What was it Brian Conley used to say… “It’s a puppet!!!!” Well puppets have featured quite heavily in my Edinburgh Festival so far – and no bad thing either.
It’s great to see the ever-brilliant Blind Summit back at the Fringe with a new studio scale show. They have been working on much larger shows with some pretty glamorous and heavyweight collaborators in recent years but THE TABLE is something of a return to the form of the marvellous LOWLIFE. A triptych of genre busting puppetry including one highly amusing French noire-sette constructed entirely from pieces of A4 paper. It’s funny. It’s clever. It’s really, really skilful.
Now a puppet dog. This is hardly a scoop, I think the show has been on the road for a few years, but if you are in Edinburgh with young ‘uns then you will ALL enjoy THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES. I found this show really charming, poignant and unexpectedly very funny. You get to learn French too, which is a bonus.
I’ve yet to see THE GIRL WITH THE IRON CLAWS but I am hearing good things about it – more puppets I believe. And Warwick University’s very own Fellswoop also used puppets in their adaptation of cult animation BELLE VILLE RENDEZVOUS. The show could have done with a little tightening up but it was absolutely bursting with creativity and some strong performances too.
So puppets everywhere this year! I guess they are perfect for Edinburgh; they don’t need wages or food; they travel in a suitcase and can sleep in a drawer.
I loved David Harrower’s A SLOW AIR at The Traverse. A pair of intertwining monologues that reflect on animosity, family grudges and our failure to forgive one another placed in thought provoking counterpoint with the terrorist attacks on Glasgow airport.
The Rash Dash show SCARY GORGEOUS has finished now but they are certainly a young company to look out for.
Another theme running through the festival this year seems to be audiences who are required to become part of the show. This can be grim but in TONIGHT SANDY GRIERSON WILL LECTURE, DANCE AND BOX it is handled beautifully. Sandy is such a disarmingly charming and impish performer he soon has the whole room (including me) happy to play all the bit parts in the extraordinary life of his grandfather and his 19-inch biceps. It’s a clever piece, in which bluff and double bluff heap up until… well I won’t spoil it. Suffice as to say that Sandy looks pretty good in a jock strap and I make a pretty good boxer!
We are also required to participate in Hannah Walker and Chris Thorpe’s THE OH FUCK MOMENT, a kind of H&S conference about human frailty that questions a world that increasingly punishes us for out failures instead of accepting that we all make mistakes all the time. It’s very funny, well executed and also very moving at times. A kind of ode to the fact that life is analogue, not digital.
Ed and I also attended the Festivals Edinburgh and Arts Council England’s Talent Development Symposium. A very stimulating couple of days with some great speakers. If you are interested in that kind of thing then you can read find some of the material here or follow #tds10 on twitter.
That’s it for now except to say that there are so few vegetables in this city that I’ve been forced to have a Bloody Mary whilst writing this.
Hope you’re having fun doing what you’re doing,
Paul
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