Birds of Chicago, Voodoo Rooms

American Americana duo J T Nero and Allison Russell joined for this short UK tour by guitar and dobro maestro Steve Dawson.  Nero plays rhythm guitar, Russell on 5 string banjo, some ukulele and clarinet, both sing and write the songs and tell stories.  Their songwriting tends towards the personal, the emotional, and that brings a genuine passion to their vocals.  The voices blend well, Nero's near Waits-like gruffness a sharp contrast to the soulful power of his companion.  Dawson adds a layer of complexity to the melodies, and some wonderful solos.  A simple highlight came when Nero wandered off to leaving Allison to sing in French (she's originally from the Montreal area) with sympathetic accompaniment from Dawson, and the two combined well again when guitar and clarinet played off one another.

In the face of a flaccid Edinburgh audience Nero and Russell battled hard to bring entertainment beyond their music and gradually succeeded in winning over a tough crowd.  There's a lot of history to their songs, a strong sense of the colonial and slave based past that shaped much of what North America, and particularly the US, has become today.  They care deeply about the future and write and sing about what they feel.  An impressive set and well worth seeing should they turn up here again.

Midweek Comedy Cabaret, Stand

What can you get for a fiver nowadays?  A comedy show at The Stand is a promising answer to the question.  OK, you're not going to get Kevin Bridges for that money, but you still won't feel short changed.  There's a vibrant comedy scene in Scotland that guarantees any show like this will provide the laughs you're after.

It's a well trodden format.  A compere who engages with the audience, an experienced opening act to get everyone into the mood, a couple of newer comedians between the interval, and a headliner to finish off.  Familiar, but it still works well.  Compere on this occasion was Jojo Sutherland, confident, competent, a safe pair of hands, who got her own surprises at finding most of her front row to be Australian and/or medical practitioners.  She found plenty to milk from the situation and soon had the room engaged.

Next up the motor-mouthed Susan Morrison, firing off about her recent medical travails, her lack of height and how a doctor improved her BMI with just one sentence.  A largely non-Scots audience might have struggled with some of her language and accent, but picked up enough to get the jokes.

After the interval we had Wayne Mazadza, from a little place in Ireland called Zimbabwe.  Slow paced, twinkle eyed, he had some well crafted jokes, and gained extra laughs by exploiting the unexpected presence of another black face in the room.  He was succeeded by Canadian James Hamilton and a slightly confusing set.  A combination of Stewart Francis-like one liners and stories that didn't seem to come to a natural end left the audience not sure what to expect and too many failed punchlines.  There were odd moments of promise, but not enough to keep us with him.  But hey, it's only a fiver, remember?

Value for money was restored by the closing set from the pint sized Christopher Macarthur Boyd.    Having recently moved out from his parents to live with his girlfriend he had plenty of material on this coming of age event, and his realisation that he isn't the adult in his relationship.  A sad orangutan on a cereal packet symbolised his distrust of own brand supermarket products.  Well worth his headliner status, and reminder that's there's no hint of a rip off about Stand shows.  You pays your money and...

Suffering from Scottishness, Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Joe McDaid (Kevin P Gilday) wants to know what we think.  The UK has left the EU and, as a sweetener to keep us happy, new powers have been devolved to Scotland, including citizenship.  McDaid is running a focus group on behalf of new agency Citizen Scotland, to determine what questions should be included in the new citizenship test.  Audience members have been handed out cards to give an 'Aye' or a 'Naw' to each option.  There's a lot of audience involvement which helps build a more intimate atmosphere.

McDaid takes us through half a dozen potential subject areas, like inventions, language and alcohol.  To begin with the performance is wholly comic, jokey, light hearted, with a rap number and a daft song accompanied, badly, on ukulele.  But takes on a more serious note as the show develops, looking at Scotland's lack of confidence in ourselves, our ambivalent and often self destructive relationship with drink, and whether we're always as good as we portray ourselves.  He declares himself an Indy supporter, but raises questions about where the Yes movement is now, and if people have lost sight of what Indy was really about - that independence isn't an end in itself, but a means to a chance of having a better society in this country.

Quite what an international audience makes of this is hard to say, but it certainly resonates with the Scots in the room.  What starts as a show of thin humour and dubious musicality improves greatly as it goes along and starts to raise questions that aren't being asked often enough.  The poetry is particularly impressive in conveying ideas.  Gilday isn't a natural comedian, but he is an excellent storyteller, poet and ideas man.  An intriguing show to end the Fringe on.

This was the final performance of Suffering from Scottishness.

Julius 'Call Me Caesar' Caesar, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

In his first ever acting role, comedian Andrew Maxwell takes on Shakespeare.  Well, sort of.  He might begin by declaiming lines from the bard, but most of the performance is in modern vernacular, reducing the play to its essential elements.  Maxwell switches back and forth between narration and commentary, and acting out well over a dozen characters - Caesar, Brutus, Calpurnia, the soothsayer, members of the common herd, he does the lot.  Not only giving the storyline of the play, but clearly alluding to some modern day comparisons.

It's high energy stuff, Maxwell whipping up the audience into participating, creating an atmosphere that is involving, celebratory, hysterical.  Owen McCafferty has written a sharp script, leaving plenty of room for Maxwell's comic talents to shine, and space for him to improvise.  You could watch this show several times and constantly find something new, something different - the real joy of live performance.  And Maxwell proves he can do serious when it's needed, with a real sense of horror at times, despite the story being so well known.

In scenes showing how easily the public mob can be swayed by cheap rhetoric, and that political leaders and their promises have always been empty, there are clear parallels with the brexshit farago, and Maxwell winkingly makes the point clear for anyone in doubt.  It might not meet with the approval of diehard traditionalists, but this is, perhaps, the perfect version of Shakespeare for our times.  Accessible, relevant, compellingly entertaining whilst exposing human darkness.  A tremendous achievement, and Andrew Maxwell is the perfect man to perform it.

This was the final Fringe performance of Julius 'Call Me Caesar' Caesar.

Stuart Mitchell : Is It Just Me? (Work in Progress), Beehive, Scottish Comedy Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Quite what this performance could have been is hard to say.  Mitchell worked hard (and with considerable tolerance) in the face of constant disruption from 3 drunken wifies from Coatbridge and a couple from Falkirk asking random questions ("when did you have your first Tunnocks Teacake?"...).  Standard fare for a club comedian, but unusual from Fringe audiences.

When he could get on with his routine it was clear there was some good material in there, with nicely crafted punchlines and some wonderfully bad puns.  He's got some good ideas, his topics very much coming from everyday life, and there was a good show lurking in there.  It didn't stand much chance on this particular night thought.  Coatbridge has a lot to answer for...

Stuart Mitchell : Is It Just Me?  (Work in Progress) had it's final performance in the Beehive on 25 August.

Ashley Storrie : Hysterical, Counting House, Free Fringe

Starting with a definition of hysteria, and particularly as how it was once applied to women, Storrie ventures into the territory of her own mental health problems and how performing comedy works as therapy for her.  Whether it's chatting with the audience before the show, or exploring her own problems, she's assured, energetic and always very funny (albeit with a tendency to giggle at her own jokes which can verge on the annoying at times).  Autism, gangsters, her own development (or not) as a person and the success of her mother's career (big eye roll...) come together with a hilarious sex scene enhanced with some great sound effects.  At times brave in confronting her own issues, it's a well rounded set that produces the laughs while also leaving you something to think about.

No surprise that the queue to get in is so long.

Ashley Storrie : Hysterical had it's final performance at the Counting House on 25 August.

Iain FM Smith Presents... My Finest Hour!, Riddles Court, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Storytelling with laughs and some interesting, oft obscure, facts.  Smith combines the story of his larger than life, war-hero grandfather with his unusual upbringing, and a childhood wish to live up to his ancestor's reputation.  Espionage, torture and incredible survival stories mix with puppies, goats and massed nettles.  Something for all tastes, especially hairdressers (you'll have to see the show to understand that one...).  Iain's style is warm, friendly, inclusive, and the warm tones of his voice keep the interest levels high.  There's even a decently groan-inducing pun in there.

One of the Fringe's quiet pleasures.

Iain FM Smith  Presents ... My Finest Hour! had it's final performance at Riddles Court on 25 August.