Looking Out To Sea

We’re not quite finished the festival run yet (still got something to see next Saturday) but I can’t be bothered waiting until then. Despite taking me by surprise we tackled the festival hard and got to a number of good shows, including some stuff in the — whisper it — EIF.

• Duke Special. Stuff from his new album, The Stage, A Book and the Silver Screen, with songs about the films of Hector Mann (is this a real person or just a character in a book?), a Kurt Weill musical about Huckleberry Finn (unfinished) and an anti-war Brecht play. There were a few fan favourites as well, including the terminally catchy Salvation Tambourine.

• The Penny Dreadfuls. I have no idea if this show had a name, but it was a comedy sketch show with no particular theme. In previous years they have mined the comic depths of Victoriana with sketch shows and comic plays. Last year’s show was a stand-out amongst several shining examples. This year wasn’t bad though I felt I didn’t get the same weeping pain and fear-for-my-underwear that I’ve felt in previous years.

• Miles Jupp: Fibber in the Heat (A Cricket Tale). Brilliant tale of one cricket fan’s bid to blag his way into the press box for an tour in India. I know nothing about cricket but it was still a marvellously-told and hilarious story.

• Gutted: A Revenger’s Musical. A late-night comedy musical with the Dreadfuls in supporting roles. It was fun in a slapstick farcical way. Definite Fringe material, though I don’t mean that in the worst possible way. I laughed a good deal more than at some of the stuff I’ve seen…

• Henry Rollins: Frequent Flyer Tour. I had heard a great deal said about Henry Rollins and seen one or two clips on YouTube but had no real measure of what the show would contain. It was an hour and a bit of white-knuckle anecdote and comedy. Totally recommended if you can catch his show anywhere, and from the way he talks he does about a million shows every week.

• Opera de Lyon: Porgy and Bess. A free “orchestra rehearsal” at the Festival Theatre. Sadly the singers were a bit mumbled and even the songs which I knew didn’t come across very well. The interval provided some nice insight as the conductor made some members of the cast re-do certain lines and phrases. I’m just sorry he didn’t get them to sing a bit more clearly at the same time. The dancers were amazing.

• Axis of Awesome: Songs in the Key of Awesome. Comedy musical trio with parodies and hilarious ditties, including the ever-flexible four chords…

• Caledonia. Another free preview, at the King’s Theatre this time, of the latest NTS production. This is a dark and satirical comedy about the Darien venture, Scotland’s ill-fated attempt at empire-building which led to its bankruptcy and eventual merging of parliaments with England. And what better time than now to look at the past of financial speculation and ruin, and claims that “trade begets trade, money begets money”? While enjoyable it was, I think, under-rehearsed: some slightly stumbled lines and one or two on-stage collisions between actors betrayed some lack of familiarity. Mostly this didn’t detract from the show though. Not as completely riveting as Black Watch, but then what is?

• Nofit State Circus: Tabu. Gritty, energetic circus fun with moody live band providing klezmer jollity, rock and cinematic soundscapes. I nearly laughed at the very beginning because the speaker said “it’s been raining for four years, eleven months and two days…” and behind me I could hear the popcorn machine making rain-like pop-pop-pop noises. Funny, alarming, wildly athletic and terrifyingly immediate. Catch them wherever you can. Now when are Archaos going to come back to Edinburgh…?

I’ve probably forgotten something in this list, and we’re going to an Aussie opera on Saturday, so there’ll be more to come.