10 AUG 2012 ISSUE #02

IZZARD TO SPEAK FRENCH

FULL STORY ON PAGE 5

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WAR TRUTHS: BY SOPHIE CHILVERS

The Two Worlds of Charlie F is ‘about soldiers, from the

perspective of soldiers, told by soldiers’. Cassidy the leading man, who lost his leg in Afghanistan just six months before starting on the project, made it sound so simple. This performance voices the truth of war, a truth that often remains hidden from the public. Though not intentionally done, the writer explained that ‘You can’t put the truth of war on the stage and it not be a piece of anti-war theatre’.

Based on the experiences of 30 service personnel injured in combat, this unique project is a strikingly honest depiction of their lives before, during and after action. Not only vitally important to the creation of the play, the soldiers are then faced with the daunting task of performing their narrative.

Working in collaboration with The Royal British Legion and Masterclass, Alice Driver approached

writer Owen Sheers with the idea of not only basing the show on the stories of these soldiers, but also having them perform in it regardless of previous acting experience. Sheers expressed how he ‘sensed straight away that it was a very special opportunity to have that documentary element, having those real people involved. But at the same time I was pretty terrified by the idea as it obviously presented huge challenges and massive unknowns’. However, it is in confronting these unknowns that the show is made so wonderfully remarkable. With many of the cast physically limited some might have seen this as too great a challenge. Sheers described how this is what makes the performance so extraordinary, ‘in terms of the play those limitations were expansive because they make you find interesting areas to write into’.

Alice Driver, creative producer of Masterclass,

BRAVO 22 COMPANY

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originally suggested using theatre as therapy for those injured in war. One of the female members of the cast described how ‘it has basically become rehabilitation for most of us’. In trying to deal with such traumatic life experiences, being part of the project was described as a welcome distraction, an ‘opportunity to have a go again, to be a part of something huge’: they become part of a company once more.

Writer Owen Sheers and director Stephen Rayne found themselves submerged into the lives of the 30 service personnel. The key was to listen to their

personal stories and delve into research surrounding life as a soldier. With most of the cast on an average of 20 different medications a day, it was vital for the pair to understand fully what this meant for the soldiers. Once this process was completed, the tables turned and the soldiers were immersed into the unknown world of theatre.

Deeply moving, the play also holds moments of comic entertainment, reflecting the soldiers’ great sense of humour and ability to laugh at themselves. They are a highly entertaining bunch to be around, constantly laughing with each other

and though most had never been in the spotlight before the project, leading man Cassidy has a history of performance and comedy stand-up. Describing his first time on stage as a child when he played a tree, he joked about how ‘I was a dedicated tree. I really got inside that character’. Now Cassidy finds himself back on the stage after his injury in ‘a bizarre kind of fate’.

Documenting the lives of Bravo 22 Company, these poignant stories are married with the affect of theatre to create something quite unique. So far they have only known a standing ovation at the end of every performance and we predict many more in the future.

The Two Worlds of Charlie F is on at The Pleasance Grand, 7-11th August at 1.45pm

IT HAS BASICALLY BECOME REHABILITATION

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BY SOPHIE CHILVERS

THE GAMBLER PLAYS WITH FIRE

Edgar hides away from the world clutching his cards,

but he cannot escape his past. In a powerful performance inspired by Dostoevsky’s The Gambler, Edgar, played by Guillaume Pigé returns to scenes from his desperate past in a series of flashbacks. Plagued with an addiction to gambling, Edgar and the contrasting women of his former life twist and

turn frantically across the stage.

Expressing his excitement at finally making it to Edinburgh Pigé told us ‘I began working on The Gambler with Adam nearly two years ago and we always said it would be great if we could make it to the Fringe’. But the plan didn’t go quite as smoothy as they expected. Asleep in his London home, Pigé’s plans to come to

Edinburgh were almost destroyed; before coming to the Fringe, his house and possessions went up in flames after a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the shop beneath his apartment. Describing the drama of the event he explained ‘I did not manage to go through the smoke and so turned back and went to the window, put on my shoes and then jumped out’. There was no time to save all the props, costumes or set the company had worked so hard on for the show; ‘we lost our chair, our wonderful table with a turning top, all our costumes and all our props’. Romantically, only one box survived the blaze, ‘this box contained all my girlfriends love letters and they were all intact’.

The show consists of just three cast members including the multi-talented Guillaume Pigé, both director and performer in the show. Tugba Tamer brilliantly takes on both female parts. These contrasting women, comparable to Dr. Faustus’s battling angels, represent the opposing directions that Edgar could turn down.

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@AMATEURADAM: BUYING A BIN TOMORROW. IN THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT I’LL GO FOR THE 100 LITRES

Telling the audience that they ‘will decide their own fate’, we question whether Edgar would play his cards differently when looking back on his dreary life.

The audience are allowed access to the inner-workings of this tired addict. In writing the show, Adam Taylor and the team conducted a great deal of research in order to understand the mind of a gambler and their feelings whilst physically playing the game. To allow the thoughts and feelings of a gambler to resonate they ‘spoke with gambling addicts, went to GA meetings and worked all of that into the show’. This fusion of the spoken word, music and dance creates a brutally honest depiction of the mind of a gambler; as Edgar tells us himself, ‘winning was the most exhilarating experience’.

After the disastrous blaze Theatre Re were still determined to make it to the Fringe and ‘decided to go ahead and do it and here we are! It actually turned out to be a wonderful thing as we remade everything better!’ We’re grateful that they made it and urge you to go and see this magical show.

The Gambler is on 1-26th August, in the Pleasance Dome at 2.45pm

Eddie Izzard performed a surprise secret show entirely

in French on Sunday August 5th at the 80 seater Pleasance Beside.

In his own history of the world in French, Professeur Izzard touched upon the essential aspects of civilisation: technology, religion and language. Bringing beaucoup de l’absurdité to familiar topics (par exemple, how Apple products are sexier than PCs, and how France didn’t have proper toilets until the 90s).

Some entertaining characters were brought to life, including a velociraptor who drives a classic car, gets pulled over and tells the officer he has eaten his driving licence.

In a sketch about God, the dinosaurs were the result of a drug induced

dream. I promise I am not making this up, as I resorted to my ‘A’ Level French to get me through the show.

The fast paced narrative was hilariously punctuated with “qu’est-ce que fucking c’est?” and “trop fucking compliqué”, and his favourite phrase “guitare de l’air”, which the crowd assured him, does not exist in French. It was very educational, especially at the end, with a journey through the Stone Age, then Hannibal crossing the Alps on an elephant, ending with an excellent routine in a mixture of French, German, Italian and Latin about grammatical confusion. I felt sorry for the girl behind me who was having the show translated to her by her boyfriend, as he left a lot of the best bits out due to laughing too much.

You can listen to Eddie Izzard being interviewed by The Pleasance at http://soundcloud.com/thepleasance

EDDIE IZZARD’S SECRET SHOWCO

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TORY

QU’EST-CE QUE F*CKING C’EST?

BY HARRIET BRAINE

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PHOTOS BY IDIL SUKAN

BY ANDY SMITH

Mental illness, royal obsession and a longing to be loved

combine to create a truly touching story. Mon Droit braves a potentially difficult subject and has tackled it with a delicate touch, while still delivering an interesting and ultimately emotional tale of a man determined to meet the Queen.

This bizarre story hit the papers in October 2011 when an American citizen was found dead on West Island – a piece of land floating in a lake in St James’s Park. Looking onto Buckingham Palace, this was a prime position for someone in search of the Queen. For 15 years this addiction continued as he endeavoured to send correspondence to Her Majesty. After a tree surgeon found the man’s remains, a full investigation uncovered the dark and emotive past of one royally obsessed American.

The production unveils the real-life story of Robert Moore, who adamantly believed he had been receiving messages from various sources about a mission telling him how

to get to the Queen. Mike McShane, who frequently made appearances on Whose Line is it Anyway?, plays the role of the obsessed Robert. He weaves humour into the performance, while at the same time creating beauty and sadness in the part. At times it is upsetting to watch as Robert tries to deconstruct the messages he believes he’s being sent, meeting psychologically induced obstacles and verging on the edge of breakdown.

A truly beautiful piece of theatre, the small but hugely talented cast of two explore the pains of unrequited love in this extraordinary story. Suki Webster inventively plays many different individuals who come into contact with Robert, whilst each of these characters make Robert’s journey more challenging. We watch him fall from sanity as he becomes isolated from society.

Mon Droit is running 1-27th August, at 2pm in the Courtyard

FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY

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MON DROIT

STRIKEOUTHAYLEY ELLIS FROM COMEDY ZONE STRIKES OUT

London vs Edinburgh(Edinburgh all the way)

Theatre vs ComedyDriver vs Passenger

(There was no option for back seat driver)Letter vs E-mail

(I like to use letters as blackmail)Spiderman vs Batman

(No man looks good in an all-in-one lycra suit)Dome vs Courtyard

(Especially around 22.45 this year) Speaking vs Listening

(Sorry what was the question?)Home vs Away

(I prefer Neighbours)

FOR1DEALS AND OFFERS2

Cut out and present to the Box Office for

2-for-1 tickets for:

MONDROIT

14:00 13th August

Pleasance Courtyard Below

ONE (WO)MAN SHOW

While stand-up comedy remains a mainstay of the

Edinburgh Fringe, it seems that there is a different beast beginning to take centre stage.

One man shows have always been a powerful

and well-known form of performance, but this year there is a healthy abundance of productions which tread the line between stand-up and theatre. There’s everything from single-character scripted monologues,

to multi-roled, cleverly layered and fast moving one-person-productions.

Blurring the lines between comedy and theatre, Abi Tedder brings her one woman show Anything But to this year’s Fringe, assuring us that ‘the show is a one woman play, but it’s very much a comedy... It’s a whimsical, hilarious approach to the death of her dad’. This gives an idea of what to expect from the performance, Abi playing multiple roles in the piece, telling us that ‘it’s a play that’s incredibly gag-heavy. It’s not a comedic play, it’s a comedy play’.

Having started out in stand-up comedy, performing a one woman show is perhaps a return to her natural ground, saying the format of the play allows for her to ‘get to do a bit of the stand-up-y talking to people in the audience’ as well as acting.

It’s evident from chatting to her that Abi enjoys performing within the intimate setting of a one woman show, reeling from the previews: ‘It’s been really fun, we’re in the Baby Grand, which is

BY ANDY SMITH

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@LYNGARDNER: IT MADE MY BRAIN HURT BUT THE REAL AMBITION IN AFTER THE RAINFALL REMINDS

WHY CURIOUS CREATIVE ARE A COMPANY TO WATCH

I pinch, steal, borrow and let it blurt out onstage

quite an intimate space’, then adding, ‘My comedy is about 75% sweating and 25% hope and desperation. At one of the previews in London, I could have quenched a small African nation’.

While Abi’s show is a crossover of these two styles of performance, Joe Bone’s one man powerhouse of a show, Bane, is a master class performance in multi-roleing.

The character of Bane materialised before the show was conceived: ‘I had this idea buzzing around my head of this tough hired hand character, and started doing five-minute slots of the character on comedy nights’. This character would soon become Bane, Joe stretching out the shorts for the show, with a realisation: ‘I thought if you can sustain it for an hour in another one man show, maybe you can sustain Bane for an hour rather than five minutes on a comedy night, which thankfully so far I’ve been able to do’.

Writing as well as performing the show, Joe has created a cohort of different characters, switching between them at break-neck speed. His characters cannot be tied down to one influence, Joe calling himself a ‘bit of a magpie’ taking inspiration for his characters ‘from everywhere’, admitting ‘I sort of pinch, steal, borrow and then put it through

the mill, and let it blurt out onstage’.

Joe is performing all three Bane shows which have been written and performed over the last four years by Joe and the musician for the show, Ben Roe. This trilogy charts the upward journey of one of the Fringe’s most popular one-man shows.

Both these productions

are prime examples of the returning popularity of the one man (or in Abi’s case one woman) show, and they highlight the talent and quality that can be found within such a form of performance.

Anything But is on at the Pleasance Courtyard, 1-27th August, and Bane is on at the Pleasance Dome, 1-26th August

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A LETTER TO

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DOOR The Noise Next Door are

regulars at the Fringe, having performed here

as a quintet for five years. Returning this year with their new show Bring the Noise, this apparently was not enough on its own so they have set themselves the ultimate challenge.

The boys describe themselves as an ‘improv sketch show’. Setting them apart from other improvised performances this talented group include audience members, comedy stars, props and clever lighting tricks as part of the set. They never know which way it’s going to turn and so every night is a one-off.

This year The Noise Next Door have decided that one show just isn’t enough and have set themselves an exhausting 24 hour challenge. The boys assured me that they would not be working as a tag team, with all of them being present for the whole 24 hours of the show taking place all over the city. The day promises to include a variety of events; they hope to clamber up the famous Arthur’s Seat, have a venue

booked for part of the day but also will be getting on with important festival tasks (albeit in different and more exciting ways). Essentially this show hands over creative control to the public as they want your guidance on how they should spend their day. Through social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter you can tell them what to do, ‘For example part of our day would be flyering but we don’t just want to flyer normally, so people might be like ‘oh make a human caterpillar the length of the mile and flyer that way’, so that would be the challenge’.

Asking the guys if they had any concerns about the day-long show they appeared not to have thought too much about this side of things, commenting ‘It would be really good to get an energy drink to sponsor us’. Their plan is to see where the day (or the public) takes them on this ‘improv adventure’.

If you want to help tire them out, make sure you follow them and boss them around from 7pm 13th August.

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A LETTER TO PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Dear Prospective Dumbiedykers,

I, Miss Wade, am Head Teacher of this institution,

inspired by the words of Whitney Houston ‘I believe

the children are the future’.

I am happy to report that three days into the

Saint Dumbiedykes Academy re-launch, we’ve had

no resignations, accusations or parent/teacher

conflict. In fact, we’ve been met by nothing other

than luke warm praise. Our win at the local arts

and crafts fair, (for head boy, Rhys Stephenson’s

Representation of a potato) has elevated the

school to special Arts Status and thus seen an

increased supply of Crayola.

Professor Mann, his work with the Hadron

Collider on hold, mans the helm of all three

Sciences, whilst stretching his oars even to the

shores of English Literature, Geography and

PSHE. Although it’s been a personal challenge

to understand a word of this man’s genius, and

despite plummeting supplies of our liquid ethanol, I

am confident, we are beginning to make headway.

I am not, however, confident in his ability to teach

sex education. I doubt his knowledge stretches to

anything other than the theoretical.

I look forward to welcoming you to Saint

Dumbiedykes – a school like no other!

Miss Wade

Back to School is on 7-26th August at 1.30pm and

4pm, at the Pleasance Braidwood Centre

TEN MINUTES TO CURTAIN: THE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW

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MATTHEW CROSBY OF PAPPY’S, FLAT SHARE SLAM DOWN AND MATTHEW CROSBY THE SHOW

How’s the run been going?It’s been going great – it’s really nice. It’s good to have a lot of things to keep you busy, as you can go a bit mental at the Fringe, so you’ve got to get out, see lots of shows, and in my case do lots of shows. It means you’re always about to do something. Also, last year we did a show at 4.45pm, which was brilliant, but it meant that by six o’clock I was free, and if you start drinking at six, you can do twelve hours of drinking after every show! So I like doing this to prolong the day as much as I can.

How long have you been performing here?The first time Pappy’s came up was 2006. We did five shows up until 2010, and then I did my first solo show. This is my seventh year performing here. So it’s been a while. But it’s really inspiring to see people like Richard Herring who have been doing the Fringe for 20 odd years. It just shows if you want to keep doing this forever you really can, there’s nothing stopping you.

Do you prefer performing sketch or stand-up?Whatever I’m doing at the time I tend to be enjoying. I very rarely am doing Pappy’s and think ‘Oh I wish the other two would piss off’. They are two very different things, and when I have ideas for sketches, they usually come as sketch ideas, and when I have ideas for stand-up they come as stand-up ideas. I just like doing comedy of all kinds. It’s my favourite thing in the world to do.

Taking the year off from Pappy’s was a really good thing for us, it made us get very excited about writing new stuff. I think we’re all really proud of this and it may be our best show yet. It’s the show we like the most.

What are your plans after the Edinburgh Fringe?We’re going on tour, and we’ll carry on doing the podcast. Just carrying on gigging around the place, and hopefully start putting together another show for Edinburgh. I still have an academic diary, because that’s the shape of my year, I’ve always had a year that starts in September, after the Fringe.

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HORRIBLE HISTORIES

PLEASANCE PICTURE SHOWHIGHLIGHTS OF ALL THE PLEASANCE HAS TO OFFER CAPTURED BY OUR RESIDENT PHOTOGRAPHER IDIL SUKAN

HORRIBLE HISTORIES

OTHELLO THE REMIX COURTYARD BY NIGHT

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PAPPY’S BY IDIL SUKAN

CARDINAL BURNS BY NAGEL, WOODCOCK, WINKWORTH

J A M E S A C A S T E R A N D A N D R E W O ’ N E I L L

Two of our favourite stand-ups, one new, one not-so-new, go

against each other in a battle of polite comments. Round 1 features fresh talent James Acaster and his thoughts on Andrew O’Neill.

James, in his show Prompt, performs a routine with awkward charm and misplaced showmanship which serves to win over

the audience immediately. His observationalist comedy comes through as a very fresh approach to stand up, and he quickly builds a rapport that has the audience rolling in the aisles. James saw Andrew O’Neill last week and told us:

I always enjoy watching Andrew O Neill, he has a

distinctive style that you can’t find anywhere else on the fringe, and this year’s show has so many unpredictable routines throughout it that stay with you afterwards. He also wore a very nice T-shirt on the night I saw him.

James’s show Prompt is running 1-26th August, 8.15pm, Pleasance Courtyard

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STAND-UP SHOW DOWN

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We are Eastern Angles Theatre Company – and it’s our birthday! Yes, we are 30 years old this year! We are best known for commissioning East Anglian writers like Joel Horwood and asking them to come up with exciting and surprising new plays that take a sideways look at life in our region.

Joel (writer & director) has described I HEART Peterborough as a ‘heartbroken howl’ about the everyday work of trying to reconcile your feelings with how you’re perceived; whether you’re a city or a person. It’s a struggling, fractured freight-train of thought about two people who are seeking ways to define themselves against the homogenising effects of modern day living.

Why Peterborough? Peterborough is just that place you change trains for the Edinburgh Fringe, right? Well, that was kind of the point. This play is about people, definitions and the universal desire to be different and special. Peterborough could be considered the third character… it may as well be your home town.

We are not massively keen on performing in posh velvety theatres. Our shows work best in rough and ready places like barns, backyards, potting sheds, tents and aircraft hangars or in community spaces like village halls, pubs and churches! That’s why we like bringing shows to the Fringe – the friendly, hotchpotch festival atmosphere is right up our street. The Pleasance Two is very nice though!

We wouldn’t be in Edinburgh if it wasn’t for the massive support we receive from the Arts Council’s Escalator East to Edinburgh scheme. Peterborough’s forward-thinking new Cultural Trust, Vivacity, applied for the scheme and asked Eastern Angles and Joel Horwood to come up with play to take to the Fringe. Hopefully we’ve come up with something that shows Peterborough in a new light!

I HEART Peterborough can be seen at 5.35pm, 1-27th August at Pleasance Courtyard

I HEART PETERBOROUGH

Who? What?

Where?Why?

How?

SHOW DOWN

THE NEED-TO-KNOW ANSWERS ABOUT THE SHIOW

HOW TO BOOK:ONLINE ATwww.pleasance.co.ukON THE PHONE

0131 556 6550

Pleasance Courtyard, 60 Pleasance, EH8 9TJ (9am-midnight)

Pleasance Dome, 1 Bristo Square, EH8 9AL (10am-1.30am)

OR

IN PERSON AT THE BOX OFFICE

/thepleasance

@ThePleasance

/ThePleasanceTV

FIND US ONLINE:

PLEASANCE COMEDY PODCASTYOU CAN FIND THE

BY FOLLOWING THE QR CODE

The Pleasance Theatre Trust Ltd is a registered Charity in England and Wales. Charity No 1050944. And in Scotland SC043227.

Edited by Sophie Chilvers & Andy SmithCOVER PHOTO BY IDIL SUKAN

10 AUG 2012 ISSUE #02