Fringe Benefits 2023

 

After a gap of five years (due to Covid and other reeasons), I went back to the Edinburgh Fringe, but for only one day this time (17/08/23) - 6 shows in just over 10 hours.

 

It’s A Mystery! – Annexe, theSpace @ Symposium Hall (Venue #43)  Tim Benzie/ SAAMSW   [50 mins]

Starring Tim Benzie, the acclaimed creator and host of ‘Solve Along A Murder She Wrote’ (and partner to one of my sister’s work colleagues), this one-man show offered a hilarious and moving exploration of the enduring appeal of murder mysteries, utilising a detective’s notebook flip-chart and Cluedo rooms, and leading to a personal epiphany/revelation. Very enjoyable and very funny, and also gave me a couple of books to seek out. 

 

Sherlock Holmes: The Speckled Band – Haldane Theatre, theSpace @ Surgeons Hall  (Venue #53)  Blue Orange Arts  [50 mins]

My Sherlockian show at this Fringe. A two-man dramatisation of ‘The Speckled Band’ one of the best known Sherlock Holmes short stories (even ACD did an adaptation), with only two wooden crates and the back curtain as scenery, and limited props. This meant that Helen Stoner was only ever referred to and did not appear in person, but Watson (Darren Haywood) also got to briefly play Dr. Grimesby Roylott. I was also distracted by Haywood’s very Sherlockian nose, and briefly thought that maybe he and James Nicholas’ Holmes should have swapped parts. The adaptation was workmanlike and covered all of the salient points (albeit mainly in reported speech – but then again so do many of the short stories), but ended by presenting us with a more morally ambiguous Holmes than seen in Conan Doyle’s ending.

 

Tom Brace: A Trick Down Memory Lane – 10Dome, Pleasance Dome  (Venue #23)  Play People Productions  [50 mins]

The first of my two magic shows, this featured magician, Tom Brace, looking back over the thirty years that he has been alive, before undertaking Russian Roulette with an audience member. However, this turned out to involve small Nerf guns meaning that the danger was greatly reduced. There was a pattern of tricks seemingly going wrong, and in the majority of cases it turning out to be a bluff, but at least one actually did go wrong. Brace is very likeable and witty, and he kept to time meaning that I could rush to my next show in another part of the Dome.

 

Any Suggestions, Doctor ? – Ace Dome, Pleasance Dome  (Venue #23)  Any Suggestions Improv  [60 mins]

My improv show for 2023. This featured a parody ‘Doctor Who’ episode based on audience suggestions. A roll of a large die indicated which of the six actors would be playing the Doctor – and we got a leather-jacketed Doctor with his eighteen year old companion, Susie. The episode title picked at random was ‘The Garlic Bread Sensation’, with the location being Ibiza. Cue an hour of laughs with a variety of WHO monsters on holiday, all being affected by garlic butter in sun cream and the pool making them all angry. The two very camp Daleks were a highlight for me. I was also impressed given the Peter Kay referencing title how late on they introduced the Abzorbaloff as a henchman to the villain, who unsurprisingly turned out to the be The Master, and insisted that his assumed name Jose was an anagram of the Spanish word for Master. Very, very funny. 

 

Kathy & Stella Solve A Murder – Udderbelly, Underbelly – George Square  (Venue #300)  Francesca Moody Productions  [90 mins]

Co-written by Matthew Floyd Jones (best known to me as ‘Mannish’ from ‘Frisky & Mannish’), this musical focuses on BFFs Kathy and Stella who are Hull’s least successful true crime podcasters. When their favourite author is killed, they are thrust into a thrilling whodunnit of their own! Can they crack the case (and become global podcast superstars) before the killer strikes again ?  I was laughing from start to finish and loved the songs. Very highly recommended. 

    [Click here for my fuller review]

 

Colin Cloud: After Dark – McEwan Hall, Underbelly – Bristo Square   (Venue #302)  Gag Reflex    [60 mins]

My usual festival must-see, the 'real life Sherlock Holmes' in another impressive show. I managed to get to my seat with seconds to spare having run from the last venue. Cloud has been in Vegas for the past few years, and this being the first night of a very limited run, seemed very pleased to back in Edinburgh. The show revolved around a prediction sent in the post to an audience member (who volunteered over Twitter) three months before, as well as reading audience members’ minds. This all lead onto another revelation of a personal secret – this one more shocking than Benzie’s.  Amazingly good and amazingly moving. Also, quite a few people seemed to miss Cloud’s final coup de theatre outside the venue.