Fest issue 3

EE Fr

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inua ELLams thE 21st CEntury bEatniK With a taLE to tELL

thE uLtimatE inDEpEnDEnt FEstiVaL guiDE 18—20 august 2009

‘Hauntingly and recklessly brilliant’ Sunday Times

Pleasance Courtyard 13 TO 29 Aug 5.20pm

festcontents The Burning Question:

Adrian howells

ContaCts FEst is your FrEE guiDE to thE EDinburgh FEstiVaLs Fest will be publishing its festival guides throughout August. Pick them up from venues across Edinburgh.

pubLishEr SAM FRIEDMAN

#3 “What’s it like washing feet every day?”

The worst thing about my piece is not, contrary to popular perception, people’s stinky, sweaty, bunioned, verrucaed, Nightmare-Off-PrincesStreet feet, but the blisters that form on my hands from too much washing, rubbing and drying! Heavens to mother Betsy, I’m like some latter day medieval martyr – except, unlike St Angela of Foligno in the 13th century, who devoutly washed the feet of lepers, I’m not prepared to drink the puss and scab-ridden dirty water after, as a way of getting closer to God. I’d rather suck the rotting toes of Cardinal Winning.

Without a doubt, the best thing about my piece is the often deep and intimate connection that is forged between myself and the audienceparticipant – all within the space of 30 minutes, and both of us remaining fully

clothed. Somebody once described my one-to-one performances as “an accelerated friendship/relationship between two initial strangers.” The other simple but impactful thing which happens is a strong sense of investing in the self. It sounds very hippy and Buffy Saint Marie, perhaps, but how often do we genuinely take time out of our hectic, stressful lives and indulge in some qualitative sole soothing?

EDitoriaL

Editor Evan Beswick Deputy Editor Simon Mundy Comedy Editor Tom Hackett theatre Editor Ben Judge books Editor Ed Ballard music Editor Chris McCall

proDuCtion

Creative Director Matthew MacLeod picture Editor Jay Sheldon Web Editor Nick Eardley Office Manager Marthe Lamp Sandvik

saLEs & support

Foot-washing for the sole The Arches at St Stephen’s Aug 25th – Aug 29th, various times, £10 (£8)

sales executive Lara Moloney

to ContaCt FEst hello@festmag.co.uk 0131 651 6057 pubLishED by FEst mEDia LimitED

Registered in Scotland Registered number SC344852 rEgistErED aDDrEss 30-38 Dalmeny Street, Edinburgh EH6 8RG Every effort has been made to check the accuracy of the information in this magazine, but the publisher cannot accept liability for information which is inaccurate. Show times, prices and venues may be subject to change.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the explicit permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the printer or the publisher.

© Fest Media Limited 2009

Tom Hunt

4 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

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festcontents features Inua Ellams

»6

The Nigerian-born performance poet talks about his work, his inspiration, and why black youths in Britain need verse

Comedy 4 Kidz

» 10

There’s stand up comedy at the Fringe for children, too. Tom Hackett gets down to their level and finds there’s nothing infantile about it at all

Jon Richardson

» 14

With a successful radio show on BBC6 under his belt, the comedian cum professional grumbler has a month in Edinburgh to impress audiences with his jokes, and friends with his cooking

comedyreviews » 17 Chris Cox » 36

The unashamedly old-fashioned conjurer is a breath of fresh air

Chris Cox: Mind Over Patter Hans Teeuwen Andrew Maxwell: The Lamp Gavin Webster’s Faldarel The Oxford Imps

» 36 » 18 » 22 » 34 » 24

theatrereviews » 39

F**KED » 45

An intimate documentary of a life in downward spiral

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F**ked The Devoured Chronicles of Irania My Darling Clemmie The School for Scandal

» 45 » 41 » 52 » 43 » 60

books

» 62

Garrison Keillor James Tait Black Prize

» 62 » 65

music

» 66

Malcolm McLaren Young Fathers

» 66 » 69

listings

» 70

fest snapshot

» 98

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 5

feature inua ellams

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inua ellams feature

Voice of progress , Now one of Britain s leading performance poets, Inua Ellams has had an eventful journey from his beginnings as a mischievous schoolboy in Nigeria, he tells Simon Mundy

“J

eanette Winterson said there’s no such thing as autobiography; there’s only art and lies,” muses Inua Ellams in his soft, pensive West African lilt. “So 80 per cent is factual and 20 per cent is fictional – but it’s all based on my life.

It’s a coming-of-age story.” If 24 seems a young age to be penning one’s memoirs, the performance poet at least seems to have given The 14th Tale—his solo debut at this year’s Fringe—more thought than have the young sportsmen and singers currently cluttering the nation’s bookshelves.

Now a leading figure in London’s thriving spoken word scene, Ellams has seen all manner of changes since his birth to a middle-class Nigerian family in 1984. A boisterous African childhood lasted until the age of 11, when the increasingly dangerous political climate in Nigeria and a London job opening for his father combined to bring the family to Britain.

“Arriving here was definitely a culture shock,” Ellams recalls. “I remember the first time someone was outwardly racist towards me. I had never come across such a thing before, so I didn’t know this term. People said, ‘You shouldn’t take that,’ and I said: ‘Take

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what? What’s happened?’”

Ellams’s affectionate characterisation of this rough treatment—“just boys fooling around”—reflects an enduring love of mischief that fits with the trope of the “trickster” figure so prominent in African oral traditions. “I’m from a long line of troublemakers,” he declares in the opening line of The 14th Tale – and it was this youthful cheek and impetuosity that first drew the young Ellams into the world of literature, shortly after moving to a suburb of Dublin at 15.

“There was this beautiful guy I grew up with called Stephen Devine,” laughs Ellams. “Stephen was as argumentative as I was; we were both nerds, we both wore glasses, both vaguely loved hiphop. We would argue about the most inane things, not letting up for two hours non-stop. He was in my English, business and maths classes; we were top of the class in English. That’s when we really bonded—over language, over literature—and we spent the lesson pulling out the bawdier meanings behind Shakespeare’s lines, which always made the class laugh. Stephen always said I’d be a writer some day; and I never entertained the idea for a second. I still wanted to play basketball.

“And then in 2001 Stephen commit-

ted suicide over the summer holiday.

One day he was there, and the other day he wasn’t. To this day I’ll never know why.”

Ellams’s breath catches. “It was disastrous for me. So I began writing – I guess not so much because I had any great pain to get off my chest, as because I’d lost the person I was most argumentative with.”

Ellams continued to experiment with language over the ensuing months, without ever viewing the results as poetry. Things moved up a gear during a busy week shortly after his return to London in 2003. On a recommendation from a friend, Ellams checked out a CD by legendary stage poet Saul Williams, and was spellbound from the first line of the classic ‘Ohm’. “Late one night I pressed play...and out of the darkness came this voice,” he recalls.

There followed a slightly less transcendent poetic experience, courtesy of Channel 5: “There was this poet called Jessica Holter, reading this poem into a microphone. She was part of this group called the Punany Poets. And behind her was this woman butt naked in a bathtub, with water cascading down her back – and I thought, ‘Damn, that’s poetry!’”

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feature inua ellams

“I remember the first time someone was outwardly racist towards me. People said, ‘You shouldn’t take that,’ and I said: ‘Take what? What’s happened?’”

His interest piqued, a quick Google search had Ellams attending his first poetry event that weekend, at a bar near London’s National Portrait Gallery. “I just liked it, and I kept going there. I was so nervous the first time I read a poem, my hands were shaking,” he remembers. But the young wordsmith’s burgeoning talent was unmistakeable, and within two months he had been given a headline slot.

Ellams’s reputation and CV have since developed at a prodigious rate. With a well received collection of poems, 2005’s Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales, already under his belt, special commissions from The Times and the BBC’s Politics Show reflect the poet’s now established status as a leader in his field. Yet he’s far from a household name: while London’s performance poetry scene is blossoming, it remains stubbornly under the mainstream radar.

“In America it’s huge, it’s massive,” says Ellams. “There are prime-time shows specifically dedicated to it. Barack Obama had a spoken word and music night at the White House.” So why hasn’t

the UK shown similar enthusiasm for ‘live literature’?

“In Britain, knowledge and education was guarded, and hidden, and this was how the ruling class kept it from the people,” replies Ellams. “With more people going to university, people—especially the working classes—have got a better grasp of English. Those in power, this is something they are at odds with, because as there are more people who are more eloquent...their power is loosened, and people can control their lives more.”

It’s a somewhat rambling hypothesis; Gordon Brown’s fiercest critic would struggle to nail his government for actively undermining British stage poetry.

Ellams is far more convincing on the more pressing issue of underachievement by black boys in Britain’s inner cities – an issue that he has attempted to address, through voluntary teaching in deprived areas of London. “It’s to do with teaching about identity, about voice. A kid I was teaching yesterday – I saw him transformed over the four days I worked with him.

8 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

“I think a lot of the problems black boys go through are to do with how black men are portrayed in the media.

A generation of boys growing up with all that around them, believing black figures to be against society, backward.

At some subconscious level all of this registers, and black boys think: ‘There’s no point going to university, I’m gonna fail anyway; I’m a bad guy.’”

Ellams himself continues to dodge pigeonholes and stereotypes as deftly as one would expect of a man who lists his two greatest influences as John Keats and Mos Def, and who enjoys a successful second career in graphic art. Yet there’s no sign of existential crisis. “I love being a Nigerian in the UK,” he insists; “I love what it means. I love the battles that come with that, and my voice specifically makes sense here more than in any other part of the world.”

The 14th Tale does full justice to the richness of Ellams’s cultural heritage, with soaring Shakespearean cadences accompanying an exuberant physical presence that evokes the land of his birth. And the hours spent pondering his past appear to have given Ellams plenty to chew on where his future’s concerned.

“There’s a saying I like: ‘As soon as something hits the mainstream, it’s watered down.’ If ever I was to write for a mass audience, I’d need to use very general forms, very simple references in my work. And I’m not yet ready to do that.

“When I first began writing,” he continues, “I’d write poems so dense that only I understood what they meant. And a lot of the time I didn’t care – it was just all about my self-expression. But since then I’ve grown wiser. It’s about knowing and mastering oneself, so when you do have to show off, the blows are precise, and you’re there and in control of it.”

Introvert and show-off; literary geek and hip-hop scenester – Ellams looks set for a long career mining his rich stock of internal contradictions. “You can imagine a prehistoric man trying to describe a prehistoric sunset to his girlfriend in a cave,” he murmurs. “That was a poem, that first attempt at recreating our life, our environment, in words. There’s poetry and structure in everything, regardless of whether you see it.”

The 14th Tale Pleasance Courtyard 19-29 Aug (not 23rd), 2pm, £10

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feature comedy for kids

Doing it for the

kids , Brendon Burns loves it, Adam Hills is doing it and there s a show dedicated to it at the Fringe. Stand-up comedy for children is now serious stuff. It might even be more exciting than its grown-up counterpart, finds Tom Hackett

10 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

T

he scene: the Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Monday 10th January, 2009. A small, blond child in the front row stands on his mother’s knee, facing the crowd. He has attached to his wrist an oddly-shaped balloon animal, which he has referred to earlier as a “vampire bee.” In a deep, booming Russian accent that reverberates around the room, he addresses us. “I am smiling at you, but I want you dead.”

This disturbing vision is not taken from a piece of avant garde horror theatre, but from Comedy Club 4 Kids, a different kind of experiment that’s now been running at the Fringe and elsewhere for over four years. The club invites experienced comedians from the normal, adult circuit to step out of their comfort zone and perform standup for an audience of children, ranging in ages from about five to 13, and their parents.

The booming Russian voice in fact belongs to Australian comedian Adam Hills, who is crouched onstage behind the five year-old boy and attempting to convey his thoughts to the room. “At least I think that’s it,” says Hills, contorting his body to face the child. “What are you really thinking?” The child starts squeezing his balloon animal and shouting in an angry, staccato voice: “I’ll get you, I’ll kill you, I’ll punch your ears and punch your nose!” “Gosh, that’s even more disturbing than what I said,” laughs Hills.

The Comedy Club’s founder, comedian James Campbell, would be unsurprised by such a weird response from a child to a comedian’s question.

“In some ways you have one of the best comedy audiences you’ll ever have at our club,” he tells me. “They’re sober, they want to be there, and they have

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comedy for kids feature “Look into my eyes. You think you’re in charge? You think you’re running things?

Stare deep into my face and listen to what I am saying: I am the reason your dreams will never happen.”

the enthusiasm of being children.” But you have to expect the unexpected. “In an adult gig, if you ask the audience an open question, you kind of know what the answer’s going to be,” he admits, “because that’s what comedians do. It’s a little bit like Derren Brown, but on a less sophisticated level. And then we riff on it and it looks like we’re improvising, that’s one of the tricks. But you do that with children, and you’ve got absolutely no idea what’s coming back.”

Campbell’s second-in-command at the club, the comedian Tiernan Douieb, has gathered plenty of examples. “I live in a leek; I’ve seen a burnt baked bean; my teacher’s scared of bananas: you’ve got to be prepared for anything,” he laughs. “We got Matt Kirshen to do a gig once and one of the children shouted out: ‘Why is that your face?’ What on Earth was he meant to do with that?”

While children’s uninhibited, streamof-consciousness heckling can produce some lovely and very funny moments, it can also be genuinely scary. Douieb once compered a gig in which a “little Che Guevara” in the front row started throwing random words back at the acts, affixing the word “revolution” to the end of each one: “Dog revolution! Mobile phone revolution! Ginger revolution! Monkey revolution! Banana revolution!” The other kids started joining in until the acts couldn’t hear

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themselves speak. “It really was like a children’s revolt,” says Douieb, his eyes widening as he recalls it. On another occasion when a few too many sweets had been passed round, “one kid looked me in the eye and said, ‘I’m scared of the dinosaur of your life and my life.’ It was terrifying.”

If unpredictability is one of the key challenges in performing stand-up for kids, this challenge can sometimes be turned on its head. Brendon Burns is well-known on the adult circuit for his brutal, excoriating, PC-skirting shtick, so it will surprise some people to know that he’s regularly performed for children and gone down an absolute storm.

Burns says that his rambunctious persona is the same when he performs for kids (“I just have a bigger smile while I’m yelling!”) and so too is his fervent desire to slightly alter the way his audience sees the world.

“What I try to do is dispel the age barrier and let kids do things with their parents that they’re not allowed to do normally,” he tells me. “So I normally start off the gig by saying ‘This is something you haven’t worked out yet, but your parents are just people.’ Then I ask a kid in the front row, ‘What’s your dad’s first name?’ And he might say ‘Brian.’ And then I say: ‘Okay, just this once, you’re allowed to call your dad Brian.’ Then I’ll get him to turn to his dad, and on the count of three, shout ‘Shut up Brian, what do you know?’” He chuckles. “And the kid will get a big kick out of that.”

Burns then pushes things even further. He gets every child in the audience to turn to their parents and repeat after him, slowly and pointedly: “Look into my eyes. You think you’re in charge?

You think you’re running things? Stare deep into my face and listen to what I

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feature comedy for kids

This being a roomful of children, many of them have smuggled in toy animals of various species, and the gig becomes a massive build-up to a “crazy animal fight”

am saying: ‘I am the reason your dreams will never happen.’” It’s a dark, subversive joke, at which “the parents howl” with laughter, says Burns. “And you know what? The kids get it. It’s a beautiful, bonding moment between parent and child as the child stares into their parent’s face and tells them a solid home truth, that they know to be true.”

In fact, Campbell’s impetus to start the project came partly from a desire to expose kids to the unconstrained environment of a comedy club, where taboos can be broken. He was inspired in this by Adam Hills, who in an adult show several years ago talked about trying to get into Disneyland and have his photograph taken with Mickey Mouse, a privilege allegedly not granted disabled people (Hills has only one leg).

“Apparently it blows the myth that Disney can make all your dreams come true,” says Campbell. “Now that’s hideous and slightly scary, and I was thinking: children should be aware of this.”

But when I talk to Hills shortly before his second ever Comedy Club 4 Kids gig, he’s less concerned with challenging his audience than in being challenged by them. “Adults will laugh out of politeness,” he says, “but if kids don’t get something, they won’t laugh. So it’s possibly the most brutal audience you can find – kids are all like Geordies in that respect!” He’s also worried that some of the stuff he plans to say about encroaching fatherhood could fall apart when scrutinised by children. “It’s perfectly possible that what I thought was a poignant moment in an adult show is actually massively patronising when you try to deliver it to a whole bunch of kids.”

In the event, though, Hills has little

12 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

time for any of his prepared material. He rides the wave of random interjections from this most unpredictable of audiences, clearly having an absolute ball.

The five-year-old child, he’s decided, is threatening to take over the world with his vampire bee, and must be stopped.

This being a roomful of children, many of them have smuggled in toy animals of various species, and the gig becomes a massive build-up to a “crazy animal fight” between the bee and a host of unpromisingly fey creatures, from Lady the bunny rabbit to Snowball the cat. It is genuinely hilarious stuff, practically flooring everyone in the room with helpless laughter. “I’ve got to go and entertain some adults now,” says Hills with genuine regret as he leaves the stage to get to his next show. “It’s not half as much fun.”

The Bongo Club, 06:00PM, 06 Aug—31 Aug, £5.00–£8.00

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Aled Beswick

feature jon richardson

This guy’s

the limit Jon Richardson is a perfectionist. Or, rather, as he tells Lyle Brennan on a trip to Edinburgh's farmers’ market, a grumpy bastard

I

t’s not the easiest question to answer, but when Jon Richardson is stood before a camera, awkwardly brandishing two of your best yellow squashes, it seems a perfectly reasonable thing to ask. “What are you?” demands a puzzled greengrocer, not recognising one of the more successful acts of last year’s Fringe. Richardson is an award-winning stand-up comedian, a radio presenter for the BBC and a 26-year-old Northerner with an endless stockpile of pet peeves. Today he is also quite hungry.

As we saunter along the stalls of the Castle Terrace farmers’ market, he is piecing together a master plan. “Pie and potatoes and curly kale for lunch”, he announces, clearly satisfied with

his decision. It’s a degree of anticipation you’d expect many comedians of his age to attach to the prospect of a three-day bender, but for a man who makes no apologies for favouring an altogether more civil pace of life, a quiet meal at home is as good as it gets.

While the previous night—the first Friday of the festival—most likely saw Edinburgh sodden in expensive beer and cheap laughs, Richardson spent the evening in, entertaining fellow comics Dan Atkinson and Lloyd Langford with a bottle of wine and his hometown speciality, Lancashire Hotpot. “It’s the best way to take your mind off the show,” he explains, pausing thoughtfully before pronouncing: “I nailed it last night – perfect, really good.”

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At first I assume he’s being uncharacteristically self-assured about the strength of his current show, This Guy At Night. In fact, he’s talking about the hotpot. “It was spot-on. They didn’t seem to think so. Rude. I’ll just have to invite different people next time.”

Had he been talking about his gig, such confident self-congratulation would not have been misguided. Reviewers and audiences alike are already creating a buzz which hints towards a repeat of the success he found last year when Spatula Pad earned him the Chortle award for best breakthrough act. Now, returning with a newfound independence afforded by his first solo tour, he tackles the complexities of perfection. He insists, though, it’s not as lofty as it may sound. “Basically I get accused of moaning a lot, so I think it’s easier to say ‘I’m a perfectionist’ than it is to say ‘I’m a grumpy bastard’. That’s kind of the tack.”

Off stage, he’s slightly more subdued than the onstage persona at the Courtyard, but his self-deprecation, affability and sharp, sneering sense of humour are all genuine. As we work our way through the market, salivating and snatching free samples, he casually mocks anything that catches his eye, whether it’s a pie made with red wine and brandy (“It’s chicken, yeah, but it

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feature jon richardson will get you shitfaced”), cannabis-flavoured crisps, (“You’ll eat the crisps and then get the munchies and then you’ll eat more crisps. You’ll just be found dead”) or some more unusual meats (I get squeamish about eating cute animals. Mind you, I had venison the other day…but I though Bambi was a dick”).

While it’s not long before his trademark grumbling rears its head, the respite Edinburgh provides for Richardson suggests that here he is more at ease than usual. Working little more than an hour a day, sitting in bed watching Saturday Kitchen and spending an entire month in one city—”being a real person”, as he puts it—are all precious luxuries to a man who finds himself “lonely” and “never quite relaxed” on tour.

Today’s particular grievance is certainly reasonable, and he is hardly alone in voicing it. The sweltering temperatures experienced in Fringe venues often prove a real test for comics, and this year the plight of performers like Richardson has even made the headlines. “The heat is ridiculous in my room”, he says, as we pass a smoking griddle stacked with buffalo meat.

“They’ve got fans but they just move the hot air around, so if anything it’s just irritating. Five people had to leave yesterday. And they always walk out at the same point – when I get my penis out and start screaming.”

Anyone who’s endured a gig in one of the city’s stickier airing cupboards will appreciate Richardson’s annoyance, but as a comic whose career was founded on his OCD and harsh critical mind, it’s essentially his job to complain. To him, though, it’s more than just a shtick; it’s an entire day-to-day worldview that means he can’t help but pick faults both in himself and in those around him.

He wasn’t always like this.

“I was quite careless as a child,” he recalls; “I was messy and didn’t really do a lot.

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But now I’ve become this fastidious, overly tidy adult and I think it’s sort of a response to that. I remember once leaving a mint Feast on a computer and it melted into the thing – I look back now and I can’t believe I ever did that kind of thing.”

Despite the success and the wealth of material his beefs and compulsions have brought, Richardson evidently has something of a love-hate relationship with his inner old man, an aspect of his personality that he speaks about with a resignation that one suspects is only temporary. “I got a review the other week that said: ‘If he’s this grumpy now then heaven help us when he hits his forties.’ I think that’s probably a fair way of putting things but I’m hoping that by then I’ll relax a bit. I don’t think I could handle being like this for much longer.”

Richardson is already working on a new strategy for turning these grouchy, antisocial tendencies to his advantage: take his flaws, amp them up and mould them into the basis of a new television series. Spurred on by ambitions of a legacy that exceeds the short-lived impact of a gig, he’s already begun writing a self-parodying sitcom, though he’s vague about the chances of him actually putting it into production.

“It’s a format to get my stand-up out,” he says, “so it’s based around a young character who isn’t into going out all

the time and he’s slightly misanthropic and grumpy and compulsive about things. I just hope that there’s scope for something that doesn’t assume that everyone aged between 16 and 25 is a drug-taking tit.”

The popularity of Richardson’s Sunday morning show on BBC Radio 6 Music bodes well for his chances in TV and, by extension, in the scary world of widespread recognition. I imply that he’s already the most famous man in his current home of Swindon, but he jumps at the opportunity to remind me that both Mark Lamaar and Melinda Messenger are from the same town (“But when my breast implants go in, she is going down!”). For somebody who likes his own company, Richardson is undaunted by the possibility of fame, so long as he can overcome his own insecurities.

Remembering the aftermath of a recent slot on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, he acknowledges how the real pitfalls lie in the mind. “The day before it aired I was driving up to Leeds and there were these two guys in a car who pulled up alongside me and blasted the horn and flashed their lights and did ‘wanker’ signs. They were clearly just pricks – but the day before it airs I can know that they’re just pricks, whereas if that had been the day after, I wouldn’t want to be thinking, ‘Oh god, they’ve seen that McIntyre thing and they know who I am and they think I’m a prick.” And with that, Richardson takes his leave, taking with him the spoils of the day: a steak and ale pie and a tub of horseradish dip. The kale plan, however, is scuppered – out of season, don’t get him started. Never mind: he’s got telly to watch, a pie to eat and, quite possibly, awards to win.

Pleasance Courtyard, 08:30PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, £5.00-£11.00

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 15

festcomedy comedypicks Superclump

Boasting an excellent name and nine up-and-coming youngsters from the stand-up circuit, this troupe is one of your best bets for a bit of decent sketch comedy, judging by their glowing press both pre-Fringe and over the course of the festival so far.

The GRV, 02:40PM, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th, £2.50–£5.00

Ivan Brackenbury’s All-New Hospital Radio Show

Sammy J: 1999 » 26

Dropping the puppets and going back in time

The concept has novelty act written all over it, but Tom Binns has been getting a surprising amount of comic mileage out of his cheery DJ character for the last three years.

Put it down to a winning mix of silly and dark humour, plus a great crop of pop song-based puns.

Pleasance Courtyard, 06:40PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, £6.00–£10.50

Ava Vidal

Kevin Bridges: An Hour to Sing for Your Soul » 29 Can the young Glaswegian live up to the hype?

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Ploughing a lonely furrow in the stand-up world as one of its few black women, Vidal has so far had little success breaking through to the mainstream. But a likeable performance on McIntyre should expose her to a wider audience this year; and from what Fest has seen of her incisive, politically charged material, she’s worth checking out.

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, Various times, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, £6.00–£7.00

festcomedy Hans Teeuwen HHHHH He may be the critics’ darling, but looking around at tonight’s beer-soaked audience, it’s clear Hans Teeuwen is still a largely unknown quantity in the UK. Mistaking the ‘controversial’ tagline as code for offensive Jim Jeffries-style stand-up, hoards of 30-something ‘lads’ armed with stella have stumbled into the late night gig. They are in for an almighty shock.

Teeuwen bounces onto the stage, greets the audience, and immediately starts moaning a bizarre musical tribute to Michael Jackson.

“Wahaay,” shouts one punter, desperately trying to wrestle back the rowdy atmosphere.

But there’s no turning back.

Before anyone has the chance to process Teeuwen’s ludicrous opener, he’s skipped into the “fairy-tale forest”, a magical place where animals know right from wrong and bad from evil. Two men in front exchange puzzled glances. They take big gulps of beer and try one last time.

But it’s no use: Teeuwen is embarking on a homoerotic puppet show with his own hands, one hand forcefully taking the other from behind.

Confused and disorientated, the men follow 20 or so others who have had enough, filing out of the Udderbelly and back to a world that makes sense.

As always, there’s a bewildering array of comic ideas in Teeuwen’s set. Most work brilliantly, flirting with the line between the surreal, the absurd and the plain silly.

Yet probably the greatest triumph of the Dutchman’s comedy is the feeling of awkwardness he is able to effortlessly build and then release. Beginning a memorable skit on religion he exclaims, “I once knew a man…who was

a Jewww.” Then he stops, letting the audience digest this ominous phrase, allowing them to fret about what awful direction such material might go. Of course, the racist punchline never comes, and instead Teeuwen turns the joke on its head, using the rhythm of the word to show the stereotypes we implicitly attach. This is typical Teeuwen – suggestively political, but never preachy.

In the past some have criticised Teeuwen for being misogynistic, and if there’s

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one criticism of tonight’s performance, it’s that he tries too obviously to address this. One sketch which positions him as a sexual loser feels forced and out-of-place, and a couple of new songs fail to maintain the comic momentum.

But this is not to say that Teeuwen shies away from the issue of sex. Far from it. In a recent interview Teeuwen told me, “With the British audience you can talk about the phenomenon of sex, but if you talk about it explicitly

people shy away.” Tonight, in his gloriously timed finale, he deliberately pounces on our prudish sensibilities with a song so brilliantly explicit it would be ruining it to explain. Suffice to say, it’s the perfect end to a near-perfect routine, rounding off a show that should be another large stepping stone in Teeuwen’s attempt to conquer the UK. [Sam Friedman] Udderbelly’s Pasture, 11:35PM, multiple dates, £14.50

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festcomedy Nick Doody: Schizo HHHHH Last year, Nick Doody had a revelation. Thrown into a slump by his mother’s death, he found himself contemplating exactly how and why he does what he does. As explained in an unpromising opening disclaimer, his conclusion was this: his natural levelheadedness would never excite; he must attempt the sort of rabblerousing pigheadedness that provokes Question Time audiences into applause.

Comedy that abandons sincerity so openly risks losing its edge, but the strength of Doody’s performance makes this a worthwhile gamble. And so it begins: “This country fucking sucks.” Fists shaking, eyes popping, he spews forth

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such incredulous bile that it’s easy to forget that this is all quite calculated. His subjects (recession, expenses, a certain hairy angel, etc.) have already been devoured elsewhere, but his jowl-shaking

mock indignation and knack for ingeniously nasty analogies give an original twist to the most threadbare of standpoints. It’s not long before the spontaneous applause breaks out.

For his next trick, Doody performs an about-face: suddenly he is optimistic, sensitive, even patriotic – though he retains a healthy cynicism. It’s testament to his versatility that his bittersweet stories about deathbed humour are just as engaging as his thoughts on slaughtering the monarchy.

As it turns out, the duplicity of the title applies not only to that switch between frothing agitator and the softer, less vicious Doody, but also to his subtler shifts between affectation and frankness.

His rants may be just for show – but it’s his awareness of how satirical comedy works that places him among the smartest comedians at the Fringe. [Lyle Brennan] Pleasance Courtyard, 09:45PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th, £6.00–£12.00

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 19

festcomedy Russell Kane: Human Dressage HHHHH A self-styled “pseudo-intellectual”, Russell Kane uses his comedy primarily to explore and share his specialist subject of human interaction.

Having employed experiences gained travelling in the US and Australia to develop seminal comedic work on the differing behaviours of English speaking peoples, Kane now shifts his focus to the encroaching feminisation of British society and its implications for the young and horny British male.

Sweating like a marathon runner as he launches himself to every corner of his stage, Kane’s camp and contorted movements are enough on their own to set the audience into giggles.

Kane is what one might term a metrosexual, and so his theory that men are attempting to emulate their resurgent female quarry in order to attract a modern mate all fits rather too snugly to make much intellectual sense. But as verbose sciencey bits make way for tales of arguments with his hard-nosed East End dad and getting ‘caught’ by his nan, the overall structure of a brilliantly conceived set starts to fall into place.

Scott Agnew: Scottish Comedian of the Year 2008 HHHHH Taking one of the many awards in British comedy can leave comedians with high expectations to meet. Whilst Scottish Comedian of the Year may not be the most prestigious accolade on offer, the title of Scott Agnew’s 2009 show creates a good level of anticipation for this, his first

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Like a wailing toddler, Kane requires attention to be paid from all sectors of the audience – “apathetic row” included. What with the fairly complicated theme as well, this is no light entertainment gig: just watching this man

is reason enough for many to seek several restorative pints after the show.

It’s a busy Fringe for Kane this year, as he also performs daily in his Fakespeare comic play. He’s looking a little more fraught than usual tonight

and one can only hope that this talented writer and performer won’t find himself overstretched. [Chris Williams]

full-length Fringe show.

There is no doubt that Agnew is funny. Yet although he avoids the stereotypical persona that a number of gay comedians adopt, there is little in the way of originality in the set, apart perhaps from Agnew’s tales of friendship with Glasgow gangsters. The vast majority of the time is spent charting the past decade in the comic’s life, from his first gay experience in Newcastle to being on

the brink of suicide after too many cocaine-fuelled parties. Agnew constructs his tales ably, and wins his audience’s attention with some riveting and often shocking stories, intertwined with the 28-year-old’s comic wit.

Agnew does what he does very well—potentially offensive sketches seem less so thanks to his matter-of-fact delivery—and the audience warm to him early on, with engaging stories about coming out and the subsequent

west coast Catholic prejudice.

But the show lacks any outstanding element to set the comedian apart in a packed Fringe line-up, and he fails to do anything spectacular that would warrant the hype that built up last year. If Agnew is to reach the heights that many have tipped him for, he is going to have to raise his game. [Nick Eardley]

Pleasance Courtyard, 09:20PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, £5.00–£10.50

Underbelly, 07:50PM, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, £6.00–£10.50

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 21

festcomedy Andrew Maxwell: The Lamp HHHHH Striding out in front of a packed, sweltering house, Andrew Maxwell cuts an endearing figure. Dressed in a white, sleeveless vest and the very shortest of short shorts, he looks utterly ridiculous: like the slightly odd kid that always did gym in his underwear. But, instead of explaining himself, he shouts defiantly “I don’t know what you’re all looking at. I’m the only one here dressed for the occasion.”

The venue is, as is the case almost everywhere, boiling.

This leads Maxwell into a nice little riff on the paradoxical nature of Scottish weather, after which he brings out his Leith Walk joke – which gets a run out every Festival and, even after hearing it three times, is still very much enjoyed by this reviewer.

There’s a pleasing formula to Maxwell’s show as he

uses his crowd as a platform to launch into his material: mostly observations and stories concerning the various constituent elements of the UK, and most of it very cheeky indeed.

This is an hour of lighthearted, naughty comedy, in which Maxwell talks about the conflicting emotions that people go through when they hit their thirties: after becoming a father, Maxwell finds himself having to balance the extra burden of responsibility with the fact that he is still, at heart, a great big child.

There’s something very likable about him and his comic delivery is pitched absolutely perfectly. Which is fortunate: otherwise, there would be no way on Earth he could finish his set with the most anticlimactic dance routine going this August and still be cheered off. [Ben Judge] Pleasance Courtyard, 09:00PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th, £8.00–£15.00

Rhys Darby: It’s Rhys Darby Night HHHHH Given all the hype, it seems perhaps unnecessary to introduce Rhys Darby as Murray from Flight of the Conchords. More redundant still is the need to point out just how much hype there surrounding his Edinburgh run. But, for a while, it seems like Darby might just live up to it.

He’s introduced tonight by Bill Napier – a gruff, slightly toop park ranger from New Zealand, with some mildly threatening self-defence techniques. He chats about Rhys, and prepares the star’s set: shirt – check; comedy glasses – check. At the risk of giving the game away, it’s Darby in disguise – well, a

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hat. In fact, it’s a clever ploy, allowing Darby to talk about his newly found fame, about small-town New Zealand communities and about the conventions and expectations of a comedy show from a slight remove. He’s on secure ground here: his material is thoughtful, engaging and very funny.

Sadly, not all of his set is as thoughtful or engaging. Or as funny. Too often, jokes build up nicely and then fail to deliver a punch line. The first of two character sketches is tedious; the second, redeemed only by a calm shooshing of the audience – a gag which works only because he has the guts to draw it out for impossibly long, not because of the preceding yarn. Darby’s machine and dinosaur noises are fun but, if they are meant

to unite a disparate set, fail to do so.

It’s clear that Darby is a very skilled entertainer.

An increasingly useful comparator this year is how comics handle the seemingly regular firework volleys or jet fly-pasts which are only marginally deadened by the thin hide of the purple cow.

Loudly interrupted midway though a mock phone conversation, Darby ad libs beautifully, feigning realisation that the call to Beirut is “costing him a fortune”. But if as much care had been spent on the set as the advertising materials, this might be a more refined set altogether.

[Evan Beswick] Udderbelly’s Pasture, 10:00PM, 06 Aug—15 Aug, £15.00

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festcomedy The Oxford Imps HHHHH Wandering around Edinburgh you may catch sight of a group of buoyant young performers sporting black t-shirts, singing and dancing their way through the streets with scant regard for their bemused onlookers.

This completely unselfconscious attitude is vital in an improvised comedy act, and it has evidently helped improvised comedy group The Oxford Imps garner glowing reviews and large audiences at Edinburgh. Last year they won the Fringe sell out show accolade, and judging by the packed thre o’clock performance, getting a ticket to this year’s show will prove equally challenging.

Director and compere Joseph Morpurgo holds the show together, giving the Imps just enough structure to turn out a string of offthe-cuff sketches matching the quality of many a carefully planned show. He coaxes random, one-word suggestions from the audience, which the rest of the Imps promptly transform into scenes, songs and fullblown films and musicals.

The Imps rarely fall flat and the odd hiccup in the free-flowing act is subtly glossed over or quickly integrated into the routine.

Given the speed with which they are expected to link up one idea with another, their smoothly interlocking performance is no mean feat.

The nature of improvised

comedy means that there is no guarantee of the quality of one performance matching the standard of the next. Nonetheless, the Oxford Imps’ speedy wit and their excellent rapport with one another make it a

safe bet that they’ll be just as much of a hit this year as they were in 2008. [Jasper Jackson]

loveable range of deadbeats and deluded losers, and they make it all look far too easy with impeccable timing and an easy manner.

Throughout the show, Wilkinson and Morgan boast of their refusal to shell out much more than a few quid on props; but they employ their budget visual aids to great

effect to give their swerving humour ample context.

Sound recordings are used to break up the continuous run of sketches with amusing answer phone messages, as well as the occasional mock ad featuring some truly pointless inventions. Though neither the delivery nor the scenarios in Two Episodes of

MASH are especially out of the ordinary, Wilkinson and Morgan manage to bring a wonderfully laid-back feel to a carefully constructed and well-rehearsed show. [Jasper Jackson]

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 03:00PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, £5.00–£9.50

Two Episodes of MASH HHHHH Joe Wilkinson and Diane Morgan have fully justified the decision to bring their polished double-act back to the Fringe, with some strong new material sharing some of the darkly playful humour found in the 70s TV show that inspired its name. Two Episodes of MASH follows the classic sketch show model of placing unusual, often mythical, characters in mundane situations and average Joes in unusual contexts. They put a slightly darker spin on some of the familiar situations, however, especially when launching into interview and stag do routines which could have been run-of-the-mill in less skilled hands.

The double act succeeds where most sketch shows fail by making the audience eagerly anticipate the outcome of each skit. Morgan’s deadpan put-downs provide a perfect foil to Wilkinson’s

24 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Pleasance Courtyard, 05:45PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, £5.00–£10.50

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festcomedy Inside Alan Francis and Barnaby Power HHHHH

The Aspidistras HHHHH It’s really difficult to pinpoint what it is about The Aspidistras that makes you grieve for the comedy gold that has somehow got lost along the way. Let’s look at the facts.

Gerardine Coyne and Maria Hodson are clearly the greatest of pals with a contagious chemistry. Individually, they each display a talented knack for comic acting – in particular, Hodson is superb.

Their ideas sound like things that should be funny – the mix of the surreal and celebrity satire contain flashes of brilliance.

Penny Dreadfuls Present... The Never Man HHHHH The Penny Dreadfuls stormed last year’s Fringe. A tightly-wrought, Victorianthemed murder mystery cum comedy caper, their daft, jokes-a-minute script was a lesson in narrative comedy. But this year’s show isn’t such a tight act.

One of the joys of the Dreadfuls of yore was the excitement that, every so often, one of the trio would unleash an adlibbed gem – a bonus of their origins in improvised comedy. They do that here. They do it a lot. Far

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Most of the sketches are performed solo, with the duo coming together on the more musical numbers. Hodson’s ‘impressions’, to use the term loosely, are fantastic parodies of Tim Burton and Dan Brown – unusual choices, perhaps, but surprisingly enjoyable to see mocked.

‘Attention Song’ pulls apart the Lily Allens and Pixie Geldofs of this world in a well penned ironic tune which, like it or not, does stick in the mind, and the personification of ‘Ivy’ (“You’re so clingy”) and ‘Holly’ (“Don’t be so prickly”), two plants arguing intently, uses some great wordplay.

too often, in fact, which is a shame because the troupe’s frequent digressions, injokes and corpsing look oddly like the tools of a student group, not those of the polished pros the trio can be.

One can’t help but feel there’s an attempt here to smooth over the gaps in a somewhat weak script.

That’s not to say this isn’t an enjoyable evening.

The decision to opt for a beef-based theme gives rise to some deliciously silly language fun: “beef island”; “beefy”; “beef-leader”; “beefiest time ever”. And it’s clear that the troupe haven’t lost their knack of picking apart the silliness of certain generic expectations: “we

meet again,” growls one evil henchman. “Yes, we meet most days,” notes another.

There are some wonderfully weighted characterisations: Paul, an eight-year-old tyke played by all six-and-ahalf odd feet of Humphrey Ker is admirably surreal, providing some delightful mismatches between character and actor as the words of a man leak from the mouth of a boy. Played by a man. But when he embarks upon yet more rambling improvs with the other characters, the effect is diluted, if not completely lost. [Evan Beswick]

This is a dark and filthy sketch show, where the comic classics of sex and swearing are given sharp and bitter twists through a host of foulmouthed and foul-minded characters, in scenarios ranging from a confrontation in a betting shop to a struggling polar expedition.

Francis metamorphoses from a rough Cockney who briefly finds inner peace through Buddhism into a female clairvoyant more interested in feeling up a client than communing with the dead. Power, meanwhile, is calmly propositioned for a threesome in a Surrey golf club, and finds himself on the menu when supplies run low in the Arctic. The best routine sees two men in a south London pub seriously fantasising about a gay relationship in order to avoid the kissing and cuddling demanded from their wives after sex.

Francis and Power work well together and are clearly seasoned performers. Yet most of these sketches—or “playlets” as Power calls them—descend into cliché and expletives, while the biting humour only highlights a lack of original material and characters. A singer who comes onstage to scatter swear words through the songs of Frank Sinatra doesn’t get many laughs the first time, let alone the next two attempts.

Overall the black humour simply does not satisfy, and for all the cruder elements of the show, it’s the simple lack of energy and originality that leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. [Jess Winch]

Pleasance Courtyard, 08:30PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 15th, 22nd, £5.00–£11.50

The Stand Comedy Club II, Various times, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, £7.00–£8.00

So what’s the beef here?

It seems to lurk somewhere deep in the writing. It’s not that what the characters say doesn’t amuse – the audience smirks and occasionally titters away quite satisfactorily. But there’s a distinct lack of any punchlines, the effect being that there’s simply not a great deal to laugh at. Though we’re amused, the audience is far from being in fits. That said, there’s certainly potential for this seed to grow. [Hannah Atkinson] Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 07:00PM, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th, £5.00–£7.00

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 25

festcomedy Sammy J: 1999 HHHHH After storming last year’s Fringe with smutty puppet show Forest of Dreams, Sammy J returns with another musical comedy of a more autobiographical nature. It’s the year 1999 and Sammy J is a 15-yearold high school nerd with a penchant for Disney and a serious lack of street cred.

A wittily observed Adrian Mole for the Backstreet Boys generation, he worries about inappropriate erections and the logistics of foreplay while eagerly awaiting the opening of Toy Story 2.

The pre-millennium context yields plenty of opportunities for ironic reminiscences of a time when Britney was still a virgin, Google was a little-known

search engine, and the internet existed at the end of a phoneline. These references are ingeniously woven into the fabric of young Sammy’s life, from the poster adorning his wall to his prized

Tamagotchi. The musical is peppered with brilliantly written songs that the comic performs with gusto. These numbers are fully integrated into the plot, with witty lyrics that expand upon pre-

ments stacked against the back wall from the previous show perhaps hint at what Hibbett could achieve with a backing band and a little more clout. However, gems like ‘My Grandad is Nuts’ and ‘The Battle For Peterborough’ are well-suited to the lone troubadour and maintain the

air of lo-fi irreverence, while his enthusiastic finale is surprisingly easy to imagine as a showdown of Jerry Bruckheimer proportions.

According to Hibbett, Dinosaur Planet is like Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds “except with more dinosaurs, more jokes and a better

ceding jokes: a song entitled ‘Please Don’t Get a Boner’ that narrates Speedo-clad Sammy’s humiliation in a swimming lesson is particularly hilarious.

A soundtrack featuring classic 90s popstars underscores the context, along with an inspired collection of time-specific sound effects that add to the nostalgic humour. The gentle pace of this artfully constructed trip down memory lane makes 1999 frequently amusing rather than downright hilarious, but its time-specific jokes will particularly resonate with those who once thought curtains were an acceptable hairstyle. [Hannah Thomas] Underbelly, 06:00PM, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, £6.00–£12.00

Dinosaur Planet HHHHH One-man science fiction rock opera Dinosaur Planet is, like its fearsome protagonists, a strange animal. With obvious musical talent and inspired by a genuine love for spectacular B-movies, M.J. Hibbett sets about telling the story of the unwelcome invasion of East Anglia through the eyes of heroic IT worker Terry, armed only with an acoustic guitar. Adults will spot the scattered references to popular fiction and crack a smile, whilst kids will enjoy (in the words of the performer) the “scenes of violent evisceration” between dinosaurs with bazookas and 300ft robots.

Undoubtedly, there is difficult territory to negotiate among the recent glut of musical comedy acts and, at times, the story feels like too much for one man to carry. The unused instru-

26 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

ending”. He’s right about the first two, and the reptilian invaders don’t catch swine flu, but you’ll have to go along yourself to learn of their fate.

[Nick Lewis] Medina & Negociants, Various times, 07 Aug—15 Aug, not 11th, £7.00

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festcomedy Ashley Hames: Gary Little: He Confessions of a Was Only Jail Gay Sex Reporter HHHHH HHHHH As the television programme When a certain Robert Birkett led Ofcom into an anti-obscenity witch-hunt, he could not have envisioned where it would leave his enemy, Sin Cities documentarian Ashley Hames. Now a leper of the industry, the former host of one of TV’s most explicit accounts of sexual deviance brings his protestations to the stage. In an effort to justify getting his scrotum nailed to a plank, Hames presents an arsenal of anecdotal evidence and nauseating footage.

The formula is simple: Hames cues up an unthinkably perverted clip, the audience shudders, then he counters by detailing why he deemed it necessary to have a bottle of red wine skooshed into his colon. For a man who deals in such depravity, he comes across as remarkably pleasant. He’s clearly not a natural performer and he repeatedly stumbles over technical pitfalls, but he possesses a gawky, middle-class charm. Consequently, when he declares himself a victim – of manipulative corporate execs, his own careerism and reactionary morals – the audience’s horror almost turns to sympathy.

The flaw in Hames’s testimony is not its credibility, but its mode of presentation.

Whilst he merely flirts with intelligent discussion, he also refrains from indulging those who inevitably turn up expecting an hour of unadulterated smut. Though a pleasing mix of entertainment and degeneracy, the end result is frustratingly noncommittal to either approach. [Lyle Brennan] Pleasance Courtyard, 11:00PM, 5 Aug – 31 Aug, not 17th, £5-£12.50

Porridge surely attests, prison life can provide a pleasingly peculiar setting from which observational comedy can arise. Enforced socialising, extreme boredom and sexual deprivation all contribute to an environment where the extremes of human nature are set free, so to speak, and allowed to evolve into something both horrifying and downright fascinating.

When Gary Little begins to delve into his dark—but mercifully not danger-

ous—past, he stops just short of any truly enlightening insight, preferring instead to focus his storytelling on the lighter side of life behind bars.

His insistence on swerving the deeper issues can be frustrating to watch, as Little is clearly an intelligent and interesting man. An anecdote about a farting competition with his cellmate lasts longer than one might think conceivable. It’s only palatable thanks to Little’s considerable charm and flashes of endearing innocence.

After a fairly rocky first half hour, Little’s later anecdotes appear to be far better structured, making it

clear that he is not lacking in joke-writing talent. A lengthy tale about women who write unsolicited letters to inmates has the desired effect, its climax being extremely funny and exhibiting Little’s considerable warmth of personality.

The finale, however, misses its target and flies off track into the realms of predictable and—most frustratingly—unbelievable: a true crime for a man whose real life could provide more than enough ups and downs to fill an hour of stand-up. [Adam Knight]

amongst themselves while he gulps down a bottle of water and eats a banana. This isn’t daring anti-comedy, but the action of a cowardly and arrogant obligation-dodger, content for paying customers to sit in silence, vainly awaiting some form of entertainment.

Later, when attempting to “banter” with the crowd, he proves unable to find humour in their responses, their exchanges playing out wearily, like awkward conversations

with tenuous acquaintances.

Though the self-confessedly “ego-driven” comic’s material is often met with laughter, Toulson proves unable to mine beyond the initial polite mirth a single subject may receive, lacking the capacity for interesting turns of phrase that would best convey his few original ideas. [Lewis Porteous]

The Stand III & IV, 09:50PM, 29 Jul—30 Aug, not 10th, 17th, £5–£7.00

Luke Toulson: Too Many Last Cigarettes HHHHH Towards the climax of Too Many Last Cigarettes, a set based on an occasion in which the comic’s irresponsible behaviour caused him to arrive late for his son’s nativity play, Luke Toulson muses that he is not a bad father, but rather a good child. Judging by the content of his latest show, he has spent a great deal of time considering his proficiency in these fields, though perhaps neglected to assess his competence as a comedian.

Toulson’s performance is an astonishing exercise in eradicating whatever goodwill an audience may initially show towards him.

In a set littered with obvious observations, lazy animal whimsy and embarrassing Marlon Brando impersonations, our hero is happy to hold audiences culpable whenever his jokes prove unsuccessful, chastising them for being “weird” or suggesting that his words have left them offended rather than simply unamused. At one point he insists that they talk

28 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Pleasance Courtyard, 09:45PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, £5.00–£9.50

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festcomedy Kevin Bridges: An Hour to Sing for Your Soul HHHHH “I’ve played big venues, but fuck me!” says Bridges as he steps into a tiny performance space in front of a mere 60 giggling and expectant punters. Such has been the sea change in the 22-year-old Glaswegian’s fortunes over the few months since his stonking performance on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, that the decision to put on his first Fringe run at the Pleasance Joker Dome – little more than a glorified corridor in Edinburgh Uni’s Student Union building – now looks like an underestimate of massive, almost surreal proportions.

The unexpected demand for tickets has been such that Bridges will play the Grand at the end of this month, a space normally reserved for comic royalty.

He is thus at a strange point in his career. The hype that’s built up around him recently means that some members of the audience at this gig are confused as to why he’s playing in such a small venue (mutters to this effect are heard before he comes on stage), and while Bridges takes the situation in good humour, it’s clear that he’s ready for bigger things.

This lends an awkwardness to proceedings that is never quite overcome over the course of the hour.

Certainly, the material is all there. After five years on the circuit, Bridges has built up a wealth of very solid anecdotes and one-liners, focusing mostly on the grubbier aspects of working-class life in Glasgow and beyond.

While it’s become standard practice in comedy circles to caricature those on society’s sharper end, Bridges has the great advantage of being

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unmistakably working-class himself: when he describes Paisley as a place where “pregnant women attack rottweilers with sledgehammers,” the image has the whiff of authenticity rather than snobbery.

Bridges has some nice ideas and a sharp turn of phrase. The pretension of the Homecoming Scotland campaign is punctured by suggesting that its chosen role models, such as Sean Connery and Lulu, could be replaced by more representative Scots such as “Big Mental Davey the joiner.” Budget

Irish clothes chain Dunnes is described as “somewhere between Primark and shoplifting.” Only occasionally does Bridges resort to Jongleurs-circuit sexism or witless crudery, for cheaper laughs.

He has a self-aware and slightly vulnerable charm that make for a natural stage presence, but it’s obvious that this isn’t his best night.

The audience banter falls flat as often as it flies; and while his tendency to analyse his own performance provides some funny and endearing moments, it ends up looking

a bit underconfident and apologetic. Bridges clearly has the talent and commitment to be a very big name, and I suspect the extra boost of adrenaline will help produce something really special once he gets to the Grand. But for now, it looks as though Fringe audiences will have to settle for shows that are somewhat less remarkable than they’ve been encouraged to expect.

[Tom Hackett] Pleasance Dome, 08:45PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, £5.00–£11.00

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 29

festcomedy Matt Kirshen: Shorter than Napoleon HHHHH Here’s a fresh-faced comedian who certainly doesn’t beat around the bush. Matt Kirshen might look young, but at age 29 and eight years into the game, he has acquired a very effective stage presence that keeps his audience hanging on every word – aided by an endearingly nervous smile.

If anything, his material seems over-polished at times, but with his eager chit-chat between topics, this doesn’t matter: it’s clear that Kirshen is for real. He swears all his stories are true, and claims that life makes for the best stories.

That point seems to hold true here – some of his anecdotes leave you teary-eyed from laughing. That said, he constantly stresses the point that truth is not stranger than fiction; after all, what if

people had tails? His ability to make us picture such surreal images makes for some delightfully silly comedy.

However, it’s when Kirshen moves on to an ominous story from his backpacking days in France that he truly impresses. He amply proves that he can master the art of building dramatic tension: not a breath stirs in the audience. (He can’t pronounce the word “Bordeaux”, but that just lends edge to his own self-ironic jokes about being crap at French.) Sweet and charming despite his purported desire to be rather be rugged and manly, Kirshen’s easy charm makes for a relaxing, effortlessly amusing gig that feels more like listening to an eccentric friend wax lyrical in a bar than something you’ve paid to go and see. [Marthe Lamp Sandvik] Pleasance Courtyard, 10:20PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, £7.00–£12.00

Gerry Howell’s Incubation Hour HHHHH Gerry Howell likes facts.

He says he has seven. For example, did you know that Egypt’s pyramids aren’t triangles because you’ve got to be 3D to be a king or queen? Makes sense when you think about, but it never really crossed my mind.

I stopped recording especially innovative nonsequiturs; the last note I made, for some reason, was “thin arms”. His is observational comedy of a sort, but the world he’s observing is oddly different from the one most people inhabit. It’s as though there’s a switch in his head permanently set to “Hedberg”.

Weird mumbled pronouncement follows weird

mumbled pronouncement.

Some are just weird, but most are funny. One isn’t usually enough to elicit a proper laugh on its own, but they have a cumulative

30 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

effect, and a run of three or more weird and funny pronouncements leaves you feeling oddly detached from reality; you awaken faintly surprised at the enormous

grin you’re wearing.

However, this accounts for only about 40 minutes of Incubation Hour (the title refers to the theme of the show, which is eggs, approximately). The rest of the hour is taken up with a strange playlet, chopped into two halves. It’s a conversation an estranged couple are having about love, with Howell playing the woman’s part in the first segment, the man’s in the second. Relying too much on Howell’s own weird, mumbled commentary—“for good actin’, the secret is, maybe, wearin’ a jacket”—this part of the show is only occasionally funny. At 60 minutes, this egg is a little over-incubated. [Ed Ballard] Underbelly, 05:15PM, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th, £6.00–£10.00

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festcomedy MATT GREEn: truth & pLEasurE HHHHH

ROSS LEE: nOT A LOT OF SEx, LIES anD ViDEotapE HHHHH

By his own admission, Matt Green is not the coolest of cats. His baby face sets alarm bells ringing for barmen everywhere (he’s 30), he enjoys blind date features in free newspapers (he’s 30), and he is constantly itching for a new protractor during the backto-school season (he’s 30). His stand-up style stems very much from this lack of cool: he is part of the newly popular breed of skittish spectators, the modern-day purveyors of observational comedy. Green’s show highlights the good and bad points of this brand.

He is a likeable chap and confidently performs material relating to his lack of confidence. As the show’s title Truth & Pleasure suggests, it is a relatively light affair all round. There is nothing groundbreaking or dangerous here, which is perhaps a good thing. Green is at his weakest when he touches upon current affairs – he has a few wry variations on a theme lined up, but after months of hearing the phrase “credit crunch” and its attendant gags, literally munching on hard cash can seem a nicer prospect than sitting through them again.

But Green is in his element when discussing the crazy goings-on of everyday life.

Whether the subject is ratkicking or ruler-shattering, he tells these anecdotes with more noticeable zeal – enthusiasm which rubs off on his audience. A real highlight is his rap finale, which allows Green to be both whimsical and philosophical, a balance which is struck nimbly during most of this pleasantly diverting show. [Jennifer Blyth]

For 15 years, Ross Lee has been trying to make it big in television. As a child, he filmed himself in his garden, dressed in a wig, squirting fake blood on his face and neck. In adolescence he claimed that he was planning to roller-skate around the world, and a local news channel ran a segment about his endeavour. More recently there has been a slew of midprofile, strange work in the British media. The creative force behind the children’s TV programmes Chute and Ghoulies, Lee has managed to sell bafflingly peculiar shows, with a mixture of dark imagery and jokes for toddlers, to the BBC. It is the infantile, oddly macabre quality of Lee’s stage show that makes it terribly watchable. He looks like a sick man—emaciated, pale, wearing a tie and a belt adorned with skulls—but is ebullient and filled with a grotesque zeal. Lee remains an outsider in the TV industry, and his perfor-

Pleasance Courtyard, 07:15PM, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, £5.00–£10.00

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PHILBERTO: phiLbErto’s animaL HHHHH This show charts one man’s rise from a dull Portuguese fishing village to the heights of TV stardom after reaching the final of reality show Live On The Floor For A Month.

Philberto bounds on stage like a hyperactive child and proceeds to high-five audience members and kiss one man’s shaved head. There follows some general preamble about London before a rap number about escalators on the tube, after which he professes his love for “big asses”, and intro-

mance speaks of a genuinely desperate struggle to make a living from appearing on the small screen. The set is peppered with short clips from his life behind the lens, shown on a screen behind him. Whether interviewing Alice Cooper or assaulting a barber in a candid camera scene, Lee has an awkward, perverse presence.

Although difficult

to watch, this show is a fascinating glimpse at the strange course of one man’s life. The steady flow of video clips builds to an uncanny crescendo: a one-man aria full of tragedy and the very blackest humour. [Frank Lazarski]

duces his deaf mute brother Umberto.

If it all sounds rather shambolic and senseless, that’s because it is. It’s a style that might work for some comedians, but Philberto lacks the charm and wit to pull it off. Soon two audience members get up to leave.

Philberto desperately tries to deliver a biting put-down, but only manages a weak “see ya.” Five minutes later he returns to the matter, clearly unable to let it go, referring to the deserters as “fat Scottish women.”

This is the moment in which Philberto assures his rating goes no higher than the

one solitary star at the top of this review, surely the performance equivalent of getting a mark for writing your name on the exam paper. Only his fairly impressive Glaswegian impression at the close offers some chance of redemption for Philberto, but it’s too late.

He may argue that “you don’t get it,” but that would require the support of a show complex enough to have something to ‘get’; Philberto’s Animal, however, is merely cheap jokes and very, very few laughs.

[Andrew Chadwick]

Pleasance Courtyard, 07:00PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, £5.00–£12.50

Pleasance Courtyard, 09:30PM, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th, £5.00–£9.50

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 33

festcomedy Gavin Webster’s Faldarel HHHHH Upon completing his hourlong set, Gavin Webster, for no other reason than that he’s a nice chap, stands at the exit of the venue and hands out free bread to the departing audience. “Get yer free bread!” he exclaims. “It’s good bread this is.” He sounds like a Geordie Oxfam worker, divvying out food parcels to impoverished festivalgoers. And having since made several sandwiches with it, this writer is happy to confirm that it was indeed good bread.

This was not part of Webster’s show. During the preceding hour there was no mention of the forthcoming giveaway. Instead, he talks a lot about Geordies being, for the most part, goodhumoured, well-intentioned people who nonetheless like to stick to the rules. “I like a

bit of fun,” Webster admits, “but there’s a limit! Imagine Paul Gascoigne raised by Methodist parents. That’s me.” By extension, he theorises Geordies would have made excellent Nazis. “I don’t like that boy Hitler, but he’s the boss ye kna?”

Part surrealist, part tra-

ditional stand-up, Webster delivers a well-written, cannily observed set that is big on laughs and keeps the audience gripped throughout. He veers off on tangents at exactly the right time, and always knows when it’s time to crack another joke. “A friend said to me, ‘Gavin, do

The Bodega Brothers: Afternoon Delight HHHHH One of the Bodega Brothers’ songs, ‘I Don’t Want No Cubs’, is about how they’ve got no time for guys who wear badges on their shirt and neckerchiefs fastened with woggles. Like most of this musical duo’s offerings, it’s gently amusing without eliciting much more than titters from the audience. But after they bring up the boy scouts, it occurs to me that there’s something more than a little earnest and Akela-ish about the boys themselves.

They are winningly disguised as cheerful victims of the credit crunch, two twenty-something idlers who wear pyjamas in the afternoon. They sit around

drinking tea in their living room of a set and occasionally pick up their acoustic guitars. But they’re a bit too clean, a bit too nice and posh to pull off the slacker thing.

34 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Their jaunty numbers have the jollity of campfire songs.

The lyrics are witty, with a few exceptions (‘The Dinosaurs Were Gay’ in particular is a tedious knees-

you like pastiche?’ And I said ‘Aye, and I like sausage rolls as well.” A very funny comic, Webster is certainly earning his crust at this year’s Fringe.

[Chris McCall] The Stand Comedy Club II, Various times, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, £7.00–£8.00

up at gunpoint), and there’s no doubting the enthusiasm or the musical chops of the Brothers, both of whom are also starring in the awardwinning musical Barbershopera. The musical touchstones are all 90s and groanworthy, with nods to Shaggy and (shudder) ‘The Thong Song’ as well as TLC; but other offerings are more original, such as a weird number about nature documentaries, which concludes with a pod of supercilious dolphins taunting a lonely great white shark. Occasionally an inspired rhyme elicits a real guffaw. It’s all nice enough, just don’t go in expecting to discover the new Flight of the Conchords. [Ed Ballard] Pleasance Courtyard, 03:15PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th, £5.00–£10.00

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festcomedy Chris Cox: Mind Over Patter HHHHH It seems something of an injustice to see Chris Cox wedged in the “comedy” category, but wedge him we must. Mind Over Patter is poles apart from the countless stand-ups and comedy troupes that litter the rest of the Fringe brochure. Cox’s show bears more similarity to the conjurers and mindreaders of Victorian England.

He adds a modern twist, by cheerfully informing us that none of what he does is magic or psychic, merely impressive psychology tricks and subtle manipulation of the audience’s perception.

Happily, he keeps everyone at a tantalising arm’s length from actually knowing how he does it.

Though a sizeable chunk of Cox’s jokes consist of crap wordplay on his surname (Cox = cocks, geddit?), this doesn’t detract from his high-energy, consistently engaging stage manner. It’s

impossible to elaborate on the tricks without giving everything away, but rest assured that they are well worth tolerating his schoolboy humour for. It’s unashamedly old-fashioned, family entertainment and it requires enthusiastic audience participation.

And yet, amidst so much gnarled, cynical stand-up and tediously pretentious theatre, Mind Over Patter is a surprisingly enjoyable breath of fresh air.

As the audience jostle their way out, a considerably nervier Cox is agitating at the entrance. It is, he admits, the hardest night he’s ever had. It’s not unlike the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the curtain is drawn back to reveal an ordinary man pulling the levers. With Cox’s consummate professionalism however, the curtain remains—for the most part— firmly in place. [Fern Brady] Pleasance Dome, 08:30PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, £5.00–£12.50

Felicity Ward’s Ugly As A Child Variety Show HHHHH Felicity Ward’s latest show is all about herself. Far from egotistical, however, it is a self-deprecating look at her upbringing and all the things that make her a little weird. A bit like an Australian Maria Bamford, she carries the show with energetic and at times frantic power, peppered with voices and personas from her experiences.

The richest humour comes from stories about Ward’s cheap but cheerful childhood, as she describes memories that range from cringeworthy to simply absurd. Monologues about still

being single and insecure about it (a tired subject for any comedian) are, happily, kept short. Ward’s show title implies a bit of variety, which we do get in the form of two songs—I would

36 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

have enjoyed more, as she is a talented singer—and an audience participation trivia game. These interludes do much to break up the manic energy of the rest of the show.

For the most part, Ward gets the balance just right – audience participation that isn’t too embarrassing, swearing that isn’t too crass, a good mix of material and a wonderful stage presence. However, it takes a while for her to build into a solidly funny show.

Additionally, some jokes feel a bit overworn: sing-songing one or two punclines in a silly voice is funny, but after the sixth or seventh it does get tired. However, Ward is well worth seeing – it’s up to the audience to decide if they’re laughing at her or with her, but they will definitely be laughing. [Colleen Patterson] Gilded Balloon Teviot, 09:15PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, £5.00–£10.00

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TEATRO DEI BORGIA, ITACA

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festtheatre theatrepicks Optimism

One of the key productions at the International Festival, Optimism tells the story of Voltaire’s Candide. Starring Perrier-winning Aussie comic Frank Woodley and featuring a mishmash of pop music, dancing girls and classical literature this is certainly not, by absolutely any means, a staid, earnestly high-brow production. An often jarring, strangely intoxicating show, Fest saw this on its opening night and hasn’t quite worked out what to make of it.

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Various times, 15 Aug—17 Aug, From £10

Controlled Falling Project » 58 Heady concoction of fantasy and acrobatics

The Trial

Already heralded as a stupendous interpretation of the Franz Kafka classic, The Trial blurs the boundaries between audience and performer unlike almost any other Fringe production. A disorientating work, the audience is every bit as much a part of the action as the performers. This step into the bureaucratic nightmare world of Josef K is certainly one for the brave at heart. You have been warned.

C Soco, 11:20PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, £9.50–£11.50

Orphans

My Darling Clemmie » 43

Surprisingly touching look at the man behind Churchill’s legend

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From hard-hitting playwright Dennis Kelly comes a tale of comfortable family life shattered when a woman’s brother turns up at her home, covered in blood. A winner in the first round of The Scotsman’s Fringe First awards, this captivating psychological thriller fully justifies Kelly’s decision to return to theatre after a foray into TV comedy.

Traverse Theatre, Various times, multiple dates, £11.00–£18.00

festtheatre Stuck in a Rut HHHHH This production would be more satisfying if it didn’t set out to make a point. A Guardian quotation lamenting the bleak prospects of the “New Labour generation” dominates the front of the programme, setting the scene for an angry indictment of the lot of thousands of graduates facing long-term unemployment. Yet hopes of a coherent argument are dashed by a clumsy script that too often flits, confusingly and apparently arbitrarily, among a bewildering array of scenes of youthful decadence.

In a sense, this disjointed text suits a company overflowing with ideas and enthusiasm. Their high-octane performance is at times a joy to watch, as cast members charge on and off stage to tell the story of Lauren (Sophie Cook), an English student and aspiring novelist who struggles to find work on leaving university. There are plenty of incisive vignettes: the look on the Jobcentre worker’s face at Lauren’s glib pronouncement that “I’ve got a degree!”; the icy pride of a newly employed girl

RE___ HHHHH Two historical figures become inexplicably intertwined in Freddy Syborn’s impenetrable RE___. Part biography, part fantastical reconstruction, the play takes as its inspiration the lives of Rev. Harold Davidson, a war veteran and priest known as the “prostitute’s padre”, and Nebuchadnezzar, the infamous Babylonian ruler who conquered Judah and Jerusalem.

Though these figures are never fully represented, they

towards a jobless old friend; the feverish shopping trip on loan day.

But too many scenes fail to ring true. The play’s tendency toward exaggeration (few students would forcibly stuff Pro Plus down a friend’s throat) undermines the stark

power of its central theme – a theme abandoned at the close, when a red herring love plot culminates with an airport scene shamelessly nabbed from the Richard Curtis canon. The sheer energy of the cast, along with some inventive direct-

ing, ensures this is enjoyable throughout – but one longs to see them working with a stronger script. [Simon Mundy]

find expression through the speech and actions of central characters Amy, Frank and Dominic. It’s a confusing premise upon which to base a play, and one that Syborn ultimately fails to clarify in this ambitiously experimental piece of theatre.

The opening scene depicts a “call and win” TV gameshow presented by the glamorous Amy, in which caged callers compete to win cash prizes by guessing the correct word beginning with the letters, “re-”. This scene recurs throughout the play as the contestants and their

suggestions become increasingly bizarre. It’s an effective opening but the relevance of the scene remains opaque throughout the play.

Susie Chrystak, David Isaacs and Adam Lawrence give energetic performances, yet the actors fail to create sufficiently developed characters. Syborn’s deliberately experimental script is largely to blame: incoherent monologues mask the characters’ motives, while chaotic twists render the dialogue bewildering.

An explanatory note distributed at the beginning

of the show explains how the play developed from a simple biography of Davidson to (among other things) an exploration of “the distance between not only yourself and another—every other— but yourself and your self” and a study of the way we “fill our mouths with fiction to fight the distance we feel from ourselves.”

This reviewer remains confounded. [Hannah Thomas]

40 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Underbelly, 02:00PM, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, £6.00–£10.50

Gilded Balloon, 01:00PM, 05 Aug – 31 Aug, not 17th, 24th, £5.00-£8.00

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festtheatre The Devoured HHHHH “Run from the beast, run from the beast, run from the beast…”

As the audience enters the room, Badac Theatre Company’s Steve Lambert is running on the spot, dressed in a torn and faded prisoner’s frock and staring wide-eyed into the spotlight above. With a coarse voice he is chanting “run from the beast,” the beast of Nazi oppression. As the lights go down we are on the cusp of the Holocaust.

Audiences and critics will divide sharply into two camps over this vicious tour-de-force as they most vociferously did over Badac’s 2008 offering. The Factory was a highly billed situational theatre piece that turned a part of the Pleasance into a network of Auswitz gas chambers.

Badac Theatre Company shaved their heads, armed themselves with bats and bile, and invited audiences on an authentic tour of Jewish persecution inside. Here, the scope is narrowed to a oneman affair and a small venue with seats.

The first camp will admire Lambert for his wild and reckless energy as he runs, shouts, spits and sweats without a single moment’s respite as the Jewish ghost he incarnates flees in abject terror from the beast. The performance is a single, unbroken climax, an unflinching ode to derangement and dehumanisation.

“Laughter and gunshots, laughter and gunshots, laughter and fucking gunshots” - short, unequivocal descriptions that spray out with his spit like machine gun fire, volley after volley after volley. “Constant, insane, fucking noise, constant, insane, fucking

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noise”- no time for reflection, no room for reason, just an agonisingly long, visceral imagining of what it might have been like inside the head of a Holocaust victim as the world around him collapsed.

The second camp will see Badac’s unrelenting evocations of torture and terror as an obscene and distasteful orgy of aggression. There’s not a single moment of lyricism or melancholy or contemplation. The story is quite unashamedly one-layer deep and excessive in its brutality to the point of absurdity.

In one segment, Lambert describes the beast armed with barbed bats attacking fellow prisoners in

his concentration camp, getting closer and ever closer as victims fall limp to the ground around him. A chant is repeated 20 times in a horrific musical frenzy, a maddening factory-line cacophony: “Jewish cunt.

Rips the flesh. They scream.

Nearer.” It’s pornographically simple, and worse still, it’s easy to imagine that Badac are cheaply exploiting one of the most sensitive of modern historical subjects for dramatic effect.

As a machine running out of power and coming to a grinding halt, The Devoured eventually just stops, and as a ghost phasing out of existence Steven Lambert just turns around

and quietly disappears through the curtains. By this point his prisoner’s frock has changed colour and is weighing heavily on his shoulders – it has been through a lot and absorbed an inordinate amount of Lambert’s sweat, in the most intensely energetic of monologues. It’s a striking reminder of the enormous commitment this actor has made towards Badac’s principles in a production which—notwithstanding difficult moral questions— undoubtedly packs a punch.

[Junta Sekimori] Pleasance Courtyard, 01:45PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th, £5.00–£9.00

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 41

festtheatre The Gravediggers HHHHH

Line Kings/All White Now! HHHHH

There is something very English about mixing the humour of day-to-day rural life with the morbidity of burying the dead, and it provides pretty solid material.

The Gravediggers embraces this peculiarly English humour with a storyline that revolves around the trials and tribulations of three gravediggers. Each takes on a familiar role: the gruff gaffer with the heart of gold; the mischievous but sensitive youngster; and the downright crazy, unintelligible old timer. Ir’s a bit like Last of the Summer Wine, but with more shovels.

The young cast don’t deliver the most polished performances, but they do apply themselves with obvious glee. The gravediggers are well fleshed out by the three leads, and they share a comic timing that helps mask the occasional prop malfunction.

The production is hung on a clever comic script that pushes all the right well-worn buttons. Awkward romance, confused coppers and funny accents may be the standard fare of pastoral comedy, but the audience still laps up the absurd behaviour and snappy banter. The Gravediggers’ take on rural English life rarely deviates from the mould cast by countless sitcoms, but it manages to pull the whole thing off with enough aplomb to keep an audience more than happy. As a gently morbid comedy among the swathes of desperately right-on Fringe productions, it strikes a comforting note among all the doom and gloom. [Jasper Jackson]

If you are currently carting small children around Edinburgh it is likely that you have become accustomed to enduring the tedium of “family-friendly” shows.

These shows can be painful affairs that leave a sour taste in the mouth and a profound sadness for the plight of those involved; they can also be genuinely delightful, offering a welcome distraction for tots with insatiable energy levels.

Line Kings fall somewhere in-between, often rising to points of relatively amusing entertainment, while never veering far from a well-earned groan as the audience falls foul of yet another pun(ch) line. The show is structured around poetry, or rather simple rhyming, presenting a “wonderful lyrical journey” that goes nowhere, but ultimately satisfies the young’uns for an hour. The duo never tire in their admirable attempt to exhaust their audience,

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Various times, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd, £6.00

The Unthinkable HHHHH The Unthinkable’s bleak style and basic premise bring to mind dystopian visions of the future rooted in popular culture, from Orwell’s genredefining 1984 to Hollywood fight-fest Equilibrium. What is obvious from the production’s attempt at conjuring such a world is that it is easier done on paper or in film than on stage.

The production draws you into a bureaucratic world where newborn babies are placed with carefully selected parents by a “New World Government” in a bid to unify a population divided by race, class, religion and sexuality. Grey uniforms and

42 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

whether through laughter (and/or groaning), direct participation, or standing them up to make them dance about. Quips like “I’m sick of doing these awful jokes”, and “bit by bit the audience took over the show”, are telling taglines that potential audience members should consider when queuing at the box office.

The Line Kings are on the cusp of providing a great kids’ show, but are currently just missing the mark with a

performance that dips more often that it rises. Some attention to pacing and a re-evaluation of their own view of the jokes could lead to a slicker performance, and perhaps given time the show will improve accordingly. Despite, these faults the show is undoubtedly an ample means of quelling the infant horde before lunch time. [Paddy Loughman]

ever-present government instructions hammer home the totalitarian theme, but this surprisingly complex play comes with an uncomfortable twist; only an elite class of the physically impaired are allowed to keep their own children.

Director Peter Darney’s bravery in bringing such a challenging political production to the Fringe is praiseworthy, but his extensive background in radio seems to permeate the play and The Unthinkable often feels as if it would be more suited to a different format. Much of its action and scenery seem almost irrelevant to the moral drama conveyed by the dialogue between the two excellent leads.

The play is billed as a commentary on the state’s encroachment on individual lives. Yet amid all the Big Brother-style surveillance and newspeak, themes of fertility and child-rearing muscle their way into the narrative and acting, adding complexity but clouding the production’s focus.

The Unthinkable aims high and wide with an astute examination of contemporary issues through a thoroughly believable allegory, but it fails to translate its grand ambition into gripping theatre.

[Jasper Jackson]

Underbelly, 12:05PM, 06 Aug—30 Aug, £6.00–£8.50

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Various times, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd, £7.00

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festtheatre My Darling Clemmie HHHHH “Behind every great man stands a great woman.”

There are few greater men in British history than Winston Churchill – yet for many Britons two generations removed from the Second World War, Churchill can often appear a relic of Britain’s old aristocratic past, an imperialist who opposed Indian independence and who was defeated in the 1945 general election that ushered in the National Health Service.

The greatest success of My Darling Clemmie is, therefore, in humanising Britain’s great war hero; portraying Churchill as something

Stalag Happy HHHHH To the piercing cries of air raid sirens and the thundering sound of marching troops, we are welcomed to the Stalag 383, the German prisoner of war camp.

This is the real-life story of two (later to be) hugely significant British abstract artists Adrian Heath and Sir Terry Frost during their time as POWs during the Second World War. Essentially a contemporary “bromance”, this is an at times powerful portrayal of two friends and their search for beauty and creativity in the darkest of places.

This production bristles with ideas and is brought lovingly to the stage by the very accomplished duo, Edward Elks and Dan Frost (Sir Terry’s grandson). This is a play that never goes for cheaply contrived, overthe-top sentimentalism; its continued insistence upon showing a stiff-upper-lip in the face of horror and sorrow

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deeper than simply a great orator and tactician. This is the story of the man behind the office, told by his wife Clementine. It is an affectionate portrait of a sometimes shy, always vivacious personality from the perspective of a

deeply dedicated, loving wife.

There’s an honesty about My Darling Clemmie which is surprisingly touching. Such is Clementine’s palpable affection for her husband, her monologue carelessly reveals the little insecurities,

imperfections and quirks of Churchill’s personality that she has long taken for granted.

Rohan McCulloch’s nuanced performance as Clemmie Churchill captures perfectly the stiff-upperlipped stoicism and earnest innocence of an era swept away by the radical social and political movements of the 1960s. It is at times truly beautiful – and, as tragedy hits the Churchill household, it offers a moving insight into the lives of two people who left great footprints in the path of Britain’s history. [Ben Judge] Assembly @ George Street, 12:40PM, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th, £5.00–£13.00

is a strong device.

But while the relationship between Frost and Heath is respectfully, honestly and, at times, brilliantly portrayed, the play itself seems to lack focus. There are simply too many ideas buzzing around for Stalag Happy to feel cogent. In trying to depict the Stalag 383 camp beyond the story of Frost and Heath—in which theatrical productions were put on by prisoners as a means of keeping up morale—it feels as though a little too much has been taken on.

The message that the arts are empowering is there, but it feels a little muddied and incoherent as the play’s narrative is broken up.

Coupled with a rather unsatisfying conclusion, Stalag Happy seems to peter out, rather than end on the high that Elks and Frost’s performances so richly deserve. [Ben Judge] Underbelly, 01:40PM, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, £6.00–£10.00

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 43

festtheatre Little Gem HHHHH In the writing debut of Dublin actress Elaine Murphy, the audience is presented with the shared lives of three generations of women from a working class Dublin family.

They never interact. Instead, the spotlight falls on them in turn, prompting each actress to rise from her chair to deliver a short monologue while the others sit in the dark.

But despite this contrivance, which in a weaker play might rob the story of its realism, Little Gem never loses a sense of the messy, overlapping intimacy of family life. That it manages to do so is to the massive credit of both Murphy, whose script demonstrates not just a good ear for Dublin vernacular but a near-reverence for it, and the three actresses, whose performances are unfailingly on the money.

Teenager Amber (Aoife Duffin) shifts from foot to foot with slovenly charm

as she tells the story of her accidental pregnancy by “that bollix” Paul. “We hardly made a baby out of that, did we?” she says, marvelling at the unsatisfactory sex that led to the conception. Her lonely mother (Hilda Fay) is tentatively dealing with a nervous breakdown - she’s scarred from her marriage to Amber’s junkie father (another bollix). But Anita Reeves leaves the strongest impression as grandmother Kay, whose husband (not a bollix) is on the way out. At 60, she’s sexually frustrated, telling us in a hilarious vignette about a shopping trip to Ann Summers.

Entirely down-to-earth, extremely funny, sad but ultimately heartwarming, Little Gem turns the story of three cramped, limited lives into something lyrical and grand. [Ed Ballard] Traverse Theatre, Various times, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 17th, 24th, £10.00–£16.00

Your Number’s Up HHHHH An ambitious play for its allotted 55 minutes, Your Number’s Up throws the full complement of ‘yoof culture’ stereotypes at its ensemble cast.

Beginning with an apparently chance meeting over the body of a young man, the play jumps back to sketch out the characters’ relationships. They’re a spiky, swaggering bunch, liable to explode in a shower of expletives at the slightest provocation. This is an angry vision of young people in London, in which everyone is compromised along the lines of gender, class and race.

For all its compelling energy, too often the play

resorts to cacophonous din with performers competing to make themselves heard.

The scenes lurch from one bristling confrontation to another, and attempts to distill the scarce humour

44 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

into an obnoxious, misogynistic wide-boy called Fletch are unsuccessful. Yet welcome breaks do emerge with the occasional healthy skewering of the fourth wall. The characters freeze,

and a knowing monologue exposes the innards of the play, climaxing in a pleasing few minutes of crowd interaction just as that same crowd begins to check their watches.

Your Number’s Up is a frantic and energetic attempt to examine rather a lot of issues. Chance, fate, knife crime, drugs, sex, class and race are all thrown into the mix, and the message is ...what? It is difficult to divine the intentions of writers Philip Osment and Jim Pope. But despite being thematically clumsy and rather too noisy, this brisk work should engage most. [Oliver Farrimond] Assembly @ George Street, 12:00PM, 06 Aug—23 Aug, not 18th, £8.00–£9.00

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festtheatre F**ked HHHHH Things aren’t going well for F. It’s New Year’s Day, she’s penniless and “coated in the greasy film of regret” following yet another sordid sexual encounter. Paltry tips from stripping barely cover the rent so she’s resorted to paying her coke dealer in sex instead. As she clears up the night’s debris F discovers a romance penned when she was a 12-year-old brimming with high expectations of love. It plunges her back into the past, forcing her to recall the significant mornings-after that marked her transition from virgin to whore.

Penelope Skinner’s debut one-woman play is a powerful study of cause and effect that explores the gulf between a young

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woman’s idealism and the dismal reality she is forced to accept. Hilariously cynical, shockingly frank and devastatingly vulnerable, F is a brilliantly crafted character whose painful experiences ring true. A superbly natural perfor-

mance from Becci Gemmell draws the audience into F’s dysfunctional life to expose the self-loathing born of her accidental promiscuity.

Skinner’s script is exceptionally strong, peppered with wry observations and flashes of unexpected

hilarity: taken aback by a lover’s readiness to use a condom, F remarks that he “doesn’t even want to put it in a bit first.” Such childishly simplistic descriptions of lewd experiences are masterstrokes that subtly reveal F’s endearing naivety and expose the abusive behaviour she has come to regard as normal. F’s life unfolds from the present backwards.

Intrigue builds throughout the play as defining moments in F’s personal history are tantalisingly alluded to yet never fully elucidated until the very end.

An intimate documentary of a life in downward spiral, Fucked is a breathtaking example of gritty realism at its best. [Hannah Thomas] Assembly @ George St, 09:50PM, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th, £9.00–£11.00

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Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 45

festtheatre The World’s Wife HHHHH Thanks to the GCSE English syllabus, I bear a grudge against Carol Ann Duffy. My enjoyment of poetry was set back a good few years by the experience of being a bored pupil in a bored class where a bored teacher gave a boring exegesis of the “key themes” in her work. As a result, I’ve never really given our new Poet Laureate much of a chance. Happily, my opinion was changed by The World’s Wife, a dramatisation of eighteen monologues from Duffy’s collection of the same name, which tells the stories of historical and fictional figures from the perspective of their overlooked wives and partners.

There’s not much verse at the Fringe, and it’s easy to forget the power of poetry spoken aloud. Duffy’s poems put this to rights, given voice by actress Linda Marlowe (equipped with the bare mini-

mum of props: hornrimmed specs for Mrs Freud, a silk scarf for Salome). Marlowe is attuned to the poems’ music, knowing which phrases to allow to ring out like bells with “generous bronze throats”.

Occasionally Marlowe’s interpretations can be a distraction; she becomes pantomimish when playing the hunchbacked, groaning wife of Quasimodo. Worse, her accents have a distracting tendency to wander: Queen Kong, Circe and Salome all veer between the midwestern and the antipodean.

But Marlowe’s presence rarely detracts from the power of these poems, and sometimes she adds an extra dimension. In ‘The Devil’s Wife’, Duffy’s imagining of Myra Hindley’s motivation and guilt is all the more chilling with her subject represented in the flesh. [Ed Ballard] Assembly George St., 1:50PM, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th, £5.00–£12.00

Matinee HHHHH An entertaining piece of dramatic performance presented exactly at midday, Matinee more than lives up to its name. For just over an hour five performers bring a host of classic movie moments to life through physical theatre, in a cheeky nod to all the clichés of cinema.

In the opening sketch a narcissistic superhero pauses on his one-man mission to save mankind in order to rescue his love interest, who has been kidnapped by a pimpled newspaper boyturned-King Kong thanks to some home-brewed potion. In the following clips a kung fu warrior learns an important lesson from a new master, a detective seeking revenge tracks down the

elusive criminal Déjà-Vu and a young girl in New York suffers a night of the living dead.

The brilliance of the performance lies in the way the

46 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

characters and genres are so successfully recreated using just body movements and occasional dialogue. Sporting tight black leotards the actors perform the characters,

sound effects, scenery and props in a fast-paced journey through all the landmarks of Hollywood – there’s even the lion’s roar at the end of the show.

Of course, the dependence on imitation for the show to succeed means that—aside from a few light-hearted twists—this performance cannot be described as original. Towards the end it all becomes a little too easy to anticipate, with the final horror sketch descending into an uncomfortably predicable ‘Thriller’ dance. However, the imagination that has gone into the imitation makes this show a hugely enjoyable piece of afternoon entertainment. [Jess Winch] Pleasance Dome, 12:00PM, 05 Aug—26 Aug, not 17th, 24th, £5.00–£8.00

www.festmag.co.uk

festtheatre Still Breathing HHHHH

The Chair HHHHH

In 2004, a troupe of teenage boys thrilled the Fringe with an explosive hour of contemporary breakdance. Albeit carefully choreographed, the show was an obvious and deliberate crowd pleaser. Five years on and 2FaCeD Dance Company have matured, both physically and artistically.

This year’s show, Still Breathing, is a stark examination of the postmodern urban landscape, a space where our senses are constantly bombarded and there is little room to breathe. Set to a dark, industrial soundtrack, eight dancers cut through the shadowy space, effortlessly attacking the complex lifts, jumps and intricate floor routines. Fusing together backgrounds in contemporary, ballet, street and breakdance, each cast member adds their individual talent to the performance, moving together powerfully and at a relentless pace.

Moveable lighting rigs are skilfully negotiated across

Something About Others HHHHH With the average ticket price at the Festival soaring to a whopping £12, it’s not surprising that Fringe-goers are reluctant to stray outside their comfort zone. But in a bid to persuade this year’s audiences to “give dance a chance”, Dance Base has priced 10 diverse dance shows at a mere five pounds.

Nottingham Youth Dance’s Something About Others is a highlight of this programme, offering four challenging modern ballet pieces in a 45 minute show.

‘Something About Others’ is an otherworldly ensemble piece performed to Berlioz’s

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the floor space, illuminating sections of the stage and providing climbing frames for the dancers to manipulate and manoever, adding an almost sinister edge to the piece.

Although this disquieting change in tone may be appreciated by more traditional dance critics, it may come as something of a shock to the company’s army of young fans eagerly anticipating the upbeat b-boy battling of previous years.

However, as an artistic narrative, Still Breathing is an undoubtedly powerful, masculine and thoughtprovoking piece of dance.

Another showcase of the group’s ever-growing talents, it only further establishes 2Faced Dance as one of the UK’s most pioneering men’s dance companies. [Louise Black]

dramatic Symphonie Fantastique movement, ‘Dream of a Witches Sabbath’, in which four female dancers violently twist and turn into the arms of their trenchcoatclad partners, stretching as if to inhabit the space around them. This theme of special exploration is developed in ‘Frontier’, where the solo exploits of two dancers culminate in a flowing duet, and in the experimental ‘Sidewinding’, a solo piece expertly performed by Benoit Egloff. Repressed sexuality is the inspiration for ‘Out of Darkness’, an erotic ensemble piece set to pumping electronic music.

Richard Weylock and Jaime Thomson’s choreography is superb. The intricate

routines are particularly well-expressed in solos and duets performed by the company’s five leading dancers. But the standards slip when the company dances in formation, as the pairs fall slightly out of sync and some of the lifts appear strained.

Another minor gripe is the white t-shirt inexplicably worn by a dancer in ‘Out of Darkness’ that jars with the naked torsos of his fellow performers and proves a distraction.

Nevertheless this is a confident performance from an exciting company of exceptionally talented young dancers. [Hannah Thomas]

As 1940s music fills the air and flashes of light drench the dancers frozen in tableau on stage, a harrowing tale of murder, love and forgiveness begins to unfold. The Chair is a hard-hitting piece of physical theatre, expertly delivered by four dancers: a prisoner, guard, mother and girlfriend.

Together, they succeed in creating breathtaking moments of shared connection – yet it feels like the movement has been designed to fit the cramped space.

The soundtrack, with piano and strings, is cleverly composed to evoke emotion and interesting contrasts are achieved between the intense instrumental score and the playful 1940s tracks.

However, it is the performance of Nasae Evanson that really impresses – his piercing eyes full of sorrow, his melancholic interactions with his fellow dancers potent and entirely believable.

Evanson’s character has recurrent and disturbing dreams which provide an insight into his troubled childhood. White-masked characters jerk around his sleeping body and pieces of the jigsaw fit into place as the mystery surrounding his past slowly becomes clear.

The presence of the chair on stage is strong. Lit by a blue spotlight, the significance of the prop is slowly revealed and carefully linked to the movement throughout. Centred around this chair, the piece crescendos to an emotionally charged and heartbreaking finale.

As the lights go up, the four dancers tearfully accept their applause – a poignant testament to the power of their performance. [Louise Black]

Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, Various times, 05 Aug—16 Aug, not 9th,

The Zoo, 6:35PM, 07 Aug–31 Aug, £10(£7)

Zoo Southside, 04:30PM, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th, £9.00–£13.00

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 47

festtheatre Crave HHHHH Sarah Kane is a compass point in the world of edgy student theatre, and this year students from London’s Royal Holloway boldly go where many have gone before.

Crave is Kane’s penultimate play. It was premiered at the Fringe in 1998, just a few months before her suicide aged 28, and has since been obstinately reappearing in Edinburgh year after year like an angry ghost. Typically considered her most mature work, it’s an unflinching, anarchic projection of her disturbed psyche, told through the morbid mutterings of four strangers in a bar. They are the fragmented voices of one shattered mind despairing over sexual and familial rejection.

Together, they paint the portrait of a nervous breakdown.

Essentially Crave is a meaningless play, valued for its wild uniqueness and bolstered by the premium of its writer’s death. It has been staged to great effect in some triumphantly creative productions in the past and there will be more good productions in the future, but this particular one is a dud. Crave needs a thoughtful and enterprising director to interpret it in their own way and play around with it. Here, there’s no added value.

It’s a lacklustre narration of a shallow script handled by actors who look cheerfully drama-school, who look smug about putting on a Sarah Kane play, who look like they’re laughing when they grimace in Kane’s incurable agony.

Crave is a blank canvas and a blank canvas is what Royal Holloway Theatre has brought along to the Fringe. Where’s the imagination? What are they trying to achieve? [Junta Sekimori] C Soco,01:55PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, £7.00–£9.50

Noir HHHHH Noir is an ambitious re-imagining of a 1930s detective thriller told through circus performance and acrobatics.

But don’t go expecting a backdrop of grizzled Raymond Chandler-esque monologue, chain smoking wiseguys and tommy guns; Airealism theatre company pilfer just enough elements of the genre to propel the narrative toward its startling climax.

Initially, the story is hard to follow and the contrast

Honeymoon HHHHH You can get away with anything in musical theatre. That explains how Honeymoon can begin with two women, Charlotte and Sophie, sitting in their wedding dresses having just fled the altar, then, a couple of minutes and a song later, prancing about in their underwear in a bout of choreographed “wrestling”, having decided to cut all ties and leave behind their former life.

48 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

between period and contemporary music feels disorientating and anachronistic.

This becomes eminently forgivable, however, as soon as the action—of which there is plenty—begins.

The plot is as murky as in any genre classic, and as such uses murder as its pivotal event. In attempting to unpick the intricacies of a murder case, our archetypal hero encounters a number of striking, but altogether different scenes which explore themes of moral ambiguity, alienation and madness.

A highlight is the dream sequence in which the cast, clad entirely in white, manage to envelop the room in a tangible sense of calm while swinging upside-down 20ft above the stage. Noir is both a remarkable marriage of two completely different genres and an arresting visual delight, in which every performer excels. Larger arenas surely beckon. [Nick Lewis]

Charlotte and Sophie spend most of the play rationalising their actions in Charlotte’s honeymoon suite, gradually becoming more and more excited at the prospect of a life without a domineering male presence.

This growing excitement is reflected in their movements, using the whole stage to act out their fantasy through dance and song.

Some of this seems superfluous, particularly in the less dramatic sections, and the constant movement sometimes distracts from what is

being said. However, it is also used inventively, such as the short scene in which a man and a women’s underwear meet in a drawer.

The play takes a darker turn in the final scenes, and the rather overwrought ending jars slightly with what has preceded it. But Honeymoon is a charming and likeable story that mostly gets the tone just right. [Andrew Chadwick]

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 04:00PM, 05 Aug—16 Aug, not 6th, £5.00–£8.50

Bedlam Theatre, 10:30PM, 06 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd, £5.00–£6.00

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festtheatre The Assassination of Paris Hilton HHHHH Although site-specific theatre is increasingly fashionable among self-professed “boundary-pushing” theatre groups, setting a production in a toilet might seem a step too far. But, quite surprisingly, once the The Assassination of Paris Hilton gets going, the choice of venue feels less and less contrived.

Produced by Racked theatre company, a new London-based collective supported by the Old Vic, this production casts a glance at the lives of five vacuous Valley Girls as they prepare in a Hollywood nightclub restroom for the ever-so-exciting arrival of the eponymous celebrity heiress.

Ushered, with slight A N D Y

J O R D A N

trepidation, into the ladies’ room, we interrupt a particularly deranged pair of celeb-stalkers as they talk through their plan to kill Paris Hilton. She is, after all, the reason why everyone hates America (“You know, the Taleban”) and in their

own—completely idiotic— minds, the pair are doing their patriotic duty.

Although The Assassination of Paris Hilton is about as light, daft and frivolous as Fringe theatre comes, it does makes an interesting point about the brutalistic social

hierarchy of the modern, moronic Anglo Saxon world; in particular that of young women. Becoming “BFFs” with a celebrity is shown to be the all-consuming preoccupation of this gaggle of hedonistic idiots and it paints a depressingly familiar picture of female ambition — one that is increasingly borne out in reality, as many more young girls harbour the desire to become glamour models than doctors.

But don’t let me mislead you into thinking that this is clever theatre. It’s not at all.

Rather it’s a spunky, fun but ultimately rather shallow production that, at only thirty minutes in length, might struggle to justify its £10 price tag. [Ben Judge] Assembly @ George Street, Various times, 13 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, £5.00–£10.00

P R O D U C T I O N S

‘And now for something completely fantastic...‘ The Johannesburg Citizen

by Roy Smiles Directed by Michael Kingsbury

‘fiercely witty, gloriously silly and wilfully ridiculous....‘ Cape Town Argus E4 UDDERbElly PAStURE CowbARn 7 - 31 AUgUSt (not 18 AUg) 12.45 (14.05) box offiCE 0844 545 8252

www.festmag.co.uk AJP Pythonesque_98x68_festmag.indd 1

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Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 49

29 25

2 15

14

1 8

24

6 28

10

4

30

9 23

12

5

18

21 13

3 19 22

16

11 33

KEy VEnuEs 1 assembly - assembly hall Mound Place, 0131 623 3030

11 udderbelly's pasture Bristo Square, 08445 458 252

21 sweet grassmarket 61 Grassmarket, 0870 241 0136

2 Assembly - George Street 54 George Street, 0131 623 3030

12 underbelly 56 Cowgate, 08445 458 252

22 sweet teviot place Teviot Place, 0870 241 0136

3 bedlam theatre 11b Bristo Place, 0131 225 9893

13 Festival theatre Nicolson Street, 0131 529 6000

23 the grV 37 Guthrie Street, 0131 220 2987

4 The Bongo Club 37 Holyrood Road, 0131 557 2827

14 Fringe Box OfďŹ ce 180 High Street, 0131 226 0026

24 the hub Castlehill, Royal Mile, 0131 473 2000

5 C venues Chambers Street, 0845 260 1234

15 Fringe E-Ticket Tent Princes Mall, 0131 226 0000

25 The Stand Comedy Club 5 York Place, 0131 558 7272

6 C too Johnston Terrace, 0845 260 1234

16 Gilded Balloon Teviot 13 Bristo Square, 0131 622 6552

26 The Zoo 140 The Pleasance, 0131 662 6892

7 C central North Bridge, 0845 260 1234

17 Musical Theatre @ George Sq George Square, 0131 651 1292

27 Zoo Southside 117 Nicolson Street, 0131 662 6892

8 C cubed Royal Mile, 0845 260 1234

18 Pleasance Courtyard 60 Pleasance, 0131 556 6550

28 traverse theatre Lothian Road, 0131 228 1404

9 Cabaret Voltaire 36 Blair Street, 0131 225 9744

19 Pleasance Dome Bristo Square, 0131 556 6550

29 Edinburgh Playhouse Greenside Place, 0131 473 2000

10 Dance Base 14-16 Grassmarket, 0131 225 5525

20 underbelly's Hullabaloo George Square, 08445 458 252

30 underbelly’s Baby Belly Niddry St South, 0844 545 8252

20

20

27

17

Observer

fest map Key venues There are over 500 venues across Edinburgh which run festival events. Below are the ones you absolutely need to know about Underbelly

Greyfriars Kirk

Based in the cavernous former vaults of the Edinburgh Central Library, Underbelly is the youngest of the socalled big four venues. Recognised as the most self-consciously hip major venue, Underbelly is home to two bars and the late-night comedy showcase, Spank.

While hosting an active Presbyterian community, the idyllic Greyfriars Kirk has a less-than-secret dual role throughout the year as one of Edinburgh’s regular classical music venues. August continues in this vein with an extensive EIF programme.

Udderbelly

The Queen’s Hall

Easily the most physically distinctive venue in Edinburgh, Udderbelly is literally a giant, upside-down, purple cow.

With a capacity of 400, Udderbelly is the also the Underbelly family's largest performance space and regularly plays host to the biggest names in comedy.

The year-round home of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, this full-size concert hall holds host to an eclectic mix of events for the Edinburgh International Festival, Fringe and the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival throughout August.

56 Cowgate, 08445 458 252

Bristo Square, 08445 458 252

Pleasance Courtyard

60 Pleasance, 0131 556 6550

As the largest single site in Edinburgh for stand-up comedy, the Pleasance Courtyard is something of a hub for comedy enthusiasts. It's the place to discover the next big thing, to see the biggest names and to enjoy an afternoon's celebspotting in the sunshine.

Pleasance Dome

1 Bristo Square, 0131 556 6550

Situated on Bristo Square, the Pleasance Dome spends much of the year masquerading as Edinburgh University's student union. However, during August it plays host to the Pleasance's more avant garde theatre offerings. Moreover, it houses Edinburgh's famous Mosque Kitchen, the place to go for curry at all hours.

Zoo Venues

140 The Pleasance & 117 Nicolson Street 0131 662 6892

Zoo’s two venues—housing five separate performance spaces—are particularly famed for their hosting of new writing.

Modern dance and cabaret are also big here.

Medina & Negociants

45-47 Lothian Street, 0131 225 6313

Home to if.comedy newcomer nominee Mike Wozniak’s debut in 2008, Medina & Negociants are this year attempting to emulate their prior success in the newcomer market by playing host to Time Out’s Rising Star, Geroge Ryegold amongst others.

Sweet Venues

61 Grassmarket & Teviot Place 0870 241 0136

Cutting back in 2009 to 75 select shows, Sweet return to the Fringe in their Grassmarket and Edinburgh College of Art locations. Home to much small theatre and newcomer comedy, Sweet shows can be variable but some pleasant surprises are always found lurking in the programme.

The Stand Comedy Club

5 York Place, 0131 558 7272

Edinburgh’s only year-round independent comedy club, The Stand has become the venue of choice for a group of high profile comedy renegades, such as Stewart Lee and Daniel Kitson, who have shunned the glitzy commercialism of the big four’s Comedy Festival in favour of the Stand’s more intimate and authentic charm.

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86 Candlemaker Row, 08452 26 27 21

85-89 Clerk Street, 0131 668 3456

Usher Hall

Lothian Road, 0131 228 1155

One of Britain’s leading concert venues, the Usher Hall’s spectacular acoustics, its size and it’s world-famous organ made it a sorely-missed absentee from last year’s programme. But while the £25 million refurbishment won’t be fully complete, the doors will be thrown open in August for the likes of Sir Willard White and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Assembly @ George Street

54 George Street, 0131 623 3030

The former hub of the Fringe before its shift to Bristo Square, George Street is the Assembly rooms’ flagship venue.

In addition to two bars, the stylish Georgian complex continues to attract a mix of big names and hot newcomers – though which of these categories John Smeaton fits into is anyone’s guess.

C Venues

c @ Chambers Street / C too @ Johnston Terrace / C s0c0 @ Chambers Street/ C cubed @ lawnmarket / C Central @ north Bridge, 0845 260 1234

It’s probably fair to say that C Venues live up to their marketing buzz words, “vibrant, vivacious, variety.” With five locations in the centre of the city, there’s a wealth of spaces to fit a huge variety of new work, from the award-worthy to the mediocre.

Traverse Theatre

Cambridge Street, 0131 228 1404

The Traverse is the spiritual home of Fringe theatre. Opened in 1963 on the premises of a former brothel, the venue has long cultivated a reputation as Scotland's premier new writing theatre and represents one of the only 'safe bets' for audiences looking for quality at the Fringe.

Bedlam Theatre

11b Bristo Place, 0131 225 9893

Housed in an impressive neo-Gothic church, Bedlam is the oldest student-run theatre in the country. Although its Fringe programme largely consists of student productions—which can vary wildly in quality—you're likely at least to stumble across a few unpolished gems.

Gilded Balloon

13 Bristo Square, 0131 622 6552

Home of Late 'n' Live—the original and most raucous late-night comedy showcase—the Gilded Balloon, though perhaps the most diminutive of the big-four venues, still offers a staggering 70 shows a day in eight performance spaces.

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 51

festtheatre Chronicles of Irania HHHHH This one-woman show is harrowing from the outset, as a bloodcurdling intake of breath introduces a monologue from an Iranian mother attacked with acid by a jealous husband. It’s a disorienting shift in atmosphere, then, when the black-shrouded Maryam Hamidi—having narrated the opening tale lying glassyeyed on the floor—leaps up to reveal a brightly-coloured traditional costume, and proceeds to treat her audience to a masterclass in Iranian hospitality, complete with sweets and cardamom tea.

Much is made by Iranwatchers of the contrast between the country’s rich culture and the frequent brutality of the incumbent regime – a clash well evoked

by Hamidi’s confident, wonderfully expressive performance. The sheer exuberance of her attempts to recount the “history of Irania” captivates the audience, as she romps through engaging traditional legends

purportedly explaining the subordination of women.

Yet the chuckles die away as a sudden change of lighting heralds another chilling account of inhumanity.

The stark juxtaposition of this brutal oppression with the endearingly primitive reasoning behind it lays bare its sheer absurdity – notably where a magical fable warn-

Last Night Things Happened...

HHHHH This year as any other, Edinburgh is abuzz with new writers hoping that 2009 will see them break into the big time. Moreover, punters are willing to take the chance of seeing obscure and unknown shows and lord it over their obviously less cultured friends.

For new writing enthusiasts, Christopher Harrisson’s Last Night Things Happened… certainly stands its ground in terms of imagination and fresh ideas. It plays out like

52 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

ing against homosexuality is set against the anguish of a mother watching the execution of her gay son.

Perhaps the play’s most poignant element is the struggle of Hamidi’s storyteller to maintain her chirpy composure between the horrific interludes, her smile agonisingly fading as the play progresses. At last,

she gives up all pretence of contentment, tearing down the suspended ornaments and crashing to the ground in a frenzied, powerfully cathartic close to this haunting study of lost innocence.

[Simon Mundy]

a morbid dream sequence, in which Boy (Fredrick Manners) wakes up to find himself about to be sliced into pieces in a human slaughterhouse.

Winningly bewildered, Manners’ Boy sets out to find his way home, encountering surreal scenarios and eccentric characters reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. The world of literature and real life are entangled onstage as Boy meets a quite literal “character assassin” armed with a dagger, on his way to find his next victim.

Quirky and bizarre, the characters also reveal a deeper existential struggle.

A grossly fat man, admirably played by Beth Cannon, overeats to counter the tugging of a proverbial balloon that threatens to lift him up into oblivion, while an old woman still mourning the loss of her true love attempts to control death by catching its shadow.

Unfortunately disjointed at times, the play is further brought down at times by overly straightforward acting. But as far as ideas go, Last Night Things Happened has them in abundance. [Sophie Vukovic]

Pleasance Courtyard, 01:00PM, 07 Aug–30 Aug, not 11th, 18th, £5.00-£8.50

Underbelly, 01:45PM, 06 Aug—22 Aug, not 17th, £6.00–£10.00

www.festmag.co.uk

www.festmag.co.uk

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 53

festtheatre ErnEst anD thE paLE moon HHHHH Ernest and the Pale Moon is not a lavish production which only makes it a more astonishing achievement.

The twisting tale of murder, insanity, mistaken identities, unrequited love and voyeurism is repeatedly reconstructed from the perspectives of Ernest and Thomas, leaving the viewer both compelled and bewildered.

However with such a talented cast one might think the quality of the script to be almost irrelevant. The ingenuity and imagination with props and physical acting is stunning, the crunching sound of Gwendoline’s bones locked in rigor mortis as Ernest tries to conceal her behind a hollow wall

Gilded Balloon at Teviot Student Union

are provided, with some humour, simply by twisting a water bottle.

There’s a transparency to the production, parts which would usually be hidden, the sound effects

Pleasance Dome at Potterrow Student Union

and scenery changes, become part of the show. The audience watch intently as flashing torches, umbrellas and broom-handles are transfigured into the moon, blood-stained walls and

Pleasance Courtyard at Pleasance Student Union

staircases purely through the creativity and persuasion of the actors.

Rachel Dawson, resembling something of a Gothic Alice in Wonderland, is to be particularly commended.

Her cello screeches, throbs and moans, underpinning every emotion and moment of tension.

Highly exaggerated and fantastic, the play is reminiscent of the work of Tim Burton and although the acting can be similarly hammy at times—particularly Gwendoline’s squealing and twitching as she blinks at the flashlight moon—it is altogether a highly professional, sophisticated production. [Susan Robinson] Pleasance Courtyard, 02:20PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 19th, £5.00–£9.00

Edinburgh University Students’ Association is proud to host Gilded Balloon and Pleasance and serve you food and drink in our student union buildings Teviot, Potterrow and Pleasance.

www.eusa.ed.ac.uk

Edinburgh University Students’ Association is a Registered Scottish Charity (No.SCO15800)

54 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

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festtheatre God: A Comedy by Woody Allen HHHHH Woody Allen’s 1975 philosophical comedy is masterfully interpreted in this deliciously absurd production. Neurotic playwright Hepatitis and reluctant leading man Diabetes ponder the implications of God’s existence as they desperately search for a way to conclude their play.

Things get complicated when the men discover they’re merely characters in a play-within-a-play and begin to doubt their own free will. Clinging to the play’s chaotic, twisting plot like rodeo riders, the 12-strong cast from student theatre group UCLU Runaground handle Allen’s frantic philosophising with commendable ease. The leading actors’ comically exaggerated performances are well pitched and supported by boisterous interjections from the chorus.

This confident production frequently subverts expectations: characters from the various meta-plays migrate into the audience, a nomadic Blanche Dubois emerges inexplicably from the wings, and the deus ex machina

Broken Holmes HHHHH “I can solve this case, and what’s more, I can do it zonked off my tits on opium, because that’s how good I am,” proclaims Sherlock Holmes. Astute readers may observe that this isn’t a line from a long-lost Conan Doyle short story. Instead, it appears in Semper Theatre’s Broken Holmes.

The great inspector’s increasing arrogance and drug-fuelled pomposity is

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pops out of a wheelie bin.

Ingenious staging adds another layer of humour to this wickedly funny play as the actors become the scenery, rendering toilet cubicles, furniture and light fittings in a way that is startlingly believable. This

shifting human set fuels the production’s rapid pace and underscores the play’s prevailing air of lunacy.

With talented contemporary writers bringing fresh plays to the Fringe, it’s tempting to seek out the new rather than revisit the

old. But it’s worth making an exception for this innovative offering. Witty and irreverent, God... is an awful lot of fun. [Hannah Thomas]

putting an increasing strain on Dr Watson. He’s had about enough of Holmes’ constant put-downs and lack of respect. He proceeds to wrestle with both his devotion to the detective and his desire to stand on his own two feet.

The premise of this one-act play is packed with potential, and Robin Johnson’s script does it justice with a sharp, witty mix of Doylestyle dialogue and modern slang. Watson towers above Holmes but has no power in the relationship, instead

being reduced to a snivelling yes-man through a barrage of insults. Both performances reinterpret these familiar characters well, Holmes as the overbearing, meanspirited opium fiend, and Watson as the kind-hearted, intelligent doctor who simply wants some respect.

During an investigation, Watson gets a unique opportunity to reverse his fortunes and teach Holmes a lesson. What follows is a satisfyingly farcical game of deception, complete with

a puppet snake, a murderous heiress and a Cockney bobby of dubious intellect, culminating in a fantastically ridiculous scenario where Holmes demands a little more of Watson than he is prepared to give. It’s a clever, often funny and thoroughly enjoyable farce that offers an imaginative take on some familiar fictional figures.

[Andrew Chadwick]

Pleasance Dome, 12:35PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th, £5.00–£9.00

The Space@Venue 45, 10:10PM, 06 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th, £5.50–£7.50

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 55

festtheatre Hou Hou Shahou’s Chorus of Descent HHHHH As audiences take to their seats for Babolin Theatre’s latest production, accompanied by the ambient piano strains of a young man in grotesque drag, they would be forgiven for thinking they were about to witness a stage adaptation of Chris Morris’s dark television series Jam. The performance’s introductory scene does little to abate any initial sense of nightmarish foreboding, as the cast confrontationally assert their role as cleaners whose duty it is to scrub clean their patrons’ minds. It’s a thrill to watch youth theatre display such caustic conviction, even if the unmistakably cocksure opening provokes concern that the ensemble won’t live

up to their bombast.

Though Hou Hou Shahou’s Chorus of Descent, essentially the tragic tale of a club-footed waif, stays true to its early dystopian promise, it is far from a mere

exercise in “edgy”, dark theatre. Instead, the piece’s mood assumes a sort of emotional schizophrenia.

Clipped, rhyming dialogue fragments, for example, veer wildly from

a windswept seaside town, and the lonely existence of a lamplighter.

Throughout the show the stage remains as dark as the depths of the lamplighter’s soul. Firefly-like wisps of light, at once the lamplighter’s torch and his ardent spirit, dance constantly in the shadows in a curious ritual that gently brings life to the puppetry, the ghostly stage lights and the myth.

Bedlam Theatre’s acoustics lend much to the invaluable music and sound effects, without which the play would have undoubtedly felt dour. The pre-recorded accompaniment brings something more profound to the puppetry’s whimsy, segueing from softly poignant piano tunes to Celtic folksongs to the caressing sounds of surf.

It’s a relaxing, charmingly incomprehensible show

menacing to playful, occasionally calling to mind Under Milk Wood in their inventive and celebratory use of language in all its bawdy, pathos-ridden glory. The female caricatures provided by the male cast, meanwhile, hint at an unsettling sense of displaced understanding and logic while calling to mind Pythonesque humour at its broadest.

Established in 2005, Babolin Theatre is intended to serve as a “training ground for young performers applying for acting courses at drama schools and universities.” Given the watertight ensemble performances on display this year, one wonders what more the current troupe could possibly learn.

Sickeningly accomplished, captivating storytelling.

[Lewis Porteous] Bedlam Theatre, 04:00PM, 10 Aug—15 Aug, £7.00

The Lamplighter’s Lament HHHHH There’s an Italian expression that often features in long descriptions of certain Renaissance paintings: chiaroscuro, or literally, light-dark.

The theory is that bright, vibrant colours contrasted with thick, dark shadows create a striking, majestic beauty, such as in a Caravaggio painting.

Rich Rusk and Gomito Theatre Company’s The Lamplighter’s Lament is, for lack of better words, an exploration of chiaroscuro. Its story is vague like a distant memory, open to interpretation and limited only by your imagination. Three performers who uniformly look like the Mad Hatter mix puppetry, music and tricks of light to paint the picture of

56 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

that brings out the troupe’s bohemian exuberance in rainbow colours. There’s a striking chiaroscuro beauty to the visual effects, but one that becomes banal through repetition, and one that alltoo-lazily relies on the sound system and the audience’s generous imagination for sustenance. [Junta Sekimori] Bedlam Theatre, 05:20PM, 10 Aug—29 Aug, £7.00

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festtheatre Controlled Falling Project HHHHH Much like porn films, acrobatic shows are famed for their rudimentary-at-best plots. Too often the narrative seems an afterthought, poorly employed to connect a series of physical feats. And though handstands, backflips and balancing tricks are impressive, the novelty soon wears off if the premise is ludicrous and the characters staid.

Fortunately quirky troupe This Side Up Acrobatics have overcome that challenge, producing an energy-packed creative experiment that far surpasses the Festival’s standard circus fare.

An eerie laboratory forms the backdrop for the show, a fantastical environment scattered with scientific apparatus from which ominous

sounds emerge. In this bleak terrain an eccentric scientist puppeteers his human guinea pigs into performing increasingly dangerous feats to further his research.

Ancient science meets circus in a series of high-octane experiments designed to push the human body to its very

58 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

limits. Bodies hurtle through the air with little regard for gravity, men clamber up poles like frantic monkeys, and acrobats effortlessly leap several feet into the air.

The cast interact exclusively through mime, employing Chaplan-like movements and exagger-

ated gestures that fuel the comic characterisation.

Though one small glitch results in a temporary loss of composure, the acrobats remain in character for the rest of the show and their humorous exchanges are a real highlight.

A pumping soundtrack perfectly underscores the action, reflecting the varied pace of the acrobats’ movement, and additional drumming from the mad scientist himself effectively builds tension at key points throughout the show.

A heady concoction of fantasy and acrobatics, Controlled Falling Project certainly sustains the “wow factor” from beginning to end. [Hannah Thomas] Udderbelly’s Pasture, 03:50PM, 12 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 24th, £7.00–£14.00

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festtheatre boy in DarKnEss HHHHH Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy has been described as a fantasy of manners. It depicts a world governed by an absurd yet ironically familiar internal logic akin to Candide’s or Gulliver’s, where barons and earls and heirs quarrel and sulk interminably over nothing.

Boy in Darkness is a short story based in the same world but written separately from the iconic trilogy as an off-beat supplement.

Since the author’s premature death in 1968 it largely remained out-of-print until it was re-released in 2007 as part of a motley Mervyn Peake compendium and follows the down-therabbit-hole adventure of Titus Groan, the 77th Earl of

Gormenghast, as he escapes the banal safety of his castle on his 14th birthday.

Curious Directive’s adaptation has the qualities of a purring cat. It’s a hypnotically serene and enchantingly peculiar cross-breed of physical theatre and puppet show which brings to mind children’s fantasy fiction. In this capacity it’s perhaps a little misplaced in

WOOLMERCHANT THEATRE COMPANY presents

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its late evening timeslot, but its softness is endearing, comforting even, and walking out at the end feels a bit like leaving a hot bath after exercise.

At a glance the performers come across as young and inexperienced, but on closer inspection their movements are elegantly economical, accurately animalistic when they need to

suCCEss story HHHHH Catapulted into the limelight with the release of his Oscarnominated film Walking With Theresa, director Raymond is hailed as an overnight success.

Hollywood loves him, his girlfriend loves him; everybody loves Raymond…except his ex.

Recently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, this is a play which offers an uncomfortable peep into the towering world of our celebrity-worshipping times.

Gone is the glitter and glamour associated with Hollywood; they have been replaced by tedious interviews (“Susan Sarandon is a dream”) and false friends (“Raymond? He’s a genius”).

This is a dark and cynical journey that ties characters that are not particularly likeable to an idea not particularly new. When Raymond’s ex-girlfriend appears, the play launches into a compelling melodrama that only just

be, and the lines they speak don’t feel overeducated like they so often do in the hands of drama students.

Yann Allsopp is unassumingly good in the lead role, with Fiona Mikel bringing tons of charm to the more demanding part she plays.

[Junta Sekimori] The Zoo, 08:45PM, 07 Aug—2 Aug, £6.00–£9.00

stops itself from veering into complete histrionics.

Despite this, it is an engaging production written and performed by Brett Goldstein, a Raymondesque success story himself.

Secrets are gradually revealed through arguments portrayed uncomfortably close to the bone: there is a real thread of humanity running through them which Goldstein exhibits beautifully. Indeed, arguing is turned into an art form here, with each stage—rejection, admission, humiliation and wild emotion—portrayed with bitter intensity.

It results in an intelligent, almost voyeuristic drama; you are never quite sure who to believe, never mind support.

Harrowing and sharp, this play succeeds in depicting the ultimately lonely world of fame and success. [Jennifer Blyth] Pleasance Courtyard, 2:00PM, 05—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th, £5.00–£9.50

10/7/09 11:21:24

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 59

festtheatre The School For Scandal HHHHH Let’s be clear from the start: The School For Scandal is deliciously infectious. This reviewer left the theatre with an almost overwhelming desire to rush out and buy a powdered wig and paint on a small but interesting beauty spot. Every aspect of this adaptation of the 18th century comedy of manners drips with decadence and self-indulgent excess.

Much has already been made of the show’s all-star cast and its director, whose previous work includes the masterpiece of surrealism, The Mighty Boosh. The undoubtedly impressive celebrity factor, however, has little to do with the production’s appeal. Cal McCrystal has managed to

put together an adaptation that is both engagingly modern yet utterly faithful to the period and genre conventions.

The cast, which consists almost entirely of stand-up

60 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

comedy veterans, repeatedly break the fourth wall.

This sets the stage for a battle of one-upmanship as the performers banter merrily and bitch brutally about each other and their

audience. In doing so, the production manages to emulate the comic theatre of the 18th century, where the actors were the star comedians of their day. The relevance of the plot slips away as the delightfully elaborate dialogue and camp japery come to the fore.

Modern audiences have a habit of presuming that all historic theatre should be regarded as one might examine a piece of art, but that approach will only result in disappointment here. The play was written to be uproarious and daft: a lightly satirical play with the express purpose of making its audience laugh out loud.

You’ll do so. [Adam Knight] Pleasance Courtyard, 04:00PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th, £5.00–£15.00

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Tickets 0131 473 2000 eif.co.uk

The

Return of

ULYSSES Royal Ballet of Flanders Scottish Chamber Orchestra

‘Pure Entertainment’ The Observer on Royal Ballet of Flander’s Impressing the Czar in Festival 07

Friday 21 – Sunday 23 August 8.00pm Monday 24 August 2.30pm Edinburgh Playhouse Supported by City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Arts Council.

Charity no SC004694.

Sponsor of the Return of Ulysses productions

festbooks

Fishing on

Lake Wobegon Garrison Keillor's plane was delayed, so the first day of the Book Festival culminated with the author walking on stage, late, carrying his suitcase. He told a story of Lake Wobegon - his mythical "boyhood home", and the setting of his fiction. Here he describes his uncle Jack...

62 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

U

ncle Jack was a reprobate, an infidel. And so he plunged himself into the murky depths of alcohol. Nonetheless I loved him, though he did bad things to good people, and tormented my aunt whom I loved as well.

He saved my life once. We were camping. Boy scouts, 40 below zero, in a tent, all heaped up like sled dogs in our little sleeping bags. And I had to pee so bad I lay there, my breath billowing out of my mouth in the bluish moonlight, weighing my options. Finally I extricated myself from the pile and walked over the frozen tundra, through a birch grove, and down a ravine, and over a rise - having come from modest people.

I walked a ways away. Now, when you are that age—13, 14 years old—your bladder is a powerful instrument. You expel water from you in an arc that goes about 12 or 13 feet. It comes out of you steaming hot, and when it lands on the snow 12 feet away it is turned to ice chips. This is fascinating at that age, so you write your name, way off there in the distance. You write your name, and a few additional thoughts, and then you start to wonder how far up the arc the ice might come. And then you stop.

But I lost track of where I was and might have frozen to death out there, but Uncle Jack was skiing back to his hunting shack on the way back from the Sidetracked Tap, and singing a vulgar song. I heard it coming through the pine trees: Keillor sings: ‘Roll me over, in the clover, roll me over lay me down and do it again - Eh! Eh!’ To be saved by a sinner and a drunk singing a vulgar song opens the world up for you, in a way. And I loved him. He took me fishing one day, the mists out there on the lake mysterious and beautiful on a summer morning at four a.m.

It was the end of his day, the beginning of mine, and there we met. We rowed out into the mist and put the minnows on our line and dropped them down; I could smell his cigar and the flavouring that he put in his coffee, could smell the mist and the summer air. And then I heard him behind me: Keillor recites Poe’s Annabel Lee, which concludes: And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,

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festbooks In the sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea.

It was a poem for my Aunt Evelyn, I’m sure, who had shut him up in his sepulchre, in his hunting shack.

I rowed the boat back to the dock and I got out – I was supposed to tie it up to the post, but I forgot. He walked up the beam of the boat and stepped up on the mid-seat and then stepped way over to the dock as the boat gently drifted away, and he hung there in the sky like a planet, like a moon, and then dropped in the water up to his armpits, and did not curse.

He waded to shore, took off his pants and shirt, wrung them out, put them back on, looked at me and said, “you shouldn’t go fishing if you’re afraid of getting wet.”

He died on a January afternoon. He was on his way to the Sidetracked Tap and he saw his old enemy, Mr Burgey, coming towards him, with whom he’d been carrying on an argument for years. Both of them forgot what it was about, only that they believed deeply in whatever their side was. And they

Oh! What A Shitty War SHITTY

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cursed each other in Norwegian, which was rich in insult.

Two old men shrieking at each other on a bitterly cold January day, and my uncle felt the pain in his chest, and reached out and grabbed the parking meter (there’s only one in our town, they put up one as an experiment and it never worked out) and his last words on earth were “you’ve got shit for brains”.

He fell down dead on the ice. Mr Burgey leaned down, “You go to hell”, he said, then saw this might be the case. He called the sheriff, the sheriff called the constables, the ambulance, the fire department got into it, the coroner came, red and blue flashing lights, walkie-talkies, radios going off, yellow plastic ribbon around the scene – a scene of crisis!

My uncle enjoyed a crisis so much in his life – and to miss out on this, to miss out on it by just 15 minutes…

This is an edited extract from a talk by Garrison Keillor at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 15 August

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Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 63

festbooks PREVIEWS It’s not too late...

Susan Richards and Colin Thubron XX 19 August, 10:00AM, £9(£7) Among the Russians, Thubron’s 1983 account of the lives of the ordinary citizens in the Soviet Union, was a seminal piece of travel writing, as well as rare glimpse by a Western writer into life behind the Iron Curtain. In Epics of Everyday Life, Susan Richards tracked the fortunes of idealistic young people in an emergent Russia after the fall of communism. In conversation, these two travellers will share their first-hand knowledge of a fascinating country at a critical point in its history.

AL Kennedy XX 21 August, 11:30AM, £9(£7) An accomplished novelist and short-story writer, AL Kennedy has become a fixture of Edinburgh’s festival scene with her recent forays into comedy. In her latest volume of

short stories, What Becomes, she turns her attention to the broken-hearted. Kennedy is often considered gloomy, perhaps thanks to her 2007 novel Day, the story of a World War Two tailgunner. But her fiction—and her short works in particular—is astonishingly varied, exhibiting a piercing dark wit that makes her one of the most rewarding British novelists writing today.

David Peace XX 22 August, 8:00PM, £9(£7) It’s surprising that there are tickets remaining for David Peace, a brilliantly entertaining innovator who has surely enjoyed as much exposure as any other British novelist in the last year or so. The Damned United, his brilliant account of Brian Clough’s tenure as manager of Leeds United, was recently adapted for the big screen, while his Red Riding series—about the life of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire ripper—was turned into an acclaimed TV series. More recently, he penned the highly-acclaimed Tokyo Year Zero, set in the alienating capital of contemporary Japan. [Ed Ballard, Charlie Mercer, Jonny Stockford, Lemma Shehadi]

Lola

the life of lola montez

6.45pm, 9 - 30 Aug

New Town Theatre (Fringe Venue 7) 96 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 3DH Box Office: 0844 477 1000 www.universalartsfestival.com

64 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

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festbooks

The mother of all literary awards The James Tait Black Prizes are back for their 90th anniversary, celebrating the best of last year's fiction and biography

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison has made the final five with her novel A Mercy

“I

t’s always next to impossible making a final choice,” says Edinburgh University’s Professor Colin Nicholson of the James Tait Black Memorial prizes, which he is charged with judging “partly because our incredible back-list of winners hangs over your shoulder like angels of destiny charged with quality control.”

This Friday sees the 90th anniversary of Britain’s oldest literary awards.

Prizes of £10,000 will be awarded by the University of Edinburgh to the two writers deemed to have written the best work of fiction and the best biography published in 2008. The victors will

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join Nicholson’s “angels of destiny”, an undeniably distinguished list of past winners that includes D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster and Graham Greene.

The awards were established in 1919 by Janet Coats to commemorate her late husband, publisher James Tait Black, and his love of good books. Since then the University of Edinburgh has managed the awards – unique among major book awards for being judged exclusively by students and academics.

A team of postgraduate readers from the English Literature Department do the drudge-work, ploughing their way through all possible contenders, with the shortlist and eventual winner

decided by a senior member of staff within the department. This academic élite is aided by an advisory committee which includes Ian Rankin, broadcaster James Naughtie and the director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Catherine Lockerbie.

Professor Nicholson, who also manages the awards, praises the “remarkable variety” of this year’s shortlists, confessing that “we’d never get to this stage in the process without the careful winnowing out of lesser performances by our postgraduate teams of readers.”

This method has proved remarkably prescient: the committee award has recognised four Noble Prize winners early in their careers, with Sir William Golding, Nadine Gordimer and J. M. Coetzee receiving the fiction award and Doris Lessing taking the biography prize in 1994, 13 years before winning the Nobel.

Happily, Professor Nicholson believes that “this year’s 90th anniversary shortlist certainly lives up to the high standards expected of the James Tait Black awards and it maintains the range of past contenders”. Indeed, one of this year’s nominees is already a Nobel laureate – Toni Morrison has made the final five with her novel, A Mercy.

She is joined by Sebastian Barry, Andrew Crumey (the Scot is also a noted physicist), and English novelist Adam Mars-Jones. Completing the shortlist is Mohammed Hanif, a Pakistani Air Force pilot turned head of the BBC’s Urdu Service.

The shortlisted biographies include an account of Arthur Miller until 1962

by Christopher Bigsby; Jackie Wullschlager’s book on modernist painter Marc Chagall; Sheila Rowbotham’s Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love; Michael Holroyd’s A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving and their Remarkable Families, and Gerald Martin’s biography of Gabriel García Márquez – an account which has taken a massive 18 years to write.

Thanks to the unbiased and expert-led structure of these awards, the university has held true to the simple premise on which the prizes were founded: a love of good books.

“All of these books are prize-worthy”, concludes Professor Nicholson. “We’ll find out on Friday.” [Jess Winch]

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 65

festmusic

“History is for pissing on” Malcolm McLaren knows a lot when it comes to shameless self-promotion, aggravation and generally getting people's backs up – which is why his one-man show is unmissable, says Chris McCall.

M

alcolm McLaren was educated at Goldsmith’s College in the late 1960s, where he failed to graduate.

He managed a series of clothes shops based on the King’s Road in Chelsea, the most famous of which was SEX, which he ran along with his then partner, Vivienne Westwood. SEX specialized in rubber fetishism, which was then a genuine subterranean human activity which had never before been openly promoted.

This would not be the last time McLaren would help thrust a previously alien concept into the public consciousness. Aside from being a rag merchant, McLaren fancied himself as a music impresario; he spent time managing the talented but fatally flawed glamrockers the New York Dolls, before deciding he needed to find a band he could mould in his own image. He found one in late 1975: a young London-based covers band with attitude and aplomb aplenty. Deciding they needed livening up, McLaren encouraged the group to start writing their own songs and to get a new front man. He then gave them a new name, the Sex Pistols.

In case of any confusion, that’s the Sex Pistols – the band that went on to create a firestorm in the popular music industry which, 30 years later is still burning. For that one achievement alone, McLaren’s place in history is assured. But as the man himself will tell you, history is for pissing on. Which, coincidently, is also the title of the oneman show he’s bringing to this year’s Fringe, where he’ll be talking about the subject he knows best: himself.

What can we expect from the solo show? And will it be suitably controversial?

“This is the story that changed my life, albeit intentionally and unintentionally, as fate would have it. Controversial? I don’t know what that means. If you are suggesting ‘will the audience be fucking in the aisle’, maybe. ”

66 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

www.festmag.co.uk

festmusic the tasting of wine. Yes, I was a trainee wine taster for George Sandeman’s in Piccadilly at the age of 16. And my mind is still rattled with their commands: ‘This wine’s got too much fat under the arm. This one tastes like an army’s been through it. This is virginal. It needs to open up a bit so we can drink it as God appointed us.’”

A great deal of your life has been conducted extremely publicly.

Indeed, during the Sex Pistols days you admitted publicity was your sole aim on several occasions. Will you be telling any stories audiences might not have heard before?

“My humble beginnings were savaged from me as I became willing prey at the age of 16 to certain ex-Army captains.

“London appeared strewn with such figures after the Empire crumbled. They taught me what sex was about through

tion] the Moth and indeed the following day solo at the Pleasance.”

Why have you decided upon Edinburgh to perform?

“Because the festival attracts a range of folk the world over and I would be more than happy to immerse myself in the bath of the crowd.

“I always heard through the grapevine great things happen in Edinburgh during this Festival. Inspired, I decided to become a part of it, to surprise myself.

I have to say, my last visit to Scotland ended abruptly when I had my clothes torn off my back as I was stoned and driven out of a Christian fundamentalist enclave near Culloden whilst campaigning to be their Baron. Probably these folk were transplants from the other side of the border, initiated by the English to subordinate the real Scots— what was left of them—a long time ago, I don’t know.”

What persuaded you to perform a one-man show?

“Crazy people who work with me thought it an excellent idea to tell my stories, no matter how hardcore or shockingly provocative at the Edinburgh Festival, and David Johnson [the producer known for putting Michael Moore on the road] madly agreed over drinks in London a few weeks ago.

“Surrounded by Lucien Freud, his daughter Bella, Alan Rickman and his fans, Justin Timberlake, and other American record producers from my not so distant past, I suddenly realised fate was playing me a card and I decided, Malcolm McLaren Live! History is that’s what I am going to do – 694 both with NAY festival ad 3:Layout 30/7/09 for Pissing On! Pleasance1Grand, 02:30PM, August 23, £15.50 [NY-based live storytelling organisa-

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Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 67

10:4

festmusic Camille: The Dark Angel HHHHH The discerning Fringe reviewer is reluctant to give five stars to any show. This is not out of spite, or, as some might suggest, a power trip from the big boys and girls with press passes, but because few performances are flawless, and fewer are truly original.

Camille O’Sullivan’s performance demands five stars, and perhaps more.With a powerful, stunning voice and cabaret act perfectly suited to the Assembly venue, The Dark Angel is one show no Fringegoer should miss.

Glamorous, downtrodden, sensuous, raunchy, ethereal, melancholic – O’Sullivan covers songs as a born actress adopts a role, and the result is that each is delivered by a different Camille altogether, and to great effect.

Making her way through multiple onstage costume changes, friendly banter and a wide and varied catalogue of covers from Jacques Brel to Nick Cave, the singer will have you tapping your toes one minute, and leave you heartbroken the next.

O’Sullivan warns the audience that if they aren’t scared yet, they should be.

What follows, however, is no cause for fear. In fact, our glamorous chanteuse seems so at ease on stage as she rolls on the floor and uncorks wine with her teeth, that her audience cannot help but fall under a spell, hanging on her every word and movement.

Despite her protestations that everyone must think she is mad, it is clear that O’Sullivan knows how to break down that invisible wall and entice audiences into her world; a world where the hilarity and allure

68 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

of Kirsty McColl songs exist alongside Tom Waits tunes about misery and the sorry state of humanity.

The resounding feeling is that Camille doesn’t command the stage; instead it is her home, and we are both lucky and extremely welcome to see her in her element.

She ends the show with her favourite word—a small, playful “meow”—and urges everyone in the room to join her, both tonight, and on the street the next day.

Judging by the standing ovation she received from a packed crowd, the “meow” seems set to take the streets of Edinburgh by storm, at this year’s Fringe and beyond. [Gillian Loney] Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 10:00PM, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th, £7.50–£17.50

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festmusic uniCorn KiD / young FathErs HHHHH Glasgow scenesters, prepare to flinch. The next sentence is going to cause you pain: Edinburgh has stolen your crown as Scotland’s most exciting city for music.

Now, this will no doubt only be a temporary thing, and cynics might even suggest that petty inter-city rivalries have no place in music, so keep calm. But be warned, having endured years of being the poorer relation when it comes to producing quality bands, Edinburgh can just about get away with milking this one for a while yet. Honestly, you wait years for a quality Edinburgh pop act and then two come along at once.

There’s a ridiculous, almost manic feel-good vibe floating round the Cab Vol

tonight. Everyone in the venue is grinning wildly, or punching the air with glee. And that’s just the bar staff. Unicorn Kid takes the initial credit for creating this atmosphere. The 17-yearold superstar DJ from Leith pumps out tune after tune of his insanely catchy electro dance pop, and instead of standing nonchalantly behind his decks, he dances just

as fervently as anyone in the crowd – which tonight is no mean feat. ‘Scary Monsters’ prompts even the bouncer standing next to the stage to start waving a glowstick that some wide-eyed kid handed him moments before in a act of bravado.

If that wasn’t good enough, next up are Young Fathers. This trio have taken the best bits of De La Soul

and Outkast—and everyone’s favourite dead celebrity, Michael Jackson—and come up with a sound that’s still sounds unique. Forget gangsta rap: if it’s silly posturing or ryhmes about hoes you’re after, then look elsewhere. If instead you like hip-hop to be inventive and responsive to the world around it, then pay attention.

Young Fathers’ lyrics are fresh and their delivery and wordplay inventive – almost as inventive as their dance routines. Now you might have thought that coordinated dance moves went out with Boyzone, but you would be wrong. You can always tell how good a gig is by how the crowd reacts to it – and tonight there’s not a crowd as such, there’s just one big party going on around the stage. Can there be a greater endorsement than that?

[Chris McCall]

edinburgh corn exchange FRIDAY 28TH AUGUST DIRECT FROM THE USA

live with his orchestra

TICKETS FROM £20

SEATED, STANDING & VIP TICKETS AVAILABLE

BOX OFFICE: 0131 443 0404 FRINGE BOX OFFICE: 0131 226 0026 www.ece.uk.com www.festmag.co.uk

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 69

festlistings Edinburgh International Festival 0131 473 2000 www.eif.co.uk

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 0131 226 0026

www.edfringe.com admin@edfringe.com

Edinburgh International Book Festival 0131 718 5666

www.edbookfest.co.uk admin@edbookfest.co.uk

Edinburgh Art Festival 07825 336 782

www.edinburghartfestival.org info@edinburghartfestival.com

Edinburgh Military Tattoo 0131 225 1188

www.edintattoo.co.uk edintattoo@edintattoo.co.uk

festival listings Stuck for choice? Whether you’re in Edinburgh for one day or the entire month, Fest’s comprehensive listings are essential for planning your Festival experience.

The listings are arranged by type (Comedy or Theatre) and then chronologically.

Listings are always subject to change, so remember to check with the venue before planning ahead.

using the listings Time of the show

Edge Festival

What it’s called

www.theedgefestival.co.uk

02:10pm

Edinburgh Mela

♥ Adam Riches: Rogue Males HHHH

0131 3472600

www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk

West Port Books Festival

westportbookfestival.org info@westportbookfestival.org 70 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug – 31 Aug where it is one of our favourites

Dates when it’s on

www.festmag.co.uk

comedylistings Aug—21 Aug, not 15th, 16th

10:30AM Most Important Show of the Day B’est Restaurant, 05

Aug—31 Aug, not 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th

10:50AM Shrimps - Improv Workshop Sweet ECA, Sat 22nd, Sun 23rd

11:00AM Shrimps - Improv Workshop Sweet ECA, 18 Aug—30

Aug, not 19th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 26th, 28th

11:30AM Big Comedy Breakfast

Sweet Grassmarket, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

12:00PM About Comedy: Stand-Up Comedy Courses

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, multiple dates

The Guardian Live at the Gilded Balloon Gilded Balloon Teviot, 10 Aug—28 Aug, not 15th, 16th, 22nd, 23rd

12:10PM Enough Rope

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th, 26th

12:20PM Best Of The Five Pound Fringe The GRV, 08 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Collings and Herrin Podcast Live!

Underbelly, 19 Aug—23 Aug

12:25PM Early Edition

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 07 Aug—30 Aug

www.festmag.co.uk

12:30PM Devlin’s Daily

The Stand Comedy Club, multiple dates

Elaine Malcolmson & Niall Browne: All Kinds of Everything The Stand Comedy Club II, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Free & Easy

The Stand Comedy Club, multiple dates

Lunchtime Club Downstairs at the Tron, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

12:45PM HELEN KEEN: THE PRIMITIVE METHODIST GUIDE TO ARCTIC SURVIVAL

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Oh, Sitcom!

The Vault, 25 Aug—31 Aug

12:50PM John Hegley: The Adventures of Monsieur Robinet

Pleasance Courtyard, 12 Aug—31 Aug, not 24th

01:00PM Al Murray - The Pub Landlord

Pleasance Courtyard, 26 Aug—29 Aug

Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe Underbelly’s Hullabaloo, 08 Aug—30 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

01:10PM Best of Edinburgh The Showcase Show Pleasance Courtyard, 07 Aug—30 Aug

The Durham Revue: ‘Knees Up Mother Brown and Other Obituaries’ Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

01:15PM Thankless Child Pleasance Dome, 05

Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Brian Gittins: Roadside Cafe Owner

comedypick

10:00AM MacAulay and Co Venue 150 @ EICC, 10

HHHH Pleasance Courtyard 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

01:20PM Jojo Sutherland Stands Up For Herself Multiple locations, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Betrayal of Penguins Sweet ECA, 07 Aug—31 Aug Mark Watson’s Earth Summit The GRV, 23 Aug—30 Aug Martin White Presents ... Accordions of the Gods?

The GRV, 16 Aug—22 Aug Speak of the Devil Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

01:30PM Amused Moose Comedy’s Hot Starlets: 10th Anniversary Special Multiple locations, Sat 15th, Sun 16th

Domestic Goddi 2: How to Cope HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Laughs and Loves of Henry Blofeld Venue 150 @ EICC, 15

Seymour Mace Presents Funshine!

The Stand Comedy Club II, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

02:00PM 2 by 2 The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 08 Aug—20 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Pleasance Live 25 1984 and All That

Pleasance Courtyard, multiple dates

The Summer I Did the Leaving

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 06 Aug—28 Aug

02:05PM Rich Hall’s Campfire Stories Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Survival of the Thinnest

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

01:40PM It’s Not the End of the World (But You Can See it from Here) The GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

01:45PM 6 Feet Blunder Sweet ECA, 24 Aug—31 Aug

Multiple locations, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Apocalypse Roadshow Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Long Tooth

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—29 Aug, not 12th

Mackenzie Taylor:No Straightjacket Required Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—29 Aug, not 8th, 16th

02:35PM Amused Moose Laugh-Off Final The Bongo Club, 23 Aug Isma Almas Bombs The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

02:10PM

02:40PM

After the Bomb Zoo Southside, 07

Superclump The GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug,

Aug—31 Aug, not 19th, 26th

Russell Kane’s Fakespeare: The Tragickal Saveings of King Nigel

Aug—16 Aug

02:30PM Minority Report

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

02:15PM Just A Minute

Pleasance Courtyard, 18 Aug

02:20PM Yianni Agisilaou in MP3Some: A love triangle. Set to music.

Downstairs at the Tron, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

not 19th

02:45PM Five Characters in Search of Susan Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Improvised History of Absolutely Everything Augustine’s, 24 Aug—31 Aug

02:50PM Showstopper! The Improvised Musical- Special Guest Matinees Musical Theatre @ George Square, Mon 17th, Mon 24th

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 71

comedylistings The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

Bec Hill in: If You Can Read This, My Cape Fell Off

Grandee Way Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

04:10PM

Hour of the Lynx

Kiosk of Champions 2: Kiosk of Champions!

Pleasance Dome, 05

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 29th

02:55PM

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Mick Sergeant: Lifeboat

The Stand Comedy Club II, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

03:00PM Alex And Helen’s Radio Nowhere

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Amused Moose Comedy’s Hot Starlets: 10th Anniversary Special Multiple locations, Fri 21st, Sat 22nd

King of Everything The GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug Kit & the Widow: All That Twitters

Stage by Stage Edinburgh Academy, Sat 15th, Wed 19th

Oxford Imps

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Maggie Service With a Smile

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Who Killed Dead Man in a Box? The Vault, 18 Aug—23 Aug

03:20PM ♥ Jason Cook: Fear HHHH

Multiple locations, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

03:25PM Scenes from Communal Living C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

03:30PM ♥ Colin Hoult’s Carnival of Monsters HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Sketchatron: Nano Bedlam Theatre, Sun 9th,

Comic Fringes

Storytellers’ Club

♥ Rogue Males HHHH

Sun 16th, Sun 23rd

Medina & Negociants, Thu 20th, Thu 27th

Tim: Against All Odds Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

03:05PM Etch a Sketch Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Undercover Blondde (Double DD)

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 21 Aug—22 Aug

03:07PM At Home With Holly Holly’s House, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

03:15PM Afternoon Delight

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Pleasance Courtyard, 19 Aug

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Sarah Bennetto is Lucky

Medina & Negociants, 16 Aug—30 Aug, not 20th, 27th

03:35PM Captain Improv

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Matt Harvey Wondermentalist

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

03:45PM Ava Vidal: Remember, Remember the 4th of November

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Aug, not 19th

Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

03:50PM Lights! Camera!

Improvise!

C central, 07 Aug—31 Aug

04:00PM Find me the Funny

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 18 Aug

Footlights in ‘Wishful Thinking’ HH Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Jarlath Regan Man of Very Little Mystery HH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Kit & the Widow: All That Twitters Stage by Stage Edinburgh Academy, Sun 16th, Sun 23rd

Me & Jezebel

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

The Muffia: Tight Women Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

The School for Scandal

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Tiernan Douieb: 28 Years Later Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Two Left Hands Another Mouthful

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

04:05PM Jason John Whitehead: Emotional Whitemale

G3 - The Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek

04:15PM Amused Moose Comedy’s Hot Starlets: 10th Anniversary Special Multiple locations, Fri 28th, Sat 29th

The Sunday Defensive: Friend and Foe Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 19th

04:35PM Scenes of a Sketchual Nature C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug

04:40PM Alistair McGowan and Charlotte Page: Cocktails With Coward HH

Just A Minute

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Aug

Pleasance Courtyard, 18 Aug

One Man Show-off

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

04:20PM Blow Up - The Credit Crunch Musical!

The GRV, 06 Aug—28 Aug, not 22nd

The Body Tights Man Show

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th, 26th

04:25PM With Sails and I Hopkins and Glover Udderbelly’s Pasture, Wed 19th

04:30PM

04:45PM ♥ Brian Gittins: Roadside Cafe Owner HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Jonny Sweet: Mostly About Arthur HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Nick Mohammed in Apollo 21 HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug

Nick Page - Jailbait

Medina & Negociants, 06 Aug—20 Aug, not 19th

Regret Me Not H

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Anthology (Volume 6)

Wilson Dixon’s American Dream

Dan March Goldrunner

04:50PM

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, 07 Aug—30 Aug

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Fergus Craig Still Watches Neighbours HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

I’ll Always Think of You That Way

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 25th

Simon Munnery’s AGM09

Paul Merton’s Impro Chums

72 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Comedy and Cake Augustine’s, 25 Aug—31

The Stand Comedy Club II, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

The Stand Comedy Club, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

TeakShow

Pleasance Courtyard, 14 Aug—29 Aug, not 18th

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Bussmann’s Holiday: The Worst Date Ever Assembly @ George Street, 24 Aug—30 Aug

Great Big Comedy Picnic - Free Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 06 Aug—30 Aug

04:55PM Jeff Kreisler’s Get Rich Cheating The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

www.festmag.co.uk

comedylistings 05:00PM Bamboozlement!

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Britain’s Best Mates H Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 10th, 19th

Charlie Chuck, Uncle Peter and Me

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—29 Aug

Get Up Stand Up! The Jazz Bar, 10 Aug—30 Aug

John Robins Skinny Love

Downstairs at the Tron, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Shitty Deal Puppet Theatre Company’s Oh! What a Shitty War Zoo Southside, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Simon Brodkin: Still Not Himself

Pleasance Courtyard, 08 Aug—31 Aug

Victims of Romance

05:20PM

Avatar and Cleanskin (Double Bill) The Space@Venue 45, 24

Inside Alan Francis & Barnaby Power

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

not 17th

The Stand Comedy Club II, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Lady Garden

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 19th

Simon Donald and Maff Brown

VaryTales The Vault, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

05:30PM A-Team - The Musical Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 10 Aug—31 Aug Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Mould & Arrowsmith’s Inventions Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Aug, not 17th

Stacy Mayer: The Funeralogues C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug

05:10PM

WitTank

Pleasance Courtyard, 13 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Thought Thief

Sweet Grassmarket, 24 Aug—31 Aug

Tommy and the Weeks: Wonderbang HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

05:15PM Gerry Howell’s Incubation Hour HHH Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

www.festmag.co.uk

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Oh

C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Regina Monologues

List Operators

Nicholas Parsons’ Happy Hour

Elvis McGonagall: One Man And His Doggerel

05:25PM

05:05PM

Shirley & Shirley - The Shirley & Shirley Show Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

Cardinal Burns HH

Princess Cabaret

Eurotrash

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—30 Aug

Aug—29 Aug

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 08 Aug—20 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Laura Solon: Rabbit Faced Story Soup

05:45PM

Another Heartbreaking But Ultimately Life-Affirming Show About Death The GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug,

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

05:35PM Comedy Bitch HHH Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

05:40PM Life Of Si The GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Sketch, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll C Soco, 16 Aug—31 Aug Tomorrow’s Leaders Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, 16 Aug—31 Aug

Seymour Mace and Peter Slater: Sundayland

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Tiffany Stevenson: Along Came A Spider H

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Two Episodes Of Mash

Brigitte Aphrodite in Suburban Hell Zoo Southside, 07

Rants of Ringo

Daniel Rigby: The Mothwokfantastic

Socially Retarded

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Find me the Funny

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 18 Aug

Ginger & Black: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Harold Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Luke Wright - The Petty Concerns of Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th

NewsRevue 30th Anniversary

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Sammy J: 1999 Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

Double Art History HH

06:05PM

06:00PM Aug—31 Aug

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 21 Aug—22 Aug, not 22nd

Silence of the Trams

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 24 Aug—29 Aug

06:10PM

4 Poofs and a Piano - Smoke and Mirrorballs

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Big Trout in a Small Pond

Bit of the Other

What Men Want

Best of Irish Comedy Multiple locations, 10

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 08 Aug—20 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Rosie Wilby: The Science Of Sex

Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

New Art Club: This Is Now

Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Tue 18th

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 05 Aug—18 Aug, not 12th

The Fever’d Imaginings Of ...

Love the Concept

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 19th

05:50PM

With Sails and I Hopkins and Glover Udderbelly’s Pasture,

06:15PM Mark Thomas: The Manifesto

The Boom Jennies Pleasance Dome, 05

Aug, not 17th

Underbelly’s Hullabaloo, 07 Aug—23 Aug, not 12th

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Mike Wozniak: Clown Shoes

Tom Basden: Now That’s What I Call Music-Based Comedy!

Pleasance Courtyard, 05

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, 10 Aug—15 Aug

8½ Songs About Love (and Other Myths)

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

Instant Sunshine Pleasance Dome, 16 Aug—22 Aug

Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

06:20PM Alexis Dubus: A R*ddy Brief History of Swearing

Downstairs at the Tron, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Des Clarke - Clarxism HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Kim Noble Will Die

Assembly @ George Street, 25 Aug—30 Aug

Pippa Evans Your Evening’s Entertainment

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—28 Aug

Umbrella Birds: Sketches in a Shop Changing Room HH Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

06:25PM Alex Maple’s Press Release Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

06:30PM Bridget Christie: My Daily Mail Hell

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 17th

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 73

comedylistings comedypick

abracadabra German Humour goes global

HHHH undeRBeLLy’s huLLABALoo, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Keith Farnan: no blacks. no Jews. no Dogs. no Irish. All Welcome. HHH undeRBeLLy, 06 Aug—30

Jack Mink at World’s End the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, multiple dates

Aug, not 18th

06:45PM

Topping & Butch - twisted! the stAnd Comedy CLuB III & IV, 19 Aug—30 Aug

Barry Cryer & Ronnie Golden at their Pique!

GILded BALLoon teVIot,

06:34PM

22 Aug—30 Aug

Vladimir mctavish the Top 50 Greatest scots of all time Ever part two

Paddy Lennox - Who Does he Think He Is? HH

the stAnd Comedy CLuB II, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

06:40PM

Phil Kay - London Aye!

Anna & Katy HHH

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 07 Aug—21 Aug

Charlie baker - the World’s greatest show-off

Philip Escoffey: Six more impossible Things Before Dinner GILded BALLoon teVIot,

Just the tonIC @ the CAVes, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

05 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th

Ivan Brackenbury’s all new hospital radio show

The Divine Comedy hour C soCo, 07 Aug—31 Aug

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

07:00PM African Perspective: Westerners Calm Down! HHH the Lot, 07 Aug—31 Aug Amateur Transplants: In Theatre

medInA & neGoCIAnts, 14 Aug—22 Aug, not 18th

Best of Popcorn Comedy the GRV, thu 6th, wed 26th

06:50PM ♥ abracadabra German Humour goes global HHHH undeRBeLLy’s huLLABALoo, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret AssemBLy @ GeoRGe stReet, 14 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

The Animals of Butter Bridge C soCo, 16 Aug—31 Aug The Edinburgh Comedy awards shows muLtIPLe LoCAtIons, 30 Aug—31 Aug, not 30th

William Andrews: nitwit

PLeAsAnCe dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Comedy bus

CLuB CLAss Bus, multiple dates

Daniel Sloss - Teenage Kicks HHH PLeAsAnCe dome, 05

Aug—31 Aug, not 16th, 24th

Eleanor Tiernan - trouble H

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

geoff norcott - the Shocking Truth About Men and Women PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

godley’s World PLeAsAnCe dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Hardeep Singh Kohli - the nearly naked Chef

06:55PM

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 6th, 18th

Jollie: Abreast of Culture HHH undeRBeLLy, 06 Aug—30

James sherwood - At the Piano the GRV, 07 Aug—30 Aug,

Max and Ivan: Televisionaries C CentRAL, 07 Aug—31

Jon Holmes: Rock Star Babylon

Aug, not 15th

Aug, not 18th

not 19th, 26th

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 17 Aug—30 Aug

Kit & the Widow: all that twitters

stAGe By stAGe edInBuRGh ACAdemy, multiple dates

Rebus McTaggart

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 07 Aug—16 Aug

Rob Brown: What a Load of Kabul!

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Ross Lee: not a Lot of sex Lies and videotape

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Shed Simove: Ideas Man BeLushI’s, 07 Aug—30 Aug the aspidistras Just the tonIC @ the CAVes, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Tom Wrigglesworth’s Open Return Letter to Richard Branson PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Trevor McDonald’s horse orchestra sweet eCA, 16 Aug—30 Aug

07:05PM bit of the other

the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, 21 Aug—22 Aug, not 21st

Hugh Hughes in ... 360 HHH

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 17th

07:15PM AAA Stand-up

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug

the strong breast revolution AceDome, 16:40 - 17:40 5-31 August ’09 (EXCLUDING 17 & 24 ) th

th

The Space on the Mile @ Radisson (venue 39)

2.45pm mon-sat

0845 508 8316 74 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

www.festmag.co.uk

comedylistings Actions Speak Louder Than Birds Zoo Southside, 07

Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Jack Whitehall Nearly Rebellious

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Matt Green: Truth & Pleasure HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Paul Zerdin: Sponge Fest Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Tom Craine Comfort Blanket Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

07:20PM Alistair McGowan: The One and Many HHH Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Hannah Gadsby - Kiss Me Quick I’m Full of Jubes Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Pappy’s Fun Club’s World Record Attempt: 200 Sketches In An Hour Pleasance Courtyard, 05

Stephen Carlin Blows the Lid Off the Whole Filthy Business The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

07:25PM ♥ Edward Aczel - Explains All the World’s Problems ... and Then Solves Them HHHH Underbelly, 07 Aug—30 Aug

Pajama Men: The Last Stand to Reason HHH Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Pete Firman - The Pete Firman Magic Show

Phil Cool! Who’s he? clubWEST @ Grosvenor Hilton, 15 Aug—22 Aug

Puppetry Of The Penis

4 at the Fringe

Pleasance Courtyard, 19 Aug

How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse Zoo Southside, 07

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Tom Allen: Women!

Dixie’s Tupperware Party Assembly @ George Street, 11 Aug—31 Aug, not 24th

She’s Not Just Quiet ... She’s Dead The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 06 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

07:40PM

Comedy Gala 2009

Alistair Barrie - Happiness

Randy’s Postcards from Purgatory Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

Fascinating Aida 25th Anniversary Tour Pleasance Courtyard, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Carey Marx: The Doom Gloom Boom HHH

The Big Value Comedy Show - Early

Aug—30 Aug, not 12th

Adams & Rea: Blissfully Unaware HH Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

07:45PM

Celia Pacquola in Am I Strange?

07:35PM

07:30PM

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug

♥ Sarah Millican - Typical Woman HHHH Pleasance Courtyard, 05

With Sails and I Hopkins and Glover Udderbelly’s Pasture, Mon 17th

Shappi Khorsandi: The Distracted Activist

Multiple locations, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

The Queen’s Hall, 21 Aug—23 Aug, not 21st

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Aug—31 Aug, not 19th

www.festmag.co.uk

Stage by Stage Edinburgh Academy, Fri 14th, Sat 15th, Fri 21st, Sat 22nd

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Festival Theatre Edinburgh, 24 Aug

Aug, not 17th

Kit & the Widow: All That Twitters

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Aug—31 Aug

Paul Foot - By the Yard Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Stewart Lee: If You Prefer a Milder Comedian, Please Ask for One

The Stand Comedy Club, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

07:50PM Scott Agnew: Scottish Comedian of the Year 2008 Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

08:00PM

Downstairs at the Tron, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Greg Behrendt Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

About the Scots Beehive Inn, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 8th, 17th, 24th

Bob Doolally: Straight in the Bawbag The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, Mon 24th

Dirty Love Presents C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Gone With The Script Sweet ECA, 06 Aug—19 Aug Jason Manford & Friends at the Fringe Assembly @ George Street, 17 Aug

Jo Caulfield: Won’t Shut Up! HHH

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Joey Page - Eccentric Treasure of the Future

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

♥ John Bishop: Elvis Has Left the Building HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Mark Walker - Scorpio Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Miles Jupp: Telling It Like It Might Be

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Sam Simmons - Problems

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Trevor Lock - Some Kind of Fool HHH The GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug

08:05PM Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Life, But Didn’t Care to Ask The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—15 Aug, not 9th

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 75

comedylistings 08:10PM

08:20PM

Clever Peter HHH Pleasance Dome, 05

Elis James: The Most Cautious Little Boy in Wales The GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug,

Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

John Gordillo: F**konomics HHH Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Susan Calman - The Last Woman On Earth Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

08:15PM Colm O’Regan in Hindsight

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Craig Hill - 40 Love ... ?

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 16th, 23rd

Idiots of Ants: This is War

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Jason Byrne: The Byrne Supremacy Multiple locations, 10

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Rudi Lickwood Food for Thought

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

The Reduced Edinburgh Fringe Impro Show

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug

Twelve Angry Sketches

Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 14th

Unsupervised Detention

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

not 19th

Jake Yapp Presents Hallo, Music Lovers!

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

LAWV Chillers: The End of the World C central, 07 Aug—18 Aug Lucy Porter Fool’s Gold Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Wil Hodgson: Punk Folk Tales Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

08:30PM Black Comedy

Quaker Meeting House, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Bob Doolally: Straight in the Bawbag The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, Mon 17th

♥ Chris Cox: Mind Over Patter HHHH Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Chris McCausland - 7 Strikes

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Clive James in the Evening: More to Say Gilded Balloon Teviot,

♥ Jon Richardson: This Guy at Night HHHH Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Penny Dreadfuls Present ... The Never Man

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 15th, 22nd

Sean Hughes: What I Meant To Say Was ...

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 22 Aug—30 Aug, not 27th

Tom Deacon Indecisive

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Zoe Lyons: Miss Machismo HHH

Neil Delamere: Bookmarks

Simon Amstell: Do Nothing The Bongo Club, 14

♥ Wil Anderson Wilosophy HHHH

Aug

Aug—30 Aug, not 24th

08:45PM Anil Desai - StandUp Chameleon

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Des Bishop: Desfunctional

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

08:35PM

Fudge Show

David Longley: No Going Back

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Jim Jeffries: The Hits Udderbelly’s Pasture, 17 Aug—21 Aug

Julian Clary: Lord of the Mince

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 22 Aug—30 Aug

One Man Lord of the Rings HHH

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 06 Aug—16 Aug

08:40PM Marcus Brigstocke: God Collar

16 Aug—21 Aug

Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Janeane Garofalo HH Gilded Balloon Teviot,

Micky Flanagan: Spiel Pleasance Courtyard, 05

06 Aug—15 Aug

♥ Richard Herring - Hitler Moustache HHHH Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

The Fudge Kitchen, 10 Aug—29 Aug, not 17th

Kevin Bridges: An Hour to Sing for Your Soul HHH Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Pete Johansson: Naked Pictures of My Life Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

♥ Rhod Gilbert and The Cat That Looked Like Nicholas Lyndhurst HHHHH Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

08:50PM ♥ Adam Hills: Inflatable HHHH Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 25th

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

09:00PM Frisky and Mannish’s School of Pop Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

All That Gomez Zoo Southside, 07 Aug—31 Aug

Amateur Transplants: In Theatre

Medina & Negociants, 14 Aug—22 Aug, not 18th

♥ Andrew Maxwell - The Lamp HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Dave Thornton - Allow Me To Introduce Myself

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Gordon Southern: The Unofficial Annual 2009

Downstairs at the Tron, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd

Jamie Kilstein Revenge of the Serfs

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Mark Restuccia and Toby Brown: Undiluted C Soco, 06 Aug—31 Aug

Hoipolloi present

Hugh Hughes in...

Pleasance Courtyard 5 – 31 August (not 11,17) 7.05pm (ends 8.05pm) Tickets: 0131 556 6550 www.pleasance.co.uk www.hoipolloi.org.uk

76 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

www.festmag.co.uk

comedylistings Phil Nichol: A Deadpan Poet Sings Quiet Songs Quietly ...

Felicity Ward’s Ugly As a Child Variety Show HHH

The Stand Comedy Club II, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Rob Rouse: My Family ... and the Dog That Scared Jesus HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 05

Patrick Monahan: Cowboys and Iranians HHH

Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Stephen Grant One Week Only

Downstairs at the Tron, 16 Aug—22 Aug

09:05PM Carl Donnelly Relax Everyone, It’s Carl Donnelly!

Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Ian Kendall’s 18th Birthday Magic Show The Zoo, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 16th, 25th

The Sticky Bivouac C cubed, 06 Aug—26 Aug,

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 13th, 20th

09:20PM Dan Antopolski Silent But Deadly HH Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug

not 18th

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 19th, 26th

Dick Biscuit: Private Eye

Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—23 Aug

Dan Atkinson: Death By a Thousand Pricks Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug

09:25PM ♥ Paul Sinha: 39 Years of Solitude HHHH The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

09:30PM Best of Scottish Comedy Multiple locations, 10 Aug—30 Aug

Andrew Lawrence - Soul-Crushing Vicissitudes of Fortune!

Pleasance Dome, 05 Eric Davidson’s Second Day Soup!

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 11 Aug—29 Aug, not 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th

09:40PM Foil Arms and Hog Sketch Comedy Show

Jimmy Carr Rapier Wit

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Jimmy McGhie’s Northern Meeting

09:10PM

Axis Of Awesome: Infinity Rock Explosion HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Kent Valentine - How to Love Everyone (Even the Arseholes) The GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug,

09:35PM

Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Andrew Stanley - On Sale Now

Venue 150 @ EICC, 20 Aug—30 Aug, not 24th, 25th, 26th

Russell Kane: Human Dressage

09:15PM

Aug, not 17th

Denis Krasnov Versus Shane Healey

not 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th

7 Deadly Sketches C central, 07 Aug—15 Aug

Amsterdam Underground Comedy Collective HH Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Nathan Caton: Can’t Tell Me Nothin’ Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Philberto: Philberto’s Animal Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Rosa Waxes Lyrical

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—26 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Shambles Sweet ECA, 06 Aug—30 Aug Terry Alderton

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 27 Aug—30 Aug

The Comedy Reserve Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Justin Moorhouse: Seven HH Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Stephen K Amos - The Feelgood Factor HH Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 18th

09:45PM Gary Little: He Was Only Jail Gay HHH Multiple locations, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Abacus Danger and the Pits of Panic The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Andy Hamilton’s ‘Hat of Doom’ The Queen’s Hall, 29 Aug ♥ Bourgeois & Maurice - Social Work HHHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Danielle Ward Lies

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Lloyd Langford: Every Day I Have the Blues Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Luke Toulson: Too Many Last Cigarettes Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Nick Doody: Schizo

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

09:50PM Tim Key - The Slutcracker

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

10:00PM Aaaaaaaaaarrghhh! - It’s Bollock Relief! - The Malcolm Hardee Award Show Gilded Balloon Teviot, 28 Aug

An Evening With Ben Dover: Innocent ‘Til Proven Filthy!

Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Chippendales: The Ultimate Girls’ Night Out

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 27th, 28th

I Wish I Could Be Like Andrew Watts C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Jason Manford & Friends at the Fringe Assembly @ George Street, 17 Aug

REELING & WRITHING AND PLATFORM PRESENTS

by TIM NUNN

THURS 6 – SUN 30 AUGUST 2009 ASSEMBLY@7 HOLYROOD ROAD (VENUE 320) TICKETS: 0131 623 3030 / OR ON THE DOOR WWW.REELINGWRITHING.COM NOT SUITABLE FOR UNDER 16s

www.festmag.co.uk

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 77

comedylistings mick Ferry - the Comedy Final

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Monsieur Montpellier: Entertainer Extraordinaire!

PLeAsAnCe dome, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

puppetry of The Penis

the queen’s hALL, Fri 21st Reginald D Hunter: The Only Apple in the Garden of Eden and niggas uddeRBeLLy’s PAstuRe, 16

next Door But One sweet GRAssmARket, 24 Aug—30 Aug

Robin Ince - Bleedingheart Liberal medInA & neGoCIAnts, 19 Aug—30 Aug, not 25th

Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams

uddeRBeLLy’s PAstuRe, multiple dates

scottish Falsetto sock puppet theatre goes to hollywood GILded BALLoon teVIot,

Aug—30 Aug

05 Aug—30 Aug

Rhys Darby: It’s Rhys Darby night

10:20PM

uddeRBeLLy’s PAstuRe, 06 Aug—15 Aug

The Big value Comedy show - Late Just the tonIC @ the CAVes, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

10:05PM Kristen Schaal & Kurt Braunohler - Double Down Hearts AssemBLy @ AssemBLy hALL, 21 Aug—30 Aug

10:15PM Barry & Stuart: Powered By Demons undeRBeLLy, 07 Aug—30 Aug

gEorgE ryEgoLD TRAMPLE THE WEAK, hurDLE thE DEaD medInA & neGoCIAnts, multiple dates

Monsters from my ID sPotLItes @ the meRChAnts’ hALL, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Andrew O’neill: Occult Comedian downstAIRs At the tRon, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Gavin Webster’s Falderal the stAnd Comedy CLuB II, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Geraldine Quinn Hex and the City undeRBeLLy, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 24th

Marcel Lucont: sexual metro undeRBeLLy, 06 Aug—30

10:30PM 4 at the Fringe

undeRBeLLy’s huLLABALoo, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 18th

Ali McGregor’s Late-nite variety-nite night

the noise next Door: OtherWorld C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 19 Aug

AssemBLy @ GeoRGe stReet, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 17th

Aidan Bishop - no sissy stuff

Brendon Burns: Comedy good yeah silly side C**t

Comedy Zone

multiple dates

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 28 Aug—29 Aug

David O’Doherty: David o’Doh-party HHH PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Dead Cat Bounce ... Wired HHH

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

rich hall AssemBLy @ GeoRGe stReet, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Sound & Fury’s Sherlock Holmes and the Saline Solution GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Matt Kirshen - Shorter than napoleon PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05

10:40PM

Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

sketches before bedtime

sweet GRAssmARket, 06 Aug—23 Aug

10:45PM

Best of ‘So You Think You’re Funny?’

GILded BALLoon teVIot,

Aug, not 19th

10:25PM

10:55PM

♥ the Dark party HHHH

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Old Rope in the Balloon

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

shrimps - scared scriptless!

sweet GRAssmARket, 17 Aug—23 Aug

the abi roberts Experience undeRBeLLy, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

The Moonfish rhumba show

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 9th

10:50PM Alun Cochrane ... is a Daydreamer (at night) HHH

Jack Mink at World’s End the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, multiple dates

Jim Smallman - The boy next Door Gone Wrong the GRV, 17 Aug—30 Aug

the stAnd Comedy CLuB III & IV, 07 Aug—30 Aug

showstopper! the improvised musical musICAL theAtRe @ GeoRGe squARe, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th, 24th

michael Fabbri the stAnd Comedy CLuB III & IV, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Whose play is It Anyway?

C soCo, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

11:00PM BBC Comedy Presents PLeAsAnCe dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Chortle Student Comedy Award Final PLeAsAnCe dome, 25 Aug Get Happy in Edinburgh C soCo, 06 Aug—31 Aug is the Daily mail Dead Yet? Just the tonIC @ the CAVes, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Jonathan Mayor and Auxiliary heterosexuals the GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Late night Gimp Fight!

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 19th

Late night Impro Fight C CentRAL, 07 Aug—31 Aug serate bastarde (Bastard nights) C soCo, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

The Downage

sweet GRAssmARket, 06 Aug—16 Aug

SIMON FIELDER IN ASSOCIATION WITH

FRANK THE MAN, THE MUSIC, THE MAFIA.

The Space @ Royal College of Surgeons Preview: 7–8 August Playing 10th–29th August (Mon–Sat) 22:15 Box Office: 0845 508 8515

A NEW PLAY BY A R COX & SIMON RAE • DIRECTED BY DAVID KELLER 78 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

www.festmag.co.uk

comedylistings Aug—31 Aug, not 31st

The Gadabouts

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Time Out Comedy Presents ... For One Night Only

Pleasance Courtyard, Fri 14th, Fri 21st, Fri 28th

We Made a Funny

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

11:05PM Kevin Tomlinson: Truth or Dare?

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Chippendales: The Ultimate Girls’ Night Out

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Multiple dates

GEORGE RYEGOLD TRAMPLE THE WEAK, HURDLE THE DEAD Medina & Negociants, Multiple dates

Jason Byrne: The Byrne Supremacy Multiple locations,

Fri 21st, Sat 22nd, Fri 28th, Sat 29th

11:35PM Wild Colonial Boys Multiple locations, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

11:11PM

Bethany Black - Love and a Colt 45 Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

Die Roten Punkte Robot/Lion Tour HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 05

♥ Hans Teeuwen HHHH

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

11:15PM Warren & Hanbury: All To Bare HH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

11:20PM Best of Scottish Comedian of the Year Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug

11:30PM Andrew Stanley’s Comedy Mish Mash

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 11th, 17th, 24th

www.festmag.co.uk

Aug, not 17th

Udderbelly’s Pasture, multiple dates

11:40PM Electric Cabaret C central, 07 Aug—31 Aug F*cking Funny for a Fiver Downstairs at the Tron, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

11:45PM Comedy Countdown Gilded Balloon Teviot, multiple dates

Girls with Guns

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 13 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 18th, 19th, 24th, 25th, 26th

Killing Me Softly

comedypick

The Edinburgh Comedy Awards Shows Multiple locations, 30

HHHH Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Phil Kay - Edinburgh HHH

Daniel Kitson at the Stand

Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams

For One Night Only The GRV, 11 Aug—30 Aug

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, 25th

Udderbelly’s Pasture, Fri 14th, Sat 15th, Fri 21st, Sat 22nd

11:50PM How Do You Solve a Problem Like Britain?

The Vault, 10 Aug—22 Aug, not 17th

11:55PM Sketch Crunch C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

The Stand Comedy Club, 09 Aug—30 Aug, not 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 28th, 29th

Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret Assembly @ George Street, Thu 27th, Fri 28th, Sat 29th

Stand Late Show

The Stand Comedy Club, multiple dates

Stand Up For Freedom Assembly @ Assembly Hall, Wed 12th, Wed 19th

Supper Club

11:59PM A Night of Comedy for Ray - Hosted by Michael McIntyre Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 23 Aug

Assembly @ George Street, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th

12:00AM

Adam, Jason & Friends

Fordy’s Lock-In

Best of the Fest 2009 Multiple locations,

Spank

Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 13 Aug—16 Aug

multiple dates

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 09 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 30th Underbelly, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 30th

Take The Empire: The Great Big Marvellous Victorian Game Show C central, 08 Aug—30 Aug, not 30th

12:15AM Just the Tonic Comedy Club - Midnight Show Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 30th

12:30AM Improverts

Bedlam Theatre, 06 Aug—28 Aug, not 28th

12:40AM After Hours

Pleasance Dome, multiple dates

12:45AM Late Show Underbelly, multiple dates

01:00AM Late ‘n’ Live

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 30th

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 79

theatrelistings 09:00AM World Is Too Much: Theatre for Breakfast Traverse Theatre, Multiple dates

09:30AM World Is Too Much: Theatre for Breakfast Traverse Theatre, Multiple dates

10:00AM Been So Long HHH Traverse Theatre, Fri 21st, Wed 26th, Sun 30th

Doubtful Guest Traverse Theatre, Tue 18th, Sat 22nd, Thu 27th

Mother Courage

The Space@Venue 45, 24 Aug—28 Aug

Orphans

Traverse Theatre, Thu 20th, Tue 25th, Sat 29th

Palace of the End Traverse Theatre, Wed 19th, Sun 23rd, Fri 28th

Shakespeare for Breakfast C, 05 Aug—31 Aug Story Shakespeare: Measure for Measure C too, 17 Aug—22 Aug

10:15AM Been So Long HHH Traverse Theatre, Wed 12th, Sun 16th

Bite-Size’d ‘Breakfast in Bedlam’ Bedlam Theatre, 10 Aug—29 Aug, not 16th, 23rd

Dawn of Quixote: Chapter the First Venue 13, 10 Aug—22 Aug, not 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd

Little Gem

Traverse Theatre, Fri 28th ♥ Midsummer (A Play With Songs) HHHH Traverse Theatre, Fri 21st Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Pilrig Studio, Tue 18th

10:20AM Native American Tales Pilrig Studio, 17 Aug—20 Aug, not 18th, 19th

10:30AM If That’s All There Is Traverse Theatre, Wed 19th, Tue 25th, Sun 30th

11:30AM

10:55AM Trapped Zoo Southside, 23 Aug—31 Aug

11:00AM Ringside The Signet Library, Fri 28th

Sylvia Plath - Three Women, The First Revival Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug

11:10AM From Me to 3792 The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th

11:15AM Amadeus

Life in Three Acts Traverse Theatre, Tue

Multiple locations, 18 Aug—29 Aug, not 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd

18th, Sun 23rd, Sat 29th

Little Gem

Traverse Theatre, Sat 22nd ♥ Midsummer (A Play With Songs) HHHH Traverse Theatre, Thu 27th Shakespeare Shattered Pilrig Studio, Wed 19th ♥ Stefan Golaszewski Is a Widower HHHH Traverse Theatre, Thu 20th, Wed 26th

10:45AM One Small Step Assembly @ George Street, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Aug—29 Aug

I Don’t Live Here Anymore HH Bedlam Theatre, 10

Aug—22 Aug, not 16th

Not Spain

The Space@Venue 45, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Q&A

New Town Theatre, 25 Aug—30 Aug

Tree Duet

New Town Theatre, 16 Aug—22 Aug

11:40AM Heroin(e) for Breakfast Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Jerktown

Pilrig Studio, Fri 21st

Head of the Fork Bedlam Theatre, 24

Austen’s Women Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Little Gem Traverse Theatre, Sun 16th

Third Breast Augustine’s, 18 Aug—29

Aug, not 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th

Wild Goose Chase

Quaker Meeting House, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

11:25AM

Tears of a Clown The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), Multiple dates

The Yellow Wallpaper C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

11:45AM Collector The Vault, 18 Aug—22 Aug Dawn of Quixote: Chapter the First Venue 13, Multiple dates Tap & Chat With Lionel Blair Sweet Grassmarket, multiple dates

Don’t Forget To Breathe C Soco, 05 Aug—22 Aug Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

Unknown Album Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

11:55AM I’ll Be Bert The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

12:00PM Plane Food Cafe

Multiple locations, 17 Aug—30 Aug

Amadeus

Multiple locations, 18 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th

♥ Barflies HHHH

Traverse @ The Barony, Mon 24th, Tue 25th

Chronicles of Long Kesh HHH Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 17th, 24th

Dialogue Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, Sun 16th

Home of the Wriggler Underbelly, 16 Aug—30 Aug

Johann Faust The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

Malaje - The Flamenco Circus

New Town Theatre, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Matinee

Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—26 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Mind Out C, 23 Aug—30 Aug Once a Catholic C, multiple dates

MAGAZINE 09

ALEX HETHERINGTON – DAVID McALLISTER Saturday 15 August to Sunday 30 August Open daily 11am-5pm, late opening on Thursday 27 August, 11am-8pm, Free admission Twitter: www.twitter.com/EdSculpture MySpace: www.myspace.com/edinburghsculpture Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, 25 Hawthornvale, Newhaven, Edinburgh EH6 4JT Telephone: 0131 551 4490

www.edinburghsculpture.org

80 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

www.festmag.co.uk

theatrelistings Post Show Party Show

Selective Hearing

Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies C, multiple dates The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie HH

Storm in a Teacup

Theatre Workshop, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Walden

Dovecot, Sat 22nd, Sat 29th

Your Number’s Up Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—23 Aug, not 18th

12:05PM Much Ado About Nothing

Multiple locations, 10 Aug—22 Aug, not 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th

Nightfall Sweet ECA, 07 Aug—23 Aug

12:10PM ♥ The State We’re In HHHH Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

12:15PM Fahrenheit 451 The Vault, 10 Aug—22 Aug,

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Ups and Downs and Whoopsie Daisies Zoo Southside, 16 Aug—28 Aug, not 24th

Virginia Monologues - Why it’s great to be old

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

12:20PM Land Without Words Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

12:25PM One Up One Down Multiple locations, 16 Aug—31 Aug, not 24th

12:30PM American Women Pilrig Studio, Mon 17th Bob’s Date HHH C Soco, 05 Aug—22 Aug Box The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Wed 19th

Life Out Loud

not 16th, 17th

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Fri 21st

♥ Lotte’s Gift HHHH

Little Gem

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Pilrig Studio, Wed 19th

Traverse Theatre, Tue 18th, Sun 23rd, Sat 29th

Love’s Labour’s Lost C central, 07 Aug—31 Aug Man-made: 1,2,3 C, 05 Aug—30 Aug

Platform 88

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Shakespeare Shattered Pilrig Studio, 18 Aug—21 Aug, not 19th, 20th

Telenovela C, 23 Aug—31 Aug

12:35PM

♥ Midsummer (A Play With Songs) HHHH Traverse Theatre, Fri 28th Pythonesque Udderbelly’s Pasture, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Susie Baxter’s Guilty Women

Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

After Circles Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

12:50PM

God: A Comedy

By Woody Allen Pleasance Dome, 05

The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

Aug, not 17th

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

12:40PM Plane Food Cafe

Multiple locations, 17 Aug—30 Aug

Forever Young Augustine’s, 18 Aug—31 Aug, not 23rd, 24th

My Darling Clemmie

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

My Mind’s Eye Sweet ECA, 24 Aug—31 Aug

12:45PM Been So Long HHH Traverse Theatre, Thu 13th, Tue 18th, Sat 22nd, Thu 27th

Bully

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

If That’s All There Is Traverse Theatre, Wed 26th

Life in Three Acts Traverse Theatre, Wed 19th, Tue 25th, Sun 30th

82 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Beside Myself

Flhip Flhop: Everything Happens on the Break Zoo Southside, 07 Aug—31 Aug

12:55PM After Magritte C Soco, 19 Aug—31 Aug Almost 10 HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Clive James in Conversation

Assembly @ George Street, 16 Aug—21 Aug

Shade Ain’t Right C Soco, 05 Aug—18 Aug

01:00PM 3 Sisters

Re-Union Canal Boats Ltd, 14 Aug—23 Aug

As You Were

Sweet Grassmarket, 07 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

Best of John Betjeman St Cuthbert’s Parish Church, 17 Aug—23 Aug, not 20th, 23rd

Cavedwellers The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Tue 18th

Cry From Underground HHH New Town Theatre, 05

Aug—23 Aug, not 18th, 20th

Don Juan in Soho C cubed, 23 Aug—31 Aug Doubtful Guest Traverse Theatre, Wed 19th, Sun 23rd, Fri 28th

Escape

Bedlam Theatre, 10 Aug—29 Aug, not 16th, 23rd

Gagarin Way The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

George in the Dragon’s Den Zoo Southside, 07 Aug—31 Aug

Losing Susan The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 08 Aug—20 Aug, not 9th, 16th

♥ Midsummer (A Play With Songs) HHHH Traverse Theatre, Sat 22nd Much Ado About Nothing Multiple locations, 10 Aug—22 Aug

Pip Utton

New Town Theatre, 24 Aug—30 Aug

RE____

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 20th, 24th

♥ Stefan Golaszewski Is a Widower HHHH Traverse Theatre, Fri 21st

www.festmag.co.uk

theatrelistings Unthinkable The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Multiple dates

Watch iT! Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, Sun 16th

01:05PM Venus and Mars and Other Myths of Mr and Ms The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

01:10PM The Event Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

01:15PM Coffee

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Fear and Misery of the Third Reich HH Sweet ECA, 07 Aug—16 Aug Gertrude Stein Venue 13, 10 Aug—22 Aug, not 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th

My Grandfather’s Great War

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 08 Aug—16 Aug

Orphans

Traverse Theatre, Fri 21st, Wed 26th, Sun 30th

♥ Stefan Golaszewski Is a Widower HHHH Traverse Theatre, Thu 27th Tomb To Womb The Space@Venue 45, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

www.festmag.co.uk

01:20PM Plane Food Cafe

Multiple locations, 17 Aug—30 Aug

Antigone

Multiple locations, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd

Big Mac

Sweet ECA, 17 Aug—23 Aug

Midsummer Night’s Dream Sweet ECA, 17 Aug—23 Aug, not 20th

Play On Words Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Two

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

01:25PM Diary of a Madman Underbelly, 16 Aug—30 Aug

Nine Lives of Bua Lydia Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

01:30PM Chronicles of Irania Multiple locations, 10

Aug—30 Aug, not 11th, 18th

Kosh in the Storeroom HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Light Bites C Soco, Multiple dates Lucky Dip C, 05 Aug—31 Aug Orphans Traverse Theatre, Wed 12th, Sun 16th

Palace of the End Traverse Theatre, Thu 20th, Tue 25th, Sat 29th

RealiTV

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th

Tasty Treats C Soco, Multiple dates The Play About Charlotte C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

♥ Facebook Fables HHHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 15th

Flying Forward The Zoo, 24 Aug—31 Aug Four Quarters The Zoo, 07 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

Last Night Things Happened ...

Underbelly, 06 Aug—22 Aug, not 17th

01:40PM Futurist Orchestra and Human Puppet Show The Vault, 17 Aug—23 Aug Her Yellow Wallpaper Sweet ECA, 24 Aug—31 Aug Jigsaw Augustine’s, 10 Aug—16 Aug

Lemn Sissay: Why I Don’t Hate White People Underbelly, 23 Aug—30 Aug

♥ Midsummer (A Play With Songs) HHHH Traverse Theatre, Sun 16th Myriad The Zoo, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 26th

Poets’ Corner

Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—23 Aug, not 18th

Stalag Happy Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

The Sociable Plover

Assembly @ George Street, 08 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Zoo Lodge

Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Comico’s Prodigously Prestigious Troupe Presents Commedia Dell’Arte

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Multiple locations, 17 Aug—30 Aug

Funny

Multiple locations, Multiple dates

14th Tale

Pleasance Courtyard, 19 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

Acute Psychotic Episode (II) HH The Vault, 10 Aug—16 Aug Appel/Ring Cycle Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, Sun 16th

Balloon Boutique C too, 06 Aug—29 Aug ♥ David Leddy’s ‘White Tea’ HHHH

Assembly @ George Street, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

One Way Street The Vault, 10 Aug—31 Aug,

Don Carlos HHH

The Dandelion’s Story C, 05 Aug—31 Aug ♥ The Devoured HHHH Pleasance Courtyard, 05

I-Witness

01:50PM Forgotten Things Pleasance Dome, 05

Light Bites C Soco, Multiple dates Me Too - A Sideshow New Town Theatre, 05

World’s Wife

Moscow State Circus

not 17th, 24th

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

01:45PM

02:00PM Plane Food Cafe

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

01:55PM Crave

Multiple locations, 10 Aug—31 Aug

Sweet Grassmarket, 07 Aug—23 Aug Theatre Workshop, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Jewish Chronicles Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Meadows Theatre Big Tops Moscow State Circus, Mon 31st

Ousia

Dance Base @ Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 11 Aug—30 Aug, not 15th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 83

theatrelistings Private Peaceful Michael Morpurgo

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

RAW

Dance Base @ Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Sat 15th, Sun 16th, Sat 22nd, Sun 23rd

Stuck in a Rut Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Success Story

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Tasty Treats C Soco, Multiple dates Who’s Afraid of the Brothers Grimm

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

Woyzeck

Afterplay

King’s Theatre, Fri 4th

02:05PM Dear Mr!

The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

Destination GB

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Turn the Blue Light Down The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

02:15PM Innovation

Church Hill Theatre, Mon 24th

02:20PM Book of Days by Lanford Wilson Pilrig Studio, Thu 20th British Subject HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Ernest and the Pale Moon

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 19th

Don Quixote - Theatre of the Blind HHH The Bongo Club, 05

Revenge of the Rhyming Rapscallion Church Hill Theatre,

Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Tue 25th

02:10PM

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Pilrig Studio, Fri 21st Stars on the Ceiling C central, 07 Aug—31 Aug,

02:25PM

Sweeney Todd: His Life, Times and Execution!

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

3 Sisters

Against the Tide: A Portrait of a Marriage The Vault, 26 Aug—30 Aug Graceless Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

not 18th

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—16 Aug

Tempest

Faith Healer King’s Theatre, Sun 16th The Yalta Game King’s Theatre, Sat 5th

Quaker Meeting House, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 22nd

Therese

Warehouse 364 C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug,

Augustine’s, 25 Aug—29 Aug

not 18th

Native American Tales Pilrig Studio, Wed 19th Our Country’s Good The Space@Venue 45, Multiple dates

Party

02:30PM Re-Union Canal Boats Ltd, 14 Aug—23 Aug

A Midsummer Night’s Dream McEwan Hall, Sun 16th, Sat 22nd, Sun 23rd

American Women Pilrig Studio, Sun 16th Auld Sangs and New Rhymes - The Life of Burns St Serf’s Church and Hall, Sat 22nd

Best of John Betjeman St Cuthbert’s Parish Church, Thu 20th, Sun 23rd

Box

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Fri 21st

Faulty Towers the Dining Experience B’est Restaurant, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 15th, 22nd, 29th

First Class

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Go To Gaza, Drink The Sea

Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

MUSIC FROM THE

AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL Thursday 13 to Saturday 15 August 10pm The Queens Hall Clerk St, Edinburgh 0131 668 2019 thequeenshall.net

84 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

www.festmag.co.uk

theatrelistings Jerktown PILRIG studIo, mon 17th

Life out Loud the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, sat 22nd

new Art Club: The visible Men PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 17 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

♥ precious Little Talent HHHH BedLAm theAtRe, 10 Aug—29 Aug, not 16th, 23rd

Ruskin Live! nAtIonAL GALLeRy ComPLeX - hAwthoRnden LeCtuRe theAtRe, 24 Aug—28 Aug, not 25th

tale of two Cities st nInIAn’s hALL, sat 15th, sat 22nd

Wha Wadna Follow Thee? st PeteR’s, sat 22nd Woody sez uddeRBeLLy’s PAstuRe, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

The Return of ulysses the edInBuRGh PLAyhouse, mon 24th

scottish ballet

muLtIPLe LoCAtIons, Run over

optimism

RoyAL LyCeum theAtRe, sun 16th

the Last Witch muLtIPLe LoCAtIons, thu 27th, sat 29th

Peter and Wendy

RoyAL LyCeum theAtRe, Run over

www.festmag.co.uk

02:35PM ♥ matthew sharp in ... Finklestein’s Castle HHHH

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, multiple dates

matthew sharp in ... Johnny’s Midnight Goggles

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, multiple dates

Splinters of Light sweet eCA, multiple dates ultimately Doomed Life of Charlie Cumcup sweet eCA, multiple dates

02:40PM

King Arthur

new town theAtRe, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 9th, 17th, 24th

Little gem

tRAVeRse theAtRe, thu 13th, wed 19th, tue 25th, sun 30th

Opposite of Waiting Venue 13, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th

Strong Breast Revolution

the sPACes on the mILe @ the RAdIsson, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

the other side

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Reserection GReensIde, 17 Aug—22 Aug Stroke of Genius PLeAsAnCe dome, 05

the rap guide to Evolution HHH

two Loves

Time Out of Joint C soCo, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

02:45PM Baba Yaga Bony Legs sweet eCA, 06 Aug—16 Aug Crime of the Century Zoo southsIde, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 12th, 19th, 26th

Fall of Man

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 07 Aug—30 Aug

Faustus

Venue251, sat 29th ♥ Killing Me softly HHHH

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

GILded BALLoon teVIot, 05 Aug—31 Aug

02:50PM Angle of Incidence the Zoo, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Penelopiad AuGustIne’s, 18 Aug—23 Aug

Ritter, Dene, voss

unIVeRsAL ARts @ st GeoRGe’s west, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

The Girls of Slender Means HHH

AssemBLy @ GeoRGe stReet, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 10th, 17th, 24th

02:55PM Fresh start AuGustIne’s, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

miller

C soCo, 09 Aug—31 Aug

03:00PM Alba Flamenca ALBA FLAmenCA, sat 15th,

sun 16th, sat 22nd, sun 23rd

♥ Midsummer (A Play With Songs) HHHH tRAVeRse theAtRe, tue 18th, sun 23rd, sat 29th

Modern/Contemporary Dance Program stAGe By stAGe edInBuRGh ACAdemy, 19 Aug—20 Aug

art house the Zoo, 07 Aug—31 Aug,

moscow state Circus

Assassination of Paris Hilton HHH

meAdows theAtRe BIG toPs mosCow stAte CIRCus, multiple dates

not 11th, 17th, 18th, 25th

AssemBLy @ GeoRGe stReet, 13 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Bane

PLeAsAnCe dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

♥ barflies HHHH

tRAVeRse @ the BARony, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 28th, 29th

Cavedwellers

the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, 17 Aug—20 Aug, not 18th, 19th

Etty

the VAuLt, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Francis, the Holy Jester HHH

PLeAsAnCe CouRtyARd, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

geoffrey Chaucer Lives!

the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, 08 Aug—20 Aug, not 9th, 16th

gospEL oF LuKE the Lot, 13 Aug—18 Aug, not 15th

Shut up, Play! sweet eCA, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Walden doVeCot, 17 Aug—29 Aug

♥ Wayside/ riff HHHH dAnCe BAse - nAtIonAL CentRe FoR dAnCe, sun 16th

Wrecked (A Guardian Reader’s Quest to Save Africa) the edInBuRGh sLeeP CentRe, 15 Aug—26 Aug

03:05PM Dentist sweet GRAssmARket, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Doctor Faustus muLtIPLe LoCAtIons, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th

Gravediggers

Life in Three Acts tRAVeRse theAtRe, thu

the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, multiple dates

Mercy Madonna of malawi

Puppet-Show Man

20th, wed 26th

the woRLd @ st GeoRGe’s west, 06 Aug—31 Aug

the sPACes on the mILe @ the RAdIsson, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 16th, 23rd

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 85

theatrelistings So He Made Me Some Soup ... and Other Tales

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 24 Aug—29 Aug

03:10PM Becoming Marilyn

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Cool Cutz C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Fairytaleheart

The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 17 Aug—22 Aug

Out of Chaos Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

03:15PM Crush

Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

If That’s All There Is Traverse Theatre, Fri 21st King of the Gypsies Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 8th, 18th, 25th

Stranded ...

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Sweet C, 05 Aug—31 Aug

03:20PM Doctor Whom?

My Search for Samuel Johnson

Assembly @ George Street, 22 Aug—31 Aug, not 26th

Oedipus Rex C, 16 Aug—22 Aug On The Razzle C, 23 Aug—31 Aug Sound of My Voice

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

03:25PM ♥ Icarus 2.0 HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Me, Mum and Dusty Springfield Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug

03:30PM Booking Dance Festival Edinburgh 2009 Venue 150 @ EICC, 12 Aug—16 Aug

If That’s All There Is Traverse Theatre, Thu 27th Origins by Steven Canny and John Nicholson Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—29 Aug, not 17th, 24th

♥ Stefan Golaszewski Is a Widower HHHH Traverse Theatre, Fri 28th Super Situation The Bongo Club, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 23rd

Tale of Lady Stardust Underbelly, 06 Aug—29 Aug

Why Do All Catherines Call Themselves Kate?

Zoo Southside, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

03:40PM Oh, My Green Soap Box

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Teechers

Augustine’s, 25 Aug—29 Aug

West Lethargy

The Space@Venue 45, Multiple dates

03:45PM Been So Long HHH Traverse Theatre, Fri 14th, Wed 19th, Sun 23rd, Fri 28th

His Ghostly Heart HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Nun the Wiser

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Othello

The Vault, 10 Aug—16 Aug

♥ Stefan Golaszewski Is a Widower HHHH Traverse Theatre, Sat 22nd

03:50PM Controlled Falling Project

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 12 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 24th

Importance of Being Earnestina Greenside, 10 Aug—22 Aug, not 16th

People

Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

03:55PM Manolibera C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

04:00PM 3 Sisters

Re-Union Canal Boats Ltd, 14 Aug—23 Aug

Bitter Kiss Goodnight Bedlam Theatre, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Dream On

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 24 Aug—28 Aug

Gannet

Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

♥ Grave Situation HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 08 Aug—22 Aug

Heads Up

Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, 19 Aug—22 Aug

In a Thousand Pieces Pleasance Courtyard, 23 Aug—31 Aug

Noir

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—16 Aug, not 6th

One and the Many The GRV, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Orphans

Traverse Theatre, Thu 13th, Tue 18th, Sat 22nd, Thu 27th

Ousia

Dance Base @ Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 11 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Rendition Monologues

St John’s Church, 17 Aug—23 Aug

Ringside

The Signet Library, 24 Aug—28 Aug

Shadow Orchestra New Town Theatre, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Something About Others

Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, Sun 16th

Special Boy The Vault, 25 Aug—31 Aug

86 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Sshhh, Don’t Tell Anyone!

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 08 Aug—20 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Stitches

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

The Contest HH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

04:05PM spectrum

Multiple locations, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Be My Eyes

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

Steelopolis Tales

The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 10 Aug—22 Aug, not 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th

04:10PM Horse

Multiple locations, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Emma C Soco, 16 Aug—31 Aug Hangover The Zoo, 07 Aug—31 Aug Morecambe Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Ward No 6 C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

West Lethargy

The Space@Venue 45, Multiple dates

Words of Honour: The Mafia Exposed HH Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

04:15PM Catch

The Zoo, multiple dates Hotel HHH

Assembly @ George Street, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Innovation

Church Hill Theatre, Sat 22nd, Tue 25th

One Eye Gone Venue 13, 10 Aug—22 Aug, not 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th

Revenge of the Rhyming Rapscallion Church Hill Theatre, Sun 23rd

Sky, Death and Wonder The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 17 Aug—23 Aug

04:20PM Book of Days by Lanford Wilson Pilrig Studio, Sun 16th, Fri 21st

Odyssey

Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

04:25PM Faust in the Box Underbelly, 06 Aug—29 Aug

Hat

Augustine’s, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

Timeshare Sweet ECA, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

04:30PM Celebration by Harold Pinter The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 24 Aug—29 Aug

American Women Pilrig Studio, Tue 18th Box The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Thu 20th

Circa Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 10th, 17th, 24th

Doubtful Guest Traverse Theatre, Thu 20th, Tue 25th, Sat 29th

Dream Big The Vault, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Jerktown

Pilrig Studio, Wed 19th Lady Boys of Bangkok Meadows Theatre Big Tops Lady Boys of Bangkok, Sat 15th, Sat 22nd, Fri 28th, Sat 29th

Life Out Loud The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Tue 18th

www.festmag.co.uk

theatrelistings Longhardt Look at Love - with Chad Longhardt The Bongo Club, 21

Aug—31 Aug, not 23rd

Mind Magic of Cole Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Modern/Contemporary Dance Program

Stage by Stage Edinburgh Academy, 19 Aug—20 Aug

Ranganika, Island of Dance

The World @ St George’s West, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 17th, 24th

Screwloose

Quaker Meeting House, 10 Aug—29 Aug, not 16th, 23rd

Shakespeare Shattered Pilrig Studio, Thu 20th ♥ Stefan Golaszewski Is a Widower HHHH Traverse Theatre, Tue 11th, Sun 16th

Still Breathing Zoo Southside, 07

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Ugly One

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 24 Aug—29 Aug

04:35PM Barry Pull Your Finger Out! HH Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 19th

Night Maneuver By Howard Korder The Vault, 18 Aug—23 Aug

04:40PM A Compas Flamenco The Bongo Club, 08 Aug—16 Aug, not 11th, 12th, 13th

Billy Budd C too, 16 Aug—22 Aug Boh C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th Dinner Sweet ECA, 24 Aug—31 Aug From Me to 3792 The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd

Front Man’ By Glyn Maxwell Underbelly, 07 Aug—22 Aug

www.festmag.co.uk

05:15PM

Killing Alan Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

Little Gem

Normality (Starring Pedro Kruger) Pleasance Dome, 05

Moscow State Circus

Canterbury Tales Multiple locations,

Meadows Theatre Big Tops Moscow State Circus, Multiple dates

Multiple dates

The Shadow Within Underbelly, 23 Aug—30

Ousia

Durang/Durang By Christopher Durang

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Aug, not 18th

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Aug

04:45PM 14 Seconds

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Once Upon a Time: Naughty Fairytales Your Mother Never Told You

Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, 24 Aug—31 Aug

Palace of the End Traverse Theatre, Fri 21st, Wed 26th, Sun 30th

Pan Pa’ Tim

New Town Theatre, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

You Fancy Yourself

Universal Arts @ St George’s West, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 18th, 24th

04:50PM Dylan Thomas, Return Journey: Bob Kingdom

Assembly @ George Street, 17 Aug—23 Aug

Words With AL Kennedy

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

05:00PM Assassination of Paris Hilton HHH

Assembly @ George Street, 13 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Traverse Theatre, Fri 14th, Thu 20th, Wed 26th

Dance Base @ Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Sat 15th, Sun 16th, Sat 22nd, Sun 23rd

Palace of the End Traverse Theatre, Wed 12th, Sun 16th

Rites Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, Sun 16th

Church Hill Theatre, Sat 15th

Dolores The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 06 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

Elvis Still My Heart Pleasance Dome, 06 Janis

Gelabert Azzopardi Companyia de Dansa Multiple locations,

05:20PM

Life in Three Acts Traverse Theatre, Fri 21st My Life With the Dogs Pleasance Courtyard, 05

11th, Sun 16th, Sun 30th

Sat 22nd

Scottish Ballet

Multiple locations, Run over

The Overcoat

Multiple locations, Tue 25th

The Yalta Game King’s Theatre, Fri 4th Afterplay King’s Theatre, Sat 5th The Testament of Cresseid The Hub, Tue 1st

05:05PM Kataklo Athletic Dance Theatre’s ‘Love Machines’

Pleasance Courtyard, 13 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Venezuela Viva Venue 150 @ EICC, 02

Aug—23 Aug, not 10th, 17th

05:25PM Look Back in Anger

By John Osborne The Vault, 10 Aug—16 Aug Beachy Head HHH Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

05:10PM

Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—23 Aug

Titanic - and the Band Played On C, 23 Aug—30 Aug

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Aug—29 Aug

The Last Witch

Subsist

Jugglers

Lamplighter’s Lament Bedlam Theatre, 10

The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th

Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Aug—29 Aug

not 17th, 24th

Charlie Cox Runs With Scissors

The Space@Venue 45, 08 Aug—21 Aug, not 9th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 19th

♥ David Leddy’s ‘White Tea’ HHHH

Jane Austen’s Guide to Pornography Zoo Southside, 07

Nancy Sleekit/The Herd of Standlan Diverse Attractions, 24

Borges and I The Zoo, 07 Aug—28 Aug,

Robert Burns Scotland’s Radically Enlightened Poet St Mark’s artSpace, Tue

Critic C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th Stronger

Assembly @ George Street, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

13th, Wed 19th, Tue 25th, Sun 30th

Diverse Attractions, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Shakespeare Bingo - Hamlet!

Columbinus Sweet ECA, 17 Aug—23 Aug, not 20th

♥ Midsummer (A Play With Songs) HHHH Traverse Theatre, Thu

Averse to Personal Publicity

Cardenio C cubed, 06 Aug—28 Aug Djupid (the Deep) Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug

Self-Murder C central, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

05:30PM 3 Sisters

Re-Union Canal Boats Ltd, 14 Aug—23 Aug

Alice Through The Looking Glass

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 24th

Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th

Ootlaw Duddingston Kirk Manse Garden, 11 Aug—22 Aug, not 16th, 17th

Parents’ Evening Sweet ECA, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Robert Burns With Hare

St Mark’s artSpace, multiple dates

Spaceman The Arches at St Stephen’s, 09 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th

The Rebel Cell Underbelly’s Hullabaloo, 07 Aug—31 Aug

What Women Want Diverse Attractions, 17 Aug—22 Aug

05:35PM Hayton on Homicide Multiple locations, Multiple dates

Mother/Son

Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Quaternary C Soco, 07 Aug—15 Aug

05:40PM Four Epaulets The Vault, 25 Aug—26 Aug

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 87

theatrelistings 05:45PM 1984, a Comedy The Vault, 25 Aug—31 Aug Couples Counseling Venue 13, 08 Aug—22 Aug, not 17th

East 10th Street HHH Traverse Theatre, Sat 15th Iago The Zoo, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

If That’s All There Is Traverse Theatre, Fri 28th Life in Three Acts Traverse Theatre, Thu 27th Miss Landmine Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 19th

♥ Stefan Golaszewski Is a Widower HHHH Traverse Theatre, Tue 18th, Sun 23rd, Sat 29th

Tap Kids

New Town Theatre, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Underground: A Forgotten World Sweet ECA, 16 Aug—30 Aug

05:50PM Blondes

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Up and Over It! An Irish Dance Spectacular C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

06:00PM Taming of the Shrew Multiple locations, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Funny

Multiple locations, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 11th, 18th

21 Girlfriends Sweet ECA, 08 Aug—15 Aug Acting Suspiciously The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Ae Fond Kiss

Multiple locations, Sun 16th

Best of John Betjeman St Cuthbert’s Parish Church, 17 Aug—23 Aug

Creole Choir of Cuba

The World @ St George’s West, 06 Aug—31 Aug

If That’s All There Is Traverse Theatre, Sat 22nd Moscow State Circus Meadows Theatre Big Tops Moscow State Circus, Sun 16th, Sun 23rd, Sun 30th

Ousia

An Audience with Tappy Wright Rock Roadie: Backstage and Confidential Assembly @ George Street, 18 Aug—23 Aug

♥ Catwalk Confidential HHHH

Dance Base @ Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 11 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Picture of Dorian Gray

Lochhead & Laula Love, Love, Love HHH

clubWEST @ Grosvenor Hilton, 15 Aug—22 Aug

Unsung

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—16 Aug, not 8th, 11th

Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, 19 Aug—22 Aug

Native American Tales Pilrig Studio, Tue 18th

Afterplay

06:25PM

King’s Theatre, Tue 1st

06:05PM Year of the Horse HHH

Multiple locations, 11 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Exodus 10:21

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 10 Aug—15 Aug

Knuckleball

Universal Arts @ St George’s West, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

06:30PM American Women Pilrig Studio, Wed 19th Box

God Bless the Child - An Evening with Billie Holiday Greenside, 17 Aug—29 Aug The Grind Show C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Tue 18th

06:10PM

Aug—31 Aug, not 19th

Burn

Multiple locations, Multiple dates

06:15PM

Chauntecleer and Pertelotte (A Beasty-Babel-Fable) Zoo Southside, 07 EONN-ic Eclections

The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 08 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Jerktown

Pilrig Studio, Thu 20th

Hard Hearted Hannah and Other Stories Theatre Workshop, 24

Life Out Loud

Revenge of the Rhyming Rapscallion Church Hill Theatre, 22

Lilly Through the Dark Bedlam Theatre, 10

Aug—29 Aug

Aug—25 Aug, not 23rd, 25th

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Pilrig Studio, Sun 16th Snarl-up

Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, Multiple dates

06:20PM Book of Days by Lanford Wilson Pilrig Studio, Mon 17th 100 Wounded Tears Zoo Southside, 07 Aug—15 Aug

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Thu 20th

Aug—29 Aug, not 18th

Lysistrata - The Sex Strike

Quaker Meeting House, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Norman Conquests

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Peter Duncan’s Daft and Dangerous Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 26th

Poverty Monologues The Space@Venue 45, 17 Aug—22 Aug

88 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Secret Life of Robert Burns

Symposium Hall, 19 Aug—20 Aug

Tea Dance

Pleasance Dome, 09 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

This Mortal Coil

Quaker Meeting House, 10 Aug—15 Aug

Under Milk Wood

Quaker Meeting House, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Waiting for Godot

St James Public Toilets, 25 Aug—31 Aug

06:35PM Oleanna By David Mamet The Vault, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

Am I ... Naked?

C, 09 Aug—15 Aug Beggars Belief C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Chair

The Zoo, 07 Aug—31 Aug Manband - They’re Not a Boyband HH Sweet ECA, 06 Aug—31 Aug

06:45PM Canterbury Tales Multiple locations, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Generation F The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—15 Aug, not 9th

Grossladies C Soco, 27 Aug—31 Aug Lola: The Life of Lola Montez New Town Theatre, 09

Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Neville’s Island C Soco, 16 Aug—22 Aug ♥ Sea Wall HHHH Traverse Theatre, Tue 11th, Sun 16th

Unit 46 C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

06:50PM Lady Windermere’s Fan The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 24 Aug—29 Aug

06:55PM Cigarettes and Chocolate C Soco, 05 Aug—15 Aug

07:00PM A Midsummer Night’s Dream McEwan Hall, 14 Aug—23 Aug

Beige Adventures of Ay and Bee The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Multiple dates

By Order of Ignorance The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Caucasian Chalk Circle Sweet ECA, 23 Aug—30 Aug Cavedwellers The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Wed 19th

Famous Taste of Scotland With Three Scottish Tenors

The Stables at Prestonfield, 04 Aug—31 Aug, not 8th, 14th, 15th, 22nd, 27th, 29th

Lady Boys of Bangkok Meadows Theatre Big Tops Lady Boys of Bangkok, 10 Aug—31 Aug

Orphans

Traverse Theatre, Fri 14th, Wed 19th, Sun 23rd, Fri 28th

Plagiarismo!

New Town Theatre, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 16th

Scottish Dance Theatre - A Visitation Zoo Southside, 20

Aug—30 Aug, not 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 27th, 28th

Scottish Dance Theatre - Luxuria Zoo Southside, 18

Aug—28 Aug, not 20th, 21st, 24th, 25th, 26th

Tao of Everest

Edinburgh Academy, 07 Aug—31 Aug

This is a Picture of a Person I Don’t Know Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, 05 Aug—16 Aug, not 11th

Timekeepers

Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

www.festmag.co.uk

theatrelistings Unthinkable

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Multiple dates

07:05PM Anwesha Company: A Mind’s Journey in Search of Destiny C, 05 Aug—31 Aug Legend of Kaulula’au

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Territory

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

07:10PM 6.0: How Heap and Pebble Took on the World and Won Pleasance Dome, 05

Aug—31 Aug, not 6th, 7th, 8th, 12th, 17th, 24th

Blame Game

The Space@Venue 45, Tue 25th, Fri 28th

Caterwaul

The Space@Venue 45, Wed 26th, Sat 29th

Hospitable

The Space@Venue 45, Mon 24th, Thu 27th

Suckerville C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

07:15PM Auto-Da-Fe by Tennessee Williams HHH The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 10 Aug—25 Aug, not 16th, 23rd, 24th, 25th

Absolutely Legless

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 14 Aug—15 Aug

Been So Long HHH Traverse Theatre, Multiple dates

Burton

Venue 13, 19 Aug—30 Aug

Chatroom The Zoo, 07 Aug—31 Aug Emptymouthing

Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, 18 Aug—31 Aug

Faustus

venue251, 27 Aug—29 Aug, not 29th

Frozen

Sweet Grassmarket, 17 Aug—30 Aug

Instant Burns - Just Add Haggis The Vault, 25 Aug—31 Aug Love Shop Augustine’s, 10 Aug—16 Aug

ME (Mobile/Evolution) Dance Base @ Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 14 Aug—27 Aug, not 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th

Third Breast Augustine’s, 18 Aug—29 Aug, not 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th

Up

The Vault, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

07:20PM Does This Piano Make My Ass Look Big? The Bongo Club, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 10th, 17th, 24th

Wondering Greenside, 10 Aug—15 Aug

07:25PM 3 Thrayaa Greenside, 10 Aug—26 Aug, not 16th, 23rd

Chilangai Greenside, 27 Aug—29 Aug, not 28th

Hamlet C, 07 Aug—31 Aug

07:30PM Macbeth

Multiple locations, 21 Aug

Desmorphia

The Voodoo Rooms, 12 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th

A Man For All Seasons Brunton Theatre, 28 Aug—29 Aug

Ae Fond Kiss

Multiple locations, 10 Aug—29 Aug, not 15th, 22nd

Auld Sangs and New Rhymes - The Life of Burns

St Serf’s Church and Hall, 10 Aug—22 Aug, not 16th, 22nd

Bitter Belief of Cotrone the Magician Sweet in the Firth of Forth, 08 Aug—16 Aug

Brocante Sonore: The Mechanicians C, 16 Aug—31 Aug

Crime and Punishment

Diverse Attractions, 10 Aug—15 Aug

Robert Burns Scotland’s Radically Enlightened Poet St Mark’s artSpace,

Dancing Forth - the Scottish Show Edinburgh Academy, 11

Sun 23rd

Edge of Darkness

Aug—15 Aug

Aug—15 Aug

Blackhall St Columba’s Parish Church Hall, 10 Aug—15 Aug

Romeo+Juliet: Les Filles En Scè Diverse Attractions, 10 Trilogy

The Arches at St Stephen’s, 09 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Evening with Psychosis Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

Scottish Ballet

Aug, not 18th

Multiple locations, Run over

Flanders Field

The Last Witch

Diverse Attractions, 24 Aug—29 Aug

Great Zimbabwe Columcille Centre, 15 Aug—29 Aug, not 17th, 21st, 24th

Hatches, Matches and Dispatches

Saughtonhall United Reformed Church, 10 Aug—15 Aug

Havana Rumba! - The Hottest Cuban Salsa Party in Town!

Venue 150 @ EICC, 04 Aug—30 Aug

La Dispute

Diverse Attractions, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Last of the Red Hot Lovers

Murrayfield Parish Church Centre, 12 Aug—22 Aug, not 16th

Little Gem

Traverse Theatre, Fri 21st Man For All Seasons

Duddingston Kirk Manse Garden, 05 Aug—23 Aug, not 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th

♥ Midsummer (A Play With Songs) HHHH Traverse Theatre, Fri 14th, Thu 20th, Wed 26th

Palace of the End Traverse Theatre, Thu 13th, Tue 18th, Sat 22nd, Thu 27th

Promised Land

Scottish Storytelling Centre, 20 Aug—29 Aug

Puppet-Show Man

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, Sat 22nd, Sun 23rd

Ragamala Dance Presents Yathra (Journey) St John’s Church, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 13th, 20th

90 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Multiple locations, 23 Aug—29 Aug, not 25th

Faith Healer King’s Theatre, Multiple dates

Afterplay

King’s Theatre, Thu 3rd

Faust

Little Gem

Traverse Theatre, Sat 15th, Thu 27th

Miser

St Peter’s, 26 Aug—29 Aug Moscow State Circus Meadows Theatre Big Tops Moscow State Circus, 13 Aug—31 Aug, not 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, 31st

Mutiny The Zoo, 07 Aug—29 Aug Wha Wadna Follow Thee?

St Peter’s, 11 Aug—22 Aug, not 16th, 17th, 22nd

07:50PM Koi

C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

08:00PM

Royal Highland Centre, Lowland Hall, Ingliston, 18 Aug—22 Aug

Alba Flamenca Alba Flamenca, 10

Peter and Wendy

Be Bop a Lula Sweet ECA, 16 Aug—30 Aug Bollocks

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Run over

07:35PM In Bed With Poets

Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 17th, 24th

07:40PM Blame Game

The Space@Venue 45, Mon 17th, Thu 20th

Caterwaul

The Space@Venue 45, Tue 18th, Fri 21st

Hospitable

The Space@Venue 45, Wed 19th, Sat 22nd

Nouvelles Folies New Town Theatre, multiple dates

Stand By Your Van

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th, 25th

Strike

New Town Theatre, multiple dates

Tale Of Two Cities St Ninian’s Hall, 10 Aug—22 Aug, not 16th

07:45PM Doubtful Guest Traverse Theatre, Fri 21st, Wed 26th, Sun 30th

Aug—30 Aug

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 26 Aug—29 Aug

Fistful of Snow C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug If That’s All There Is Traverse Theatre, Tue 18th, Sun 23rd, Sat 29th

Life in Three Acts Traverse Theatre, Fri 28th Metamorphosis C too, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 7th, 8th, 18th

My Queer Valentine Universal Arts @ St George’s West, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

Pigeon Affair The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

Red Room

Traverse Theatre, Wed 12th, Sun 16th

♥ Stefan Golaszewski Is a Widower HHHH Traverse Theatre, Thu 13th, Wed 19th, Tue 25th, Sun 30th

True Dare Kiss

Cabaret Voltaire, 17 Aug—23 Aug

www.festmag.co.uk

theatrelistings The Return of Ulysses The Edinburgh Playhouse, 21 Aug—24 Aug, not 24th

Gelabert Azzopardi Companyia de Dansa Multiple locations, 21 Aug—23 Aug

Michael Clark

The Edinburgh Playhouse, 28 Aug—31 Aug

Optimism

Royal Lyceum Theatre, 15 Aug—17 Aug

Diaspora

The Edinburgh Playhouse, 15 Aug—16 Aug

Hospitable

The Space@Venue 45, Tue 25th, Fri 28th

Love Letters On Blue Paper By Arnold Wesker

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

♥ Luck HHHH

Underbelly’s Hullabaloo, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Trainspotting HHH Sweet ECA, 08 Aug—15 Aug

08:15PM

The Testament of Cresseid The Hub, 29 Aug—31 Aug,

Antigone

Experimentum Mundi Traverse Theatre, 02

East 10th Street HHH Traverse Theatre, Tue

not 1st

Sep—05 Sep

08:05PM Destroy PowerPoint C Soco, 19 Aug—31 Aug Lady Bug Warrior The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

Lesson

Sweet ECA, 20 Aug—30 Aug

The Montana Ranch C central, 07 Aug—31 Aug The Shape of Things C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

08:10PM Blame Game

The Space@Venue 45, Wed 26th, Sat 29th

Caterwaul

The Space@Venue 45, Mon 24th, Thu 27th

www.festmag.co.uk

Multiple locations, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th

11th, Sun 16th

Innovation

Church Hill Theatre, Fri 21st

Island

The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Kindertransport

Quaker Meeting House, 10 Aug—15 Aug

Life in Three Acts Traverse Theatre, Sat 22nd Monday C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

08:20PM Jordy Pordy: Taking the Bull by the Horns Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Skin of Our Teeth

Church Hill Theatre, Sat 15th

08:25PM

Hospitable

Stay!

The Zoo, 24 Aug—29 Aug

08:30PM

The Space@Venue 45, Mon 17th, Thu 20th

Normal

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 17 Aug—29 Aug, not 23rd

Anomie HHH Zoo Southside, 07

Tears of a Clown

Aug—31 Aug

Cross Purpose C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Death of a Samurai The Vault, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

East

Augustine’s, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

Found

Dance Base - National Centre for Dance, 05 Aug—16 Aug, not 11th

Mong-Yeon (A Love in Dream) C, 05 Aug—31 Aug

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—15 Aug, not 9th

08:40PM Beast

The Vault, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Blame Game

The Space@Venue 45, Tue 18th, Fri 21st

Caterwaul

The Space@Venue 45, Wed 19th, Sat 22nd

Changing The Wheel - Bert Brecht and Me

Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, 05 Aug—31 Aug

Faulty Towers the Dining Experience B’est Restaurant, 10

Aug—31 Aug, not 15th, 18th, 22nd, 29th

Miles & Coltrane: Blue (.)

The ‘Amicable’ Solution Underbelly, multiple dates The Fuss Underbelly, multiple dates

RAW

08:45PM Boy in Darkness The Zoo, 07 Aug—22 Aug Memento Mori

Revenant

Johnny Meister and the Stitch

The World @ St George’s West, 06 Aug—31 Aug

The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), Multiple dates

The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 07 Aug—15 Aug, not 9th

08:35PM

Capoeira Knights: The Boys from Brazil

Multiple locations, 13 Aug—16 Aug, not 13th, 14th

Dance Base @ Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 14 Aug—27 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Sea Spray and Cuckoo Spit Augustine’s, 18 Aug—31 Aug, not 23rd, 24th

Zemblanity

Bedlam Theatre, 06 Aug—29 Aug

The Yalta Game King’s Theatre, Sat 29th, Sun 30th, Tue 1st

Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, 09 Aug—15 Aug

Afterplay

Slave Trader

09:05PM

08:55PM

♥ Certain Dark Things HHHH Underbelly, 06 Aug—30

The Space@Venue 45, 12 Aug—15 Aug

The Tartuffe C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug

09:00PM Beige Adventures of Ay and Bee

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Multiple dates

Burlescque

Edinburgh Sports Club, 11 Aug—29 Aug, not 16th, 17th, 23rd, 26th

King’s Theatre, Mon 31st

Aug, not 17th

Chanel and the Smelly World of Market Street Sweet ECA, 06 Aug—30 Aug Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy The Space@Venue 45, 24 Aug—29 Aug

09:10PM JooCeBox

Augustine’s, 25 Aug—31 Aug

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 91

theatrelistings Lewis Barlow Close-Up Magician C central, 16 Aug—31 Aug

09:15PM Detaining Mr K

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 15th, 16th, 23rd

Lady Boys of Bangkok Meadows Theatre Big Tops Lady Boys of Bangkok, 10 Aug—31 Aug

09:25PM Lover

C Soco, 05 Aug—17 Aug Weepie C Soco, 18 Aug—31 Aug

09:30PM And All the Children Cried

Sweet Grassmarket, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Brazilian Fever C central, 13 Aug—31 Aug Cocorico New Town Theatre, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Crave

Multiple locations, Multiple dates

Hitler Alone

Inlingua Edinburgh, 12 Aug—26 Aug

How to Giftwrap a Chicken

Diverse Attractions, 10 Aug—15 Aug

Ivanov

Sweet Grassmarket Swimming Pool, 20 Aug—30 Aug, not 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 29th

Merchant of Venice

Sweet Grassmarket Swimming Pool, 19 Aug—29 Aug, not 20th, 22nd, 24th, 26th, 28th

Ophelia (Drowning) Sweet Grassmarket Swimming Pool, 05 Aug—18 Aug

Sorry People

Universal Arts @ St George’s West, 18 Aug—29 Aug

There Are a Thousand Ways to Kneel and Kiss the Ground Diverse Attractions, 10 Aug—29 Aug, not 16th, 23rd

Tondal’s Vision Canongate Kirk, 24 Aug—25 Aug

09:35PM Micaela Leon: Kabarett Berlin C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th Or[f]unny C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

09:45PM Bedtime Stories C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

My Name is Sue HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 22nd

Safe In Numbers The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 07 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

Tears of a Clown The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), Multiple dates

09:50PM ♥ F**ked HHHHH Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Keep the Change C, 17 Aug—22 Aug The Sugar Dandies: Ladies Not Required C, 05 Aug—15 Aug

10:00PM Auto-Da-Fe by Tennessee Williams HHH The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, Mon 24th, Tue 25th

Clockwork Orange C, 05 Aug—22 Aug Hope Gap C, 23 Aug—31 Aug Little Johnny’s Big Gay Musical Pleasance Dome, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 17th, 24th

Ministry of Burlesque’s High Tease The Voodoo Rooms, 12

Aug—23 Aug, not 17th, 18th

Puppet-Show Man The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, Fri 21st

10:05PM Snatch Paradise by Van Badham HH Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug

10:10PM Art

C central, 07 Aug—31 Aug ♥ Broken Holmes HHHH The Space@Venue 45, 06 Aug—22 Aug, not 9th, 16th

10:15PM ♥ Bongo Club Cabaret HHHH The Bongo Club, 07

Aug—30 Aug, not 15th, 21st

Dragged, Kicked and Screaming The Vault, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Frank

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

♥ Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church’ By Daniel Kitson HHHHH Traverse Theatre, 06

Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 17th, 24th, 29th

Reality Chokes

New Town Theatre, 05 Aug—30 Aug

Snarl-up

Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, Multiple dates

Vagina Monologues The Vault, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

10:20PM King Ubu The Zoo, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Unfolding King Lear a Model The Vault, 25 Aug—30 Aug

10:30PM Hayton on Homicide Multiple locations, 10 Aug—29 Aug

Accidental Nostalgia Traverse Theatre, 11

Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Doctor Faustus

Multiple locations, Multiple dates

92 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Generation Crunch Presents Bedlam Theatre, Sun 16th, Sun 23rd

Honeymoon

Bedlam Theatre, 06 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

Inventing the Sky Zoo Southside, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 20th

The Church of Salsa The World @ St George’s West, 12 Aug—29 Aug, not 16th, 17th, 18th, 23rd, 24th, 25th

Missing Alice The Space@Venue 45, 11 Aug—15 Aug

Queer Augustine’s, 25 Aug—31 Aug

Tragical History and Glorious Demise of Doctor John Faustus The Space@Venue 45, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Wicker Man Pleasance Courtyard, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

10:35PM

11:20PM

Hayton on Homicide Multiple locations, 10

The Trial C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug

10:40PM

11:25PM

(A Tall Tale from the) Fame Factory Augustine’s, 25 Aug—31

An Audience with John Smeaton

Aug—29 Aug, not 16th, 23rd

Aug

The Inconsiderate Aberrations of Billy the Kid Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 18th

10:45PM Opening Night of the Living Dead HHH C cubed, 06 Aug—31 Aug Rachel Rose Reid: And They Lived ...

Assembly @ George Street, 17 Aug—30 Aug, not 24th

11:30PM Tales of the Apocalypse Gilded Balloon Teviot, 05 Aug—16 Aug

11:35PM Bone House Underbelly, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—25 Aug, not 17th

12:10AM

10:50PM

Assassination of Paris Hilton HHH

A Lot of Nerve

Pleasance Dome, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 17th, 24th

Assembly @ George Street, Fri 21st, Sat 22nd, Fri 28th, Sat 29th

10:55PM

12:20AM

Zeitgeist C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Meesterlijk - Showcasing the Best of Dutch Theatre The GRV, 06 Aug—29 Aug,

11:00PM Burn

Multiple locations, Multiple dates

Ballad of the Skull Fairy HH Underbelly, 06 Aug—15 Aug

not 14th, 15th, 29th

12:25AM Searching for Eden: the Diaries of Adam and Eve C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 31st

www.festmag.co.uk

musiclistings 09:30AM

Curtains

Bach for Breakfast

Church Hill Theatre, Sat 22nd

Beethoven for Breakfast

Musical Theatre @ George Square, Tue 18th, Wed 19th

Royal Over-Seas League, 12 Aug—22 Aug, not 13th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 21st

Royal Over-Seas League, 11 Aug—21 Aug, not 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th

10:00AM Cresseid: Rehearsal Stockbridge Parish Church, 29 Aug

10:15AM They Started Here

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 13 Aug— 30 Aug, not 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th, 26th

10:30AM Brel@Breakfast

Sweet Grassmarket, 07 Aug—31 Aug

10:35AM Snoopy!!! The Musical

The Space@Venue 45, multiple dates

11:15AM Gingers! The Musical HHH

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

11:30AM Homecoming

Multiple locations, 17 Aug—22 Aug

12:00PM Have a Nice Life

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 07 Aug—16 Aug, not 11th

In the Smoke Sweet ECA, 22 Aug—23 Aug

12:15PM Chat! The Internet Musical

Musical Theatre @ George Square, Sun 23rd

www.festmag.co.uk

Martin ‘The Falsetto’ Milnes

Musical of Musicals (the Musical!)

Pilrig Studio, Thu 20th Over The Threshold

Musical Theatre @ George Square, Thu 20th, Fri 21st

Rent: School Edition The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Sat 22nd

Runaways

Church Hill Theatre, Sun 23rd

01:00PM

02:00PM

Ain’t That a Kick in the Head Valvona & Crolla, Wed 12th, Fri 21st, Wed 26th, Mon 31st

In the Footsteps of Clarinda Valvona & Crolla, Sat 15th, Mon 24th, Sat 29th

Queen Bibi Augustine’s, 25 Aug—29 Aug

Toasting the Lassies Valvona & Crolla, Sun 23rd, Thu 27th, Sun 30th

01:05PM

Scotch Broth

Multiple locations, Sat 29th

American Songbook III

Edinburgh Academy Robertson Room, Sat 22nd

Chopin After Lunch

Royal Over-Seas League, Sat 15th, Tue 18th, Sat 22nd

Crazy Little Thing Called Jazz City Edinburgh, Sat 29th, Sun 30th

Falsettoland

Musical Theatre @ George Square, multiple dates

Jonathan Prag Classical Guitar

St Cuthbert’s Parish Church, Multiple dates

Jazz Bar Jazz The Jazz Bar, 10 Aug—30

The Great British Soap Opera

01:10PM

12:20PM

Greyfriars Lunchtime Organ Recitals Greyfriars Kirk, 11 Aug—

Rachmaninov After Lunch

Quest

Six Ways

Musical Theatre @ George Square, Sat 22nd

EveryChild

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Mon 17th

12:30PM Absolutely Chopin

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, 17 Aug

Baroque and Classical Masterworks

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, 29 Aug

Jazz at Lunchtime

Radisson SAS Edinburgh Hotel - Dickson’s Bar, 07 Aug—31 Aug

Mandolin and Harp Recital

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Tue 18th

When the Poppies Bloom Again St Mark’s artSpace, 17 Aug—28 Aug, not 23rd

12:35PM Oliver!

C, 16 Aug—22 Aug, not 21st

12:45PM The Rex Roman Pink Floyd Show HH Udderbelly’s Pasture, Tue 18th

19 Aug, not 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 07 Aug—16 Aug

Aug, not 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 25th, 27th

Royal Over-Seas League, 14 Aug—20 Aug, not 15th, 17th, 18th, 19th Musical Theatre @ George Square, multiple dates

01:15PM

02:15PM

The Boy Friend

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 19 Aug—31 Aug, not 25th

01:30PM

Africaaah!

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Sun 23rd

Curtains

Church Hill Theatre, Sun 23rd

All of Me

The Jazz Bar, 17 Aug—21 Aug

Jazz Bar Jazz The Jazz Bar, Tue 25th, Thu 27th

Scottish Folk Roots & Offshoots The Royal Oak, 13 Aug—27 Aug, not 18th

Mandolin and Harp Recital

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Sun 16th

Musical of Musicals (the Musical!)

Pilrig Studio, Tue 18th

02:20PM EveryChild

01:45PM Ella, Marilyn, Marlene and Me Augustine’s, Thu 20th, Fri 21st, Sat 22nd, Sun 23rd

01:50PM Jazz A Cappella - The Oxford Gargoyles C, 23 Aug—31 Aug

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Wed 19th

02:30PM Cramp Rolls and Suzy Q

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Thu 20th

Early Long Island Iced Tea

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Godspell

Saughtonhall United Reformed Church, 17 Aug—21 Aug, not 17th, 19th

It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow

St Mark’s artSpace, 17 Aug—28 Aug, not 23rd

Mandolin and Harp Recital

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Mon 17th

02:40PM Fat Club: The Musical C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

02:45PM Tempest - A Musical Enchantment Sweet ECA, 16 Aug—30 Aug, not 25th

02:50PM Out of the Blue C, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 21st, 22nd

Soweto Gospel Choir Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 11 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

03:00PM Colin Clyne

Multiple locations, Sun 16th

Classical Guitars at St Cecilia’s St Cecilia’s Hall, 18 Aug David Vernon and Dick Lee Valvona & Crolla, Mon 24th

In the Footsteps of Clarinda Valvona & Crolla, Mon 17th, Sat 22nd

Jazz Bar Jazz The Jazz Bar, Multiple dates

Toasting the Lassies Valvona & Crolla, Sun 16th, Thu 20th

03:05PM Jonathan Prag Classical Guitar

St Cuthbert’s Parish Church, Multiple dates

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 93

musiclistings 03:15PM First Lady Suite Musical Theatre @ George Square, Fri 14th, Fri 21st, Fri 28th

Rocket Science Musical Theatre @ George Square, Thu 13th, Thu 20th, Thu 27th

03:20PM David Benson Sings Noel Coward Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—21 Aug, not 12th

03:30PM Air Alba

The Royal Oak, 10 Aug—30 Aug

Sorries

Diverse Attractions, Multiple dates

03:45PM Chat! The Internet Musical Musical Theatre @ George Square, Multiple dates

Flanders and Swann: A Brand GNew AfterGNoon

Pleasance Courtyard, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 26th

The Great British Soap Opera Musical Theatre @ George Square, Multiple dates

Zombie Prom Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, 11 Aug—16 Aug

03:50PM Living Room

Sweet Grassmarket, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 15th

04:00PM Bloodbath - The Musical

Musical Theatre @ George Square, Sat 22nd, Sun 23rd, Sat 29th, Sun 30th

Brahms at Teatime

Royal Over-Seas League, 14 Aug—20 Aug, not 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th

Edinburgh Renaissance Band ‘Rough Wooings’ St Cecilia’s Hall, Sun 16th Mozart at Teatime Royal Over-Seas League, 12 Aug—22 Aug, not 14th, 17th, 20th

Perfect Pitch - In Concert

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 18 Aug—19 Aug, not 18th

04:15PM Musical of Musicals (the Musical!)

Pilrig Studio, Mon 17th Rent: School Edition

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Mon 17th, Wed 19th

Runaways

Church Hill Theatre, 21 Aug—24 Aug, not 22nd, 23rd

04:20PM Belle Canto’s Opera Hour: Tales of Love and Lies Sweet ECA, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

EveryChild The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, Fri 21st

04:30PM Africaaah!

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Multiple dates

Carmina Burana St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, 20 Aug—28 Aug, not 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 26th, 28th

Scott-Thomson Harp Duo St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, 17 Aug—18 Aug

Tony Cox - Guitar, Me, South Africa Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Wed 19th, Mon 24th

04:45PM Africaaah!

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Sun 16th, Sun 30th

05:00PM A Cappella Allsorts Canongate Kirk, 29 Aug Adele-Marina Wilding Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 20 Aug

In the Pink Fabulous All-Female A Cappella!

C, 16 Aug—31 Aug Latin Jazz with Robin del Castillo Band El Barrio Nightclub,

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—16 Aug

94 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

05:40PM

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 28 Aug—29 Aug

Mikado

Stairheid Gossip Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Sun 30th

Wolfboy Musical Theatre @ George Square, 07 Aug— 31 Aug, not 11th, 18th

05:15PM

05:20PM

Shoo Shoo Baby The Entire History Of Cabaret

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 10 Aug— 31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Pokey LaFarge

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Sun 23rd

Aug, not 17th

not 17th

Over The Threshold

Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, 07 Aug—23 Aug

Night at the Opera St Mark’s artSpace, Thu

One Touch of Venus Augustine’s, 10 Aug—23

17th

Improvised Musical C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug,

07 Aug—29 Aug, not 12th, 19th, 26th

Cramp Rolls and Suzy Q

04:50PM

05:30PM Barbershopera II Pleasance Dome, Mon

20th, Tue 25th

Bubble C, 17 Aug—22 Aug Cluedo

Augustine’s, 25 Aug—29 Aug

05:25PM Magnets

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 23 Aug—29 Aug

05:45PM David Vernon and Dick Lee

Valvona & Crolla, Tue 18th

The Time(less) Machine

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 25 Aug—30 Aug

European Union Baroque Orchestra Multiple locations, 25 Aug—26 Aug, not 25th

Ricercar Consort Greyfriars Kirk, 27 Aug—28 Aug

06:00PM Ain’t That a Kick in the Head Valvona & Crolla, Thu 20th

www.festmag.co.uk

musiclistings Antonio Forcione - Al Dente!

AssemBLy @ AssemBLy hALL, 06 Aug—29 Aug, not 17th

EVErything you nEED to KnoW about singing aLmost EVErything

06:30PM

07:00PM

Adriana

Broken Records

edGe FestIVAL @ CABARet VoLtAIRe, 25 Aug—26 Aug

air alba

Malcolm Middleton muLtIPLe LoCAtIons,

Italian and neapolitan Songs and Dinner in vinCaffe VInCAFFe, sun 16th, sun

muLtIPLe LoCAtIons, 14 Aug—15 Aug the RoyAL oAk, multiple dates

muLtIPLe LoCAtIons, 17 Aug

27 Aug

Celter schmelter

biffy Clyro

Oi Mush!! The Return of the Tooting Popular Front sweet At the ARk, 09

Cheyenne Brown and Seylan Baxter

tell it Like it is - barb Jungr Sings Songs of War and Peace the queen’s hALL, 14

Swing In The City CIty edInBuRGh, 12 Aug—18 Aug

06:15PM Curtains

ChuRCh hILL theAtRe, Fri 21st

Do Black Patent Leather shoes Really Reflect up?

ChuRCh hILL theAtRe, sat 15th

musical of musicals (the Musical!)

PILRIG studIo, Fri 21st Rent: School Edition the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, Fri 21st

06:20PM EveryChild

the sPACes @ RoyAL CoLLeGe oF suRGeons, sat 22nd

ACoustIC musIC CentRe @ st BRIde’s, 30 Aug

ACoustIC musIC CentRe @ st BRIde’s, 29 Aug

Dean Owens

ACoustIC musIC CentRe @ st BRIde’s, 17 Aug—18 Aug

Jerry Springer the opera

musICAL theAtRe @ GeoRGe squARe, multiple dates

mike Vass

ACoustIC musIC CentRe @ st BRIde’s, 21 Aug—22 Aug

roy bailey & David Ferrard: Songs Of Conscience the RoyAL oAk, 18 Aug—23 Aug

rupert Wates

ACoustIC musIC CentRe @ st BRIde’s, 24 Aug—27 Aug

scottish Folk roots & offshoots the RoyAL oAk, 13

Aug—27 Aug, not 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd

06:25PM

06:35PM

tao - samurai Magical Drumming

by Jeeves

AssemBLy @ AssemBLy hALL, 06 Aug—31 Aug

muLtIPLe LoCAtIons, 10 Aug—21 Aug, not 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st

CoRn eXChAnGe, 21 Aug

Aug, not 17th

musICAL theAtRe @ GeoRGe squARe, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 24th

Aug—15 Aug

Let’s Do It: a Celebration of the Works of Cole porter C CentRAL, 16 Aug—27 Magic Flute

RossLyn ChAPeL, 26 Aug—29 Aug

Amanda Palmer

nobody Does it better

BRunton theAtRe, 15 Aug edGe FestIVAL @ hmV PICtuRe house, 22 Aug

perfect pitch - In Concert

betwixt

musICAL theAtRe @ GeoRGe squARe, 18 Aug—19 Aug, not 19th

Capercaillie

Raw Kings

Cathedral Steinway Celebrity recital st mARy’s CAthedRAL,

Rocket Science

the queen’s hALL, 19 Aug—20 Aug

15 Aug

Charity Gala and 2009 mtm awards musICAL theAtRe @ GeoRGe squARe, 25 Aug

First Lady suite musICAL theAtRe @ GeoRGe squARe, wed 12th, wed 19th, wed 26th

Homecoming at Henderson’s hendeRson’s VeGetARIAn RestAuRAnt, sun 16th, sun 23rd, sun 30th

Aug

07:15PM Be My Love, An Evening with Mario Lanza

st oswALd’s hALL, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Andrew Bird studIo 25, 23 Aug sweet eCA, 16 Aug—22 Aug

scrimshaw - a Pirate’s Legacy unfolds AuGustIne’s, 25 Aug—30

Aug

alive

st mARGARet’s ChuRCh hALL, 14 Aug—15 Aug

bessie smith and the Blues ACoustIC musIC CentRe @ st BRIde’s, 21 Aug

muLtIPLe LoCAtIons, thu 13th, Fri 21st

breabach ACoustIC musIC CentRe @ st BRIde’s, 26 Aug

musICAL theAtRe @ GeoRGe squARe, mon 17th, mon 24th

Caroline Gilmour and Friends

Shooglenifty

ACoustIC musIC CentRe @ st BRIde’s, 20 Aug

the queen’s hALL, thu 27th

Time(less) Machine Venue 150 @ eICC, 06

Ella, Marilyn, Marlene and Me AuGustIne’s, 20 Aug—31

Aug—23 Aug, not 10th, 17th

tom tom Crew

Adriano Adewale: Sound Journey AuGustIne’s, 10 Aug—23 murder mystery musical HHH

23rd, sun 30th

RAdIsson sAs edInBuRGh hoteL - dICkson’s BAR, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Aug—18 Aug

07:10PM

Ian Broudie (Lightning Seeds)

Aug, not 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th

uddeRBeLLy’s PAstuRe, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Fantasticks

un|broken Venue251, 21 Aug—22

Filska

Aug

ChuRCh hILL theAtRe, mon 10th, sat 15th muLtIPLe LoCAtIons, sat 29th

BLOW UP! THE CREDIT CRUNCH MUSICAL

The collapse of international finance amusingly explained with the help of a five-piece

oompah band The GRV (Venue 274), 37 Guthrie Street 16:20 - 17:20 www.festmag.co.uk

6th - 28th August (not 22nd) Tickets only £5

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 95

musiclistings Hot Seats

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 23 Aug—29 Aug, not 24th, 26th, 29th

Admeto, re di Tessaglia

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 28 Aug—31 Aug, not 30th

Actus Tragicus

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 04 Sep—05 Sep

07:20PM Samba Sene and Diwan

The World @ St George’s West, 27 Aug—31 Aug

Town Called Addis The World @ St George’s West, 06 Aug—26 Aug

07:30PM Anything We Once Did, We Can Do Better?

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Sat 15th, Sat 29th

Audience with Jonathan Veira venue251, 17 Aug—18 Aug

Baby

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 06 Aug— 31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Bach Magnificat, Handel Dixit Dominus Canongate Kirk, 15 Aug Barbara Morrison - Up Close and Personal The Outhouse, Fri 14th, Sat 15th, Fri 21st, Sat 22nd

Blazin’ Fiddles

Multiple locations, Mon 17th

Burns With Elegance

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, 25 Aug

Caledon’s Homecoming Party Brunton Theatre, 14 Aug—15 Aug

Camerata Ritmata Brunton Theatre, 21 Aug Carmina Burana St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, Fri 28th

Cathedral Choir Coronation Anthems St Mary’s Cathedral, 22 Aug

Celebrate the Music of the Scottish Harp 1

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, 17 Aug

Celebrate the Music of the Scottish Harp 2

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, 19 Aug

Celebrate the Music of the Scottish Harp 3

Columcille Centre, 21 Aug

Crazy Little Thing Called Jazz City Edinburgh, 27 Aug—

31 Aug, not 29th, 30th

Edinburgh Renaissance Band ‘Rough Wooings’ St Cecilia’s Hall, 13 Aug—16 Aug, not 16th

Godspell

Saughtonhall United Reformed Church, 17 Aug—21 Aug, not 18th, 20th

08:00PM BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Multiple locations, 31 Aug

Scotch Broth

Multiple locations, 27 Aug—29 Aug

Colin Clyne

Multiple locations, 13 Aug—16 Aug, not 14th, 16th

Michael Marra

Multiple locations, Sat 22nd

Adele-Marina Wilding Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 20 Aug

Ain’t That a Kick in the Head Valvona & Crolla, Multiple dates

Along the Miners Rows Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 17 Aug—18 Aug

American Songbook III

Lush Life

Edinburgh Academy Robertson Room, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Musical Magic

Barbara Morrison - Up Close and Personal The Outhouse, 10

The Jazz Bar, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 11th, 17th, 18th, 30th

St Andrew’s & St George’s Church, 26 Aug—27 Aug

Ragtime

Inverleith Church Hall, 10 Aug—15 Aug

Taiko Dojo Drumfest St John’s Church, 24 Aug—29 Aug, not 27th

07:40PM The Thing About Men C, 05 Aug—15 Aug

07:45PM Rent HH

Multiple locations, 16 Aug—31 Aug

Fire and the Thistle

Stockbridge Parish Church, 18 Aug—22 Aug

07:50PM Almost Like a Virgin Pleasance Dome, 05

Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Aug—29 Aug, not 14th, 15th, 16th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd

By Jeeves

Multiple locations, Tue 18th, Wed 19th, Thu 20th, Fri 21st

Cathedral Bach Motets

St Mary’s Cathedral, 21 Aug

Ceilidhs in Lauriston Hall Lauriston Hall, Fri 7th, Fri 14th, Fri 21st, Fri 28th

Chinese Music Old and New Canongate Kirk, 22 Aug Classical Guitar Recital

David Vernon and Dick Lee

Valvona & Crolla, Multiple dates

Ken Hastings

08:20PM Miles Ahead: A Tribute to Miles Davis C central, 19 Aug—31

Kenny Young and the Eggplants

08:25PM

Aug

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 24 Aug—30 Aug

Another Place

Kerieva, Arun Ghosh, Dr Das, Saliha and Blackfist DJs The GRV, Thu 13th, Thu

Cox and Box The Vault, 25 Aug—30

20th

Scots Songs and Ballads Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 19 Aug—20 Aug, not 20th

Multiple locations, Multiple dates

Aug

08:30PM Kayla Kavanagh

The Space on the Mile @ Jury’s Inn (V260), 17 Aug—22 Aug

Scottish Piping

Pirates of Penzance Augustine’s, 09 Aug—15

Silvern

08:35PM

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 21 Aug—22 Aug

Cafe Cadenza Zoo Southside, 16

St Kilda

Rink

St Mark’s artSpace, Mon 24th, Mon 31st

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 15 Aug—17 Aug

Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria King’s Theatre, 23

Aug—26 Aug, not 24th

European Union Baroque Orchestra Multiple locations, 25 Aug—26 Aug, not 26th

08:15PM Curtains

Church Hill Theatre, Mon 24th

Dark Angels The Spaces @ Royal College of Surgeons, 07 Aug—29 Aug, not 9th, 16th, 23rd

Lady Carol: Tomorrow is My Turn

Pleasance Courtyard, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 24th

St Cuthbert’s Parish Church, Sat 15th, Sat 22nd

Cresseid: The Performance

Runaways

96 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

Assembly @ Assembly Hall, Mon 17th

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Sun 16th, Sun 23rd

Movin’ Melvin: Me, Ray Charles and Sammy Davis, Jr New Town Theatre, 05

Stockbridge Parish Church, 29 Aug

Soweto Gospel Choir

Aug—30 Aug, not 17th

Church Hill Theatre, Sat 22nd

Aug

Aug—21 Aug

St Oswald’s Hall, 16 Aug—22 Aug

08:40PM Dana Gillespie

clubWEST @ Grosvenor Hilton, 15 Aug—22 Aug

08:55PM Rat Pack - Live!

C, 05 Aug—31 Aug

09:00PM Preston Reed

Multiple locations, 29 Aug

Acoustic Edinburgh Festival Featuring Andi Neate Medina & Negociants, 25 Aug

Acoustic Edinburgh Festival Featuring Rosie Brown Medina & Negociants, 18 Aug

Ark

Sweet at the Ark, 15 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th, 18th

Brechin, Martin and Wilkinson

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 26 Aug

www.festmag.co.uk

musiclistings City

Greenside, 10 Aug—15 Aug

Dean Friedman - In Concert The Lot, 12 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th, 18th

Hot Seats

Bloodbath - The Musical Musical Theatre @ George Square, 10 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Claude Bourbon Guitar Virtuoso

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Mon 24th

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 26 Aug

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change C, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th Kind of Blue - Colin Steele Quintet The Jazz Bar, 17 Aug—26

Kind of Blue - Colin Steele Quintet The Jazz Bar, 17 Aug—26

Aug, not 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th

Moishe’s Bagel @ The LOT The Lot, 28 Aug—29 Aug North Sea Gas: The Best of Scotland

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 21 Aug—22 Aug

Salsa en El Barrio Latino

El Barrio Nightclub, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 12th, 19th, 26th

Yiddish Song Project The Lot, 26 Aug—30 Aug, not 28th, 29th

09:05PM Merrily We Roll Along C too, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 18th

Porn the Musical

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 24th

09:15PM Martin ‘The Falsetto’ Milnes

Musical Theatre @ George Square, 10 Aug— 31 Aug, not 17th, 24th

09:30PM Simon Kempston Multiple locations, Tue 11th, Mon 24th

Austen George

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 21 Aug—22 Aug

Bal Masqee

Universal Arts @ St George’s West, 06 Aug—17 Aug

www.festmag.co.uk

Aug, not 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd

Lush Life

The Jazz Bar, Fri 28th, Sat 29th, Sun 30th

Scots Songs and Ballads

Alexander McCall Smith’s Scotland at Night

St Mary’s Cathedral, 15 Aug

Blazin’ Fiddles

Multiple locations, Wed 19th

Camille O’Sullivan: The Dark Angel Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

Cathedral Late Night: Wilde Plays Schumann St Mary’s Cathedral, 25 Aug

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 19 Aug—20 Aug

Cathedral Mendelssohn By Candlelight St Mary’s Cathedral,

Sorries

Thu 13th, Thu 20th

Diverse Attractions, Multiple dates

Tony Cox - Guitar, Me, South Africa Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Multiple dates

09:40PM Tiger Lillies - The Songs of Shockheaded Peter and other Gory Verses

Pleasance Courtyard, 17 Aug—30 Aug

09:45PM Jive Aces clubWEST @ Grosvenor Hilton, 17 Aug—22 Aug

Oklahomo! Far From Kansas Sweet ECA, 16 Aug—22 Aug

Otway and Barrett The Spaces on the Mile @ The Radisson, 10 Aug—29 Aug

09:50PM Merman on Broadway!

C, 23 Aug—31 Aug

10:00PM MUSIC FROM THE PENGUIN CAFÉ Multiple locations, 13 Aug—15 Aug

Colours of the Night Inlingua Edinburgh, 05 Aug—30 Aug, not 10th, 16th, 17th, 24th

Hot Chocolate at 10

10:15PM Barbara Morrison - Up Close and Personal The Outhouse, Fri 14th, Sat 15th, Fri 21st, Sat 22nd

Ed: the Musical C Soco, 05 Aug—31 Aug The Rex Roman Pink Floyd Show HH Udderbelly’s Pasture, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 12th, 19th

10:30PM Facebook: The Musical C, 05 Aug—31 Aug Silent Disco

Udderbelly’s Pasture, 13 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th, 18th

Symphonic Mayhem Assembly @ George Street, Mon 10th, Mon 17th

Old Saint Paul’s Church, 11 Aug—29 Aug, not 14th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th

10:35PM

Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen - Dead Men Tell a Thousand Tales The Queen’s Hall, 23

Aug, not 17th

Aug—30 Aug, not 29th

10:05PM

Hey Sister Augustine’s, 10 Aug—23

10:45PM Another Place

Multiple locations, Multiple dates

Barbershopera II Pleasance Dome, 10

Company Augustine’s, 10 Aug—23 Aug, not 17th

Maria Tecce in Viva!

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 17th, 24th

Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen - Dead Men Tell A Thousand Tales Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 12 Aug—20 Aug, not 18th

Patti Plinko and Her Boy

Aug—31 Aug, not 12th, 19th

Hot Seats Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Wed 26th, Sat 29th

11:00PM Bevvy Sisters Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Fri 21st, Fri 28th

Dana Dixon Blues Band The Jazz Bar, Thu 13th, Fri 21st

Assembly @ George Street, 06 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

Jazz Bar Jazz The Jazz Bar, Multiple dates

Scots Songs and Ballads Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 19 Aug—20 Aug, not 19th

Stairheid Gossip Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, Thu 27th

Valery Ponomarev Quintet The Jazz Bar, 24 Aug—30 Aug

11:10PM Flamenco Jazz Late Night New Town Theatre, 06 Aug—30 Aug, not 11th, 18th, 25th

11:15PM Hooked Musical Theatre @ George Square, 07 Aug—30 Aug, not 11th, 17th, 24th

11:25PM The Blues Brothers - Live!

C, 05 Aug—31 Aug

11:45PM The Crow Bar Underbelly’s Hullabaloo, 07 Aug—31 Aug, not 17th

11:55PM Blues Brothers Banned - Live at Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Café, 21 Aug—22 Aug

11:59PM Edwyn Collins - A Casual Introduction Assembly @ Assembly Hall, 20 Aug—22 Aug

12:10AM Henrys Cellar Henry’s Cellar, 10

Aug—20 Aug, not 13th, 14th, 15th, 20th

01:00AM Jazz Bar Jazz The Jazz Bar, 10 Aug—30 Aug, not 30th

Aug 18 - 20 edinburgh festival guide 2009 fest 97

festsnapshot

Game Boy: Pleasance Dome Comedy wunderkind Daniel Sloss calms his nerves with his Nintendo DS shortly before going on stage PLEASANCE DOME, 07:00PM, 05 Aug—31 Aug, not 16th, 24th, Price varies

James Robertson

www.festmag.co.uk

98 fest edinburgh festival guide 2009 Aug 18 - 20

late night at C venues

the other 9-5

A festival feast of live late night entertainment at C venues bars Night time cabaret, bands, dancing and the best DJs Edinburgh can offer at C’s main bar Enjoy late night jazz and a cocktail in the Cip bar Performance art, burlesque and variety at C central’s chic Cabaret Bar Kick back in the Urban Garden and enjoy an alfresco drink in the terrace bar

C

Electric Cabaret brings the best comedy acts from across the fringe together every night at C with big name headliners and a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

Keep the party going late with improv, burlesque, cabaret, music, DJs, and more stand-up than ever before.

Open til 5am every day of the Festival, C is the place to see and be seen

C

venues vibrant vivacious variety

box office hotline 0845 260 1234 online programme www.CtheFestival.com

‘WHEN SHE SINGS IT’S AS THOUGH HER BREATH IS SOAKED IN PARAFFIN: ONE SPARK, AND THE WHOLE ROOM WOULD IGNITE’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

★★★★★★ TIME OUT

‘LIKE A CROSS BETWEEN SALLY BOWLES, PATTI SMITH AND P-J HARVEY… A MAJOR STAR’

★★★★★ ★★★★★ THE SCOTSMAN

SPONSORED BY

THE INDEPENDENT

AS SEEN ON ‘LATER WITH JOOLS HOLLAND’

6 - 31 AUGUST

0131 623 3030

@10.00PM

assemblyfestival.com

ASSEMBLY@ ASSEMBLY HALL

0131 226 0000

www.camilleosullivan.com

edfringe.com

www.myspace.com/camilleosullivan

‘THE LAUGHING PERSON’S ANSWER TO NAOMI KLEIN’ THE TIMES

‘DEVASTATINGLY FUNNY STAND UP’ METRO

LAST REMAINING TICKETS!

MON 17 - SAT 22 AUGUST : 7.30PM

THEATRE ROYAL GLASGOW

0870 060 6647 www.theatreroyalglasgow.com

www.billbailey.co.uk