Articles by David Levesley

Assassins

Sondheim’s Assassins sounds like a show that should not work; a musical exploration of some of the United States’ most famous attempts (and successes) to kill the President.

Grit

Grit tells the tale of Amy, a girl whose father has recently died in the Middle-East whilst photographing the conflicts.

Terezin: Children of the Holocaust

Terezin Concentration Camp is an utterly fascinating story; built in the Czech Republic, it was inspected by the Red Cross, and during the visit the Nazis turned the camp into a ho…

All That is Wrong

I love Ontoerend Goed; whether it’s their audience-dividing masterpiece that was Audience last year or something life changing and unique like A Game Of You, I have been a massiv…

Scary Gorgeous

Rash Dash are a theatre company to watch.

Rime

To hear that a company is performing a classic poem like The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner with dance, acrobatics and music is the sort of combination of ideas and media that can lea…

Romantic Inspired Improvisation

In the beautiful St Mark’s ArtSpace, Arash Bazrafshan improvises pieces of piano music inspired by a set of four pieces of art provided by his sister, Roza, which sit next to the…

The Unexpected Items Are On It, In the Zone, Off the Hook and Down With the Kids

The Unexpected Items come with great credentials: they are the team responsible for the famous ‘Gap Yah’ videos on YouTube and have a poster covered in recent reviews decrying …

Tissue

At first glance, Tissue is an exploration of a fascinating topic: breast cancer.

Turandot

Review
★
David Levesley
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
22nd Aug, 2011

It is often easy to think that a top quality set and good technical support can make a performance great in and of itself; shows like Turandot exist to demonstrate that this is not…

bANGER

When a show advertises itself as involving ‘heavy music, headbanging and a smidgen of angst-ridden poetry’, it does not sell itself well to a punter like myself, especially as …

The Ugly Sisters

The Ugly Sisters should not work.

Jet Set Go!

At theatre festivals there are often two types of show; dark and serious theatre that achieves acclaim, and theatre that acts as the tonic.

A Donkey and a Parrot

Sarah Hamilton relates a story drawn from the annals of her family history.

The Midnight Beast

It is incredible how the Internet can expose and produce brand new superstars.

Elis James: Do You Remember the First Time?

Elis James bounds onto the stage with wonderful energy and a poetic way with language; there is something wonderfully friendly about this Welshman that gives you the feeling that r…

Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself

This is not a prospect faced with every day: a musical journey through the history of the Papacy.

Sodom

The show starts with a projection poorly shone onto the back wall; ‘Lie Back And Think Of Sodom’.

Cast

Britpop band Cast’s live performances have been compared to a ‘religious experience’ by the Gallaghers.

Riot Squat

In a squat in Edinburgh in the midst of the riots, Miles and Kristy have set up their own little home of pillaged potpourri and Wetherspoons sauce sachets.

Nathan Caton: Get Rich or Die Cryin'

Nathan Caton is possibly the most amiable comedian you will ever witness on a stage.

Catie Wilkins: A Chip Off the Odd Block

Catie Wilkins works in a call centre, has a gay brother and parents who are both completely normal and yet very unusual - all great topics for a comedy set.

The Guild of Cheesemakers

Stand & Stare Theatre Company create immersive theatre, which is like gold dust for me at the Fringe.

Livewire Theatre's Salem

Salem is a production that attempts to do something dangerous - to perform a piece of theatre about a historical event that has already been covered by a really well-known play.

Scottish Songwriters in the Round

It is easy to forget that in the tempest of the Edinburgh Festival, between the international plays and the famous comedians, there is still a strong Scottish backbone to many of t…

Trainspotting

It seems ironic that a show about heroin lacks so much speed.

XXXO

It is difficult for a fan of Ontoerend Goed to try and compare their output this year with their previous work, and that is mainly because they have little in common.

Audience – Ontroerend Goed

In a festival filled with shows about wonderland and Lewis Carroll, Ontroerend Goed’s new production, the latest in a long line of probing pieces, stands tall as the true master …

A Little Night Music

A Little Night Music is one of Sondheim’s most exquisitely written shows- somewhere between Wilde’s comedies of manners and Chekhov and Ibsen’s simpering naturalism.

Recursion

Recursion is a play that explores a plethora of different and fascinating themes, tapping into some intriguing sections of psychology in the process; a man who has lost his memory …

Deserving?

It feels important to say before we discuss a show about such a sensitive issue that its engagement with the topic of women being raped is sensitively handled and that the dancer i…

The Oxford Gargoyles: Jazz a Cappella!

It can be difficult, in a festival crammed with a cappella acts, to tell the talented from the dross.

Golden Gloves

It is rare that, as a reviewer, to see a show that struggles even to reach the praise of a single star.

Bellissima: All-Female a Cappella from The Oxford Belles

The Oxford Belles are a small set of seven, performing upon a dauntingly massive black stage but as soon as they burst into song they fill the entire space with life.

Soaring Leap: Eric Whitacre

It is easy to lose St Giles’ Cathedral in the haze of the Mile, where every square inch is covered with thespians still needing to sell the last few tickets.

Nunsense

Here in a school’s performance hall is one of the best shows of the festival, in this humble reviewer’s opinion.

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