Greyscale - Tonight Sandy Grierson will Lecture, Dance and Box. Assembly, George Square 22/8/11

Reading the copy for this one-man show, I had no idea what to expect and I’m none the wiser having seen it.  Through a rapid series of slides, Grierson starts out telling the rather fantastic story of his great grandfather Arthur Cravan – who appears in a myriad of identities, timelines,  jobs and countries – its  fairly baffling, intense but intriguing stuff. Grierson’s performance was commanding,  physical and full-on with  lots of sweat and attitude, but from the moment he stripped down to his pants, clambered over the seats and appeared at the rear of the auditorium looking like Christ on the cross, I was lost. The show’s references, concepts and mind stuff left me feeling like he was on a journey and I wasn’t along for the ride. Did the show change track or fall off the rails? - or was I just too thick to stay with it?  the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it.  Running time 1hr

Teasel Theatre - Grisly Tales from Tumblewater. Pleasance Courtyard 23/8/11

Grisly Tales is based on Bruno Vincent’s novel of the same title and is directed by Caroline Horton who performed ‘You’re Not Like the Other Girls Chrissy’ which toured to rural villages in the north earlier this year.

This is a good storytelling piece. In a nutshell, the story is about Orphan, Daniel Dory who sets out to rainy and strangely sinister Tumblewater in search of his long lost sister. We follow his adventures as he comes up against Tumblewater’s evil landowner and a witch.

If you’re performing a one-man show, you’ve got to be good and actor Edward Jaspers is. On stage with just a step ladder, a bag and top hat, he convincingly inhabits all the strange characters of Tumblewater and gives a very physical performance – complete with flying sweat. (more a feature of the attic venue than the show itself)

Although this is a dark tale, its not gruesome or grisly though I did wince at the bit about the fate of a baby who was mistaken for a loaf of bread. The show features some quirky songs sung live to the accompaniment of mandolin and the shows humour, its audience interactions and Edward’s likeability stop it feeling too dark.

With little to focus on other than the story itself, younger audience members may struggle a bit but I saw this show with a mixed audience that included many teenagers and they were all gripped from start to finish. I could definitely see this show working in village venues though running time only 1hour.

Idle Motion - The Vanishing Horizon. Zoo 23/8/11

A really great show. Strangely it was listed in the dance section of the fringe brochure. Its devised/ physical/visual theatre – but it aint dance.  

The Vanishing Horizon is about ‘female aviators and the spirit they embody’. Its also about one woman’s (Anna) personal journey as she flies to Africa to collect the ashes of her grandmother who took flight herself years ago and exited the lives of Anna and her mother.  The two story strands interlink to give a strong narrative, but it’s the sheer inventiveness of staging that makes this such a good show .

On a cluttered stage the 6 young performers packed in so much action it could’ve felt messy but the staging was so swift and seamless it worked. The set was strewn with some 30+ suitcases (the stars of the show) and what they didn’t do with a suitcase probably couldn’t be done - Bathroom cabinets, telephone booths, runways, mini bars, plane wings. So many clever touches. Such inventive use of props and objects.

This show was impressive, exciting and inventive. It had sub thems of hopes and ambitions and contained history, human interest and lots of paper planes. The audience loved it and so did I. I'd love to see this piece tour to Northumberland villages but suspect this award-winning company are much in demand. Show duration 55 mins

Backhand Theatre/ C Theatre - The Velveteen Rabbit 23/8/11

The Velveteen Rabbit is a children’s classic. I’d never heard of it so went with no expectations. The show tells the simple and touching story of how a toy rabbit was loved so much he became real. It had the feel of an old ‘once upon a time’ story – nanny, nursery and all.  It was performed by a young company on a storybook set depicting the nursery with different sized toy boxes a few scattered toys and a large fireplace that neatly doubled as a bed.

It was visually appealing with colourful costumes and many puppet characters made simply but not soft and cuddly (for small children the horse was perhaps frighteningly large). The show also benefited from some production on a large stage which for a children’s show, made a nice change.

I enjoyed the show, it was good, but ‘truly dazzling’ it was not. The main thing was that is was quite  wordy – even for story-theatre and though it was nicely staged and paced I thought it lacked a bit of charm and magic. Sitting at the back of the auditorium, I couldn’t see the faces of the children in the audience but the show seemed to grab their attention and  I’d say on the whole the audience really enjoyed this show. Duration 50mins

RT Productions/ Citizens Theatre - One Million Tiny Plays About Britain. Hill Street Theatre 22/8/11

One Million Tiny Plays.. is based on Craig Taylor’s serialised Guardian column.  As the title suggests, this play is a montage of contemporary British life  – a kind of ‘around the UK in 80 plays’. – well 20 maybe. The first few were performed on the stairs of the Hill Street venue before we were herded with speed around the corner to a clothes shop on George Street where the remainder of playlets were performed in the round –  almost - by 3 terrific performers.

For the next hour, we journeyed to UK towns and cities - a hen night in Newcastle, a hospital in Manchester, a kebab shop in Portsmouth – and met a range of different characters; litter pickers, cloakroom attendants, late night revellers, house hunters, a lonely old lady.  Snapshots of life were captured in a scene, some funny, some poignant, others familiar and a few stereotypical.

I think I was initially miffed that this show didn’t meet my expectations of a more visual show of ingenuity and clever use of set and props and that the unexpected switch of location put a spoke in the wheel of well timed plans to get to the next show on time (cab came and went without us).

I also felt my attention waning towards the end. These quick insights into the lives of others felt quite intimate to start with but there was no expectation of ‘what next’ as you knew it would be another short dialogue in another UK city.  That said, this show did stay with me.  Running time 1hr 15mins

United Artists - Al Bowlly's Croon Manifesto. The Bongo Club 22/8/11

I liked the idea of this one – a show with live music and post show dance. For the promoters who go the extra mile, this could make for a really good night out with cabaret style set-up and the involvement of local social dance groups as part of the show  - and audience development.

The show was about singer Al Bowlly’s career and hedonistic life in the 1930’s and featured many of his songs performed live with on-stage band. There were good performances from the actors and on-stage musicians and with a colourful life story to tell and period projections there was visually enough going on to keep it interesting. The show lost its pace when it involved a table of audience members in the staging of a ‘scene’ which was filmed at their table and projected back onto the onstage screen. A risky element which needed a swifter response from an ‘up for it’ audience.

The post show dance featured more foot-tapping lively music such as ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing if it aint got That Swing’ and in itself would make for a good night.

Alie Cohen Puppet Maker - Cloud Man. Hill Street Theatre 22/8/11

I loved this show. It felt a tad slow at times – particularly at the start but from the moment the utterly cute cloud man puppet appeared the smile never left my face.  The show was a visual delight. The set had lovely muted colours, fluffy clouds and a clever shed which stood infront of cloud mountain and opened out to reveal her collection of sample pots in windows which nicely framed some of the cloud man action. Children sat at the front on cloud cushions with Cloud Man clues hidden underneath. The fluffy clouds had pockets which opened to reveal cute ‘scenes’ such as cloud man chilling in a bubble bath. The music was as gorgeous as the puppets and the whole thing  was beautiful and delightful.

Cloud Man told the story of Cloudia, a cloud expert who dreamt of seeing the elusive Cloud Man. She collected clues to his existence and when she eventually finds him, she captures him in a glass jar before doing the right thing and releasing him. The show is aimed at 4 – 8yrs, is performed by Jen Edgar with designs by Allie Cohen who designed the fabulous and award-winning ‘The Man Who Planted Trees’ from Puppet State Theatre.