Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 Returning after a couple of years of pandemic related absence, this was a recording for Radio 4 to introduce the contenders for Best Show and Best Newcomer.  Each contender was given a three minute slot to give some inkling of their style and the content of their shows.  

Russel Kane, a previous winner, hosted, and did an excellent job.  Professional, calm, but swiftly able to whip an audience into laughter and improvise to fill in the inevitable gaps you get during a show of this nature.  But also moving thigs along swiftly, for time was tight.

The Best Show contenders were Larry Dean, Lauren Pattison, Seann Walsh, Amy Gledhill, Colin Hoult (as his alter ego Anna Mann), Alfie Brown, Jordan Gray, Josh Pugh and Sam Campbell.  And the Newcomers were Vittorio Angelone, Emmanuel Sonubi, Emily Wilson, Josh Jones and Lara Ricote.

You can't tell a lot from such short stints, but, for what it's worth, Dean and Pattison impressed me most in the first category, with Alfie Brown the most intriguing.  And Angelone, Sonubi and Ricote all made me laugh a lot.  While Hoult, Campbell and the timewasting Wilson seemed best forgotten.  But what do I know?  The results will be announced this Saturday.

Stand Up for the Bin Workers - Gala, New Town Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 A benefit gig, laid on at short notice by mark Thomas and The Stand, to help fund the striking refuse workers.  A large audience were treated to ten minute sets from a star studded comedic line up.

The first half was MCed by Mark Nelson, always a reliable opening act to get the audience in the mood.  He introduced Kiri Pritchard-McLean, who talked about her plans to almost adopt and why four was better than one; Danny Bhoy with an alternative and much funnier speech for Queenie to come out with; Shazia Mirza on how little influence us older white men have in society; and the incredible Jason Byrne who riffed out a hilarious set from one audience interaction.

The acerbic Jo Caulfield took over the introductions after the interval, with her own take on the class distinctrions of Edinburgh - and Leith!.  First to be brought on was another local luminary, Vladimir McTavish, and his confessionally awful haircut; another Scot, Sisie McCabe, whose accent probably baffled a large section of the audience, which only enhanced the laughs for the rest of us as she talked about trying to bring her parents into the twenty first century; Rachel Fairburn on her Mancunian accent; and Mr Thomas himself venting his ire against the tory government by taking the piss.  The gig ended with an impassioned speech for solidarity and the upholding of workers' rights from Chris Mitchell of the GMB, and reminder of what the evening was all about.  

In Conversation With... Andy Burnham, New Town Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 The interviewer was Neil Findlay, a Labour MSP until last year and seen as being on the left of the party.  The interviewee was Andy Burnham, now Mayor of Manchester but a Labour leadership contender not so long ago, and also seen as being on the left.  So this was always going to be more cosy chat than probing questioning.

Burnham's a good speaker, fluent and amusing, but always making his point.  He had valid criticisms of the current Scottish Government, especially over their mania for centralisation.  His plea for more cross party dialogue and cooperation, but excluding the tories, makes sense in our partisan times.  It was good to hear someone telling the truth about the disasters of the eighties and how we are now reaping the problems sewn back then by short termist populism.  And he outlined some of the excellent initiatives taking place in Manchester, particularly around homelessness.  His genuine hatred of the current breed of ukip-soundalike tories is something we need to see more of. If the Labour Party was a bit more in his image I might even consider them a viable alternative for my vote.  But it's not.

And sometimes what's not said is as important as what is.  Burnham has a dubious past voting record, such as favouring the Iraq War, and not voting to properly regulate fracking.  In questions from the audience he tried to glaze over Labour's refusal to contemplate negotiating with the EU to at least return to the single market, saying that those arguments were over - seeming happy to effectively disenfranchise the growing majority that favour reversing the 2016 disaster.

And there were hints of yet another southern politician who thinks he knows better what Scotland wants than the people who live her.  Funnily enough almost all of the audience members who asked questions came from down south - including the man weho welcomed Burnham to Edinburgh, having just said he was up here from Herts!  What strange times we live in.

I liked Burnham as a speaker, he has a lot of sound ideas in his social policies, and he would be a far better labour Leader than Starmer.  But he still feels out of touch with people in this country.

Marjolein Robertson : Thank God Fish Don't Have Hands, Stand 2, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 What's this show about?  Robertson is good at telling us what it's not, but doesn't reveal the real point until near the end.  Along the way she chats to the audience, tells of her childhood on Shetland and student life at uni, the year of the men and the best and worst of lockdown, and a diagnosis that helped her make sense of her world.  Several good visual gags, plenty of decent punchlines, and a flirtatious energy drive the show along.  And yes, the show title does get to make sense, sort of.  Far from a waste of an hour of your time.

Marjolein Robertson : Thank God Fish Don't Have Hands is on at 16:00 in Stand 2 until the 28th.

Myra's Story, Gordon Aikman Theatre (George Square), Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 Myra's in bed and under the covers.  Myra's being told to get up and leave the hostel.  Myra isn't too keen on leaving that lovely warmth - but she needs her 'medicine'.

So begins Brian Foster's one-woman drama with Fíonna Hewitt-Twamley as middle aged alcoholic Myra, and several other parts besides.   She's out on the street, begging from strangers, and ready to tell us the tale of the life that brought her to where she is now.  Her father an alcoholic, so it was in the blood.  Her life strewn with obstacles to be overcome, until the biggest of them all arrives and she can no longer cope without the bottle.  Father, husband, neighbours, friends and a stolen garden gnome people her life, and Myra brings them all to life in her storytelling.  There is comedy, tragedy, sadness, accompanied by the underlying knowledge of where this story will end up.

It's an impressive performance from Hewitt-Twamley, not just for providing so many different voices, but melding into the physical attributes of each, with every character well delineated. The script is direct, with little subtlety or ambiguity.  More polemic than conventional drama, it makes it's point by wielding a sledgehammer and a ten inch spike.  It's theatre for people who don't usually go to the theatre, and, by attracting such big audiences and highlighting just how easy it can be for people to fall prey to addictions and/or homelessness, none the worse for it.  (I did see one critic suggest that the humour was Mrs Brown's Boys level - but it was never close to being THAT bad!)  Myra's Story is a message that comes across loud and clear.  And manages to throw in an effective dig at the British military for their part in creating the violence in Northern Ireland in the seventies.

Deserves to be seen for the strong performance and a truth that deserves to be spoken over and over.

Myra's Story is on at 13.00 in the Gordon Aikman Theatre (George Square) until the 29th.

George Egg: Set Menu (The Best of George Egg), Piccolo George Square, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 Egg has developed a very specialist niche in the stand up world, showing audiences how to cook proper meals in the most unlikely of environments.  This show builds upon three of his past successes using the sort of items you might find in your own workshop, or on a train, or in a hotel room.  He cooks as he speaks as you laugh.  A non stop parade of gags and physical comedy, with the bonus culinary tips and tempting aromas.   

So George turned out kippers and poached eggs using workshop tools; grilled aubergine salad (featuring his own very special 'laptop') as you would do it on Avanti; and pancakes with hazelnuts and blueberries as done in a hotel room.  Proper recipes too, with some flair to the presentation - not easy to manage when you have to keep up the comic patter at the same time.  So it's impressive as well as very very funny.  

Best of all, the audience gets to try out his creations as they leave.  Bon appetit.

George Egg : Set Menu is on at 16.25, in the Piccolo in George Square Gardens, until the 28th.

The Ballad of a Great Disordered Heart, Filmhouse, Edinburgh International Film Festival

 The audience entered to live music from Aidan O'Rourke (fiddle) and Brìghde Chaimbeul (Scottish smallpipes), followed by an EIFF introduction and Aidan talking about the background to the film and the neighbours who has inspired him in lockdown.

He lives in a part of Edinburgh's Old Town which was once known as Little Ireland.  Lockdown, and the break it gave him form the life of a touring musician, allowed him to connect with people around him, especially the Three Margarets, who had lived in the area for many decades and were from the Irish immigrant community that provided the label.  It's a place set right by the main tourist trail, but comprising a warren of closes and courts that outsiders rarely venture into. 

These stories from the past got O'Rourke thinking about his own Irish connections, and what traditional music meant to communities.  The film takes us on his journey, from making those initial connections, through to a small community concert for the neighbours, in one of the sheltered wee courtyards their residences overlooked.  

It's a very intimate film, both in subject matter and in the tightness of the filming, with talking heads filling the frame.  There are some sequences from old Edinburgh, when the Margarets might have been young girls, but mostly it's shot in those closes and courts.  There is graffitti and dirt and untidiness, all a welcoming contrast to the fakeness of the tourist tat that abounds just a short distance away.  Aidan is joined by several musicians, who treat us to solo songs and tunes (with baffled passers by coming in and out of shot...), and come together for the concert.

Lockdown affected us all in different ways, and the changes it brought to O'Rourke are resonant for us all.  If you are interested in how experiences change lives, or the link between traditional music and community, or friendship and creativity, or simply seeing a bit of the city you might not have investigated before, then this is very much worth seeing.  This was a one-off showing, but I'd recommend seeking out a screening or seeing if the film becomes available online.