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More Edinburgh 2007 PreviewsDateline: 23rd July, 2007One of the great things - and one of the most daunting! - about the Edinburgh Fringe is the huge variety of different kinds of show on offer. Looking at the press releases which have arrived at the BTG in the last 24 hours (and that includes Sunday) we see, for example, a show which "is a sixty minute, whistlestop ride that takes on teleportation and explores the actual, imagined, ethical, political, religious and philosophical impacts of leading edge research in Quantum Physics." That's a production by Fringe First-winning Unlimited Theatre (in a co-production with Oxford Playhouse and Leeds Met Studio) which is written by Jon Spooner, Chris Thorpe and Clare Duffy in consultation with Professor Vlatko Vedral, head of the Quantum Information Science Group at the University of Leeds. It runs at the Underbelly from 20th to 25th August as part of the British Council showcase. In contrast there's a one-man Hamlet - entitled appropriately Hamlet (Solo) - by Canadian actor Raoul Bhaneja at the Assembly@St Georges West throughout the three weeks. Explaining his approach, Bhaneja says, "For many of us, our most powerful experience with the play Hamlet occurred on our first reading of it – outside of theatre – where we alone had to conjure up the setting, characters and drama. With this production, the audience is guided through the actual text, almost in the way an ancient storyteller might do, where the actor/storyteller provides an outline or sketch of a character that the viewer extrapolates and builds upon." Then there's a history play, performed in the famous Rosslyn Chapel, The Ballad of James II by Douglas Maxwell, set in fifteenth century Scotland and produced by Nonsenseroom. It, too, runs throughout the whole festival. And where in all this does Normal Productions' Vacant Possession fit? It's a play about Joe Sweeting who is in his seventies. He fears that age will leave him 'no more than other men'. The diet of corned beef, bananas, processed cheese and limeade is letting him down. He decides to sell his house... and end his life. Gary Roebuck is a 'Leftie', in his thirties, still living with his mother. When Labour Councillor 'Little' Tony moves in, it's time for Gary to move out. Dazzled by Joe's xenophobic eccentricity and sales technique, Gary overcomes his revolutionary zeal and gets a mortgage and a job. Then the trouble starts. Will Gary lend a helping hand in Joe's bizarre suicide attempts? And what to do with Maggie, Joe's sex doll? He doesn't want to let her down. It's a comedy (written by the BTG's Ray Brown), with David Nobbs (The Two Ronnies, Reginald Perrin, A Bit of a Do...) and Trevor Griffiths (The Party, Comedians, Reds...) as script and directorial associates, so you can expect it will be very funny and very compelling. It's at C Cubed throughout the three weeks. Impressed by the range of shows? Wait: there's more. What about Orgasm - the Musical? At understairs@Royal Scot Club for three weeks, it's one of three porn-based shows at ths year's Fringe, one being Debbie Does Dallas - the Musical at the Udderbelly and the other The Pornographer Diaries (C Chambers Street), a comedy. But if you thinkFringe music theatre is solely concerned with porn, you'd be very wrong. There's an opera based on The Trojan Women (About Suffering They Were Never Wrong... at Rocket@Demarco Roxy Art House) and a physical theatre interpretation of a rarely performed 1751 Handel opera The Choice of Hercules at the Zoo (various dates) and a reprise of last year's performance of Gluck's Iphigenia which I loved so much (also at Zoo on various dates). And there are also a couple of version of Dido and Aeneas. Staying with musicals, there's Asbo! the Musical (Venue 45) and Jihad: the Musical (C Chambers Street), reflecting modern concerns, as do two very similarly titled shows: Tony Blair - the Musical (Gilded Balloon Teviot) and Tony! The Blair Musical (C Chambers Street). There are also old favourites: two productions of Hair (Venue27@Holyrood and Church Hill Theatre), two of Godspell (Blueside and Stage by Stage), one of Company (C Chambers Street), one of The Boy Friend (St Thomas of Aquins High School), two of Little Shop of Horrors (Augustine's and Greenside) and one of The Threepenny Opera (Diverse Attractions). And of course there is the inevitable musical Shakespeare: we've had Hamlet (very good), Macbeth (dire) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (a number of versions, some good, some awful), and this year it's the turn of Romeo and Juliet - A Rock and Roll Love Story. We'll see... Most (but not all) of these will be visited by BTG reviewers at some point during the three weeks. More previews to come!
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