Articles by James W. Woe

BOLSTOFF: A Modern Actor’s Introduction to Advanced Contemporary Performance

In BOLSTOFF: A Modern Actor’s Introduction to Advanced Contemporary Performance the lads from Wicker Socks (Fionn Foley, Michael-David McKernan and Ronan Carey) help guide us thr…

The Voice Factor [X]

Review
★★★★
James W. Woe
Dublin
The New Theatre
16th Jan, 2017

The Voice Factor [X] is the playwriting debut of Michael-David McKernan, an hour of sharp satire and musings on the nature of fame for those that are unprepared for it.

God Has No Country

Written and performed by Donal Courtney, God Has No Country is the story of Hugh O’Flaherty a priest from Killarney that saved 6,500 lives in Rome during World War 2.

The Quare Fellow

Money For The Sun’s production of The Quare Fellow is an astounding bit of theatre.

Abberline's Artefact

Chief Inspector Abberline is known as the man that failed to catch Jack the Ripper.

Shoot the Women First

Shoot the Women First revolves around a mercenary company.

Colin Hay: Get Rid of the Minstrel

Most will only know Colin Hay from his time as the frontman for Men at Work and appearing in an episode of Scrubs.

Wasted

It’s quite a bold group that brings a show about life-failing drug users in post Thatcher Britain to Edinburgh, the home of Trainspotting.

Henry Rollins – Charmingly Obstinate

The force of nature that is named Henry Rollins graces the Edinburgh Fringe once again, bringing with him another hour of profound advice and big laughs.

Sherlock

Bablake Theatre’s take on the character of Sherlock delivers a few laughs, though it offers nothing new to the already long list of pastiches and homages the detective has receiv…

Big Bite-Size Lunch Hour: Best Bites

Big Bite is celebrating it’s 10-year Fringe anniversary with a ‘best of’ showcase: although an enjoyable selection of short pieces - effectively boiling down to long sketches…

Dark Heart

Dark Heart is a Shrodinger’s Cat of a show, managing to be both hopelessly amateurish and professionally polished at the same time.

Robert Newman: The Brain Show

In a previous show, we witnessed Robert Newman intellectually tear down Dawkin’s view of evolution.

Jonny & the Baptists: Eat the Poor

Johnny and Paddy return with another hour of rip roaring music based satire.

Joe's NYC Bar

Interactive theatre is a tricky beast.

The Game's a Foot, Try the Fish

Tom Taylor has produced a show so funny at one point I thought my lungs were going to burst.

Irons

Irons the new play from writer Colin Chaston certainly pushes the envelope of believability.

The Necessity of Atheism

The genius of the Romantic poets was their ability to bring emotion to the forefront in a world where faux-rationality reigned.

Dark North and Hungry Jane: Two Plays of Supernatural Horror

After comedy, horror is the next most difficult art form to tackle; although comedy reigns king at the fringe there is still an eager audience waiting to be scared.

Shaedates: or How I Learned to Love Myself

Shaedates is a show about finding yourself – quite literally.

Perfidious Lion

Some shows stick in your head even if they are flawed.

John Robertson: Arena Spectacular!

John Robertson claims that comedy is a sick industry (and he should know).

Mark Steel's in Toon

This year Mark Steel aims to give a brief overview of the cities and sights of Scotland.

Andy Zaltzman: Plan Z

The Satirists for Hire returns to the fringe with another hour of bizarre similes, half baked ideas, and desire for a better world.

Burnistoun Live at the Fringe

For many Rab Florence and Ian Connell are the unsung heroes of Scottish comedy.

The Vaudevillains

This year Les Enfants Terribles are gracing us with a show that’s fun but is a hotchpotch of great performers, boring music, missed opportunities and laughs.

John Robertson: The Dark Room

“You awaken to find yourself in a dark room”, it’s a phrase shouted many times during The Dark Room.

Spencer Jones is The Herbert in Proper Job

Almost every review of Spencer Jones takes the lazy route of saying he’s like Mr Bean meets something/someone wacky.

Ada/Ava by Manual Cinema

This is Manual Cinema’s first visit to the Fringe and they have brought with them a technical and awe-inspiring show that combines live music and shadow puppets.

Will Seaward: Magnificent Bastard

Everyone wants to rule the world but Will Seaward actually has a list of ways to achieve this.

Lou Sanders: What's That Lady Doing?

It is a rare treat to see surrealist comedy this good.

Darren Walsh: S'Pun

Unsurprisingly Darren Walsh’s S’Pun is an hour of puns.

Princes of Main: Cool

Princes of Main return with another sketch show chock-a-block with odd characters, witty one liners and silliness.

Life According to Saki

Whether you’ve never heard of Saki before or consider yourself a die hard fan, this production is sure to please.

Knightmare Live: The Game Has Changed

For many like me Knightmare was watched with a religious fever back in the 90s.

The MMORPG Show

The MMORPG show is a good idea but lacks the slick execution required to fully succeed.

Mungo Park – Travels in the Interior of Africa

Mungo Park proved that any true Scotsman would do almost anything to avoid spending another bloody day in Selkirk.

This Glorious Monster: Wrong 'Uns

Wrong ‘Uns is aptly titled because there is plenty of them packed into this hour of sketch comedy.

Intergalactic Nemesis: Twin Infinity – A Live Action Graphic Novel

Intergalactic Nemesis was like being trapped in a lift that wouldn’t stop going up or down, it made me angry on so many levels.

Nish Kumar: Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Unless You Shout the Words Real Loud

Nish Kumar has provided a wily hour of satire as some people could sit for the entire show and not realise it’s really a show about politics.

Chris Gethard: Career Suicide

Too often, successful American comedians make their way to the UK assuming that audiences are as easy to please as they are back home.

Canned Laughter

Some people claim that the 1960s and 1970s were the golden age of British comedy.

I Am Thomas

Review
★★★★
James W. Woe
Edinburgh
The Lyceum
25th Mar, 2016

I am Thomas is an economic show bound together with a fantastic cast.

Hairspray

Hairspray is a breath of fresh from the normal Broadway musicals that trudge their way through the British stages.

The Tailor of Inverness

One-man show The Tailor of Inverness first hit Edinburgh stages eight years ago and has been touring ever since.

Zippos Presents Cirque Berserk!

The Marx Brothers greatest failing is at the circus.

Beauty and the Beast

Horsecross’s production of Beauty and the Beast holds a debt to the Disney version of the tale, and it never quite gets out from under its shadow.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

It’s that magic time of year when we theatre critics stop watching plays about middle class people and their problems, and get to watch a man in a dress tell dirty jokes to ki…

Sanctuary

If you are looking for some respite from hackneyed scripts and dodgy accents, you are not going to find it in Sanctuary.

Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden – Old Masters

How can you review Barry Cryer? He’s a British comedy legend, practically an institution.

Nick Doody: T'ai-Po

Since Nick Doody’s first fringe show Before He Kills Again I would have expected him to have achieved more success than he seems to as he is simply one of the best gimmick-free sta…

The Oxford Revue Presents – Free

Alex Furrow, the compere for Oxford Revue Presents, has a lot to contend with, La Belle is a big venue and it must be difficult to pack it out with an eager crowd.

Moribund

Moribund: a show about death and the afterlife that fails to get a rise out of the audience.

Dolls

Dolls is about our relationships with toys, but there is nothing wooden about this show.

Katie O’Kelly’s Counter Culture

Counter Culture is a very clever show; so clever that it took me halfway through it to realise that the title is quite a good joke.

Jonny and the Baptists: The End Is Nigh

Johnny has accidentally told his niece that he can single-handedly stop climate change and so he embarks on a musical adventure with his bandmate Paddy to save the world.

The Man Called Monkhouse

Bob Monkhouse was a complicated and enigmatic man.

Abnormally Funny People

Abnormally Funny People showcases some of the best and brightest comedians living with disabilities on the circuit, oh and a token “normal”.

David Tsonos: Walking the Cat

Review
★★
James W. Woe
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Just the Tonic at the Caves (Salvation Rooms)
24th Aug, 2015

You’d imagine that it’s quite difficult to write an hour of stand up about owning a cat, and apparently it is, because about half way through David Tsonos’ Walking the Cat he p…

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