Being some final thoughts and reflections on Edinburgh 2002 by Spank's Pals.
Nick
We were strangely honoured this year with four days of glorious sunshine, making Ed. during Festival time thee best place to be on the planet. I know I say this every year, but Ed. has everything; great bars, restaurants, stunning buildings, great natural beauty and this year we went to the seaside at Cramond, a 20 minute bus ride away from the city centre and
discovered great seaside as well.
So what are my top three picks of Ed. this year? For a starter; duck and beetroot salad (Howies restaurant), chicken breasts stuffed with haggis served with whisky sauce, sublime (Cramond Inn) and an old favourite to finish, the cream and sherry laden trifle at Hendersons. Of the shows; Tina C was the best (rumoured to be coming to London with Steven Berkoff in support, he does his 9/11 requiem, followed by this great show): Bob Downe and the Apple Fresh Dancers did for seventies kitsch what Otis has been doing for Country (although his show was looking a bit tired this year): and the American High School production of Anything Goes...In Outer Space, packed full of energy and talent, was a triumph.
Of those few serious plays I saw, Stitching at the Traverse had garnered the most controversy, but with only one walkout when we attended: in part because of the banked 0.5 metre steps that double as seats, and the wheelchair barricade at the bottom. I felt it was home from home for me (see Spank's Tiny Ninja review), but the play was disappointing. Extremely well written, the dialogue between the two characters is highly charged and convincing, but their descent into a sexual netherland is only explored for shock value and we never know the motivations of why the characters choose to go there, which would have made the more interesting play. It would be easy to read into the play that both characters were lonely and disconnected from reality, but what drove them there we will never know. The play does use flashback and flashforward to excellent effect, as the characters ponder their future together, with or without a child. The play gets an excellent production and is beautifully acted, but reveals very little about the human condition.
On the social scene in Ed., SeePea was sorely missed (she had just started a new job and was unable to attend), so no crazy nights in the Filmhouse bar and none of her must see recommendations, but hope she makes a return in 2004. My one onerous duty was to have named and shamed the critic from The Scotsman who encouraged me and Jon to see the appalling Sweethearts 'n' Bodyparts in a precious late night slot, but I can no longer find the offending review, so will have to draw a veil over that one. And finally where would we be without our favourite monkey (not in cyberspace that's for sure!), who slumbers in Web13 writing this stuff (and correcting our grammar and spelling as well). A big thankyou and hope one day you will be as rich and famous as your friend from ITV Digital. I will be back in Ed. next year, but not the monkey, unless...
The Two Muses
Well, another Edinburgh has come to an end, and Napier is beginning to seem like home from home (yes, this time we actually managed to take the right street to the flats without driving the length and breadth of the West End!). Fresh from Falmouth, we obviously brought the weather with us with 4 sunny days in a row, the umbrella was almost redundant (not quite, it drizzled a bit on the Friday!).
As in previous years, there were plenty of inviting shows to choose from and enjoy, and by and large enjoy them we did: although we both felt it wasn't a vintage year for theatre. Whereas in the past we have generally been spoilt for choice as to which plays to see, we seemed to be rather scratching around this year (although it was strong on one man/woman shows - see below).
Mervyn Stutter came up trumps in Tuesday's Pick of the Fringe, in introducing us to two great acts: - firstly, what proved to be a highlight of the week's viewing, the outstanding Belfast actor Marty Maguire in A Night in November. This was probably one of the most powerful one-man shows I had ever seen: there wasn't a dry eye in the house at the end. The more laid back humour of fellow Irishman (southern this time) Michael Mee was a perfect antidote; again there wasn't a dry eye in the house, this time through laughter. In fact, not only was Marty Maguire in the audience, but he recognised and chatted to us!
Comedy generally had a strong showing, commencing on our first night with Otis Lee Crenshaw (a great start to the week, says Brenda); other highlights included Ross Noble (excellent show, shame about the venue!) and, above all, the wonderful, multi-talented king of cheese, the Aussie Bob Downe. Don't stay away so long next time, Bob, we want you back!
The American High Schools maintained the promise shown in last year's superb Wild West Comedy of Errors. This time they entertained us with two musicals, both of which we saw on the same day in order to catch them: the lively Grease, and particularly the excellent and very polished Anything Goes In Outer Space, which reminded us just what great songs Cole Porter wrote.
We were fortunate not to encounter any real turkeys, but one low point was the rather uninspired and inappropriately naturalistic production of The Bald Prima Donna (see Friday's reviews).
The eating and drinking part of the trip mostly lived up to previous standards, although the staff at the Filmhouse bar got the thumbs down on some occasions for turning the lights on full at a relatively early hour, encouraging people to sup up 'n' sod off so that they could go off to another (undisclosed) drinking establishment. The gastronomic highlight has to be the Cramond Inn, a short bus ride from Edinburgh but a haven of peace and quiet, with their mouthwatering speciality, chicken breast with haggis.
All in all, a great few days. Sorry our third Muse couldn't be there Michele, you were missed!
The Belated Birthday Girl
A few late reviews first...
Thursday was the first time I'd seen a whole Ross Noble set (though I may have seen clips or short spots before), and I found him one of the funniest stand-ups I've seen. In the way he works off a small thing and builds a show around it on the spot, I was reminded of Eddie Izzard. He seemed to have maybe two or three gags which were prepared, and the rest of the hour show just came on the night - which of course means he'll be worth seeing again, as it'll be different each time. Best stand-up type show I saw this year.
I was determined to catch another in the Kon Ichikawa season after having seen Conflagration, and the times worked out right for Her Brother (Ototo) A family drama about a teenage brother and sister, where the sister has to take as much of the family responsibility for various reasons, Her Brother is more about her than the brother. The performances were all very good, but especially the sister, and most especially in the scenes between the brother and the sister. The plot takes a dramatic turn (perhaps a little too suddenly), and the tone changes about half way through, but this just gives more scope for the performance of the sister. Beautifully shot too, a gem I'm glad I saw.
My second Argentinian film this year (possibly ever), A Red Bear is a straightforward tale of an ex-con father trying to be a father to his young daughter who he hasn't seen since he went to jail when she was only one year old, but it is effectively done. The acting is excellent, especially from the central character, and there are distinct plot points and devices which you just wouldn't see in a Hollywood movie of the same story. The little girl was good too. So, not an outstandingly original film, but most enjoyable nonetheless.
Having loved the music in Out Of Sight and Ocean's Eleven, I was interested to see the interview with David Holmes, I didn't know much about him going in, and was fascinated to hear how he works (nothing is written down, he just lets the musicians know the feel he wants: the instrumentation is the starting point, which he gets from the source music, which he also likes to choose). I actually would have liked more of that, maybe with more examples. He seemed a bit precious at first, repeatedly mentioning how he's an "artist", but once he'd relaxed as the interview got further in, he seemed like a nice guy, and it was an interesting interview. Will look forward to hearing more of his music in future.
To be honest, I wasn't quite sure about Talking Cock when I booked it. I was concerned it might just be an unfunny hour of puerile knob gags. But what with him being Spank's showbiz mate and all, I decided to give Richard Herring a go, and I'm really glad I did. It was not only very funny, with only a smattering of puerile knob gags (and funny ones at that): it was also bizarrely informative. Based around a web survey he set up, the show gave interesting quotes and statistics illuminating men's and women's attitudes to the penis. (Question to men: Have you ever felt embarrassed or ashamed by the size or shape of your penis? 26% said yes. Question to women: Have you ever openly laughed at a man's penis? 26% said yes.) This show will transfer to London. I definitely recommend seeing it.
As one of the writers of Jerry Springer - The Opera, Stewart Lee is in part responsible for the best thing I saw at Edinburgh. However, with Pea Green Boat, he was also responsible for probably one of the weakest, and certainly the most disappointing. I'd had high expectations, the premise seemed very good fun. But in the end this was rarely more than mildly amusing and seemed stretched to fill its time. I liked the owl's diary thing, and there were a few other nice bits, but as a whole it just didn't come together to amount to very much. So, not actually bad, just, as I said, a bit of a disappointment.
Definitely the best wacky title of the Festival, though I sure as well can't remember it properly, The Complete Lost Works Of Samuel Beckett... didn't quite live up to the expectations such a title might raise, but was amusing enough. Maybe someone more familiar with Beckett would have found it uproariously funny (there were a handful of people laughing very hard at times), but for me it was more of a frequent chuckle. Still, with such a title, it would be hard to live up to it.
Finally, a Book Festival event for somebody whose books I have actually read - well, I've read the Barrytown trilogy and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, so that's a start. And for a special treat, Roddy Doyle read our a never before published short story. Based on the premise of a middle-aged Jimmy Rabbette deciding to get a multi-cultural band together, The Deportees was at times a little too reminiscent of The Commitments, but was very funny. And it was a great pleasure to hear it read by Roddy Doyle - not all authors are good at reading out their work, but this was excellent fun. A good note to end my Edinburgh Festival on.
To sum up, a pretty good first (or is it second?) Edinburgh Festival for me. I managed to see shows in the International, Fringe, Film and Book Festivals, and nothing I saw was actually bad. So, my best and worst of the 30-odd shows I saw:
Overall best:
1. Jerry Springer - The Opera
2. Ninja Macbeth
3. The Al-Hamlet Summit
Overall worst:
1. All Or Nothing
2. Variety
3. Pea Green Boat
Best stand-up: Ross Noble
Best disappearing act: Jerry Sadowitz, Saturday morning
Best meal: Izzi (tempura)
Best film: Spider
Best monkey: Spank
So, a good time was had, and I'll be back another year.
| <-Back to Saturday 24/08/2002 | Return to Edinburgh '02 Index |
Comments