By Thom Dibdin

Stephen K Amos is to take over hosting duties on Assembly Theatre’s daily Talk Show, following Frank Skinner’s withdrawal from the Spiegeltent show in Princes Street Gardens

Updates came in thick and fast for the handful of iPhone apps which launched early for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe – with more venues  promising apps for their own programmes, and even more updates  in the pipeline. So I succumbed to Fringe madness, [...]]]>

All the Edinburgh Fringe iPhone apps reviewed

By Thom Dibdin

Updates came in thick and fast for the handful of iPhone apps which launched early for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe – with more venues  promising apps for their own programmes, and even more updates  in the pipeline. So I succumbed to Fringe madness, went off to see and review my shows, and rather left this on the back burner until a few more apps and their promised updates arrived.

They haven’t materialised, so here’s the story so far:

The big one is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe app. It’s the official app of the Festival Fringe Society and allows you to access the whole fringe programme. We reviewed version 1.0.1 here, and although it was disappointing over all, version 1.0.2 is a big step in the right direction. Version 1.0.3 is due “imminently” – as of Monday 9 August.

Two Venues have launched their own apps: The Pleasance and Zoo Venues. Assembly is due to launch its own app “any day”, according to the press office, although there is no sign of it a  week later. Also imminent is the Festivals Edinburgh app, covering all the festivals. It was expected on Monday 9th of August, just in time for the Mela to be over, but is unlikely to appear until after the Fringe update to 1.0.3, as it is being developed by the same company.

The surrounding apps are not yet many. Theatre Ninjas is looking to be the most useful one for participants and punters alike, as it provides the opportunity to give free tickets away to a particular show. iFringe collates reviews and recommendations from a handful of “independent” websites. Edinburgh Fringe Venues is a list with handy map feature that shows you the best route to your chosen venue.

A final tip for Edinburgh-bound iPhone users is to load the free edinbus Edinburgh Bus Times app.  It gives real-time tracking of Lothian Travel buses.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe app

The official app of the Festival Fringe Society which allows you to access the whole fringe programme. It does take a wee while to find your way round the app, but given that you are searching 40,254 performances of 2,453 shows in 259 venues, the results are impressive. You can search both the full list of shows and the shows a specific venue by type, time and by name, find the nearest shows – at a time of your choice, and display all the results on a map.

What you can’t do is search the full list by venue, list only productions (not performances), go back to the home page without scrolling back through your whole search. Indeed, the whole navigation through the app needs to be a lot clearer.

It makes a great start with the My Fringe function, allowing you to store any performance – and as many performances of the same show as you like – on a calendar. You can’t, however, annotate these in any way. There will also be a link to the Fringe’s half-price hut when that opens.

There are some irritating omissions. The only phone number displayed is the central Fringe Box office, which is given for all shows. Indeed, the venue information is minimal and doesn’t even include the unique venue number.

As far as glitches go, the most annoying is that the time search throws up results for shows starting after – not at – the search time. So if you are searching for a show that starts at a 12.30pm on a specific day, you need to set the search time to 12.29. Also, while the time panel shows today’s date by default at start-up, if you set it for some time in the future, it shows the previous day’s date – although it works with the date set.

Without going through the whole Fringe programme, this appears to be complete – although the presence of a rogue listing for the Pleasance’s creche (not in the Fringe brochure) has crept in, so it is not immune to fault – The way that this particular listing repeats every half hour of every day is an indication of why the only-listing-by-performances situation is so irritating.

There is the odd mistake: David Leddy’s Sub Rosa, a 100 minute-long promenade production in which small groups leave every 20 minutes at Hill Street, is listed as being 20 minutes long. This, and the continued presence of shows which have already been cancelled or had their runs changed, throws up the desperate need of this app for live updating, of the most minimal kind at least.

The search facility also interrogates the show descriptions, which could be useful – but also means that a search for a show which has a common word in the title, such as The Door, throws up many, many results. Searching for “The Door” helps.

On the plus side, the map is great – taking into account the vagaries of the GPS system in Edinburgh, which means that you are not always where your phone thinks you are. On the down side, it is tricky to set your position.

* * * A good app, which has the potential to be a great app.

The two existing venue apps are somewhat basic by comparison.

Zoo Venues.

Zoo venues was the first out and simply lists all the shows on at Zoo venues, listed by genre. Missed opportunities include the lack of a basic map to the venue sites, no listing by Zoo’s three venue sites, any expansion of the basic listings. Despite updates to the Zoo’s programme (An Actress Prepares has a much reduced run) there’s no new version out.

The Pleasance

Pleasance have much the same lacks, but as the Pleasance is a much larger venue grouping – with something like 200 shows in all – they are magnified. This is the Pleasance programme on an app – but without any of the bells or whistles which this affords.

The first lack is that there is no over-all listing. The first page is “on now” which, if it is early in the morning as you are sitting at home, waiting to set about your day’s Fringing, is just useless: Charlie and Lola, and Monkey Music. I don’t think so. To find out what is on today you have to go to “more” choose “venues” and then choose the venue you want. Even then, if the show you are looking for isn’t on that day, then you will have to go through the search function. So there is no way of planning your visit to Pleasance before coming up to Edinburgh.

The search function is, at least, very fast – and searches for a string of text in the show title. Still, useless if you don’t know the name of the show but know other details about it – there’s no search by venue or by genre. Given the large number of stages at each of the Pleasance two big venues: Dome and Courtyard, a basic map of each would have been particularly useful.

Still, the shows are there and if you come out of a Pleasance show, wanting to know what is on imminently, it is perfect.

* * A missed opportunity

Theatre Ninjas

Theatre Ninjas is looking like being the best of the rest after the Fringe programme. The idea is neat: the app is updated daily with a list of shows that you can see for free. You turn up at the specified venue at the specified time, find the specified person, whisper the code word in their ear – and a ticket is yours. It’s first come first served, so there is no guarantee of a ticket, but it keeps the spirit of the Fringe very much alive in that you can sample stuff which you might not normally ever think of going to.

For companies, it is a great marketing opportunity. Listing is free and the number of tickets offered is up to the company, not the Ninjas.

There is a wee glitch in that the app likes to drop out, particularly when you are looking at the new update for the first time, but it always seems to load. Eventually. And the listing doesn’t say what day the show is on which, as the listing changes daily, isn’t strictly necessary – but it would be good to see before hiking over to the other side of town.

Other than that, the screens are clear, the information excellent – and more than there is in the Fringe programme. Even better, the map function doesn’t take you away from the app. There’s even a page of real-time results for the #theatreninjas hashtag on twitter – where those who get tickets are encouraged to write reviews of the shows they have seen. Which is only polite, having got a ticket for free.

* * * * * Great app, great functionality, great delivery.

iFringe

iFringe seems to be the most downloaded of all the Edinburgh Fringe apps, and certainly provides a useful service. It is, however, a limited one. Run by Fringe Guru, the app is the only one on this list to carry advertising, although that is not at all heavy.

The thing to remember is that is not a listings, app. It is based on shows recommended, previewed and reviewed in the Threeweeks, Edinburgh Spotlight, Hairline Reviews, Fest, FringeReview – and possibly others. Which, while it is many and is a useful way of looking at reviews, is by no means a universal listing of shows – nor is it a complete listing of all the reviews and reviewers, both professional and amateur, at the Fringe. Still, nigh-on 200 shows listed as of Monday 9th August is pretty good going, and certainly as many reviews as you are likely to find in one place.

That one caveat aside – and lacks which include a basic search facility and the ability to find shows by venue – this is relatively easy to app to use. Recommendations are listed as “soon and nearby”, “top shows by date”, “prime time picks”, recommendations for any date and time of your choice, and a complete A-Z listing of all shows reviewed.

* * * * Good work, needs to be a bit clearer that it isn’t the official Fringe app – or a complete listing.

Edinburgh Fringe Venues

What it says on the app: all the Fringe venues in one place. A link to the google map and, though use of GPS, the ability to get instructions of how to get from where you are to where you ant to be.

* * * * Basic, simple and useful.

edinbus Edinburgh Bus Times
I love this app. Easy to use, it carries all the data from Lothian buses from live bus tracking. So it lets you know what bus is expected to arrive, when at the stop you choose. It is clearly formatted, you can find the nearest stop to you, it says which way the bus is travelling from that stop, can give you instructions on how to get to the stop and it saves stops for future use.

Best tip is that you can sit on the top deck with the app on, watching your progression through the city on the map – brilliant if you are of a touristic bent.

Of course it is subject to the vagaries of traffic, so gridlock on Princes Street could make that information useless. And it does make the Lothian Region minute an elastic period of time.  But in an imperfect world, it is certainly the best way of find out bus information.

* * * * * Realtime bus times. Perfect.

ENDS

By Thom Dibdin

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has announced that the free Fringe iPhone app released on Wednesday will receive substantial upgrades before the start of the Fringe.

As revealed [...]]]>

New upgrades scheduled to be available by August 4

The current version does not include a search facility for venue listings

By Thom Dibdin

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has announced that the free Fringe iPhone app released on Wednesday will receive substantial upgrades before the start of the Fringe.

As revealed exclusively in a review in the Annals of Edinburgh Stage, the app begins to make sense of the vast amount of data in the Fringe programme. However, the review expressed concerns that the app is still some way short of its true potential, particularly in its search facilities to access the 40,254 performances of 2,453 shows in 259 venues.

Gavin Dutch, managing director of Loc8 Solutions the Edinburgh-based company behind the app, told the Annals that many of the concerns would be addressed in an update released before the start of the Fringe.

Responding directly to the review, he said: “In fact we have already implemented solutions for quite a few of them, including venue search, and search of events at a specific venue. Finding your nearest show will also be much easier as in the update shows can be ordered by distance from your current location, or any other location you choose.

“We would have preferred to have all the functionality refined before release but thought that people would still find the app useful in its current form before the Fringe started so released early.”

The Fringe have confirmed that version two of the app is due for release on August 4. New functions and enhanced features will be added as updates during the run up to the Fringe.

The full list of new features in version 2, as detailed by the Fringe is:

• Find shows which are nearby and starting soon;
• Search for shows and venues by name, time and category;
• Live feed from the Half-Price-Hut showing which half-price tickets are available;
• Check ticket availability with Fringe Box Office;
• Call box office direct from the listings to book your tickets; and
• Share interesting shows and festival diary with friends by email.

Commenting on the new app, Kath M Mainland, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: ”This is an exciting digital listings service for our visitors, performers and venues on the iPhone. This application gives allows us to broaden the delivery of our Festival listings services and engage with new audiences. We are especially pleased that we have been able to work with local company Loc8 Solutions.”

The free Fringe iPhone app is available to download here

The Fringe Programme is available online here

The review of the app in the Annals is here

ENDS

By Thom Dibdin

An amateur production of Alasdair Gray’s early play McGrotty and Ludmilla, to be staged this week at the Roxy Arthouse, has benefited from personal input from the playwright.

HATS, the Holyrood [...]]]>

Holyrood Amateur Theatre Society stage rare production of Gray’s McGrotty and Ludmilla

Alasdair Gray's poster for the production

By Thom Dibdin

An amateur production of Alasdair Gray’s early play McGrotty and Ludmilla, to be staged this week at the Roxy Arthouse, has benefited from personal input from the playwright.

HATS, the Holyrood Amateur Theatre Society, are staging the production from tonight (Thursday) to Saturday. Loosely based on the Aladdin story, the play follows the adventures of the uncouth and unpolished young Scot Mungo McGrotty amongst the Machiavellian civil service mandarins of 1980s Whitehall.

According to company member Simone Thorn: “HATS were thrilled to accept an invitation from Mr Gray into his Glasgow home to – following contact from director Gregor Shanks, who is a big fan of Mr Gray. We enjoyed and learned from a complete reading, performed by the author himself in the tradition of Bernard Shaw.”

The production has also benefited from the Glasgow writer’s input towards the poster of the play, according to Thorn.

She said: “Mr Gray drew portraits of the lead cast members in order to place them onto the production’s striking poster – which he also designed and which is in itself a work of art.”

Tickets are available through the HATS website

ENDS

By Thom Dibdin

The Edinburgh Fringe has launched its much anticipated iPhone app, allowing iPhone users to access the wonders of the Fringe programme, with its  2453 shows in 259 venues, [...]]]>

The Annals of Edinburgh Stage puts the Edinburgh Fringe iPhone App through its paces

The opening page of the new app

By Thom Dibdin

The Edinburgh Fringe has launched its much anticipated iPhone app, allowing iPhone users to access the wonders of the Fringe programme, with its  2453 shows in 259 venues, direct from their mobiles.

At first glance its looking good, with quick access from the opening panel to Shows, Venues and My Fringe. Further investigation finds a few surprising drawbacks, however. Not fatal ones, it must be said, and certainly things which should be fixed in the next release.

Sitting at home in Edinburgh, the first thing to find out was the closest production to my front door on a random date: the evening of Thursday 12 August let’s say.

I just happen to know that would be the theatre show Decky Does a Bronco by Grid Iron, in Traverse @ Scotland Yard, nightly at 7.30pm, running from 5 to 21 August.

Finding Decky Does a Bronco is easy: tap shows, tap search and type Decky. Show found. scroll through to the 12th and tap – up comes the listing. Tap the wee star on the bottom and it has been added to my favourites for easy access later.

The listing throws up the first glitches: no mention of the production company or how long the show lasts. These are both useful – occasionally vital – pieces of information. Running time is a particularly vital in the furore of getting round round the Festival. Nor does this screen mention the venue address. Still that is just a tap away.

Finding a piece of theatre on the 12th in the evening is not quite so simple nor, initially, quite so intuitive. Scrolling through the date at the top is tricky, but tapping brings up a scroll-through calendar with times. Set it to the 12th, 7pm and away we go.

The date and time facility

Set the genre to theatre and either scroll down to Decky or type Decky in the search box. Usefully, having set the time and date, you can move through the different genres.

It’s in the Venues facility that things get more tricky. Tap the icon and you find yourself in a basic list. An unsearchable (as yet) list. Whoops, that is a problem. How many venues was that again? Scrolling through the 259 of them to get to “Traverse @ Scotland Yard” (including past all those venues listed under “The” which is a departure from the Fringe programme) takes a hideous amount of time. 42 seconds to be precise. Oh, and you discover that such trendy venues as “eteaket” which use a lower case initial come after Zoo Southside.

Worse, clicking straight onto the map icon only brings up those venues already loaded. So no “Traverse @Scotland Yard” venue loaded there then. Although “Art Amatoria” on Bellevue crescent is, should I be up for a bit of free art.

A further glitch is if you scroll through to the bottom and twiddle about a bit before looking on the map, the app has forgotten the ones at the beginning, so Art Amatoria has mysteriously disappeared. No art for me then.

Looking at the shows in a particular venue is also tricky. Traverse @ Scotland Yard is no problem, of course. It’s a site specific venue with only the one show. Venues with more shows on are a nightmare.

Take the Traverse itself. Or perhaps not, I can’t be fussed scrolling all the way through to get to it. It will have to be Assembly @ George Street: Click through and the there’s two further clicks: Map and What’s On.

The map is fine – there are the Assembly Rooms where they should be, and there’s me at home. No route-finder though – not that you really need it, but it would be nice I suppose.

The big trouble comes with the What’s On click-through. It is simply a list of all the performances at the venue, listed chronologically and with no way of searching the list apart from scrolling through.

That is not the productions but the performances. Yes, every single performance at Assembly @ George Street. Which take so long to scroll through that in the time it could have scrolled through the whole list of venues – 42 seconds – I have only succeeded in getting to the 19.25 performance of Fascinating Aida: Pearls Before Wine on Sunday 8th of August. That is only four days of hot Fringe activity – meaning it would take a whole five minutes to scroll through the whole Fringe at the one venue. That is a “Fail” I think.

Which just leaves the My Fringe pages – which look dandy. You can sort your saved shows by date or chronological list. It is easy to change a performance date. How easy it will be to load my initial allocation of 42 shows remains to be seen. And while the lack of a facility to write a note on the diary is irritating at the moment, I suspect it will drive me back to good old paper and pencil during the Fringe itself.

So there you have it. A good but not great app from Loc8 Solutions for the Edinburgh Fringe. At the moment it has far too many glitches which, hopefully, will be rectified in the next release.

And now to recharge my much-depleted battery – this is one power-hungry app!

The app is available here

The Fringe Programme is available online here

ENDS

By Thom Dibdin

A stage musical by Edinburgh-based composer Julian Wagstaff takes its first steps towards the West End in September, when a new concert version of Wagstaff’s John Paul Jones will be performed by [...]]]>

Hit musical gets rewrite and professional production

The original 2001 production at the Church Hill Theatre

By Thom Dibdin

A stage musical by Edinburgh-based composer Julian Wagstaff takes its first steps towards the West End in September, when a new concert version of Wagstaff’s John Paul Jones will be performed by musicians from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Queen’s Hall.

Wagstaff plans to use the concerts, on September 24 and 25, to raise the profile of John Paul Jones, which recounts the true story of the Dumfries-born lad who became a hero of the American Revolution and is known as the ‘father of the American navy’.

“I am delighted to be working with an ensemble of such quality and renown as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra,” Wagstaff told the Annals. “Their musicians will be joined for the concerts by the vocal ensemble Consort of Voices and guest soloists in what promises to be a wonderful night out for music and theatre fans alike.”

The stage musical received its full stage premier in an amateur production at Edinburgh’s Church Hill Theatre in 2001. This professional production will feature a brand new, semi-staged version of the musical, with new orchestrations and a revised libretto written in collaboration with London-based scriptwriter Joel Jenkins. The conductor and musical director will be Simon Hanson and stage direction will be by Christopher Neil.

Poster for the new production

Wagstaff explained that he hopes the concerts will raise the musical’s profile and provide a showcase to potential investors in a planned UK tour of the fully staged show. Working with David Williams, the former general manager of Scottish Ballet, as executive producer, Wagstaff says his goal is to establish a professional touring theatre company based in Scotland with the capacity to take John Paul Jones forward to success on the wider UK and international stage.

The musical tells the incredible true story of the son of a Scottish gardener who became a hero of the American Revolution as the ‘father of the American navy’. In it, Jones defeats the British against incredible odds at the Battle of Flamborough Head, is knighted by the King of France, fights for Catherine the Great in a war against the Turkish Empire and dies amid the tumult of the French Revolution.

The newly rewritten show is the product of a year long collaboration between Wagstaff and film and television writer Joel Jenkins, who he was at college with. Jenkins is also a former script editor with the UK Film Council.

“I got to the point where I was going round in circles with the script for John Paul Jones and making no headway with it at all,” Wagstaff explained. “It needed a fresh pair of eyes and a fresh pen – both of which Joel provided in copious measure. The result is a tighter, more coherent, more dramatic story, with new songs and new dialogue, but one which retains the spirit of the original.”

Further details of the production are available on Julian Wagstaff’s website

Queens Hall website for concert details and tickets.

It's Bliss, Opera Australia's production

The Edinburgh International Festival are linking up with the Filmhouse next week for On Screen, On Stage, a short season of four films which tie in with productions in this year’s EIF.

The innovative season, running from [...]]]>

Short Filmhouse season preps audiences for EIF

By Thom Dibdin

It's Bliss, Opera Australia's production

The Edinburgh International Festival are linking up with the Filmhouse next week for On Screen, On Stage, a short season of four films which tie in with productions in this year’s EIF.

The innovative season, running from Sunday 18 through to Sunday 25 July, is described by Filmhouse as “a short season of films to whet your appetite for the upcoming Edinburgh International Festival’s 2010 programme”.

On Screen, On Stage includes two Scottish premieres. Susanna Boehm’s 2009 documentary Porgy and Me follows the cast of the New York Harlem Theatre on their European tour of Porgy and Bess. Following the company from city to city – where they attract stares from startled Austrians – the film draws out the parallels between the opera and the real life experiences of individual singers in a series of deeply personal conversations.

Babeth M VanLoo’s Meredith Monk: Inner Voice, another documentary from 2009, follows Monk during the process of making her latest piece, Songs of Ascension, at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and at Ann Hamilton’s Tower in California. It also follows her on tour in Italy, with  with her Vocal Ensemble, we also follow her on a concert tour of Italy.

Both Porgy and Bess, performed by the Opera do Lyon, and Songs of Ascension are part of this year’s EIF.

Slightly more tenuous – if no less welcome – is the screening of the 1951, oscar-winning A Streetcar Named Desire, staring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. In this case, the link is another Tennessee Williams play, Vieux Carré, which the Wooster Group are performing at this year’s EIF.

The final screening is Ray Lawrence’s quirky Australian comedy from 1985, Bliss, based on the the Peter Carey novel and adapted by Carey himself. Brett Dean and Amanda Holden’s opera version of the novel, performed by Opera Australia, is part of the EIF

The screening on Wednesday 21 will be introduced by Jonathan Mills, Director and Chief Executive of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Jonathan Mills commented: “We’re thrilled be working in partnership with the Filmhouse, Edinburgh to bring together this short season of films inspired by our 2010 Festival programme.

This new collaboration provides audiences with the opportunity to take an exciting journey in which they can fully explore these films and shows both on screen and on stage.”
Listings:

Porgy & Me (15)
Sunday 18 July: 3.30pm
Filmhouse, Edinburgh: Link to Filmhouse website

Porgy and Bess (Opéra de Lyon)
Saturday 14, Monday 16 & Tuesday 17 August 7.15pm
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Link to EIF website
Sponsored by Lloyds TSB Scotland

A Streetcar Named Desire (15)
Monday 19 July: 3.00pm and 8.15pm
Filmhouse, Edinburgh Link to Filmhouse website

Vieux Carré (The Wooster Group)
Saturday 21 – Tuesday 24 August 7.30pm
Royal Lyceum Theatre Link to EIF website
Sponsored by United States Embassy London

Meredith Monk: Inner Voice (15)
Tuesday 20 July: 8.15pm
Filmhouse, Edinburgh Link to Filmhouse website

Songs of Ascension (Meredith Monk Company, The Elysian Quartet, Edinburgh University Singers)
Saturday 28 – Monday 30 August: 8.00pm
Royal Lyceum Theatre Link to EIF website
Supported by the American Friends of the Edinburgh International Festival
With additional support from United States Embassy London

Bliss (15)
Wednesday 21 July: 8.40pm; Sunday 25 July: 1.30pm
Filmhouse, Edinburgh Link to Filmhouse website
With thanks to the Australian High Commission and Screen New South Wales

Bliss (Opera Australia and  BBC Symphony Orchestra)
Thu 2, Sat 4 September: 7.15pm
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Link to EIF website
Supported by Edinburgh International Festival Friends and Patrons
Supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria

ENDS

Dark and sinister, John Naples-Campbell’s updating of the Greek myths surrounding the end of the Trojan war is given a stark and immersive telling by his random ACT theatre company.

At its best, this is ferocious stuff, which takes its audience deep [...]]]>

* * *

Metropolitan Bar, Picardy Place
Review by Thom Dibdin

Dark and sinister, John Naples-Campbell’s updating of the Greek myths surrounding the end of the Trojan war is given a stark and immersive telling by his random ACT theatre company.

At its best, this is ferocious stuff, which takes its audience deep into the bowels of the destroyed Troy at the end of the nine year-long siege by the Greeks.

The women of the title are, as followers of Greek mythology will be unsurprised to discover, Hecuba Queen of Troy, Cassandra her daughter, Andromache her daughter-in-law and Helen, wife of the Greek Menelaus. It was Helen’s elopement with Hecuba’s son Paris which precipitated the war.

The women pace up and down the darkened basement bar of the Metropolitan into which the audience, divided up by gender, are delivered as if they were prisoners, too.

Jane Paul’s excellent Hecuba is in clear control here, poised and biting in her comments to Conor Mainwaring’s Talthybius, the Greek messenger. She’s scathing in her treatment of Mairi Bee’s Andromache, who Hecuba feels has let down her son Hector the hero of Troy. But she does have a warm side to display, in her affections for Lisa Watson’s young Cassandra.

If myth provides the framework, it is the brutal reality of war which makes this production as powerful as it is. War which could be happening at any time, thanks to a script that is modern and naturalistic in its vernacular.

The heat of the bar – not quite as stifling as it might have been – the darkness, the herding of the audience like cattle and the wailing of the women all help bring a reality to the situation.

You might be in any claustrophobic hell-hole at the end of any war, frightened at what your fate is to be. In this hole, at the end of this war, however, the Greeks have drawn lots for the Trojan women: randomly sending them off like chattels to death, slavery, marriage or queenhood.

Aiming high, the production only begins to achieve its full potential, however. Immersive theatre techniques, particularly those which reference Artaud’s theatre of cruelty, make a very telling demand on the company in their treatment of the audience. While this is uncomfortable, it never quite takes you to the point where you fear for what might be.

It is generally excellent, with strong performances all round. The problem is that every line has to be delivered in completely natural manner, otherwise the whole sense of being immersed in the production disappears.

Mairi Bee has the hardest time of it, as she has to convincingly carry Andromache from rational but heartfelt argument with Hecuba, right to the edge of insanity. At that edge, there is just a hint too much control from her and you don’t quite fear for what she is about to do.

Fran Kilgour as Helen starts out superbly. At first she is all leggy blonde WAG, but is soon displaying very real fear as Alasdair Brown’s Menelaus arrives and, in the most convincing – and thus horrifying – scene of the whole play, describes in graphic detail how he would like to disfigure her. She could use a bit more complexity about the character as she begins to gain the upper hand again, however.

What really intrigues about the play is that Naples-Campbell has chosen to depict the hour in which the victorious Greeks decide how they are to treat the vanquished Trojans. It is the kind of hour that is glossed over by all those glorious children’s tales of the Golden Fleece. It is also an hour which, supposedly, shows what makes the civilised warrior better than the uncivilised. But which, in this production that takes its cue from Artaud’s theatre of cruelty, shows that there is no such thing as a civilised war.

All told, a strong and intelligent production which plays well with its very adult themes. What it needs is just slightly more attention to the detail and the bravery to takes its audience right to the edge – so they can see the view on the other side.

Run continues to Saturday

random ACT website

ENDS

The reality of using found spaces for theatre productions came home to Edinburgh’s Random ACT theatre company last night during their preview of The Women of Troy at the Metropolitan Bar on Picardy Place.

Members of the public walking past [...]]]>

Police called to murder scene – Women of Troy implicated

By Thom Dibdin

The reality of using found spaces for theatre productions came home to Edinburgh’s Random ACT theatre company last night during their preview of The Women of Troy at the Metropolitan Bar on Picardy Place.

Members of the public walking past the bar on Wednesday night were so concerned by the noises eminating from the bar  that they called the police and no amount of protestations from cast or director could calm them down.

Random ACT director John Naples-Campbell said: “we had ran it without any problems at all and then tonight three people, who heard shouting from the bar, called the police, banged on the fire door shouting ‘we’ve called the police’.”

Having succeeded in opening the firedoor, the worst fears of the trio were confirmed when they were confronted with the sight of one the actors being punched. Another actor, oblivious to the concern of the citizenry – and themselves concerned that the performance was being deliberately disturbed by interlopers, pulled the door shut.

Whereapon cries of “Murder! Murder!” went up in the street.

“I run out to calm them down,” says John Naples-Campbell, “to be told that I was recreating a scene from the horror film Hostel. Police came with sirens blazing, ran to see me trying to calm passers by down who actually didn’t see anything at all. The police then saw the actors, laughed and went home knowing no one was murdered!”

A classic night up Picardy Place way, it would seem.

But it does suffice to remind that Random Act’s The Women of Troy, Written and Directed by John Naples-Campbell, is at The Metropolitan Basement Bar, Picardy Place, Edinburgh. The production runs from tonight, July 8, to Saturday July 10, with two performances nightly at 7.30pm and 9pm. Tickets are £5 either through the company’s Facebook group, through cast, on door or call 07906 374647.

Cast Includes: Conor Mainwaring, Alasdair Brown, Jane Paul, Fran Kilgour, Ross McNab, Mairi Beever and Lisa Watson

ENDS

George Watson’s College By Thom Dibdin

There is a genuine tune-hummer of a production of Evita up at George Watson’s College this week, one which is strong and forceful where it needs to be – but is also [...]]]>

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Daniel Williamson as Juan Perón and Monica Reeves as Eva Péron

George Watson’s College
By Thom Dibdin

There is a genuine tune-hummer of a production of Evita up at George Watson’s College this week, one which is strong and forceful where it needs to be – but is also fully-rounded on the musical front.

Minimal and unfussy staging makes good use of side-projected slides and video to help give the whole a well-judged political edge. It shows, without pulling its punches and while exploring the cult of Evita, where Perónism lies on the totalitarian spectrum.

It is music which lies at the heart of the production’s strengths, however. Having a large orchestra is something of a luxury in musical theatre circles and the company makes full use of the depth and texture a 32-strong band can provide – despite the odd wayward note in the more complex parts of the arrangement.

The orchestra serves the singers well, too, never becoming so loud as to drown out what is happening on stage. Although that doesn’t mean that the chorus don’t drop the volume down just a little too far on the odd occasion.

There is never any such problem for Chris MacFarlane, who takes on the key role of Ché Guevara. He delivers on all the necessary levels as he stalks the production, haughtily arrogant towards his fellow Argentineans who have been sucked in to Evita’s personality cult.

He still gives his character enough detachment to be able to step in, as required, to hustle the plot along. He is always there to pinch and push as it follows Eva Duarte’s rise from her peasant origins as the daughter of her middle-class father’s mistress, her manipulation of men around her to rise to power as Juan Perón’s second wife, her Rainbow tour to Europe and early death from cancer.

MacFarlane also has the vocal ability to ensure that Ché gives Eva Perón a torrid time of it. There is a real sneer to his singing at times, in his contempt for her attitude to their country.

Monica Reeves as Eva Péron in George Watson's College production of Evita. June 2010

Monica Reeves, who is singing the title role on alternate performances, gives a fantastic vocal account of Evita in her prime and her decline. There is room for manoeuvre in in the opening scenes, though, where Reeves could afford to give the 14 year-old Eva a bit more brash naivety as she manipulates her first lover, Agustin Magaldi, into taking her to Buenos Aires.

That is little matter when she comes out singing Don’t Cry For Me Argentina at the start of the second half, flanked by Juan Perón and playing to her adoring public from the palace balcony.

There is no doubting that Reeves’ Evita is one cold-hearted, brutal and Machiavellian operator. It is a chilling, thought-provoking rendition of an iconic song. One which might glance tenderly across the range but which also wields real power.

If you are going to opt for minimal staging, as Watson’s has done, then there has to be something to maintain the production’s balance. The  recompense here is clear enunciation that makes you feel as if you are hearing Tim Rice’s lyrics for the first time.

The staging makes good use of a simple split staircase that can double as a palace balcony. Context and commentary all come from slides and old news footage played out on screens on either side of the stage.

It’s effective stuff, which is only let down slightly by the lack of movement from some of the main characters. While Daniel Williamson has a strong, full-toned voice as Juan Perón, there is nothing in his movement to give any indication of the man behind his stoic exterior.

Mostly, this doesn’t matter a jot, but the one moment where he does need to move is in the scene where he meets the young Eva with their duet, I’d Be Surprisingly Good For You. The tango danced between the two would have given exactly the right framework for their relationship, if it had only been given a bit of fire from both sides.

This is not just the Eva, Ché and Juan show, either. There are excellent performances right through the cast. Craig Donoghue is a calm and poised tango singer as Agustin Magaldi with Night of a Thousand Stars. But it is Gaby Votta who really catches the ears as Perón’s spurned mistress. Her voice carries all the bitterness and regret required – delivered with vocal strength.

A thoroughly satisfying production which captures something of the politics of Argentina in the 1940s and uses that to frame the memorable tunes.

Run ends Friday 18 June