Lulo Reinhardt and Yuliya Lonskaya - Gypsy Meets Classic , Traverse

 Billed as Gypsy Jazz (Reinhardt) meets Classical (Lonskaya), the evening gave us 2 guitars and 2 vocalists (with a little bit of unusual percussion!), and a mix of instrumentals and ballads from all around the globe. Songs from Mongolia  India, Argentina Brazil, Eastern Europe, North Africa.  Songs in at least 7 languages. There might not be much gypsy jazz involved, but the melting pot of material throws up some fascinating contrasts, and a hugely varied set list.

Her classical training is obvious.  In the way she sits, holds her instrument, in the precision and discipline of her playing.  While he improvises, adding and taking notes in as he goes.  The rhythm and melodic responsibilities swap back and forth, sometimes several times a tune.  There is drama, and emotion.  His voice is passable, hers a beautiful instrument, that bring love and drama out, even though the words are alien to the listener.

At times they may overindulge their mutual passions, make things overly intricate.  But then the natural musicality and understanding always returns and brings surprises and delights. They do talk between numbers, and provide interesting background to the music.  Neither feels like a natural raconteur - but English is not their first language!!

A delightful mix of styles and genres, with often astonishing musicality and a glorious singing voice.

The Wolves at the Door (A Play, a Pie and a Pint), Traverse

 It’s early 2023 and the cost of living crisis is biting hard.  Daniel (Ciaran Stewart) lives in a grubby flat, kips in a sleeping bag on the couch, and tries to keep his head above the turbulent waters. Mostly for the sake of Belle, his 7 year old, who lives with her mum most of the time. 

While he’s out the flat is broken into by Malc (Ben Ewing) and Susanne (Beth Marshall), who quickly reveal themselves to be, not burglars (because what is there to steal?), but a debt collector and electrical engineer respectively.  They’ve come because Daniel owes a four figure debt to the power company.  Malc just wants to get on with it, but Susanne, new to the job, thinks that maybe they’re being unnecessarily harsh.  And when Daniel comes home to find them in his flat, trouble breaks out.

Set against the metaphor of the 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, the script looks to portray just how hard life, and the System, is for people having to live on the margins.  The script is more hammer than scalpel, but it gets the point over clearly.  And, unfortunately, what’s not exactly the greatest dialogue ever written is not helped by some weakness in the performances.  Marshall stands out as the one who really delivers, and Susanne is the most believable of the trio, filled with a confusing mix of compassion, guilt, and her own needs.  Stewart is rarely credible, despite having the most emotional meat to work with.  While Ewing spans the middle ground, certainly coming over as unlikeable, but not quite credible as the hard man.

It’s a bleak subject, and there are a few decent laughs to relieve the gloom, but overall this was one of the weaker additions to the PPP canon.

The Last Cabaret on Earth (A Play, a Pie and a PInt), Traverse

Sam is a cabaret performer, now stuck, for his final hours, in an airport hotel, a long way from the love of his life.  There are others there too, so he puts on a show, for what else is there to do?  As frequent announcements make clear, the sun is about to explode, the world as they know it is about to come to an end.  Time for…. entertainment?  Reflection?  Love?  What to do with your final breaths?  As he says, the bucket list crowd must be exhausted.

A strong solo performance from Marc Mackinnon.  Perfectly camp, a charismatic performer, slightly larger than life.  A decent enough singer, and charming pianist. His accompaniment to Let It Be was truly beautiful - sparse, minimalist, with simple additions of what was required to enhance the melody and lyric.

But.  Regular readers will know I am no fan of musicals.  Too much song and dance, not enough story.  And so it is here.  An intriguing premise wasted on classic songs.  Every time it felt like there was something of real interest building, off he'd go to the piano.  Opportunities spurned.

Yes, it did mention how trivial how much of our lives seem in the light (!) of such an event.  That material belongings mean little, nor cleaning or acquiring, when the reality of life bites.  But it never felt like it would be going deep enough.  Here was a chance to ponder what really matters to people, lost to song after song.  

However well done (and there was some clever use of props on an well planned set) this was a frustrating experience, as I sat there willing it to be better than it was - the better it could and should have been.

Prima Facie, NT Live

 What a performance! A feat of memory, of emotion, of power, and of physical coordination and sequence, and Comer never lets up.

She plays Tessa, an up and coming defence barrister. She sees herself as an integral and essential element of the legal system, believes in that system and that the defence barrister has their role in testing out the work of the police and CPS.

But when she finds herself the victim of a sexual assault the system suddenly looks very, very different. Gone are the checks and balances she put her faith in, now it's weighted against her, against women, against victims. And very much against those who find themselves challenging the legal establishment (her rapist is a colleague). From this perspective the concept of 'reasonable doubt' takes on new meaning.

While the performance is always strong, the script gets a little lost. It works well in the initial part, where she is the confident lawyer, but loses the sense of drama, and turns into clunky polemic to get it's message across at the end. It's a shame, for the set and effects are superb, the story being told an important one. Not just for sexual assault, but with wider implications for our society. So it's a shame that some of that impact, that communication, is dissipated by the ending. An important work to see nonetheless.

In Conversation With... Caroline Lucas, Stand 3, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

One interviewer, one guest, one audience.  Good questions, even better answers.  Lucas was by far the best MP in the last Westminster parliament, and this hour reminded us why.  Very strong and clear on the subjects of democracy, the need for 'the left' to become much better communicators (perhaps the only thing they can take from the vile Niggle Fuhrage...) and learn to tell a more compelling 'story'.  She's demonstrated a clear grasp of the bigger picture, both ecxologically, as you'd expect, and politically (as you'd also expect).  Joined up thinking and, more importantly, a deep sense of humanity.  Very critical of a media that is allowed to spread disinformation (the Daily Fail came in for particular criticism) and how to cobat that.

Always interesting, always thought provoking.  Almost always right.  A remider of what an asset Lucas is and has been to UK public life.

Harun Musho'd : Why I Don't Talk to People About Terrorism, Pilgrim, PBH Free Fringe, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 Good to visit a new (to us) Fringe venue, a very interesting looking bar just off the Cowgate, with the venue in a curtained off back room.  Great use of old suitcases in the bar.

Musho’d has an Arabic name, but triple nationality (and none of them are Iranian or Libyan…).  But he explains why not talking about terrorsim remains the best policy for him, and a lot about his highly dysfunctional and diversely multinational family.  

He has a civil service HR background, so maybe that’s why he enjoys ticking off lists for his audiences so much.  And very entertaining they can be.  It’s a cosy show that draws you in, despite lacking fluency at times.  There’s a lot of strong and imaginative material, making good use of his relationships with others.  And a Monty Python type rant thrown in which is excellent.

Very enjoyable.

Hannah Gadsby : Woof!, McEwan Hall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 She’s become so admired for clever and cleverly structured shows that pack a moral punch.  So this one came as a bit of a disappointment.  Not that there weren’t plenty laughs, and a few serious points made, but it felt like a slightly flippant addition to the Hannah G canon, when judged against what’s gone before.

No harm in that of course, but don’t expected the heavy hits of days past.  No doubt they will return one day, she’s too good not to.

So this addressed big questions like where did all the cabbage patch dolls go to?  And something about Taylor Swift that went over my head (wee tip to Gadsby - reactions to Swift aren’t just binary, because as well as like or hate there’s the ‘totally ignore’ alternative…).

There was some interesting musing on the nature of fame and success, and if her move up the socioeconomic scale, after so many years of just getting by, had changed her for the worse.  Leading into her highlighting some of the worst aspects of capitalism, and big capitalists.  Even the odd dig at supposed equality of rights.

But overall it was just a few decent laughs, a few interesting stories, and a demonstration that, even in this mode, Gadsby has totally mastered her craft.