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Fringe 2008 Reviews (4)
Lough/Rain
Real Circumstance With York Theatre Royal in Association
With Escalator East to Edinburgh
Underbelly; Iron Belly
****
Fantastic acting in a play of two halves. The first half sees a young
couple Caoimhe and Michael waking up early in the morning before work
and as the conversation unfolds we hear the rhythms of their talk which
don't quite match. However while the first flush of love is still blooming
for them a tragic accident incapacitates Michael and the second half
of the play is set in his residential care unit where he is fed through
tubes and profound loss strikes every time Caoimhe reminds him of what
his failing memory cannot tell him.
Worth seeing for Jot Davies' (playing Michael) striking performance
alone, but also including a great performance by Kate Donmall (Caoimhe),
beautiful illustrative set designed by James Cotterill and excellent
direction by Dan Sherer.
Cecily Boys
Othello (Chamber Shakespeare
Cycle Part III)
Chamber Shakespeare Company
Hudson Hotel
*****
Shakespeare fans are in for a treat with this undiluted Othello
experience. Director and Protagonist William Mann has taken Shakespeare's
text and stripped it bare to the thoughts and feelings of Othello alone,
with all sub-plots and scenes cut away. Here we see pure jealousy distilled
and dripped like poison from Iago's lips to infect his captain. Using
only three actors The Chamber Shakespeare Company invite you into the
basement and club venue of the Hudson Hotel and perform an intense and
all consuming version of Shakespeare's meditation on the jealousy of
an insecure mind. This show should almost carry a warning for fear that
Mann's Othello, sickening with the 'green eyed monster', could infect
you too. See it for an uncompromising and unrelenting Shakespeare experience.
Cecily Boys
Tony! The Blair Musical
White Rose Theatre
The Pleasance Dome: Queen Dome
*****
2007's sell-out show returns to the Fringe to satirise and send up
(with a little social commentary along the way) Tony Blair's time in
office, when he 'made government Rock!'. Including the Tory Babershop
Quartet, Peter 'Oh Mandy!' Mandelson, the Archangel Princess Diana,
Spin Merchant Extraordinaire Alistair Campbell, Prime Minster-in-Waiting
Gordon Brown, Hull lyricist John Prescott, and hobby horse riding George
Bush. Oh yes, and the little matter of one of the best Tony Blair impersonators
around. All set to music and sung around an office desk and a large
black chair. This is a must see for all theatre, fringe, musical and
festival lovers. Or indeed, for anyone who experienced 'why there ain't
no party like a Labour Party!'.
Cecily Boys
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