Topical Storm, Stand 6, Edinburgh Fringe

Summary : Four Scots guys talking shite.

But very funny shite.  This was the final gig of the run so there was a 'demob happy' atmosphere up on stage.  Established local comedians Stu Murphy, Keir McAllister, Vladimir McTavish and Mark Nelson sit in a row, trade insults, put each other off and slide off into irrelevant anecdotes.  To be fair, McAllister made several valiant efforts to drag proceedings back in the direction of the script, and they ended up covering the fearful but always laughable rise of Donald Trump, the racism of Brexit and the funniest bits of this year's Holyrood general election (and yes, Willie Rennie's infamous pig got another chance for glory).  Complete with bits of video footage to illustrate just how daft politicians and their acolytes can be.

Shambolic?  Yes.  But as a comedy show it delivers perfectly, with even Murphy's most groanworthy puns sparking laughter - it's all in the delivery.  Four funny men doing what they're good at, having fun, and making us laugh.  Hilarious.

Out of the Blue, George Square Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe

Naff, camper than an entire MASH unit, clean cut and wholesome, they look like a big bunch of posh lads playing at being a boy band.

But they have some great voices, with all twelve taking a shot at lead vocals throughout the show, the harmonies and arrangements are complex and smart, the choreography is slick, and some of the guys exhibit some flair for drama.

They put on an entertaining, high energy show, and have the decency to laugh at themselves and their image.  There's nothing about them you could really take seriously, but you couldn't do much better if you fancied an hour of fun and froth.  

Big Bite-Size Lunch Hour: Best Bites, Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Fringe

Another hugely entertaining and varied hour from the Bite Size team.  Five playlets ranging from a solo performance (as a dog) to six taking the stage for a scene in a restaurant.  There's the need to ignore our nagging inner voices, the dangers and disappointments of too much information, and a gentle mockery of the cliches of Film Noir.

Javier Rasero excels in generating sympathy for the brutal but faithful Boris the Rottweiler.  Billy Knowelden's ironic sax player gets the best laughs in Big Fish, Little Fish.  And Claira Watson-Parr gives a nicely buttoned up performance as the wife in Vintage who takes things a bit too far.

Funny, thought provoking and always fun, this is another excellent hour.

Five Kinds of Silence, Quaker Meeting House, Edinburgh Fringe

Billy's daughters shot him dead.  Thier mother is delighted.  Why?

With the dead Billy soliloquising from the grave, and the story of the three woman emerging through monologues and conversations with police, lawyers and psychiatrists, a harrowing story of abuse and endurance is pieced together, and silences that prolonged the tragedy.

Built up in a starway of short scenes, the play's structure builds up the pressure, but can also feel a bit disjoined.  Gordon Russell's Billy never quite manages to convey the sense of menace required, but Anna Dobson as older daughter Susan is excellent as the pressure cooker that has to blow.  There are four supporting actors playing the minor role, and their wooden performances were an unfortunate distraction.

Despite these flaws this is still an intriguing and disturbing tale, raising not just the issue of abuse itself, but the conspiracy of silence that so often allows it to thrive.  Worth a look.

Teatro Delusio, Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe

In a beautiful, gentle opening sequence, three stagehands backstage bring to life a ghostly puppet girl who becomes the occasional observer of their joys and tragedies, and this sets the scene for a fantasy enactment of life behind the scenery.

Whilst opera and ballet and melodrama entertain the 'audience' beyond, we watch the actors, singers and dancers come and go, interact with an impressario and stage manager and choreographer and many other characters.  There's clowning, pathos, romance, dance and petty jealousies and hatreds, played out in a world that's just the other side of unreality.  With an underlying ripple of humour that can suddenly erupt into uproarious comedy, it's an imagining that draws you in and yet seems voyeuristic too.

Wearing lovingly constructed masks and the most rapid of costume changes, an array of characters are brought vividly to life without a work spoken or facial expression.  It's all in the body language.

This is simply brilliant physical comedic drama, and the realisation that the thirty characters we've had come and go are the product of just three performers is a testament to the viruosity, and stamina, they possess.  Wonderful.

Diary of a Madman, Traverse, Edinburgh Fringe

Gogol's classic nineteenth century short story transposed to modern Scotland.  Pop Sheeran has spent his life painting the Forth Bridge, an arch traditionalist who sees the old ways as best.  But his traditions are falsified by memory, and Braveheart is his favourite film.  When a new apprentice arrives he proves to be a threat to everything Pop's life is built on, and his descent into madness begins.

Very funny to begin with, the play becomes much darker over time.  There are strong performances from all five members of the cast, but it's Liam Brennan's anchoring role as Pop that stands out.  Suspicious of a world that has caused him grief, his fears and fantasies are played out with a mix of vulnerability and aggressive self defence that makes us both fear and fear for him.

There are a lot of Scottish, indeed Edinburgh, references that both amuse and irritate.  There are times when the script has a laboured feel where it tries to hard to emulate the original - but the social environments of Gogol's civil servant and the twenty first century painter are very different and best not reconciled.  But the acting and direction (and the imaginative set design)  is strong enough to carry these flaws and produce a work that entertaining, disturbing and thought provoking, a reminder that mental illnesses are all too common in our society.  And that looking at the past through a blurry soft focus distorts the lessons of the present (something the Brexit people have clearly forgotten....).

Highly recommended.

Barluath, St Bride's, Edinburgh Fringe

A young, talented, five piece band based in Glasgow.  Their material is largely traditional, but the arrangements are contemporary.  Guitar, keyboard, fiddle, whistles and highland bagpipes provide a mix of instrumentals and accompaniment to Ainsley Hamill's superb vocals.  The keyboards add much to making the Barluath sound distinctive, with sympathetic rhythms and some clever melodies underlying the lead instruments.  And there's nothing like the sound Edward Seaman's pipes for stirring the blood.

As a purely instrumental outfit they'd still be enjoyable, but the cherry on the cake is that remarkable voice.  High, sweet and soaring, lilting in Gaelic but showing the potential to be a great blues instrument in the beautiful "My Husband's Got No Courage In Him", Hamill deserves to be far better known than she is.

The band are definitely working on their stage presence, with all five taking a turn at introducing numbers (some with more success than others) and a few jokey lines thrown in.  On a few numbers a step dancer came out front, joined once by Ainsley, added some extra entertainment for the audience.  But when you've got that voice working for you there's not much else that's needed.  

The Simpsons Taught Me Everything I Know, Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh Fringe

I only found myself drifting into this show because one of our party felt cold and it was the first thing on offer in our vicinity, so expectations weren't high.  But even they weren't met.

It's basically a vehicle for showing clips, quotes and pictures that come from or are related to the well known cartoon.  With some attempt to make it seem relevant to real life.  His enthusiasm appears genuine though, and goes down well with others in the audience who shared his knowledge.  Which didn't leave much for the rest of us.

Yes, the show title does give a strong hint about the subject matter, but it's still not asking much to cater for those who haven't spent half their life cartoon watching (although there was one good Donald Trump joke).  However he does rely heavily on there being some ignorance in the audience, as this provides him with a stooge.  It's a technique many comedians use, but most have the grace and decency to thank their 'victim' for taking part and apologies for 'using' them.  Not Yianni, who continually picked on one person, trying (not very effectively) to make out their ignorance of yellow made up people was some kind of character flaw, and not coping well when receiving comeback.  I can't have been alone in thinking he made for a pathetic figure at times, a victim of his own insecurities.

Best avoided unless you've watched every single episode of The Simpsons at least twice.  And don't have much of a life.

Susan Morrison : Walking Dead, Famous and Funny, The Stand Monument, Edinburgh Fringe

Less a walking tour and more a stand around under the trees of Saint Andrew Square, but none the worse for that.  Comedian and amateur historian Morrison gave a bit of background on Edinburgh's Old Town before launching into tales of the new Town and why it came into being.  Largely because of shit according to this version....

She used a tablet, and some old books, to illustrate her points, covering the seedier side of life.  If you ever wanted to know the finer points of our eighteenth century prostitutes then this was just what you were after.

Always hilarious, often informative, motormouth Susan crammed more into an hour than most historians would manage in a term's worth of lectures.  History was never so entertaining.