Monday 13 August 2018

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show (Menu 1), Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Fringe

A second visit to the Bite Size morning shows, this time for Menu 1 and another 5 interesting and original playlets.

Desk Fort is a daft satire on the pressures of office life, when one member of staff decides he can hide away from his responsibilities by barricading himself in under his desk.  The sexual harassment puppets will strike a chord with anyone who's had to endure pointless training courses....

In Never Give Up the world's worst playwright turns manipulative in his desperate quest to get his work staged, and refuses to acknowledge any setbacks.  Green Dot Day features a couple trying to have a baby and concentrating so much on details of fertility that the bigger picture gets left behind, a reminder that too often we focus on the task and forget the reasons why.

The Retirement Position is the best of the quintet, fewer laughs than the others, but with an edge of sadness that engages our emotions.  Neil is struggling to come to terms with his enforced idleness, but help comes from an unexpected source.

Last up is Sad 2am Sex Fantasy.  A lonely man's internal 'film crew' are trying to give him the fantasy he needs to masturbate, but his sense of guilt and poor self worth keeps confounding their efforts at stimulation.

Overall this is a slightly weaker package than Menu 3 , but still a great start to a Fringe day.  Plenty of laughs, and the odd thought provoking moment.  And strawberries, coffee and croissants too...

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show is in the Pleasance Dome at 10.30 until 27 August.  Menu 1 is being performed on the 20th, 24th and 27th.

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