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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2003 Reviews (28)Finding Bin Laden Henry Naylor does something quite special in Finding Bin Laden. One would expect a writer who has worked on Spitting Image and Dead Ringers to be able to write some funny lines. The surprise is that he delivers a real political punch in the guts to his happily smiling audience. Finding Bin Laden is set in Afghanistan on September 12, 2001. It focuses on Peter Britton, a poor man's John Simpson, who works as a reporter for a satellite news channel. He has missed too many scoops and is the wrong side of forty. The only way that he can get his career back on track is a major scoop. Assisted by his charming camera(wo)man, the half-Afghan Az, Britton sets out to track down Osama. Along the way, he is helped and hindered in equal quantities by his swearing boss (Dan Tetsell), a local (Paul Chowdhry) and a big US marine-type (Will Kenning). This is a funny show that is intended to deliver a political message. It is accompanied by some pretty shocking photos from Kabul taken by Sam Maynard, who accompanied Naylor on his research trip to Afghanistan. The performances of Britton, a regular on Goodness Gracious Me, and Miss Conti, now well-known as a ventriloquist (but without monkey), are both strong and ensure that the audience is both amused and shocked. No Fear It comes as quite a shock to learn that Linda Marlowe is sixty and a grandmother several times over. Like some of her tall tales, it seems to be stretching the truth. No Fear is a kind of whimsical drift around some of the more memorable experiences of Miss Marlowe's life. We hear of births and abortions, marriages and divorces. She also tells some stories in verse of variable quality. The stories vary in texture and nature and include her career as a drug smuggler, as well as a lovely tale of a Chandleresque private dick assisting in one divorce, not to mention her problems with the third Mrs Marlowe. Some of the stories are undoubtedly funny and her performance is excellent, as ever. It includes mime, speech and a couple of songs, including moments from her time as a Sadista Sister. As a finale the intrepid star shows us a skill that she picked up after her bus pass, as a trapeze artiste. Footers Footers is a two-hander set in Zambia. It relates the tale of what happens when the innocent village schoolteacher, Zeddy, meets up with city wide-boy, Yoyo. It contains one long-running joke and shows something of African life as the two footers, something like hoboes, try to make a buck. Augustine Lungu plays the sweet-tongued Yoyo and also a street preacher. This is the kind of man from whom you would buy anything - then live to regret it. Benne Banda is Zambia's foremost actor and plays a variety of comic roles; he is very much Stan Laurel to Lungu's Hardy. These roles include the innocent Zeddy but also a surprisingly attractive hooker, a witchdoctor and a simperingly shy girl. These two accomplished comic actors suffer from rather thin material but do their best to bring it to life. |
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