Articles by Alan Chorley

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story!

Buddy is the story of the last three years of Buddy Hollys life, from when he made his first record at the age of 19 to his death, at 22, in a plane crash.

Hamlet

This production of Hamlet is greatly abridged in order to fit Shakespeares longest play into a seventy-five minute slot.

Grimm Tales

Greshams school is performing at the Fringe for the 13th consecutive year.

Arcadia

Arcadia is set in one location, a country house named Sidley Park, but in two different times, the early nineteenth century and the late twentieth, with two sets of characters who …

Working

Adapted from a book of interviews with American workers by Studs Terkel and first performed in 1978, Working explores American working life through the actual words of those interv…

Oliver!

Lionel Barts Oliver! does not, in my opinion, get all the credit it deserves.

Godspell

The musical is based upon the life of Jesus as described in the Gospel according to St Matthew, with parables from St Lukes Gospel also included.

Jekyll and Hyde

Forth Childrens Theatre have been performing at the Fringe for many years and this is their 30th production.

Razor Edge - Nottingham Youth Dance

Nottingham Youth Dance was created to provide young dancers from the East Midlands with additional training and performance opportunities and to develop the level and quality of da…

The Fall Of Man

The Fall Of Man is a reinvention of Miltons Paradise Lost, set in a bedsit in 2006.

Hamlet: Shadow of a Man

This version of Hamlet is set in a high school classroom, where a group of schoolchildren decide to act out the play, partly to prove to their more sceptical colleagues that plays …

Blood Brothers

The play is about twins separated at birth and brought up in very different environments.

Age of Angels

The play looks at an incident in Los Angeles, starting from a minor accident with a football and ending in mass murder.

Honk!

The Royal Holloway Music Theatre returns for its ninth consecutive year.

Musical Of Musicals (The Musical!)

Musical Of Musicals (The Musical) is performed by the Woodlands High School Theatre, Texas, as part of the American High Schools Theatre Festival.

Hamlet

UT Serveris Seges Theatre Company is a community drama group which has evolved from Sandbach School Theatre.

The Enchanted Lovers A New Dido

This is a cut-down, updated version of Purcells Dido & Aeneas, created by Howard Goodall in 1986 for the South Bank Show.

Frankenstein!

This musical tells the story of Mary Shelley, her marriage to Percy Shelley and the inspiration for her novel Frankenstein.

Lost Property

This is a new, all-male company making its first visit to the Fringe.

Edge

This short play deals with the issue of teenage suicide and is in support of Childline.

Billy Budd

This play is from the book of the same name by Herman Meville, about life and death on a British warship during the Napoleonic Wars.

Footsbarn's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

One of the joys of the Edinburgh Fringe is that every year there are new adaptations of Shakespeares plays, which often throw up new ideas and new ways of looking at these old fa…

A Dark And Stormy Night

This is a very unusual and enjoyable production.

Sex, Lies & An 80s Tribute Band

A travel writer returns to Scotland after twenty years travelling the world.

The Bubble

Shrewsbury School has a reputation for successfully staging ambitious, new musicals at the Fringe.

David Almonds Clay

Davie and Geordie are two teenage boys, the best of friends, just getting to the point in their lives where they begin to establish relationships with girls.

The Boy Friend

This musical was first performed in 1954 but is set in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

American Poodle

This production is split into two parts of thirty minutes each.

Too Darn Hot

More than forty talented and enthusiastic performers sing and dance a medley of Broadway show tunes, on and off the stage.

Secret Garden

Norfolk Youth Music Theatre has a history of successful Fringe productions, including The Enchanted Lovers A New Dido, based on Purcells Dido & Aeneas and Little Shop Of Horro…

Morecambe

This is a one-man show covering the life and death of Eric Morecambe, still regarded as Britains funniest comedian twenty-five years after his death.

Alexander

The two plays can be seen as complete plays in their own right or as two parts of a whole.

Boy & His Axe

The play is set entirely in the middle of the night in the caretakers storeroom of a school in the North of England.

Holes

Youth Arts Leicestershire has been coming to the Fringe for thirteen years.

Iphigenia

This production, a one person show by Lisa Turner, tells the story of Iphigenia, using Glucks music and dance.

Dumb Waiter

Two hit men are in a dismal basement in Birmingham, waiting for instructions from Wilson, their mysterious and unseen boss, about their next hit.

Anomie

Precarious is a young, Bristol-based company which seamlessly combines physical theatre and contemporary dance with modern technology.

Mort

Mort is a young man whose father is trying to find him an apprenticeship at the apprentices hiring fair.

Aaron Berg Presents Macbeth

This performance is by a group of students from Stanford University in California.

The Pierglass

The Young Pleasance company celebrates its tenth birthday with the return of this award-winning show, its first revival since it won a Fringe First Award in 1994.

Terry Pratchett's Lords And Ladies

Terry Pratchetts Lords And Ladies is part of his hugely successful Discworld series.

Harry!

Harrys father is the chief executive of a cardboard box factory and he expects Harry to join the family firm and do a proper job, but Harry is a dreamer who is more interested in…

Danton's Death

Danton was one of the architects of the French Revolution and was instrumental in the execution of the King, his family and other aristocratic leaders.

Dickens Unplugged - The Complete Works of Charles Dickens (abridged)

This show was written by Adam Long, a founder member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company.

Closer Than Ever

This production, of songs by David Shire and Richard Maltby, takes an unconventional look at various kinds of relationships, including love, family, obsession, friendship and rejec…

Mikado

Gilbert & Sullivans opera The Mikado was written over a hundred and twenty years ago but still entertains all around the world and particularly in North America.

Is The Daily Mail Dead Yet?

Is The Daily Mail Dead Yet? is a stand up comedy show which is intended to be a hilariously liberal attack against the Mail and other similar voices of outdated, emasculated racist…

Shakespeares R and J

The play opens with four American boarding school boys preparing for the start of their day and we are then taken briefly through it, from church through their daily classes.

45 Minutes

The play is set in 2003.

Macbeth: That Old Black Magic

A modern interpretation of Macbeth, with atmospheric effects, bright lights and the songs of Frank Sinatra.

Nick Mohammed - The Forer Factor

In his second appearance in Edinburgh, Nick Mohammed brings an all-new set of characters to his one-man show.

Dracula

Oh dear, how disappointing.

An Ofsted Inspector Calls

An Ofsted Inspector Calls is set in the Sir Christopher Woodhead Memorial Secondary school just prior to, and during, the visit of three inspectors from Ofsted.

Andrew Lawrence Äì DonÄôt Just Do Something, Sit There

Andrew Lawrence is a young, talented stand-up comedian who has already had two successive if.

After Electra

This play is a newly written sequel to Eugene ONeills Mourning Becomes Electra.

Caesar Twins

Blonde twins Pablo and Pierre Caesar performs athletic stunts and physical feats, usually wearing as few clothes as possible.

Still Breathing

2Faced Dance Company has been one of the major successes of the Fringe over the last few years, with several critically-acclaimed sold-out shows.

Melvin Burgess - The Baby and Fly Pie

This play is set in England, but in some kind of frightening, futuristic police state.

The Boy Friend

This musical was first performed in 1954 but is set in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

Bacchic

Tamsin Shasha, the artistic director and co-founder of Actors of Dionysus, is the sole performer in this play.

Ben Elton - The Musical

Review
★
Alan Chorley
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
11th Aug, 2006

The show is set entirely to parodies of songs from well-known musicals and classic 80s pop hits.

Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Nights Dream is one of Shakespeares most popular plays and theres probably hardly a day when it isnt performed somewhere in the world.

Columbinus

This play explores the events leading up to and during the day of 20th April 1999, when two teenagers murdered thirteen of their fellow students at Columbine High School and then k…

Zombie Prom

This fun musical is set in a 1950s American High School and shows how true live can survive, even after death!The action takes place in 1958 at Enrico Fermi High School.

Love Me, Dorothy!

The action is set in the Emerald Shitty nightclub somewhere in Australia, hosted by drag queen Patty OFurniture.

Cherry Orchard

Chekhovs play, The Cherry Orchard, is about changing times and how people adapt, or fail to do so.

Amadeus

Amadeus tells the story of the last years of Mozarts life, when he was living in Vienna, and of his death, possibly at the hands of his rival composer Salieri.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray is probably Oscar Wildes most well-known work.

43 Plays For 43 Presidents

The careers of all 43 Presidents of the USA, from George Washington to George Bush, covered in an hour and a half.

Show Down

Show Down is a contemporary dance show based upon Irving Berlins Annie Get Your Gun.

Missing Mel!

Youth Music Theatre make a welcome return to George Square, where their last production was the brilliant Goblin Market in 2005.

Hair!

This is the fifteenth successive year that Youth Arts Leicestershire have been performing at the Fringe.

Seriously. Pet Shop Boys. Reinterpreted.

For this production the songs of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are stripped of their high-energy content and reinvented as cabaret or musical theatre.

Aladdin

This is a production of the well-known story of Aladdin, performed by the Burklyn Youth Ballet from New Jersey, who have been coming to Edinburgh for five years.

Life is Full of...

Life Is Full Of.

Guys And Dolls Junior

Guys and Dolls is well known both as a Hollywood film and a stage musical.

Tom Jones

This is a very abbreviated, comic production of the eighteenth century novel by Henry Fielding.

Dead Living

The central premise of the play is that there is an afterlife which everyone goes to after they die.

Back To the Eighties

The action is set in and around William Ocean High School during the 1980s.

Call Mr. Robeson

Paul Robeson was a great singer and actor and, throughout his whole life, a political activist on behalf of black, poor and working-class people everywhere.

All In The Timing

All In The Timing is a collection of one act plays by David Ives, each lasting around ten minutes.

Because It's There

This is a play about Hal, who climbs without ropes.

Jewish Cabaret

Daniel Cainer plays keyboard and guitar, sings and tells stories about the beginning of Judaism, Jewish migration and his childhood experiences.

VHS: Death To DVD

The writer and main performer, Richard Sandling, has appeared once before at the Fringe.

Shakespeare Shattered

Shakespeare Shattered is performed by the Mainstage Theatre, Washington, as part of the American Highschool Theatre Festival.

A Slice Of Saturday Night

Viva Youth Theatre have an excellent record of success at the Fringe.

FNGR-SPK

This is a production about the modern phenomenon of text messaging on mobile phones.

Hotel World

The play is set largely in and around a hotel, part of the Global Hotel chain.

This Is So Not About The Simpsons

Harry Shearer and Judith Owens are fascinated by Americas obsession with democracy, free markets and cosmetic surgery.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar is based on the last week of Jesus life as documented in St.

Flowers For Algernon

Flowers For Algernon is based on a short story by Daniel Keyes.

Paul Merton's Silent Clowns

Paul Merton introduces a selection of silent film classics, featuring Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Laurel & Hardy.

Jason And The Argonauts

This is the story of Jason and the golden fleece.

Passion

The story is set in 1860s Italy, in and near Milan.

Bang Bang You're Dead

Bang Bang Youre Dead is largely based on a shooting in Oregon in 1998, in which a fifteen-year old boy killed his parents and then two of his fellow high school pupils, injuring …

After Magritte

After Magritte is a very short, surreal comedy by Tom Stoppard, inspired by the paintings of Rene Magritte.

Rich Hall: Fifty-Cent Words

Rich Hall is familiar to most of us mainly through his work as a comedian on TV, particularly on panel shows.

The Liars

The Liars is set in a near future where homosexuality has become the norm.

Godspell

This is the first visit to the Fringe for this young company from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire.

Reginald D Hunter:The Only Apple In The Garden Of Eden And Niggas

Because Of Reginald D Hunters greater exposure on television, particularly on Have I Got News For You, there are large, sell-out crowds for his show at Udderbelly s Pasture.

State Of Matter

Broadway Baby gave 2FaCeD DaNcE Company five stars for each of their last two Edinburgh productions, in 2005, for Acetylene, and in 2007 for State Of Matter.

Brimstone & Treacle

This play is about a couple, Tom and Amy, whose lives have been disrupted by a hit and run accident which has left their daughter, Patricia, in a coma.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ... Survived?

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are stranded alone on a small desert island.

Into The Hoods

Stephen Sondheims musical Into The Woods is updated to an urban setting, telling the story of two children lost in the hood.

In Memory

Greshams is a private school in Norfolk which has been in existence for well over four hundred years, with notable alumni including WH Auden and Benjamin Britten.

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 is based on the book of the same name by Ray Bradbury and is set in a future time when all books are banned.

Autumn Of Love

This production is a set of four or five unconnected stories about love, enjoyed, gained, lost and destroyed.

AINE ... (tigone)

This play is inspired by Sophocles Antigone but has been updated to 1970s Belfast at the height of The Troubles.

Young Macbeth

This production condenses the entire story of Macbeth into a frantic hour, beginning with Macbeth and Banquo coming across the heath and meeting the witches, and ending with Macbe…

Azincourt

This play is about the battle of Agincourt, but from an unusual perspective, that of the boys who were employed to haul the Kings baggage.

Academy Of Death

Academy Of Death is one of two musicals at this years Fringe in which the major theme is body-snatching in Edinburgh in the 1820s, the other being Burke And Hare A Musical P…

Opera Shorts

Opera Shorts was created in late 2007 with the objective of creating a platform for young up-and-coming composers in Scotland.

Odyssey

Twin bothers Pyrrhus and Tol are extremely close but their mothers death causes them to take different paths, ultimately leading to betrayal and death.

Ketzal

The performance begins in what appears to be a prison camp.

Ragtime

Ragtime is a musical set in the USA in the early years of the 20th Century, when racism was more blatant than it is today and civil rights movements were barely under way.

The Wind Tamer

Archie Stringweed has just reached his tenth birthday.

All Fall; All Falling

An amnesiac is being interrogated.

A Number

In this play by Caryl Churchill a hospital discovers the long-lost records of twenty male clones made thirty-five years earlier.

Brokeback Britain

An Australian and an American talk about what they like about living in Britain (drinking and sex) and about what they dislike (almost everything else).

History Boys

Alan Bennetts play, The History Boys, is about a group of eight history pupils in a Sheffield grammar school who are preparing to take their Oxbridge entrance examinations.

Dames At Sea

Dames At Sea is a parody of the 1930 Hollywood movie musicals.

Hiawatha

This production is directed by Jeremy James Taylor, founder of the National Youth Music Theatre and is an adaptation by Michael Bogdanov of Henry Longfellows epic poem .

Our Country's Good

This play is set in a penal colony in eighteenth century Australia.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is based upon the two characters who appear sporadically in Hamlet.

Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein

It seemed very strange to be watching something called ‘An Adult Evening’ at 9.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

In recent years Gordonstoun School has put on entertaining versions of some of Shakespeares darker plays (Macbeth That Old Black Magic and Hamlet Shadow Of A Man).

King Lear: The Pantomime

Greshams have been performing at the Fringe for many years and have a history of approaching traditional works in a new way.

About Suffering They Were Never Wrong ... (The Trojan Women)

This is the story of the women of Troy, the day after the Greeks have captured the city using their Trojan horse.

The Real Inspector Hound

The Old Gaol Theatre Company was created in 1978 in Abingdons Old Gaol building.

Quaternary

This is a difficult play to review as it is very clever and well-acted but also hard to understand.

Little Shop Of Horrors

Seymour Krelborn, a florists assistant, has his life turned around when he comes across an unusual plant after an eclipse of the sun.

Force 9 ½

Two years ago Youth Music Theatre: UK performed the acclaimed Goblin Market, a big-budget musical with stunning scenery and costumes, which had a long run in a large theatre.

Reflex Action

Reflex Action is a quick-fire send-up of theatrical conventions, traditions, and techniques.

Yearbook: The High School Musical

This musical does not have a linear narrative, but presents a series of scenes and songs showing events that take place during the last year of high school.

Hamlet! The Musical

Hamlet! The Musical has been around for a few years now, since being first introduced to the Fringe in 2001.

Clive James In The Evening: More To Say

Clive James returns to Edinburgh with two daily shows, a lunchtime chat show for those who want to see him in one-to-one conversation with guests and an evening one-man show in whi…

The Emperors New Clothes

This show is loosely based on the story by Hans Christian Anderson.

Monkey Boy Saves The Planet

This play, written and directed by Kevin Holladay, makes broad fun of politicians, reporters, TV presenters and others.

Paul Mertons Impro Chums

Paul Merton, Lee Simpson, Suki Webster, Richard Vranch and Jim Sweeney improvise for an hour using suggestions from the audience.

The Pirates Of Penzance

Next to The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance is probably the best known and most loved Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, with songs that everyone knows and can sing along with such a �…

Return To The Forbidden Planet

This musical is based on the old B movie, The Forbidden Planet, which was itself loosely based on Shakespeares The Tempest.

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus is Shakespeares earliest tragedy and one of his most bloodthirsty plays.

The Laramie Project

In October 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, was beaten and tortured to death near Laramie.

Pythonesque

Pythonesque is a tribute to Monty Pythons Flying Circus, forty years after it first appeared on television.

Much Ado About Something

This play, which is an updated version of Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing, is set amongst the staff in a modern secondary school, Hazel Valley.

Murder On The High C's

This fun production satirises Agatha Christie type murder mysteries, The Love Boat and even Titanic (an iceberg does appear at the end).

Upon Close Inspection

This is Lawrence Dance Academys second time at the Fringe, having previously performed Town in 2003.

The Road

The Road is an original modern dance piece from the Andover Dance Group that explores a fast-paced digital world as foil to the world of dreams and possibilities.

Guys and Dolls

Guys and Dolls is based on the well known Hollywood film and stage musical.

Burke And Hare - A Musical Play

Burke and Hare A Musical Play is based on the true story of Edinburghs notorious murderers William Burke and William Hare.

Five Go To Edinburgh Again!

This show is very much a stage version of Five Go Mad In Dorset, the first Comic Strip production on Channel 4, except that much of the action is transferred to Scotland.

Tis Pity Shes A Whore

John Fords seventeenth century play is still controversial even today, with its central element being incestuous love between brother and sister.

The Hired Man

The Hired Man is set during the first quarter of the Twentieth Century when many country people worked on the land or in the pits.

The Jigsaw

Jigsaw is a play about a youth theatre group which has decided to put on a play at the Edinburgh Festival.

Monsters

Monsters is set in Livingston in 2022, four years into a civil war taking place in Scotland.

Romeo And Juliet

This production starts off with a bang.

Private Peaceful - Michael Morpurgo

This brilliant one man show covers the entire, short life of Tommo Peaceful, from starting school until his execution by firing squad in the First World War, at the age of around s…

Street Life

In this UK premiere of Streetlife, French choreographer Lorca Renoux works with an eclectic ensemble of dancers representing the various hip hop dance styles in Germany today.