Fringe Benefits 2018 - Day Two

DAY TWO

Real Sherlock Holmes Walking Tour - Outside Cigar Box, High St    (Venue #215)   [90 mins]

A very thorough tour of Conan Doyle's Edinburgh, taking in one of his homes, the University Medical School, and the hospital where he first saw the deductive skills of Dr Joseph Bell, all carried out by an expert guide, Toby Virgo.      

 

http://realsherlockholmes.com/the-walking-tour/

[For a fuller write-up, click here]

Sketch Thieves -Laughing Horse @ Cabaret Voltaire    (Venue #338)  Will Mars.   [60 mins]

Finding my intended second show - a bio play about John LeMesurier - had been cancelled, I attended another show in the same building. Four sketch groups - Bad Clowns, Beach Hunks, Crizards & Tracy's Leaving Party - first each performed 10 minutes of material, then their riff on one of the other groups' sketches. My favourite was TLP both in their own sketches and in their versions of Beach Hunks' material. The show was expertly compered by Will Mars. Recommended, along with the original - Joke Thieves.

 

Flo & Joan: Alive on Stage – Cabaret Bar, Pleasance Courtyard   (Venue #33)  Avalon    [60 mins]

Comedy songstresses Flo & Joan (real life sisters, Nicola & Rosie) presented another hour of witty songs and banter, with only one song I'd heard before (the previous evening). They even turned the tables on one of their harshest critics. Can't recommend seeing this show when it goes on tour enough!  

Griffin & Jones: Trickorish Allsorts – Liquid Room Warehouse  (Venue #276)   PBH Free Fringe   [60 mins]

Comedy magic double act, Griffin & Jones, pioneers of 'slapdash magic', performed old and new routines to the delight of a select crowd, ending with a straitjacket escape race. Very funny. 

 

John Lenahan: Up Close – The Wee Room, The Free Sisters   (Venue #272)   Ingenious Fools   [60 mins]

Another comedy magician (and voice of 'Red Dwarf's Talkie Toaster), John Lenahan, with 60 minutes of close-up card magic for an audience of 15 in a tiny room. Masterful. 

 

Fringe Benefits 2018 - Day One

After a year off, I am back to the Fringe, for three days this time. 16 shows in 57 hours, reviews below, and Awards to follow.

DAY ONE

Once Seen on Blue Peter – Ballroom, Assembly Rooms (Venue #20)  Cahoots Theatre Company   [60 mins]

 

Starring Mark Curry, Peter Duncan, Janet Ellis & Peter Purves (with brief appearances by Tim Vincent) 60 minutes of reminiscences from the classic children's TV programme, 'backstage at a TV awards show'. Lulu the elephant, Mark knocking the head off a Lego businessman, Noaksie, and Janet freefalling were all referenced. Very enjoyable, and I managed to get Janet, Mark and Peter D to sign one of my precious BP books.

 

A Joke – Ballroom, Assembly Rooms (Venue #20)  Universal Arts and Scene Change Productions  [60 mins]

Written by Dan 'Death Comes to Time' Freeman, and starring Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy and 'Star Trek: Voyager' star Robert Picardo, this play featured an Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scotsman. Why had they been brought together, was it some sort of joke ? A very thought-provoking and funny 60 minutes, and Sylv played the spoons. 

Colin Cloud: Psycho(Logical) - The Grand, Pleasance Courtyard   (Venue #33)  Gag Reflex    [60 mins]

My usual festival must-see, the 'real life Sherlock Holmes' in an impressive and petrifying show. The show started with Cloud locked in a box slowly filling with smoke, and having to psychically indicate to an audience member which one of the 100 keys opened the padlock. The big finish was another coup de theatre, but I won't spoil it here. Highly recommended. 

 

Improvised Panto ! – The Annexe, Paradise in the Vault   (Venue #29)   Very Serious People   [45 mins]

The first of my impro shows, and for once not Sherlockian or Whovian. VSP in their fringe debut presented an entirely improvised pantomime, including songs. Having finally found the hidden venue, we were treated to the tale of Bob from Ottley (near Leeds) who had to find a black cab filled with cash in Monte Carlo, whilst defeating a prostitute from Hull. Very good.

 

 

Rachel Parris' Musical Comedy Club – King Dome, Pleasance Dome  (Venue #23)   Live Nation   [80 mins]

Rachel Parris ('The Mash Report') presented her musical guests - Flo & Joan (amazing), Harry & Chris (proving that comedy rap-jazz is 'a thing') and Pippa Evans (exquisite). Rachel compered, also singing songs, including her tribute to one of the epic songs from 'The Greatest Showman'. The show ended with a singalong of 'Hold On' (Wilson Phillips), with all the performers, which continued as we filed out. An excellent end to the day ! 

Forgotten Musicals: 'Bring It On ! - The Musical' (2011)

Forgotten Musicals: ‘Bring It On ! – The Musical’ (2011)

Music by Tom Kitt & Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lyrics by Amanda Green & Lin-Manuel Miranda

Book by Jeff Whitty (Inspired by ‘Bring It On’ by Jessica Bendinger)

History

Bring It On: The Musical is a musical with music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda (‘Hamilton’), lyrics by Amanda Green and Miranda, and a book by Jeff Whitty (‘Avenue Q’). It is loosely based on the 2000 film of the same name and focuses on the competitive world of cheerleading and over-the-top team rivalries.

The musical premiered at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2011, featuring "award-winning competitive cheerleaders from across the country". It was also the first Broadway musical to feature a transgender high school character, La Cienega, originally played by Gregory Haney. A national tour of the musical played in major U.S. cities from November 2011 to June 2012. The screenwriter of the original movie, Jessica Bendinger, sued in 2011, arguing that she had rights in the licensing of the theatre production. She said she would allow the Bring It On musical to proceed if she was properly credited and compensated. In November 2011, an out-of-court settlement was made. The touring stage production began previews on Broadway in July 2012 at the St. James Theatre, before opening for a limited engagement on August 1, 2012, to December 30, 2012.

The musical was due to make its UK and European première with a UK tour starting at the Palace Theatre in Manchester from 6th September 2017. However, in August 2017, it was announced that the tour has been postponed until 2019. Therefore, the UK premiere was at the Southwark Playhouse, opening on 2nd August 2018, as a student production by the British Theatre Academy.

Story

Campbell is cheer-royalty at Truman High School, and her senior year should prove the most cheertastic – she's been named captain of the squad. But an unexpected redistricting forces her to spend her final year of high school at the neighbouring hard-knock Jackson High School. Finding it difficult to fit in, particularly as Jackson has no cheerleading squad, and suspecting foul play in her transfer, Campbell needs not only to make friends, but convince them to form a squad to get her revenge at the National Championships.

In A Nutshell

Is cheerleading always only about the winning ?

Production

I went to see the Southwark Playhouse production, a fortnight into its run. Yet again the seating had been redistributed meaning that there were stewards with clipboards directing people to their seats. In fact the man originally sitting next to me had to move, when it became clear that the ‘E’ on the stage block that we were sitting on should have been ‘D’.

I enjoyed the performance, and the differing musical styles between songs set at the two schools (with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hip-Hop influence clearly visible in the Jackson High numbers). The show was anchored by Robyn McIntyre as Campbell, but I would wish to make special mention of Kristine Kruse as Bridget, considered dorky at Truman and sexy at Jackson, and Sydnie Hocknell as Eva, the new Captain of Jackson’s squad who may have not gained her position fairly. The rest of the cast threw themselves into the demanding dancing and cheerleading moves with gusto. Definitely recommended.

The only sour note was the very smelly food that the woman in the seat next to me was eating prior to curtain up. I don't know what is was - but for the whole of Act One I couldn't get the stench out of my nostrils.

Bring It On ! The Musical runs at the Southwark Playhouse, London from 2nd August 2018 to 1st September 2018.

Favourite Song

Another difficult choice, I am placing 'It Ain't No Thing' (for Bridget) and 'Killer Instinct' (for Eva) in joint first place, closely followed by 'Something Isn't Right Here' and the title song, 'Bring It On'.

Links

Production Website: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/show/bring-it-on/

‘Bring It On !’ on Miranda’s website: http://www.linmanuel.com/bring-it-on

YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN8EjkTpwXMAjuGjWAc9nDF7IvR2FkxrN

Sherlockian Sojourns #14: Dorsington

For my next sojourn, I made my way to an area connected with a different literary figure, Shakespeare’s Stratford-Upon-Avon. There are not any canonical links to Stratford that I am aware of, but Holmes did delight in quoting from the Bard (quoting from ‘Twelfth Night’ so often that 6th January has been decided on for his birthday by scholars). However, it was in relation to yet another literary figure that I made another pilgrimage.

Felix Dennis (27th May 1947 – 22nd June 2014) was an English publisher, poet, spoken-word performer and philanthropist, who was also one of the defendants in the ‘Schoolkids OZ’ obscenity trial. However, as well as this he also had one of the largest private collections of original bronze sculptures held in his purpose-built Garden of Heroes and Villains in Dorsington on the outskirts of Stratford. It contains more than 50 sculptures, life and a quarter in size, which include the dawn of man attacking a woolly mammoth, Galileo, Einstein, Winston Churchill, and more recent "heroes" such as Stephen Hawking. The Garden is open to the public once a year as part of the National Gardens Scheme, as well as for fundraising events for The Heart of England Forest of which it is a part (such as the Open Day that I attended). However, it was for one particular Sherlockian sculpture that I made the trip.

Catching a bus at just before 7am, I made my way to Marylebone Station, arriving in plenty of time for my train. Changing once, I found myself at Stratford-Upon-Avon Station, and spent an enjoyable two hours in central Stratford before catching a bus, which after the driver had finally found the stop I had requested, dropped me 2 miles from the Garden. Striding off in what luckily proved to be the right direction, about 40 minutes later I found myself in Dorsington and following signs until finally I reached the entrance to the Garden. I decided to eat my lunch in the picnic area outside before going in, signs indicating that there was no picnicking in the gardens.

Entering the Garden, I was given a map showing the locations of all the statues, and made my way immediately to the one that most interested me – ‘Arthur Conan Doyle (with the Shade of Sherlock Holmes)’. This statue comprised a seated ACD writing, with the figure of Holmes looming over him from behind, and represents one of only two statues in this country of Doyle (the other being in Crowborough) and the only one of creator and creation together. The sculpture was sculpted for Dennis by Irena Sedlecka in 2001. I then spent several minutes trying to take photos of it from all angles, the fact that it was located under a canopy of trees making it difficult to get a clear photo.

 

 

I was amused to see that Conan Doyle was located between Yuri Gagarin (and Laika) and Muhammad Ali, and then slowly made my way around the other statues. On my travels I came across Watson, but it was James (not John) Watson who was depicted with his partner, Francis Crick, discovering DNA. I was also impressed by the sculptures of ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

Next, I stumbled on a Minotaur, who was gesturing to a hedge maze. Having made my way to the centre, I found a sculpture of the three OZ defendants, including Felix Dennis.

Having wandered around the statues again, I had a brief break for a can of Coke, and then made my way to the exit, via a Gift Shop where I purchased a guide to all the statues.

I initially strode off in the wrong direction, but soon corrected my mistake, and was back in the centre of Dorsington, and making my way to a different bus stop for the bus home. As I walked along, it began drizzling, but luckily it never came to anything. Finally, I reached where the bus stop must be, being opposite a named road. However, I was not clear which side the bus would stop on. Eventually the bus came into view, and I crossed the road and hailed it. However, on speaking to the driver it seemed that I had not read the timetable correctly, and that this bus was going to a nearby village before returning back along the same road to Stratford. It would therefore be stopping at the other side of the road ten minutes later, and if I boarded now the fare would be increased. I therefore made my back to the other side of the road to wait.

10 minutes later and the bus returned, and I paid the fare back into Stratford. On arrival back in the City Centre, I had just enough time to buy some food to eat on the journey, before making my way back to the station. The train was already in the platform so I took a seat, and settled back for the first part of my journey, to Leamington Spa, and then onwards to London and eventually home. It had been a long and tiring day !