Review: Fleabag, Wyndham’s Theatre: It’s still brilliant

Published in The Independent August 29, 2019

It all started here: one woman, on stage, telling a story. In 2013, Fleabag opened in a small, dank fringe space in Edinburgh, before Phoebe Waller-Bridge turned it into a beloved, era-defining TV comedy, the show that launched her career – and a thousand think pieces.

Continue reading “Review: Fleabag, Wyndham’s Theatre: It’s still brilliant”

Edinburgh Fringe 2019 review round-up

Published in The Independent August 9, 2019

Baby Reindeer ★★★★☆ / Sh!t Theatre Drink Rum with Expats ★★★★★ / Lucy McCormick: Post Popular​ ★★★★☆

Some acts defy whatever section of the fringe programme you put them in. Theatre? Comedy? Performance art? Who cares? This year, several performers who have long straddled such boundaries return to the fringe. And however you define them, they’ve got something serious to say.  

Continue reading “Edinburgh Fringe 2019 review round-up”

‘It was therapeutic’: How Frightened Rabbit found solace making music for a new play, following the death of Scott Hutchison

Published in The Independent on August 10, 2018

When playwright Gary McNair was asked who should provide the music for his new play Square Go, there was only one answer: Frightened Rabbit. He’d been friends with the Scottish indie rock band for years – as well as being a huge fan – and had been waiting for a chance to work with them on the right show. Continue reading “‘It was therapeutic’: How Frightened Rabbit found solace making music for a new play, following the death of Scott Hutchison”

Meet Thomas McCrudden, the violent criminal squaring up to his past on stage

Published in The Telegraph on August 17, 2017

There’s a scene in Doglife, one of this year’s most talked-about plays at the Edinburgh Fringe, where the wife of a Glaswegian gangland enforcer, confronting him about his job, suddenly writhes onstage as if experiencing the violence he inflicts on others. Continue reading “Meet Thomas McCrudden, the violent criminal squaring up to his past on stage”

I went to the maddest interactive shows on the Fringe so you don’t have to

Published in The Independent on August 14, 2017

It’s midnight, and I’m lying on a massage table on stage in front of a room full of people. I’m gripping a cucumber between my thighs, which a tall Australian man is demonstrating his hand-job technique on. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Edinburgh Fringe. Continue reading “I went to the maddest interactive shows on the Fringe so you don’t have to”

I’m drinking eight cans of cider onstage every day for a month

Published in Vice on August 14, 2017

They say you have to suffer for your art. But whoever “they” are presumably aren’t talking about binge-drinking cider in public on a daily basis for a month. Mind you, that’s not stopping actor David William Bryan from doing exactly that at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival, all in the name of theatre. Whether theatre will thank him is another matter altogether.

Continue reading “I’m drinking eight cans of cider onstage every day for a month”

Review: Martin Creed’s Words and Music, EIF

Published in Fest on August 7, 2017

Artist Martin Creed’s show defies easy categorisation. He shares some thoughts, from the problem with trousers to the inadequacies of language to explanations of his sculptures. He plays some songs: some illustrate his musings, some are aural non-sequiturs. Continue reading “Review: Martin Creed’s Words and Music, EIF”