It's Nice Up North

A 20th anniversary screening of the spoof documentary featuring Graham Fellows character comic John Shuttleworth.  Always bumbling and inapropriate, Shuttleworth sets for Shetland to prove his theoiry that people are nicer in the UK the further north you travel.  To record this he's recruited photographer Martin Parr, along with a tech team, to make the film of his journey and investigations.  Of course, John being John, it isn't all slick and predictable, as he makes his way around in an old Austin Ambassador...

The result is often badly filmed, awkward, full of minutae, with rambling commentary and moments of unexpected sadness.  Plus some arguments between subject and cameraman!  And it's still, after 2 decades, hilarious.  Fellows clearly has a lot of warmth and affection for his comedy creation, and for the people he talks to in his 'investigation'.  The best moments are often improvised, frequently with people in the street they hadn't even planned to talk to.  It's all beautifully done as parody of the real thing, and fun to see so much going wrong.

There was a chat with Fellows after the screening, which told us more about the making of the film (which mentioned that the on-screen tension between Fellows and Parr was often real!), the unintentional additions which made things worse (better!), like the helicopter cameraman they hired who turned out to genuinely awful.  Shuttleworth still has a life on stage, and will for some time to come.

And yes, he did find people were nicer up north!

The Incomer

Whimsy. Suspension of disbelief essential. Embrace the weirdness. It's so easy to pick holes in the reality of writer/director Louis Paxton's film, but where's the fun in that? Better to sit back and accept that you have entered the world of fairy tales and folk tales, enjoy the eldritch feel of this off-kilter world. There's a malicious selkie bobbing in the water, a sprinkling of cartoon violence, and a smidgen of Hitchcockian terror. And while there is some effort to provide a meaningful ending - humans are social creatures and we should accept people as they are - it's best not to think too much.

Siblings Isla (Gayle Rankin) and Sandy (Grant O'Rourke) have been living in isolation on Auk Island since they were children, half convinced they are descended from seagulls. Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson), a socially inept council worker, is sent over to serve them an eviction notice, as the island is regarded as a wildlife sanctuary. Which goes against the residents belief that they must repel all Incomers...

Daniel is met with resistance, but gradually wins the pair over, only to have his work undermined when a more feral colleague, Calum (Emun Elliot), batters his way into the setting. Relationships are tested, and reinforcements combatted, as tensions rise and solutions sought.

Good performance all round, in roles which demand some over-the-top elements. Michelle Gomez, as Daniel's over-ambitious hardnosed boss, makes for an easily disliked 'baddie' figure, and there are plenty of laugh out loud lines spread through the script. O'Rourke's deadpan delivery is a delight. Plus there's the dulcet tones of one John Hannah...

The Incomer joins a line of whimsical Scottish films that twist the world into something slightly magical, and provide memorable characters and imaginative cinematic moments (like Daniel 'flying'). Warm hearted and quirky make a good combination.

John Smith: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, 3 Old Monks, PBH Free Fringe, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Smith is a likeable Geordie, who tells us immediately that his show has no overriding storyline, but is simply an hour of jokes and anecdotes, with the emphasis on dark humour.  Nevertheless he did mange to fit in a call back as part of his routine.  It's a slightly shambolic hour, but none the worse for that, although it gets a bit too slow paced at times.  His audience interaction is deent enough, and there are some pretty good jokes in there.  Dark?  Yes, quite often, sometimes to the point of feeling old fashioned,  but there's enough laughs in there to feel like this was time well spent.

He also has a guest making a brief appearance with her own routine - Very someone?  I didn't catch the name.  Very rushed, almost embarrassed by her own performance, and a bit weird...

In Loyal Company, Pleasance, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 Actor and stand up David  William Bryan plays his great-uncle, Arthur 'Joe' Robinson, in a (mostly) true story.  Joe is a young man in Birkenhead in 1939.  He has a job.  And there's a girl in his life (almost).  But experiencing a Luftwaffe bomb attack on the Liverpool area dirves him to join the army.  He's trained, shipped about, and ends up heading for the Fra East, only for his ship to be sunk by Japanese bombers.  Rescued, and taken on to Singapore... just as the island is foreced to surrender.  Robinson has to endure 4 years as a POW, working as lave labour, seriously ill, his fellow prisoners dying.  But he survives, just, and finally makes it home.  What kind of life can he expect?

Bryan portrays this in dramatic and energetyiuc fashion, with several on stage costume changes, and giving voice to host of peoplein Joe's life.  He does a good job of bringing across the horrors of war, has his characters well deliniated, and there's a clear narrative arc.  He even manages to work a few laughs into a very sad subject.  The performance deserved the standing ovation he received in the end, if only for the physical toll each perfomance must take on his body.  

It's good to see a war story that is not about sucess of glory, but simply celebrates survival.

Mark Watson: Sometimes People Are Being Over-Cautious When They Say Work-In-Progress, But This Truly Is Rough, Stand 3, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

It might be a WIP, but the structure was clear and the show hilarious.  It centres on a tale of Mark's inability to stand up to a debt collector, despite a mistaken identity being involved.  Along the way are featured taking Nelson Mandela to Brighton, a non-appearance on Question Time, the politics of Kashmir, a donkey, and numerous other digressions.  

Watson is likeable, open, self-deprecating, and persistently funny.  He can smoothly riff off a bit of audience interaction, but keeps it minimal, concentrating on his material.  A very enjoyable hour.

Susan Morrison: Swearing, Shit and Shagging - Scotland's Filthy History, Stand 4, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 Morrison is well known on the Edinburgh, and Scotland, comedy scene, but also as writer and broadcaster. More importantly for this show, she's also an enthusiastic historian, often focusing on the seedier aspects of society. So this is a show that's not only entertaining, but informative.

She takes us through Scotland's massive contribution, real and apocryphal, to the worlds of swearing sex and bodily functions, complete with on-screen illustrations, at a rapid pace. And she answers the big questions like how did women manage to have a shit whilst wearing a crinoline, and what sort of activities did Edinburgh's 'gentlemen' get up to when left to their own devices? There's even a bit of audience participation to illustrate the former...

Fast, filthy and funny. And excellent.

Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me, but Banjos Saved My Life, Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Can a show ever live up to such an eye-catching title? Keith Alessi is from an Italian American family,so tomatoes played a bit part in his family life. He was also, from a young age, a fan of bluegrass music, especially the sound of the banjo. But an early attempt to play the instrument soon ended in failure. He want on to have a successful career in business, which came to a halt with a sudden illness (in part doe to all those tomatoes...) that would change his life completely, and revive that banjo playing desire.

It's an interesting story, which he tells well, interspersed by his now-competent banjo playing and a hilarious moment of puppetry. And there's a moral to the tale too, as he discovered the concept of 'enough', an important step in life. But. There's a self-satisfied air about his delivery that can grate at times. It's enjoyable, interesting, and there's some great music playing a times, but there was always that 'but'...