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Dateline: 24th July, 2002

Edfringe Snippets 5

News Items about the Forthcoming Edinburgh Fringe Festival

NY Play Takes Last Minute Bedlam Slot
The Bigger Thing, a Born Slippery Production written and directed by Pamela A. Popeson, runs August 5th -10th at the Bedlam Theatre, where the play took a last-minute opening. It premiered Off-Off Broadway in May to enthusiastic response; Popeson was hailed as "an imaginative and visionary writer" by Martin Denton of nytheatre.com.

In adapting the play for the Fringe from its successful run in New York City, the production is transporting the voices, if not the bodies, of Joanne Joseph and Goldie Zwiebel who play a Greek chorus of backseat-driving dead grandmothers.

Rat in the Skull Writer Returns with Lags
Lags is the new play by Emmy award winning writer and author of Rat in the Skull, Ron Hutchinson. Following a highly successful run in Bristol, directed by Caroline Hunt, Lags is back with a leaner, muscular rewrite that finds Ron at his uncompromising and hard hitting best.

Set in the relentlessly threatening environment of an all male prison, LAGS is an authentically violent and tough-minded comedy that pulls no punches and spares no laughs.

Having just flown in from Los Angeles, where he writes for film and television, Ron is very excited about this production of his new play.

The original production of Lags, produced by Show of Strength, attracted "Plays and Players" Play of the Month Award in November 2001.

Following its run at Edinburgh, Lags will be doing time at the Latchmere Theatre, London, from September 5th - 28th and the production will also be playing in a number of prisons.

EastEnders meets the West End in Edinburgh
Ex-EastEnders star Andrew Lynford has written a new musical which is about to receive its premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

CRE8 Theatre Company are to perform Diva Fever, The Decade That Taste Forgot, a glam musical ride stuffed full of  songs that are bound to have the audience singing along. Songs like Gonna Make You a Star, Blockbuster, Tragedy and many more are included. The director, West End actress, Julie Fox, has extensive experience in musical theatre. The musical, set in the sensational 70s, charts the rise to fame of one platform shoe factory worker and how she ditches her friends in pursuit of her ambition to become a star. Leading through the many sub-plots and love trysts, all works out in the end.

The show will be at C, Chambers Street, from 11th to 25th August.

Wonderhorse
Described as the two bunny girls of the apocalypse, Wonderhorse are a nihilistic Vaudevillian cabaret act. We're Gonna Bugger You consists of two sections: a murder mystery complete with songs, dances and audience participation, followed by a journey to their macabre home town of Beresford. Here the audience witness the depravity of the real lives behind the glittering façade of show biz! Appearances from Bruce Forsyth and transvestite lycanthropist Uncle Boobles bring the plot to its terrible conclusion: with only an hour to rescue Blackpool Tower, can our heroes save the entertainment epicentre of the North?

Big Boys Don't Cry
Or do they? In the year that Britain is undertaking the first ever, comprehensive survey into domestic violence against men, negativequity lays down a prescient vision of the news that is about to hit. Children are now more likely than ever to see Mummy hit Daddy. Domestic violence perpetrated by women is rising fast.

50's suburbia is the setting for a simple tale that follows devotion down the slope to devastation as a man is crushed by the hands of an abusive wife.

At the Roman Eagle Lodge from 3rd to 25th August.

The Al-Hamlet Summit
Deep in the Middle East's furnace of discontent, Zaoum Theatre Company strap Shakespeare's Hamlet to a theatrical warhead at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. The result is a startling interrogation of today's realpolitik as The Al-Hamlet Summit fuses mediums and breaks boundaries to examine the catastrophic nature of today's political landscape.

Equipped with six conference delegates, two live musicians and with the addition of an arms dealer, the characters of Hamlet are presented at a summit meeting, each armed with their own table, microphone, web-cam and bottle of Evian. Against the backdrop of an empire desecrated by war, Shakespeare's words become the weird tools of diplomatic negotiations in a fight for each of the character's own survival. With the introduction of an Arms Dealer, desperately courted by each of the delegates, Shakespeare's universe firmly enters the present day.

Visually, the audience can not escape the 21st century, with live-feeds and projection screens constantly reminding us of last night's television address by George W. Bush, or last week's summit in Bonn or Washington. Within this setting Shakespeare's great tragedy takes on an uncanny metaphorical resonance as we observe the terminal phases of an Empire; the in-fighting, the bickering, the indecision, followed by its collapse and the birth of a New World Order.

Pleasance Dome: 2nd - 26th August

YEH HAI MUMBAI MERI JAAN
Riding the tidal wave of all things Bollywood, this is the European premiere of a magical musical play set in 1970s Bombay - home of the Bollywood film industry. Unlike the new Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical this production has been written, cast, choreographed and produced entirely in India, with the undiluted spicy flavour of Bollywood in its presentation.

Set in the decade when India truly entered the modern world, and began exporting its culture to the West, Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan follows the stories of people that might exist in a Bollywood film - and who often exist in real life. From the chai wallah on the suburban railway platform and the gaggle of prostitutes haggling over a wealthy patron, to the star-crossed lovers in the slum and the eunuch who protects them from bigots, the characters shine with authenticity and the true spirit of Bollywood. The original score features many charming songs, described as 'peppy Indian tunes'.

The cast includes a tipped-for-stardom actress, dancer and singer in the lead female role and two renowned singers from the Indian music industry in the lead male roles. The playwright, Sohaila Kapur, is a well-known journalist with The Times of India, who has written and acted for stage, screen and television, and whose brother Shekhar directed the Oscar-nominated film Elizabeth. Sohaila's years in Mumbai (Bombay) and connection with the Bollywood film industry inspired her to write the musical.

Traverse: Aug 3-8 at 11.00/Aug 4 at 14.45/Aug 6,10 at 17.15/Aug 7,11 at 20.15/Aug 9 at 14.30

Such Stuff As We Are Made Of
In the UK Premiere of what was described by Epoca magazine as 'one of the most accomplished avant-garde productions put up in Brazil', this compelling and radical show presents the human body in beautiful and intriguing configurations.

The bodies of the dancers become human sculptures, sources of power and pleasure, unveiling ideas, challenging taboos and subverting all expectations about the body in performance.

St Stephens: 13th - 26th August

For facts and figures of the 2001 Edinburgh Fringe, go to our Fringe 2001 Factsheet.

Fringe Snippets 1
Fringe Snippets 2
Fringe Snippets 3
Fringe Snippets 4
Fringe Snippets 5
Fringe Snippets 6
Fringe Snippets 7
Fringe Snippets 8
The Fringe at the Netherbow
The Fringe at the Traverse (23rd June)
C Venues at the 2002 Fringe
Dance Base at the 2002 Fringe
Facts about the 2002 Fringe
The Smirnoff Underbelly at the 2002 Fringe

Index A-F
Index G-K
Index L-Q
Index R-Z

News Archive A-L
News Archive M-Z
Production News Archive

Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.

 

 

©Peter Lathan 2001