The Edinburgh Festival Fringe officially kicks off today, so it really is about time I get on with part two. As I mentioned last time, all the shows I went to were previews, meaning that often the acts were still getting to grips with the show, testing out material and working from notes. So, while it’s a fair enough guide, in many cases I’ve not seen the finished show.
Daniel Kitson: It’s Always Right Now, Until It’s Later
£12, Traverse Theatre, 10:00
For many years now, Daniel Kitson has gained a reputation as one of the funniest and most exciting stand-ups on the circuit. But for the last four or five years, he’s also been something else: a storyteller. His last few Edinburgh shows have been tales of moving out of his first flat or the discovery of the longest suicide note in history, theatrical monologues with as much pathos as humour. This year’s show is similar in style but perhaps his most ambitious of all, looking at what it is to live a life and how our lives can feel like a series of fleeting moments, as we change over time yet remain, deep down, the same person.
Hanging above and all around the intimate stage are a series of dimly glowing light bulbs, seemingly randomly positioned. Each represents a single moment in time, and each glows brightly in turn as Kitson paces around the stage, describing that moment in two people’s lives, two stories told in births, deaths and marriages, parties, phone calls and bus rides. He alternates between scenes in the lives of Caroline (a little girl, teenager, girlfriend, wife, mother, then grandmother) and a man called William whose life we see backwards: the sad old man becoming the bitter middle aged man, hopeful young man and confident child. It really is a thing of astonishing beauty and genuinely touching, these ordinary people and their outwardly mundane lives somehow seeming extraordinary and to be celebrated. As he mentions, park benches seem a terribly insignificant memorial to everything a human being has ever done, we all deserve at least a statue.
As well being thought-provoking and very moving, the show is also very, very funny. Never unrelentingly so – as you’d already have gathered, this isn’t a stand-up show – but Kitson is a remarkable writer and the humour, when it comes (particularly William’s tragic and hilarious rant on a first date) is spectacularly funny. His writing style is very literary and I left the show feeling like I had just finished reading a very good, rewarding novel.
The preview I saw finished at midnight, in the creaky old chapel room of the Battersea Arts Centre, a wonderfully atmospheric venue. The show seemed to be a perfect fit with the stillness of night, so I do wonder how it will go down in its mid-morning slot in the Fringe. If you get the chance to see one of Daniel Kitson’s shows, don’t miss it.
Stewart Lee: Vegetable Stew
£10, The Stand Comedy Club, Times vary
One of the funniest and most intelligent comedians around, Stewart Lee would top the “must see” list for anyone visiting the fringe. The show covers a variety of topics, from charity work to the Bullingdon club, touching upon Mock the Week and the World Cup presenters along the way. As always with Lee, as fantastic as the material is, much of the delight comes from playing with the form and style of delivery, toying with the audience’s expectations and breaking the rules of stand-up comedy.
This year’s show doesn’t break any particular new ground, being very similar in style and format to last year’s If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One, right down to finishing with a song. Nonetheless, it’s a stunningly good hour of material with a particularly enjoyable thread woven through the first half about his grandfather, and a long, detailed story about David Cameron with a killer pay-off. If you don’t get to catch the show live, Stew will be using some of the material in the second series of his BBC Two Comedy Vehicle later in the year.
Addy Van De Borgh: Advanced Mumbo Jumbo
£8, The Stand Comedy Club II, Times vary
Sometimes you get a surprise when watching a stand-up and that was the case when I went to see Addy Van De Borgh’s preview. The show is about the misuse of language – flowery corporate speak, estate agents’ truth-bending descriptions, that sort of thing. Van De Borgh mixes some sharp one-liners with imaginative, surreal situations, with a sensational talent for physical, theatrical performance and a wonderfully honed sense of comic timing. And if that’s not enough, he also plays the mouthorgan.
At times he reminded me of the way Bill Bailey chuckles through his act, inviting the audience to share in the joke, while some of his more surreal flights of fancy were almost Izzard-like. His assured style and – there’s no other way to say it – face for comedy make me wonder why he hasn’t had more exposure. Definitely a show to seek out.
Chris Addison
£17.50, Assembly @ George Street, 20:25
Addison returns to the Fringe after an absence of five years, now a very big name following his success in The Thick of It and In The Loop. Bounding across the stage with great confidence, his great strength is his well-crafted, passionate delivery. His observational humour is gimmick-free and safe, but does have a pretty high laugh-per-minute rate. This is one of the pricier shows on the fringe, though, which might make you think twice.
Laura Solon: The Owl of Stephen
£12, Pleasance Courtyard, 17:00
Solon is a talented character comedian who ditched stand-up early in her career to focus on one-woman plays. This is the story of the fictional Channel Island of Stephen which two businessmen want to buy (referencing the story of the Barclay brothers and Brecqhou) but cannot because of a rare owl, the last of its species, which lives on the island. We follow a TV producer and American actress attempting to make a documentary about the owl, meeting the many unusual residents of Stephen. Solon brings each character to life wonderfully, the dialogue often deceptively sharp as the delightful whimsical story heads to it’s rip-roaring conclusion. This is a really fun, entertaining show which is worth catching.
Stephen Carlin: The Podium of Unconditional Surrender
£8, The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, Times vary
First things first, I should mention that when I saw the Scottish stand-up’s preview, the show hadn’t exactly sold out. There were only around a dozen or so of us in the room, which is a really difficult thing for a stand-up to work with, and I thought he coped really well. While his routine often stepped into well-worn areas (Ryanair, for example), he managed to put an original spin on things. His offbeat, somewhat deadpan style which I imagine would work brilliantly in a full house was in danger of verging on awkward at times due to the small audience, but he countered this by going off-piste to talk to the crowd, expertly dealing with a heckler who still managed to completely derail the show’s denouement. Carlin developed some fine ideas during the show, including a particularly amusing proposal for a new British coat of arms. Despite the unusual atmosphere, I enjoyed the show, and expect Carlin to be a name to look out for in the future.
Joe Bor: A Study of Embarrassment by a Guy with Two Bumholes
£5, Fringe at Le Monde, 20:00
Joe Bor genuinely does have two… well, bumholes. He copes with this recent medical discovery by putting on a whole show on the subject of embarrassment. The early version I saw still had some creases to iron out and was a little messy at times but there was lots of good material in there. At times he seemed to lack confidence in his best material, but as I mentioned, it was an early version of the show I saw, used to refine it into the final piece. Bor is an energetic comedian with a lively show, at one point bringing members of the audience on stage, and particularly funny rapport with his “sound man”. At a fiver a ticket, it’s worth considering.
These were some of the acts I had the chance to see warming up before Edinburgh, but there are a few others I didn’t catch who are also worth a look. There’s a huge amount of buzz around Seann Walsh (£12, Pleasance Courtyard, 20:30), described by Time Out as “This generation’s Dylan Moran”, so if you’re in Edinburgh you should get yourself to his show so you can tell your friends that you were at his solo Fringe debut. If you’re looking for something to do in the afternoon, you can do no better than seeing previews were Nat Luurtsema (£9.50, Pleasance Dome, 15:45), whose witty, imaginative routines are a joy to watch. Paul Foot (£9.50, Underbelly, 19:40) is a wonderfully silly, uniquely odd comedian, and his show directed by Noel Fielding is a must-see for fans of surreal comedy. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a stand-up to provide nothing more than a series of razor-sharp gags and one-liners, Gary Delaney (£9.50, Pleasance Courtyard, 20:30) and his whimsy-free zone is the show to go to and Dan Antopoloski (£9.50, Pleasance Dome, 20:00), winner of last year’s ‘funniest joke of the Fringe’ is worth a look as well.