Articles by Josephine Lane

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Morag and Keats

Morag and Keats

The hilariously subtitled ‘play noir’ indeed followed a traditional film noir plot of murder, sleuthing and sex, but with a fun, silly modern spin on it. Join Inspector Keats as he hunts down the infamous crime lord Scalarsi, of course only to be met with trails, tribulations and a whole host of characters along the way... 

The Improv of Being Earnest

The Improv of Being Earnest

The UWE Drama Society have taken Oscar Wilde’s most famous play The Importance of Being Earnest and perform it with one small difference; the cast are made to improvise based on suggestions made by the audience whilst continuing to perform the play... 

Andrew Maxwell: Banana Kingdom

Andrew Maxwell: Banana Kingdom

Andrew Maxwell’s latest show is, to be expected, full of social commentary and political and global issues. Of course, he began with the traditional ‘where are you from?’ chat and I was impressed to find that this led him on very smoothly to the rest of his material... 

Paul Gannon Aint Afraid Of No Ghost

Paul Gannon Aint Afraid Of No Ghost

If you, like me, are skeptical on the subject of the existence of ghosts, go and see Paul Gannon Ain’t Afraid Of No Ghost. If you do believe in ghosts, go and see Paul Gannon Ain’t Afraid Of No Ghost... 

Best of the Fest

Best of the Fest

The Best of the Fest, which on this occasion was compèred by Lee Nelson, is a chance for Edinburgh-goers to get a taste of the top-rated acts in the festival.The first minute of Andrew Lawrence’s vehemently dark set actually scared me a little due to his ridiculously strange Orville The Duck voice... 

Abominations

Abominations

Devised comedy production Abominations by theatre company Heretical Productions was a silly, funny, fast-paced adventure of science and creation. The show follows aspiring young scientist Hugo and his time shadowing the great geneticist, Professor Foxcroft... 

Amy Wright's Occupation

Amy Wright's Occupation

Amy Wright’s comedy show takes a light-hearted look at education by talking about her own life, from childhood to adulthood and choosing a career as a teacher (as well as a comedian)... 

A-Z of Backpacking - Free

A-Z of Backpacking - Free

Jody Kamali is a comedian, a clown and based on his YouTube repertoire, an impressive character actor. His stand-up show, The A to Z of Backpacking was a simple, observational look at the culture of travelling, complete with accompanying slideshow... 

Peaceful

Peaceful

Peaceful is a dark three-hander surrounding an séance at the house of Miss Ethel Charles in early 20th century England. Fearing she is close to death, Miss Charles calls the spirit medium Mr De Villiers to help her make peace with the ghosts of her loved ones before she joins them herself... 

The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew

I am becoming aware of a recent trend in the theatrical world, particularly in Shakespeare productions, namely manipulation and re-interpretation of gender. In this production the genders were reversed... 

Just

Just

Just follows Victoria, a regular passerby in a not so regular English town. After finding a man on the ground stabbed in the back with an umbrella, Victoria is accused of this crime by the simple, word-muddling policeman Albert, the blindfolded law, Mrs Wright, and the verse-talking townspeople, even though none of them saw her do it... 

Pete Johansson - Utopian Crack Pipe

Pete Johansson - Utopian Crack Pipe

Johansson is master of the classic ‘making the audience think I’m just going off on a spontaneous tangent before the show proper starts but actually this is just my show’ manoeuvre... 

Cucu-rucu-cu in the French Alps

Cucu-rucu-cu in the French Alps

A warning to all of you out there who want to try your hand at story-telling comedy: please have a story. I feel as though this advice went clearly amiss on Marie, whose vague ramblings failed to amount to anything at all... 

Tranquillity, Serenity, Calm

Tranquillity, Serenity, Calm

Tranquillity, Serenity, Calm explores conservative politics versus anarchy in a light-hearted manner, without ever choosing a side. The opposing forces are presented in the form of Francis, a civil servant with a dream of creating a Utopian city... 

Croft & Pearce Do It Like A Lady

Croft & Pearce Do It Like A Lady

Croft and Pearce’s sketch show was, I have to say, average. Their first sketch was of two Olympic runners tweeting each other fighting talk, the punchline being one of them losing and uploading a sad face... 

Rob Deering - The One

Rob Deering - The One

Rob Deering presents an exponentially better performance than the few silly guitar songs he delivered when I last saw him take to the stage.With his small physique and cheesy grin, Deering does not seem your ‘typical’ musician... 

Half a Person: My Life As Told By The Smiths

Half a Person: My Life As Told By The Smiths

Pop band related shows seem to be something of a trend nowadays. Although I am a fan of both Queen and ABBA, I shudder at the thought of having to sit through We Will Rock You or Mamma Mia... 

Bogan Bingo / Free Festival

Bogan Bingo / Free Festival

A Bogan is an Antipodean term for a somewhat uneducated, mullet-wearing, hard-rock loving man. Bingo is a game in which random numbers are called out for players to cross off with the hope of getting a full set and winning a prize... 

Jamie Demetriou's People Day (and Special Guests)

Jamie Demetriou's People Day (and Special Guests)

Jamie Demetriou was in the Bristol Review last year at the Fringe and now returns to go solo in ‘Jamie Demetriou’s Peoples Day’, his new show in which he showcases just some of the many brilliant characters he has created... 

CountryBoy's Struggle

CountryBoy's Struggle

Maxwell Golden’s one-man show tells the story of Michael, aka Country Boy. A Cornwall lad with a charming innocence, Michael moves to London to seek a career in the challenging world of hip-hop... 

Leads & Stern

Leads & Stern

Before the show begins, a photo of a beaming muscular black man can be seen onstage, surrounded by candles. We then hear a series of messages from Leads and Stern to the answer-phone of ‘Davondre’, asking him where he is... 

Salvi and the Box of Dreams

Salvi and the Box of Dreams

‘Come in! Come in!’ giggled a mischievous sprite-like creature as she showed us to our seat at the beginning of Salvi and the Box of Dreams. The only thing was, we were not in a theatre at all, but in Salvi’s living room... 

Candida

Candida

Like many of George Bernard Shaw’s plays, Candida is an empowering piece for women. It tells the story of comfortably married Reverend James and Candida Moral, both of whose worlds are temporarily rocked when radical young romantic poet Eugene Marchbanks charges in with the hope of stealing Candida’s heart... 

Ta Daaa!

Ta Daaa!

Ta Daaa!, the magical clown duo from down under are in Edinburgh this summer performing their children’s show. There was fun, games and plenty of silliness in their performance.The personas of the two, particularly Frehd, were unfortunately, a tad grating... 

Black Comedy

Black Comedy

As in all productions, Black Comedy starts with a blackout. Then the characters enter and start to talk. They admire the beauty of the room, move around, make some drinks, and kiss each other... 

Crypted

Crypted

Centre-stage, there is a chalkboard. In walks an actress in a shirt, tie, blazer, and on the board writes ‘I Am Lying’. She lectures the audience on this ‘Liar’s Paradox’, explaining that if one was to announce this, they would be telling the truth, which would in turn mean that they are actually lying, which would in turn mean that they were telling the truth... 

This Land: The Story of Woody Guthrie

This Land: The Story of Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie was an Oklahoma folk musician, famous for his protest music and probably most famous for the song This Land Is Your Land. The production told the story of his life, in musical format of course... 

Marat / Sade

Marat / Sade

Images traditionally conjured up of Marat/Sade (or to give it its full title: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade) may well be those of blood, gore, violence, and anguish... 

The School of Night

The School of Night

There was a rumour in the 16th century that it was not Shakespeare who wrote his plays, but rather a group of underground artistic intellectuals named The School of Night. In the 21st Century, six fine modern gentlemen, The School of Night, have created an improvisational show in Shakespearean verse... 

Hunt & Darton Cafe

Hunt & Darton Cafe

Hurrah! My days of reviewing theatre are over; I’m now a food critic! These were my thoughts en route to the new pop-up Hunt and Darton Café on St Mary’s Street. How foolish I once was; after today I have learnt that even food can perform!On first impression, a few things struck me as unusual... 

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