Articles by Larry Bartleet

Confirmation

At a certain point in Confirmation’s 85 minutes of perspective-smudging, you just want to get up and scream – so inescapably does Chris Thorpe’s script put you face-to-face w…

Jamie Kilstein: Sober Song Rants and a Cat Story

Musical comedian Jamie Kilstein has an utterly charming stage presence.

Bridget Christie: A Book For Her

It’s 11 am – for some, the time for a late, leisurely breakfast.

Jessie Cave: I Loved Her

Imagine a one-night stand you had resulted in a pregnancy and four months later you started a relationship off the back of it.

Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel

Fasten your knickerbockers and hold onto your bonnets: Austentatious is back for a fourth year of frilly-meets-filthy improvisation, based exceptionally loosely on the collected wo…

Martha McBrier: Pigeon Puncher

Punching pigeons comes surprisingly easily to Martha McBrier, whose hour of engaging and funny storytelling draws on run-ins with pesky birds of all kinds, all the while unmasking …

Damien Slash: Übermen

‘Hi, Eric Swineblade,’ says a bluetooth-enabled gumph-bot at the door, proffering his executive, solutions-providing hand.

Abacus

That the character of Paul Abacus was created in 2009 – three years after TED talks became available to watch online – is no surprise at all.

Neil Henry's Magical Mindsquirm

You probably expect misdirection from magic, but it’s a rare thing for it to move you.

Thrones! The Musical

The opening salvo of this musical Game of Thrones pastiche has such brazen, devilish promise that for a while I entertained the possibility of being blown away by it.

Alfie Brown: -ism

Alfie Brown has a real problem with moral absolutism.

Can I Start Again Please

Pay attention as this breathtaking production desiccates, then dissects childhood trauma via its exploration of Wittgenstein and semantics: there’s a wordless sucker punch in Can…

Fin Taylor: Stink

Welcome to the house party.

Lloyd Griffith: Great Grimsby's Big Turn On

There’s a very fine line between watching an actual, heart-in-mouth onstage breakdown and one that’s convincingly feigned.

Joseph Morpurgo: Soothing Sounds for Baby

I’m going to start by dismissing the notion that we’re due something entirely new from Joseph Morpurgo, because such thinking ignores the staggeringly high standards to which t…

Bach on the Guitar

Luca Villani certainly gives you plenty of Bach for your buck.

Saving Graces at St Mabel's

It might be difficult to see why someone would bother writing a comedy pastiche of a girls’ boarding school when a perfectly good one already exists in Daisy Pulls It Off.

Pianists of Edinburgh Napier University

This one-off recital was a showcase of first-year talent from a group of four classical pianists from Edinburgh Napier University.

Sleight & Hand

Sleight & Hand’s purposefully heavy-handed opening speech casts a shadow over its self-conscious remainder: this piece of new writing by Chris Bush is so knowing you’d really…

Rachel Sermanni

There’s certainly more than a touch of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl to 22-year-old Rachel Sermanni: the floaty blue dress, the bare feet, the frequent tipping of toes.

The World Mouse Plague

The World Mouse Plague is a complex, experimental illusion of a play.

Nordic Raga

‘Only at the Fringe,’ you might hear from the uninitiated, shaking their heads at the madcap eccentricities on display daily and greyly on the Mile.

Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles

Playing with form is a bold move, one for which Ross Macfarlane, the director of this one-man show, must be praised.

Nothing

If your experience of Fringe plays has become stale, Nothing is likely to change your mind.

Measure for Measure

The Sydney Theatre School’s production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure grapples gallantly with its intricate material, but fails to leave much of an impression.

Standby for Tape Back-Up

This is a show about seeing patterns in the random; about time’s ability to change perception; about coming to terms with death and working through depression.

Should Capitalism be Criminal?

Should Capitalism Be Criminal? was the first discussion in a series entitled Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas, which is essentially a leftie version of Question Time, set in a yurt in…

Jamie MacDowell and Tom Thum

What sounds can you make with just your body? Most us can manage the usual: speaking, shouting, applause.

Last Christmas

When seeing a piece of new writing it can be best to have no expectations, to let the play lead you where it will.

Silk Road

This engaging one-man play by Alex Oates is a novel take on the descent into drug-dealing: our protagonist, Geordie lad Bruce Blakemore, begins buying cocaine through a shady websi…

Alpha Fail

Cormac Friel’s hour-long set on masculinity, relationships and competitiveness is full of sparkling one-liners and cheerful narration, but suffers from his tendency to rush throu…

Concerto Without Orchestra

You might find yourself wondering how far into the past you’ve strayed during this excellent piano concert by Steven Worbey and Kevin Farrell.

Talk About Something You Like

Byron Vincent enters the venue in pinstriped pyjamas and a pair of tatty trainers, wiping his long fringe out of his eyes.

Kevin Day: Standy Uppy

Kevin Day begins his act with a long, cautious introduction, letting us know what is to come.

Dan Schreiber: C*ckblocked from Outer Space

Dan Schreiber is a fact-obsessed Aussie who has spent parts of his life in Hong Kong and London and most of it in denial of being a complete and utter geek.

Rhys Nicholson - Eurgh

“Who here is a guard llama?” Confused? So is the attempted narrative arc of Rhys Nicholson’s set, supposedly an hour-long look at protectors (guard llamas) and protected (she…

WitTank: Old School Secrets

It’s hard to imagine an audience that won’t enjoy this show, based (exceedingly loosely, one hopes) on the boarding school experiences of WitTank’s cast of three: Mark Cooper…

Kitten Killers

The amount of energy going into Kitten Killers’ non-stop hour is one of its greatest assets.

Sara Pascoe vs History

You’d be forgiven for thinking you’d come to the wrong classroom: at times this show seems more like Sara Pascoe vs Biology, what with the fascinating nano-lectures on “spe…

Fast Fringe

The line-up of this comedy showcase changes daily, making each viewing unique.

Whatever Gets You Through the Night

Whatever Gets You Through The Night is a wide-spanning arts project: an album, a film, a stage show and a book have all come together under the umbrella heading of ‘somewhere in …

Bach for Breakfast

Bach for Breakfast is one of a number of mealtime-based concerts at Overseas House.

Faure Requiem By Candlelight

With a capable choir, a proficient orchestra and a perfect acoustic, it would be difficult to get Fauré’s well-loved Requiem wrong.

Roddy Woomble

Roddy Woomble’s gig at the Acoustic Music Centre fell slightly flat.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A commanding, busty Titania sits with her changeling child as drab fairies dance woozily around her to crackly swing music.

BOBBY WINNER

Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells For Two

Mike Oldfield’s critically and commercially successful prog-rock album ‘Tubular Bells’ has been lovingly recreated by Daniel Holdsworth and Aidan Roberts as a live, two-man perform…

Paul Gilbody

The Jazz Bar’s crowd on Sunday the 12th August was a bit of a mix.

Dirty Paki Lingerie

Aizzah Fatima’s one-woman show is an exploration of modern Islamic feminism through the eyes of seven different characters, whose varied situations and outlooks on life paint a f…

Discover Ben Target

It’s hard to describe Discover Ben Target without spoiling its crazy, meandering plot: at the core of this show’s magic is the element of surprise.

Tom Thum - Beating the Habit

Tom Thum is amazing.

Passion, Pints and Potatoes - An Irish Guide to Life

At the start of this amateurish pub stand-up set, we are told the reasoning behind its name.

California Beach Bungalow

Smile and Nod are a sunny, engaging college improv group from California, whose show California Beach Bungalow is confident, slick and imaginative.

The Andi Neate Band

In this one-off show, Andi Neate’s band was small and intimate.

Do Not Adjust Your Stage

Do Not Adjust Your Stage is an interesting concept.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Most school kids don’t want to read Shakespeare.

Hearts on Fire

‘Good luck on your journey!’ beams a girl at the entrance of this unique Fringe show.

A Cry Too Far From Heaven

The premise of A Cry Too Far From Heaven is fairly simple: a former executioner in New Zealand delves into the past, a time before the complete abolition of capital punishment came…

A Little Night Music

A Little Night Music promised a delightful evening of choice piano pieces associated with the night-time.

Dougie MacLean Trio in Concert

This concert bore all the hallmarks of a homecoming gig, except that very few people actually seemed to know any of MacLean’s songs.

I Shall Be Remembered - The Story of Madame de Pompadour

‘I shall be remembered!’ cries Dame Elaine Montgomerie for the fifth time in her one-woman show about the life of Madame de Pompadour.

BBC: Radio 1's Fun and Filth Cabaret - Night 2

BBC Radio 1’s Fun and Filth Cabaret is the perfect late-night entertainment show: the cream of the Fringe’s weird and wonderful crop is given short slots to impress a sizeable …

RH: Live

RH Live is a great improv show.

Paul Dabek Presents Thurston

This is a one-man show with a difference: the actor is also a magician.

Indie Classical

‘Accident’ isn’t a word normally associated with The Zodiac Trio.

The 70s Songbook

Tim Rose and Andy Philip are two fantastic guitarists.

Simon Evans: Friendly Fire

‘Simon Evans: Friendly Fire’ is a misnomer.

Lach: Up the Anti!

Some acts let the music do the talking, but performers can vastly improve their sets with routines.

Biloxi Blues

Bishops Diocesan College, an independent boys’ school in Cape Town, brings this ambitious production of Biloxi Blues to Edinburgh after their run of Master Harold.

The Not Quite Quartet

The Not Quite Quartet is confusingly named.

Nothing to Show

Watch This Improv Troupe have set themselves up for quite a fall after confidently naming their act Nothing To Show.

Ahoy! Captain Morgan nabs a Bobby Award for its treasure trove of innovative comedy and storytelling

Feature
Larry Bartleet
Edinburgh Fringe
25th Aug, 2015

Congratulations to Tap Tap Theatre's Captain Morgan series, which has bagged our second Bobby Award of 2015.

And Broadway Baby's first Bobby Award of 2015 goes to...

Feature
Larry Bartleet
Edinburgh Fringe
22nd Aug, 2015

Our first Bobby Award of the year goes to the inimitable Luke McQueen, whose playful and genre-breaking show Double Act wowed our comedy editor, Martin Walker, and t...

‘He Could Take on Four Soldiers and Still Win’ - Wojtek: The Happy Warrior Interview

Feature
Larry Bartleet
Edinburgh Fringe
17th Aug, 2015

Wojtek: The Happy Warrior is a physical theatre ensemble retelling of the real-life story of a Syrian bear who joined the Polish army to fight in World War II.

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