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Fringe 2008 Reviews (86)
John Hegley – Beyond
Our Kennel
Pleasance Courtyard
****
Stand-up poet John Hegley returns to the Pleasance with a performance
that consists of readings of his distinctive verses, a few songs, plenty
of chat and some audience participation.
Hegley is a master of bathos, with poetry that goes from the familiar
to the genuinely surreal in a very short time, delivered in a deadpan
monotone that makes Morrissey sound like a jolly pop singer and with
some brilliantly unexpected or hilariously disappointing endings. His
friendly familiarity with spectators turns to disappointment in them
when they fail to come up to his expectations with their contributions
to some of his poems — which may be spoken or sung lines or actions
— and latecomers do not escape his attention. He even gives the
audience an opportunity to ask him questions at the end.
Hegley is a naturally-gifted comic performer with some superb material
that has to be heard in the author's voice for its full impact. This
is a great little show — very funny and entertaining — in
the lunchtime schedules at the Pleasance.
David Chadderton
Jeff Green: Life Ache
Assembly @ George Street
*****
For ten years I have followed the career of one of the country's best
stand up comics, and for ten years I have been entertained by great
jokes and a great personality. It has to be said that Jeff Green is
one of the most likable people in stand up. You can't help warm to him
and feel part of the world he is inviting you into.
The world he is inviting you into this year is Life Ache, tales
and woes of fatherhood. After baring his soul on being single and being
in a relationship, Mr Green is now sharing his thoughts and troubles
of growing older and being a responsible parent.
Slinging jokes for a living isn't easy and getting the audience with
you from start to finish is even harder. The audience were slow to show
their love for Jeff, leaving some of the jokes in the first half of
his act with only a warm reception. Not one to be put off though, he
worked hard at pulling them in and by the half way point he had them
in his hand, showing them why he is one of the best!
As well as being a best selling author, Jeff Green proves that growing
up isn't slowing him down as a great stand up. Go get some of the best
jokes by a comic that will have the world laughing for many years to
come. Life Ache? Jeff Green will make your ribs ache with laughter.
Wayne Miller
Upstart Crows
By Michael Punter
Young Pleasance
Pleasance Courtyard
***
In a city where he average show has a cast of around 1.5 and no serious
set or costumes, this Young Pleasance play is extraordinary. The cast
exceeds twenty and they are all lavishly kitted out, none more so that
Queen Elizabeth I, Jessica Austin looking like a fairy godmother.
The tavern/theatre set too impresses for this historical drama viewing
the explosive London experiences of Alex Woolf's Kit Marlowe and especially
his interactions with the greatest actor of his day, Edward Alleyn played
by Nick Walters.
The play follows the arrival of a brash young man, the travails of
Tamburlaine and Faustus and problems with the entrepreneurial Henslowe,
treated as a low comic figure by Matt Jessup for some reason, Eleanor
Hamblen as his daughter Joan given a Shakespeare in Love moment
and the sinister spies.
Playwright Michael Punter is surely an academic of some kind, as he
determinedly piles on enough information for a short biography. This
tends to detract from the flow of a well-known story that is dramatic
enough in its own right.
By the end, there is a feeling that the story takes second best to
the history but this proves a good opportunity for a large number of
youngsters to experience a real theatrical event and many might be tempted
to consider returning in the future or even making this a career.
Philip Fisher
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