Fringe shows 2009

A quick run through the shows of 2009 which we saw. The only order they appear in are the order in which we saw them. A great full paced opener and a dramatic clever ender with some delightful whimsical performances in between.

Morecambe.

A strong, one man show which told the life of Eric Morecambe up to and including his death. A show that was joyous and which captured the life of a man who took seriously the art of making people around him laugh. Its always good to start the Fringe visit with a lift and this was it.

Hugh Hughes.....360

I am a fan of Shon Dale-Jones who as Hugh Hughes uses whimsy and and charm to tell tales of imagination and of an apparent biographical nature. His story telling is very endearing and in this, his latest, has moved almost towards a stand up routine.

Mickey Flanagan

The east end boy moves to middle class lifestyle, but you can take the boy out of the East End but.... I like his quiet honesty and his warm tone. His routine about dealing with neighbours - meeting them, avoiding them and peeping at them was delightful.

Stefan Golaszeski is s widower

A strong one man play set in the future about a man looking back on his life and death of his wife. It sounds grim, but as the teller of the tail, he was not a truly likable man, so his pain felt almost like a comep-uppance to him. The play was sprinkled with clever references to how life changes and yet remains the same. Men still followed football, but its Yeovil Town who in 50 years time are the new Manchester United.

Marcus Brigstocke - God Collar

I like this man and after his show, I still do. He hits his targets hard and is not afraid to cause a gasp in and a bit of shock to his audience. Religion is a ripe area and no one area was safe, not even the atheists, so he was fair.

The Origin of Species...

The longest title in the programme. This is not the best rule of thumb by which to plan a programme, but this was delightful. Clever comedy songs and a great one man performance as Darwin and his family, friends and sponsors were brought to life in the shape of he performer.

The Doubtful Guest

Based on a story by Edward Gorey, this was absolute magic and has lived with me for over week now. Shon Dale-Jones wrote and directed it. It had the man's touch alright.
The actors played a family whose lives had been overturned by a strange poltergeist like visitor. The family had decided to present their experiences in a theatre and so they did as best the family could - awkwardly, embarrassingly and using theatrical devices that they thought were appropriate. And that what was so funny. Oh and the music was hauntingly fitting.

Sarah Millican

Bright and sharp, Sarah swings from a weak vulnerable woman to a side that shocks and pulls no punches. She builds her act cleverly, targetting men and women equally. Extremely funny to extremely painful, there were moments where I felt uncomfortable - but that is when Ms Millican might have said in her beautiful Geordie lilt, "Well, you deal with it, I have no problem."

Barbarshoper II

Fast paced musical fun that told the story of a Spanish bullfighter who inherits a barbers in an East Anglian coastal town but not without the attention of the resident hairdresser whose trichological empire building are now thwarted. Sheer energy and great amusement and all in four part harmony.

Sociable Plover

Yes, it is a bird and this attention holding short drama was a great finale before the train home.
A plot that settled in to one groove before the play's built-up stereotypes were dramatically overturned in a most surprising manner.

Those were the shows and there will be more, I hope, next year.