Life at the Fringe - Part 1

So I obviously planned to write up every show I saw at the fringe as I went along, but as is want to happen at the fringe life and theatre and more Theatre got in the way of these plans and now that the fringe is over there is not really a point to writing detailed posts about all of the shows I saw. While I feel bad for being lazy and not blogging on time or doing proper blogs for the things. I am a realist and with no stable internet connection at home things probably aren't going to get done on time anyway.

So as follows is a Fly-By Guide to my fringe experience (or at least the shows I saw whilst up there). I will also put down how much I payed for the tickets and do a total at the end, as a here is a rough guide of how much you will spend at the fringe/for my own curiosity. Enjoy!

Day 1
The Mechanisms - Already Blogged about here.
Free
Make sure you check it out as these guys are awesome and exist outside of the fringe bubble!

Showstoppers Mach #1 (Check out their website)
£12.50 Conc.
"In the Jungle the Flighty Jungle"
I did have a post written for this in *gasp* hardcopy but it is at home and I an not. Since I am being lazy you can read about it from my Girlfriends persepective here as I saw it with her.

Day 2
Ant Dewson: Now That's What I Call Musical Comedy
AKA The Dubious Cupboard Gig
Free
Another lazy Link to my Girlfriends Blog as I saw it with her and I don't think I could say it better.

Blind Mirth - Improvised Comedy
Comp Venue Ticket
Still being lazy... :P

Abominations
2-for-1 Tickets=£4.50 each
Same as above.

At this point my lazy blogging expires as my girlfriend went home and I can't just link to her blog anymore...
Ah well time for me to stop being lazy in Life at the Fringe - Part 2 (Coming Soon!)

Edinburgh Fringe #1 - The Mechanisms

The Mechanisms - Ulysses Dies at Dawn
Monday 19th August - Free
Fringe Show Details can be found here

I had heard tales of the Mechanisms as they had sprung from the sister group (OULES - Oxford University Light Entertainers Society) to one of the societies I am in (USLES). I have been to parties where their Albums had been playing/in the background but I still went in pretty much blind as to what they are like.

The Mechanisms are a band of space pirates who tell/sing epic ballads. The show that I saw was their Ulysses Dies at Dawn album. It was an epic show, with amazing music, vocals, costumes & characterisation.

I strongly recommend checking out their stuff on their website where you can listen to their music for free or purchase digital downloads or CD's. The tracks are individually awesome & when played in order create epic tales which are mindblowing in their details and the imagery which they conjure in your mind.

It was a free show but they had their albums available for sale upon exit. The show was so good I ended up buying both their albums for £8! I very much looking forward to having time to sit back and listen to them again.

Titus @Edinburgh Fringe

20-26th August 2013 - 5pm

Paradise in the Kirkhouse (venue 155) - £8 (£7 conc.)

This is a shameless plug for the show i am Teching at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013.

Titus is a dark comedic adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. This adaptation is a 12+ adaptation which takes one of shakespeare's bloodiest tragedies and makes it viewable for those with no stomach for gore while still conveying a reasonably accurate portrayal of the original text.

In its third incarnation Titus has sharpened and darkened since its run at the Brighton Fringe and with a pretty much brand new cast the show is considerably different to its previous incarnartion.

Come along for an hour of "WOE" and "MISERY" which is sure to bring a smile to anyone's face and warm their "dark hearts".

OH and there will be pie!

Pride and Prejudice

Thurs 1st August - 7:30 Performance
Chatsworth House - £15 Ticket, £3 Programme

This show was sold as being in the Chatsworth House Gardens, whilst this was technically true it is pretty much irrelevant as they did not use their location to their advantage.

Chatsworth House is said to be the inspiration behind Austin's Pemberley manor and it was used in the filming of the BBC version (1995), so the location makes complete sense as part of a tour celebrating 200 years of the text. Knowing this and the way it was publicised myself and two friends went along expecting something of a site specific performance i.e. integration of the gardens and/or the house into the performance however we were very much disappointed. The show was instead set on a TINY stage with a fixed set which in and/of itself wouldn't be enough to turn this show into the complete and utter boring and unimaginative failure it was.

Adding to the disappointment of not even vaguely using the gardens was the fact that the show was WAAAAY over-booked for what the stage size would have acceptably allowed. From where we were sitting it was very nearly impossible to tell the difference between the Bennet sisters let alone catch any sort of nuances of facial expressions or body movement (though this may have also been a fault of the actors as well). Our view was bad enough without even considering the fact that people are rude and inconsiderate enough to set up camping chairs directly in front of where people are using picnic blankets without even checking they weren't obscuring peoples views (there was reserved for picnic blanket space but this was full very quickly as they had well oversold).

I went knowing full well that the story was not a leap out and grab you one or even within my general field of interest but having seen and enjoyed the BBC version I knew that the text had the potential to be enjoyable. The acting was quite flat and in some cases wooden. It felt as though they expected the for want of a better word setting (as they didn't put it to use at all) to make up for the need to act. Mr Darcy was so wooden his pronouncement of love for Lizzie was severely stilted and felt as though he barely understood what he was saying let alone feeling it. The only characters which stood out were Mrs Bennet and Mr Collins who are such obvious archetypal characters that it is hard not to show character with them. Adding to this was the fact that almost ever actor was playing multiple roles which with the fixed set made it impossible to tell where they were/who they were meant to be at the time.

All in all the show was so disappointing that we left at intermission and we certainly were not the first ones to be doing so (people were leaving throughout the whole first act). While I felt dirty doing so, the show and how severely it undershot its potential made us so angry that we really couldn't bear to stay around for the second half.

Now here are several things I think could have been used to improve this performance (though these are purely my speculations):
* Cut the audience size down to, at max, a third of the size it was and put on at least three performances to counteract this; this enables a much more personal and intimate experience allowing the audience to actually see the actors and their movements etc. to greater effect
* Add some lights; you already have things staked into the ground so why not have little lanterns on top to create a bit more atmosphere?
* Use the beautiful surroundings; Chatsworth Gardens are beautiful, so put this to use by integrating it into the performance for example you could use the rose hedge garden-y bit near the house for any "outdoor" scenes and the space in front for "indoor" scenes
*OR you could have different parts of the garden set up as different locations i.e Pemberley, London, Longbourne whilst this would require the audience to move (would need to be advertised appropriately), this would essentially fill the role of traditional scene changes and enable full use of the gardens as well as setting up for a ball scene at Pemberley whilst the audience is at Longbourne
* Taking this further you could use the house; there are large ballroom-esque rooms use them! By having the audience move out through one entrance and in another utilizing different rooms you could differentiate between Pemberley and Longbourne
* Do AWAY WITH THE DOUBLING; Scenes which are meant to be high society balls would be greatly enhanced by having more than 8 actors to dance/participate at them
* WHERE WERE THE AWESOME HUGE DRESSES; you know the ones which are so large it is difficult to manoeuvre in them, surely these would have been warn to such balls? Whilst studying Hedda Gabla (I think it was Hedda) we discovered how much these sorts of dresses influence movement and character as well as how much could be displayed using a hand fan.

So yeah someone let the ball drop on this production. However despite the low quality of the "entertainment" I had an absolutely lovely evening, thanks to picnic-ing with friends, fun conversation and being able to discuss and rant about how things could have been better after.

Live From London-One Off Show *Guest Blog*

This week we have our very first guest blog written by my wonderful girlfriend during my travels abroad to visit (meet) family. I hope you enjoy and if you want to hear more from Jenni check her out here.
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Sun 21st July - 7pm One Off Performance
Retford Majestic Theatre - £17.50 Ticket 

Hello! I’m Jenni, Glenn’s girlfriend and I am blogging for him today whilst he’s in Ireland visiting family. I’m almost as much of a theatre person as he is, and last week I was lucky enough to be treated to a night out at the theatre as part of my birthday present.

Live from London was a show put on by West End stars in a little, out-of-the-way theatre in a little, out-of-the-way town called Retford as a fund raiser for their local Operatics Society and to help repair and maintain the gorgeous Majestic Theatre that they regularly perform in. One of the organisers/performers had grown up performing in the Operatics Society so this was a fab way to give something back to the people that gave him his start.

There were 9 performers in total, all of them currently in West End shows and their voices were really fabulous. There was a mix of group songs, duets and solo pieces from a vast array of shows-some that I knew and some that I didn’t. Despite the fact that they had only rehearsed the full show for the first time that afternoon it was slick and professional and (apart from a few technical issues) you really couldn’t tell!

There were also some performances from the Retford Operatics Society and the Mini Operatics Bunch-which surprised me with how professional they were! I groaned inwardly when they announced that the kids were going to do a song (because I am very used to wildly out of tune, semi-shouting, ear splittingly bad children’s performances) but they actually sounded AMAZING. I was looking for adults secretly hidden in the wings when they all sang together because their harmonies were spot on and they were really really good!

There were songs from so many of my favourite shows that I can’t remember them all but there were definitely some from Rent, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera (that gave me goosebumps!), Oliver, Carousel, Hairspray (which was awesome as I went to see it on my birthday), Sister Act, Jekyll and Hyde, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Spamalot, as well as a lot that I had never heard before. They finished on a medley of songs from Les Mis, culminating in an amazing rendition of ‘One Day More’ which made the hairs stand up on the back on my neck. Me and my Dad left the theatre on a massive high with all of the songs in our head for the rest of the evening.

All in all it was a fabulous birthday treat, and although I can’t recommend it to anyone as it was a one off performance, I would if I could-it was a really great night out.

If you want to read more from me then I blog regularly over at My Every Day Adventure, where I write about my life and all that happens in it.

The 39 Steps (Touring)

Wed 17th July - 2:00 Performance
Theatre Royal Nottingham - £20 Ticket, £2.50 Programme

Unfortunately for most of you, you will now have missed seeing the touring version of this show... However don't be sad! The show is still running on the West End for your Viewing Pleasure (until at least March 2014 I think) :D

The 39 Steps is a hilarious tongue in cheek spy/murder mystery ( featuring 4 Actors pulling off the epic task of portraying 139 roles over 100 minutes. One of the male actors remained as the same character all the way through, the female actor played three non-overlapping characters and the rest were done by the other two male actors. The character transitions were therefore required to be extremely swift and so there was a huge amount of hat swapping and a myriad of different accents to switch between at high speed. At one point they were even forced to swap characters with each other as they were required to play different characters in conversation with the same one, it was kind amazing.

The set for the show was relatively simple as most of the scene changes were quite obviously and mockingly done by the actors. For example: there is a part where the two villains are waiting outside the lead characters house under a lamppost, as he goes to glance out the window they run on stage with the lamppost, put it down and stand under it, then when he stops looking they run off with it again. The simplicity of the set also enabled flexibility in location, for example: transitioning from a search of all the compartments on a train to running across the train roof. 

The 39 Steps employs heightened physicality and slow motion as comedic tools. This lead to the funniest death scene that I have ever seen, Epicly cheesy "love at first sight" world freezing moments, hair (and coat raising) moments and a fall from a great height. Oh and a shadow puppet chase scene! :D

A quality and humorous show, check it out if you get a chance.

PS. My apologies for the late Bloggage, however I have been busy with a rehearsal weekend, people and house hunting. The next post may also be a little late as I will be out of the country, though I will try to write something up and schedule it to post itself on Sunday (no promises though).

Hairspray (Touring)

Mon 8th July - 7:30 Performance
Theatre Royal Nottingham - £21.50 Ticket, £2.50 Programme 

I wasn't going to see this show, however my girlfriend and some of her friends were seeing it for her birthday and I decided to hang around for an extra day to see it and I am very glad that I did! I had only seen the movie for the first time less than a month before seeing this show. I am glad that I had seen the movie as it meant I knew the music and was able to dance and sing-along a bit, although this is not essential for your enjoyment.

Hairspray is a very fun and energetic musical set in the 1960's with suitably 60's music. Written in 2002, Hairspray takes a look back at the 1960's issue of racial segregation. Through the life of Tracy Turnblat and her pursuit of a role on the 'Corny Colins' show and then its transition to an integrated show. Thankfully society has moved on at least a little bit since the 60's and the ridiculousness that was racial segregation, however I think we can learn a lesson from how ridiculous we find it now and think about some of the issues we face in modern society and how ridiculous they are. Anyway enough political stuff on with the fun bit.

The music and dancing in this show is quite stereotypical 60's and I absolutely love it! The show involved a massive 60 wigs to provide the cast with suitably ridiculously giant, hairspray ridden 60's hairstyles. The set and costumes are all brightly coloured and flashy as we expect from the 60's and had some really cool features strewn throughout. One of the features (Sorry if this is poorly explained) was a store front, which in the opening song Good Morning Baltimore was just a flat part of the set featuring an image of three women in red glittery dress, later in the show during (Hey Mama) Welcome to the 60s the image is now three women in red glittery dresses who step out of the 'store front' and dance. This cool transition of image to reality was fantastic and it was these sorts of cool things which made this show.

The drag role of Tracy's Mum, Edna (John Travolta in the Movie), was played by Mark Benton (Hustle). Mark did a superb job of balancing the reality of being a man and playing a woman, he used this as a superb tool for comedy. There was a hilarious and heart-warming moment during (You're) Timeless To Me where Edna and her Husband (Paul Rider) are dancing together where Mark and Paul corpsed (broke character and laughed). This was greatly enjoyed by the audience who joined in with a well time wolf whistle setting them off again. The band did extremely well (as did Mark and Paul) to pull it together and continue the song without any issues (like the singing and music getting out of sync). As an audience member I love it when I can tell just how much fun the actors are having and this always makes me wish I was back up on stage again (There was a moment when I saw singing in the rain where one of the dancers made eye contact with us, saw how much we were loving getting spashed, he grinned at us and proceeded to send an extra large splash our way).

Overall it was an extremely enjoyable production and if the touring show (or any production really) happens to be within relatively easy reach I recommend seeing it! Tour dates below.

Tour Dates:
Nottingham - Theatre Royal                       Closed
Dublin - Bord Gais Energy Theatre             6 Aug - 17 Aug
Leeds - Grand Theatre                               20 Aug - 31 Aug
Edinburgh - Playhouse                             3 Sep - 14 Sep
Aberdeen - His Majesty's Theatre              16 Sep - 21 Sep
Norwich - Royal Theatre                            24 Sep - 29 Sep