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Fringe 2005 Reviews (14)
Complete Hollywood (Abridged)
By The Reduced Shakespeare Company
Pleasance Courtyard
***
Let's be honest. The sole intention of The Reduced Shakespeare Company
in their latest blockbuster success is to break the world record for
number of movie gags delivered in 90 minutes.
Three young men play those archetypal Hollywood parts, the writer (Aaron
Brown), the director (Adam D.Millard) and the actor (David Menkin).
After a funny silent movie spoof, they hang the rest of their show on
their combined attempts to create the perfect Hollywood film.
This allows the rather juvenile trio to lampoon every kind of movie
genre, with greatest concentration on the Western. When a cast of three
is inadequate for their needs, they recruit extras, (and in particular
Tony, who basks in the limelight) from the delighted front row of the
audience.
There are laughs aplenty as the jokes flow and the old game of combining
two movies yields some real gems such as Ghandi with the Wind,
The Sting and I and A Fish called Rwanda.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company have lost their ability to surprise
but not to amuse. If you love the movies, the RSC or have never seen
them, head down to Pleasance to share in the fun.
Philip Fisher
Newsrevue 24/7
Canal Café Theatre
C Electric, Edinburgh
****
Newsrevue is back once again with its irreverent collection
of satirical sketches, songs and fake news items taken from the long-running
show at the Canal Café in London. This very popular Fringe regular
treads the same territory as Have I Got News For You and Radio
4's The News Quiz, but with even more flexible boundaries of
taste.
The targets of this year's collection include the Pope (old and new),
people who drive four-by-fours (or 'Chelsea tractors'), Michael Jackson,
Charlotte Church, cosmetic surgery, Doctor Who, the tube bombing, Tony
Blair, Gordon Ramsey, Activia adverts, Eastenders and - of course
- George W Bush. There are a few cheap shots, but there is also some
clever observational humour, some of it in song (the songs are all well-known
songs with new lyrics written to them). There is some very funny material
here, and also some that made the audience wince at its tastelessness.
Overall this is a high quality production with four talented, hard-working
performers plus a pianist who sing, dance and act with a great deal
of energy. The Newsrevue shows tend to sell out every year, and
with good reason, as this show must be high on the list of anyone at
the Fringe who likes merciless satirical comedy.
David Chadderton
Billy Holiday
Conceived and devised by the company
Brian
Underbelly
****
He wears a tracksuit, lives in Kidbrooke, has all the glamour and excitement
of a trainspotter (a real one: a genuine nerd), makes sure, when he
is explaining something, that he goes into enormous detail, and thinks
he is Billy Holiday. And there are three of him. Are they they aspects
of one man or are they three individuals? If the latter, they are scarily
alike; if the former, it's just scary.
He (they?) talk to Billy and each other, sing along to her songs, and
they make us laugh. In fact, the audience cheered at the end of this
surreal tribute to a great jazz singer (or is it a tribute to a weird
Gus Gascoigne character?). Who knows? Who cares? It's just refreshingly
funny character-led comedy.
Peter Lathan
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