Articles by Joanna Bowman

I Gave Him an Orchid

Sarah Calver begins her spirited, witty show with a disclaimer: this show is ideally watched in Berlin at 10pm while a couple of pints down.

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

Swearing more than a band of sailors, the cast of Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour present an entirely candid portrait of female teenage sexuality and lives.

Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone

Four people are onstage at the start of this play: Sean Campion and Scott Turnbull, the actors playing a mother/daughter pair, and a real-life mother/daughter pair.

Tomorrow

Vanishing Point’s latest devised show opens with three figures creating what look to be masks, perhaps of their future selves.

Swallow

Shef Smith’s new play presents three damaged, complex, engaging characters, each trying to continue their lives in spite of a new sense of chaos surrounding them.

The Jennifer Tremblay Trilogy Part II: The Carousel

The Carousel, the middle play of The Jennifer Tremblay Trilogy, is a frantic, flashy piece of theatre with a strong performance at the heart of it.

Crash

Though this is a story about a trader, the crash of the title refers not only to the financial crash but also to a car crash that turns the trader’s life upside down.

Little Thing, Big Thing

A nun and an ex-con find themselves on the run across Ireland, carrying two film rolls, identical in appearance but with very different sets of pictures on them.

The Jennifer Tremblay Trilogy Part III: The Deliverance

Attempting to answer the question posed in the second part – The Carousel – of whether The Woman had a ‘happy childhood’ or not, The Deliverance provides the conclusion t…

Glenn Wool: Creator, I am but a Pawn

Glenn Wool isn’t afraid to engage with Big Themes: feminism and the existence of God take centre stage during his set.

An Oak Tree

In 2015, using actors who haven’t seen the script for a piece of theatre isn’t too much of a selling point: there are always multiple shows at the Fringe which do so.

Orlando: An Autobiography

Virginia Woolf’s Orlando is an odd book.

Phlash!

Phlash! is a confusing mess of a show.

Bridget Christie: An Ungrateful Woman

After last year’s storm-causing, award-winning, activism-inspiring show, it was hard to see how Bridget Christie would be able to better last year’s set.

Hatty Ashdown: Hurry Up Hatty

Hattie Ashdown was a mistake.

Birthday Girls: Party Vibes

Birthday Girls, made up of members of the now disbanded sketch group Lady Garden, is a three-woman group delivering excellently pitched long and short scenes.

Jana and Heidi

Jana and Heidi starts with the blasé observation that Heidi Stransky had seen a comedian at last year’s Fringe Festival and thought “I could do that”, deciding to put toge…

Simply the West

We are promised an “epic tale of love, loyalty and logistics” and, with varying degrees of each, that is what we get.

Mat Ricardo: Showman

Juggling is impressive.

Holly Walsh: Never Had It

Holly Walsh makes it clear in the opening sentences of Never Had It that she certainly doesn’t have ‘it’.

Spoiling

As was always to be expected, the buzzword of this year’s Fringe is independence.

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