

ART HITLIST site-specific pieces performed across New York streets to later productions in collaboration with other ground-breaking artists, like Laurie Anderson and Robert Rauschenberg. See review, page 103. Jupiter Artland, until 29 Sep, £9 (£8).

HANNA TUULIKKI: DEER HUNTER Taking inspiration from traditional dances from around the world that have their origins in attempts to emulate the hunting and rutting behaviour of deer and stags, Tuulikki creates a playful new film: Deer Dancer. Here, Tuuliiki performs the part of several imagined historical figures, accompanied by a haunting vocal score by the artist. The beautifully crafted costumes worn in the film are also exhibited. See review, page 103. Edinburgh Printmakers, until 6 Oct, free.

GRAYSON PERRY – JULIE COPE’S GRAND TOUR Originally made for Grayson Perry’s secular chapel A House for Essex, the artist’s larger-than-life tapestries are now on tour, stopping

Hanna Tuulikki

at Dovecot for the Edinburgh Art Festival. The works are dedicated to Julie Cope, a fictional everyday woman whose ‘average life’ Perry has chosen to commemorate through this grand series of works,

deliberately juxtaposing art’s associations of status, wealth and heritage with current concerns of class and social aspiration.

See review, page 103. Dovecot Studios, until 2 Nov, £9 (£8).

Night Walk for Edinburgh | FEST I VA L VI S UA L A RT

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PHOTO: 2019. COURTESY THE ARTISTS. COMMISSIONED BY THE FRUITMARKET GALLERY. PHOTO BY CHRIS SCOTT

wa l k t h i s way Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller have been creating art walks since 1991. Susan Mansfield finds out more about their new guided journey through the Old Town

J

anet Cardiff takes a big gulp of tea and tells me she was up at 1.30am recording footsteps. She and her husband and collaborator George Bures Miller have been working all hours to finish Night Walk for Edinburgh, a one-on-one journey through the Old Town presented in partnership with the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh Art Festival and Edinburgh International Festival.

The Canadian artists have created walks for cities all over the world but have had their eye on Edinburgh since their exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery in 2008, The House of Books Has No Windows. Still the gallery’s most popular show, it presented a series of immersive installations that seemed to come alive in the viewer’s presence with a touch of that rare quality you might call magic.

In Night Walk, they are aiming for a similar frisson, but outside in the ‘real world’. Walkers follow a route through the Old Town guided by Cardiff’s voice, while watching a film the artists have made in the same locations. The immediate experience is overlaid with scenes – the ghost tour, the homeless man, the street magician – which make us question, constantly, what is ‘real’. Binaural headphones make footsteps and whispers sound like they are coming from just over our shoulder.

‘We call it physical cinema,’ says Cardiff. ‘You have headphones on and you’re watching this little screen, but as you walk around you also hear the other environment, the physical environment. You see real people and they become part of the virtual world, and the virtual world becomes part of your physical world.’

Cardiff and Bures Miller have been making walks since 1991; the first was an audio walk using cassette recorders and edited on reel-to-reel, and they have gradually grown more sophisticated as technology has developed. ‘Our first video walk used cameras with a flip-out screen. Then the camera people stopped putting headphone jacks on their machines, so that nearly put us out of a job – and then the iPod Touch came along. Technology has been feeding us over the years.’

Cardiff started out as a printmaker, Bures Miller as a painter, but both also trained in film. They wanted to push the boundaries of art, creating ‘paintings’ you could walk into, and developed the kind of hybrid practice which is common now but was rare in the early 1990s.

Night Walk for Edinburgh is the product of months of research, writing, walking and filming in the city streets with a large cast of performers and extras – sometimes at 1.30am to avoid ‘tourists and noise and drunks’.

As a printmaker, Cardiff was drawn to collage and juxtaposition. In Night Walk, she collages snippets of poetry and overtones of James Hogg, Stevenson and film noir with the fabric of the city itself. Lighted windows and back closes give glimpses into private lives – and the past is always present.

‘Really, Edinburgh was overwhelming - especially for a North American. For us to go back 900 years or something, it’s too much!’ she laughs. ‘So this is not a historical tour, it’s maybe more about how history comes in and affects us in different ways.’

It’s part psycho-geographical derive, part interactive game, part whodunnit. ‘The playful aspect is important,’ she says. ‘It’s like Simon Says, we all like to give up our power, our decision-making, for a while. I hope people have fun with it.’

More seriously, when she made her first walk in Banff, Canada, in 1991, she said she ‘had finally found a format that reflected my curiosity about how our brains work’: how one thought triggers another, how we live in different realities at the same time. And that’s even more the case today, when many of us walk around plugged into headphones and devices.

‘It’s about our sense of identity,’ Cardiff says, ‘the sense of being in the world as a person and how we become other people too. It’s a philosophical inquiry, because the only way we can know what reality is is through our senses – and our senses can be so easily fooled.’

Night Walk for Edinburgh, starts and ends at The Milkman on Cockburn Street, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), 8pm, £15.

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 101

Reviews | FEST I VA L VI S UA L A RT

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Exploration of the ideas and images that came to define Scotland The story of how tartan, bagpipes, hills and heather became the brand of Scotland is a complex one, fraught with controversy. After all, those things which were systematically suppressed in the years after Culloden were being embraced as the height of fashion in London and Edinburgh less than 100 years later – in some cases by the same aristocrats who were still clearing Highlanders from their land.

The two best-known figures in the drama loom large in this exhibition – Sir Walter Scott, who bedecked Edinburgh society in tartan for the visit of King George IV in 1822, and Queen Victoria, who inspired a generation of nobility to spend their summers at Highland shooting lodges. Other players are included, too: Ossian, for example, fake though he probably was, was revered across Europe, while Beethoven scored a setting of a song by Robert Burns as early as 1814.

Other narratives are suggested: the destruction of livelihoods for sheep; the yawning gap between rich and poor; the backdrop of the industrial revolution.

But too many of these strands are confined to easily missed touchscreen displays. However, while subtext is in danger of remaining buried, this remains an ambitious, important show. (Susan Mansfield) ■ National Museum of Scotland, until 10 Nov, £10 (£7.50–£8.50).

PHOTO: 2019 COURTESY TALBOT RICE GALLERY, THE UNVIERSITY OF EDINBURGH

PHOTO: NATIONAL GALLERIES OF SCOTLAND

WILD AND MAJESTIC: ROMANTIC VISIONS OF SCOTLAND

HANNA TUULIKKI: DEER DANCER

SAMSON YOUNG: REAL MUSIC

Glasgow-based artist and composer Hanna Tuulikki has chosen, in playful and distinctive fashion, to explore the manner in which human culture has been impacted by our relationship with deer.

Based in her interests of exploring folk tradition and ‘mimesis’ (a kind of cultural mimicry), she looks at traditional dances from Mexico, the USA and the UK – including the Scots Highland Fling – which are said to have their origins in attempts to emulate the hunting and rutting behaviour of deer and stags. Simply by looking at these historic practices, Tuulikki opens the door to other, more contemporary associations; the grunting alpha masculinity of those involved in the hunt, for example, or the environmental impact wrought by the increase of the Scottish deer population for the purpose of stalking.

Works are playful and meticulously crafted. In the front gallery, five distinctive classical-contemporary tribal costumes have been beautifully formed from disparate materials (a stag-skull headdress; a copper breastplate; tweed trousers; a ‘hobby’ stag made from a broom), and in the blacked-out centre gallery, the two-channel film of the title sees Tuulikki herself wearing the costumes as invented masculine, historical figures. These characters’ gestures and movements are beautifully matched by a score for voice which is haunting and ethereal. (David Pollock) ■ Edinburgh Printmakers, until 6 Oct, free.

Listen hard to this first UK show by Hong Kongbased composer Samson Young, and you might just hear something you’ve never heard before.

This is possibly because it doesn’t exist, just as the giant monumental His Master’s Voice-style horn that dominates the gallery seems to have been washed up like some retro-futurist steampunk dinosaur.

A siren’s call intermittently emanates from the circle of state-of-the-art speakers beneath moodenhancing lights, reflecting the wordless fanfares of ‘Possible Music #2’ (2019), a fusion of sound and vision that offers up worlds of possibilities.

Co-created with Edinburgh University's Next Generation Sound Synthesis (NESS) research group, this is as much a leap into the void as ‘Muted Situations #22: Muted Tchaikovsky’s 5th’ (2018). This 45-minute film fills the gallery wall with images of an orchestra in full flight. With their instruments silenced, this leaves only the creaks, squeaks and gasps that signify the sheer physical graft of such exertions.

It’s a routine free-jazzers and noise artists such as local heroes Usurper have been playing with for years by way of ‘disabled’ instruments. Hearing such a pure gut-level release on a grand scale like this, however, strips away the orchestra’s formalism. With fancifully titled visual scores lining the corridors upstairs, another film, ‘The world falls apart into facts’ (2019) sees the show out with a bang. (Neil Cooper) ■ Talbot Rice Gallery, until 5 Oct, free.

Exploration of our relationship with deer

A fusion of sound and vision

PHOTO: JACK MITCHELL

TRISHA BROWN: TIME, SPACE, GRAVITY First UK show of legendary choreographer’s archive

The ballroom at Jupiter Artland is the perfect place to witness the wonders of Trisha Brown. The American choreographer did so much to push the boundaries of contemporary dance right up until her death in 2017, aged 80, and this is the first UK showing of Brown’s extensive archive of filmed performances.

Depending on timing, anyone passing by in the garden outside the ballroom will either hear the loft-friendly electronics of Laurie Anderson’s ‘Long Time No See’ that accompanies 1985’s seven dancer work, ‘Set and Reset, Version 1’, or else the more classically inclined selections from Pygmalion by Jean-Philippe Rameau that go with ‘Les Yeux et l’ame’ (2011). While the former features costumes by visual artist Robert Rauschenberg, the latter – part of a 40th anniversary celebration of Brown’s work – sees eight dancers show off the work of an elder stateswoman at her peak. In both, for all the work’s seriousness, judging by the dancers’ faces, there’s clearly much fun to be had.

This attitude goes right back to the earliest short films. There’s a primal purity and child-like joy to Brown’s solo rope-play in ‘Ballet’ (1968), ‘Man Walking Down the Side of a Building’ (1970) and ‘Walking on the Wall’ (1971). These were the formative years of Trisha Brown Dance Company, when a dilapidated New York was an adventure playground for the taking.

The 16 films on show skip across the decades while photographs capture her in full flight. Audiences can witness a sense of this first-hand when Trisha Brown Dance Company visit to perform ‘In Plain Site’. This commission for the Edinburgh International Festival will see the company reconceive some of Brown’s short works outdoors against the backdrop of three of the park’s key sculptural works. It should be worth taking the leap for. (Neil Cooper) ■ Jupiter Artland, Wilkieston, until 29 Sep, £8.10 (£4.50–£7.20).

7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 103

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR PACKED FESTIVAL EVENTS PROGRAMME

EVENTS CALENDAR PHOTO: EDWARD BISHOP

DIVERSITY IN THE FRINGE MEDIA LANDSCAPE The List and Fringe Central are hosting a conversation between journalists and media professionals of colour to hear about their experiences of covering the Fringe. The panel will be hosted by The List’s editor Arusa Qureshi and features Jess Brough, PhD student, QTPOC activist, and founder of the Fringe of Colour initiative; Deborah Chu, content producer at The List and runner-up for the Allen Wright Award 2018; Rachael Young, the theatremaker behind Summerhall’s Nightclubbing and Out; and Layla-Roxanne Hill, the writer, artist and activist who is director of The Ferret. Fringe Central, 7 Aug, 11am, free.

THE LIST BY THE SEA PARTY Getting the party started at North Berwick’s Fringe by the Sea

W

e may only be a week into the festival, but some of you might already be wondering how you can get some respite from the madness of Edinburgh. That’s where Fringe by the Sea steps in, North Berwick’s multi-arts festival with an added touch of ocean spray and seaside joy. It features ten days of music, comedy, film, literature and conversations, all just over 30 minutes from Edinburgh city centre by train – less time than it would take to make your way up the Royal Mile in August.

As part of the event, The List has teamed up with Fringe by the Sea organisers to host a massive seaside shindig called The List by the Sea Party. Up-and-coming Dundonian pop star Be Charlotte, who has recently been signed to Columbia Records and is tipped for big things, plays the Lighthouse Spiegeltent on Friday 9 Aug from 8pm, while over at the Simpson & Marwick Spiegeltent from 9pm, indie legends Idlewild will be rocking out with tunes from their backcatalogue, as well as their newest album. After Idlewild’s set, you can dance the night away at the after-party with a DJ set from Eva Las Vegas.

Whatever gig you decide to go to (why not go to both?), remember to pick up your complimentary NB Gin cocktail – tokens will be available to everyone with a ticket from one of our representatives before you head in.

The List by the Sea Party, Fri 9 Aug. Be Charlotte plays the Lighthouse Spiegeltent, 8pm, £12; Idlewild play the Simpson & Marwick Spiegeltent, 9pm, £30 (includes postgig DJ set).

104 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2019

TRACEY THORN Before she became one half of acclaimed musical duo Everything but the Girl, Tracey Thorn (pictured) was just another cynical teenager living in a commuter suburb, waiting for her life to begin. The musician and writer comes to the Edinburgh International Book Festival to discuss her recent memoir Another Planet, her childhood growing up in the cul-de-sacs of the 1970s green belt and the lasting effects that environment had on her life and career. Charlotte Square Gardens, 19 Aug, 8.30pm, £12 (£10).

MUSEUM LATES: FRINGE FRIDAYS The National Museum of Scotland opens its doors once again for this adults-only, afterhours showcase of performances, comedy and music, curated from the festival madness outside by The List. Guests will be fed and watered into the late hours with plenty of bars and nibbles on hand, as well as free entrance into the NMS’ summer exhibition, Wild and Majestic: Romantic Visions of Scotland.

National Museum of Scotland, 9, 16, 23 Aug, 7.30pm, £20 (£18), nms.ac.uk

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‘It is almost impossible to impart in words the magic of a 1927 show’ THE TELEGRAPH

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9—25 August Church Hill Theatre Part of You Are Here

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