Info on Reviews of Shows at the 2011 Festival2010 | 2009 | 2008

The main objectives of this page are to:

• provide links to selected Visual Arts, Jazz & Blues and Film festival reviews
• tell you where you can find reviews of EIF and Fringe performances on the web. There are simply too many shows to provide links to specific reviews
• provide a list of those shows on the EIF and Fringe which have scored most marks with the critics
• summarise our own thoughts on the shows that we managed to see
• detail some of this year’s awards
• provide links to selected postmortems of the summer festivals by the critics.

Where to Find 2011 Reviews

There are a plethora of sources to satisfy even the most voracious consumer of reviews. Of course the critics vary from the professional to the semi-pro, the student, the enthusiastic theatregoer ... and all shades in between. Beware the wide range of criteria for giving star ratings among the critics. For example, The Guardian may give a very occasional 5 star rating whereas some sites spray them around like confetti. FringeReview gave around 50 in 2010. There was a spat last year on this very subject if you are interested that ultimately centred on how the critics reported on the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Caledonia.

The List
Scotsman
The Guardian
The Stage
EdinburghGuide.com
Chortle (comedy)
Fest
Whatsonstage.com
BritishTheatreGuide
Viewfromthestalls
The Herald
The Telegraph
The Independent
FringeReview
ThreeWeeks
OnstageScotland
BroadwayBaby
Edinburgh Festivals Magazine

I had a minor rant last year about the layout of review lists on some of the websites. Overall, they are gradually improving but I mention it again in the hope that the remaining sites may follow suit one day.

Most Critically Acclaimed Shows (Fringe and EIF)

There are simply too many shows and too many reviews to attempt a list of links to them, even an abbreviated version. Instead, I focus on producing periodic lists of those shows that the critics liked best. In 2011 they will be based on reviews from 11 sources, varying from mainstream media outlets to established festival websites.

Let me start off by stating the obvious: there are many enjoyable shows which never make these lists. We have seen many “minor classics” in Edinburgh over the years that went largely unnoticed by the critics. Indeed, we have a number of shows in our planned schedule for this year that have had little publicity during the “preview season”. So, do not be a complete slave to reviews: listen to the “word on the street” or "the ubiquitous tweet" and perhaps try something different – you might be pleasantly surprised.

This is the nineteenth and final iteration of the list and it was posted here on Tuesday 6th September, 2011 at 8.00am. 

Drama. Ten Plagues, The Tempest, The Games, One Thousand and One Nights, The Rape of Lucrece, Jus' Like That, Allotment, Swamp Juice, Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut, I Hope My Heart Goes First, Belarus Free Theatre, My Fithy Hunt, A Dish of Tea with Doctor Johnson, Qatsi Trilogy, Mission Drift, The Monster in the Hall, Somewhere Beneath It All A Small Fire Burns Still, Bane 1, 2 and 3, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, Shylock, Dust, Beowulf a Thousand Years of Baggage, John Peel's Shed, Little Matter, Almer Mater, Scary Gorgeous, An Instinct for Kindness, Oedipus, I, Malvolio, One Thousand and One Nights, A Slow Air, Your Last Breath, Anton's Uncles, The Wheel, Coffin Up, Translunar Paradise, Gogol's The Portrait, The Girl with the Iron Claws, Cutting the Chord, Bones, Hotel Medea, Release, The Dark Philosophers, The Whistle, Thirsty, Street Dreams and Alchemystorium.

Comedy. Bring Me the Head of Adam Riches, Luke Wright's Cynical Ballads, Brandreth Papers, My Name is Hannibal, Mark Thomas, Sheeps, Humphrey Ker is Dymock Watson, Tim Key, The Boy With Tape On His Face, Bashir Lazhar, Idiots of Ants, Paul Merton's Impro Chums, Andrew Maxwell, Fiona O'Loughlin, Nick Helm, Richard Herring, Max and Ivan, Carey Marx, Chris Martin, David Sedaris, DeAnne Smith, Paul Sinha, Russell Kane, Toby, Neil Delamere and Thom Tuck.

Dance & Physical Theatre. The Peony Festival, Korean Drum - Journey of a Soul, Forgetting Natasha, The Seagull Effect, Scottish Ballet, Flawless and Dance Marathon.

Music, Cabaret, Musicals and Opera. Thaïs, Ravi Shankar, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Re-Triptych, Orlando Paladino, Camille O'Sullivan, Evelyn Evelyn, Eastend Cabaret and Le Gateau Chocolat.

Children.  The Incredible Book Eating Boy.

• the minimum criterion for a show to be considered for the list is that it must have had at least three reviews … which is not easy.
• the drama section tends to be dominated by shows at the Traverse for the first couple of iterations simply because this is where a lot of critics tend to start - things will settle down after that with some of the Traverse shows dropping off the list;
• shows can drop off the list when later reviews are less flattering than the earlier ones;
• established comedians tend not to get many reviews and so may well not appear in the list - presumably it is assumed that they will get full houses whatever;
• successful shows returning for a second year also tend to get few reviews;
• music on the Fringe and performances on the International Festival often struggle to get three reviews and so may not appear on the list;
• and finally, I use the categories that shows appear in the programme brochures - which can sometimes seem a bit strange, e.g. the occasional comedian in the drama section, poet in the comedy section et cetera.

2011 Awards

There are a growing number of awards which will be mentioned in this section as they are announced. The Scotsman Fringe Firsts and The Bank of Scotland Herald Angels, are handed out weekly. The other awards are given towards the end of the festival. The most prestigious of these later awards are arguably The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence at The Fringe and The Foster's Comedy Awards.

The Scotsman Fringe First awards for new writing. The week 1 awards have been announced: Analogue Theatre's 2401 Objects, Somewhere Beneath It All A Small Fire Burns Still written by Dave Florez, Fishamble's Silent, The Wheel by Zinnie Harris, The TEAM's Mission Drift, Blind Summit's The Table and Futureproof written by Lynda Radley. Further details can be found here.

The Bank of Scotland Herald Angel awards. The week 1 awards have been announced. The Herald Archangel is the poet and playwright Heathcote Williams. Zanzibar Cats at the Gilded Balloon is the result of his partnership with performer Roy Hutchins. The Herald Angels are: Zecora Ura for Hotel Medea; the National Theatre of Scotland for The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart; Junction 25 for I Hope My Heart Goes First; The TEAM for Mission Drift; Pat Kinevane for Silent; and Mat Ricardo for Three Balls and A New Suit. The Little Devil award goes to Lorne Campbell (Tonight Sandy Greirson Will Lecture, Dance, and Box) for soldiering on with a black eye and bruises after coming off his bicycle after the front wheel got stuck in a tramline.

The Scotsman Fringe First awards for new writing. The week 2 awards have been announced: Mark Ravenhill and Conor Mitchell's Ten Plagues, Icon Theatre's Release, Emmanuel Darley's Tuesdays at Tescos, Curious Directive's Your Last Breath, Allotment, Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe's The Oh F**k Moment, RashDash's Scary Gorgeous and An Instinct for Kindness written by Chris Larner. Further details can be found here.

The Bank of Scotland Herald Angel awards. The week 2 awards have been announced. The Herald Archangel is the actor Simon Callow who is appearing in Tuesdays at Tescos. The Herald Angels are: Mokwhat Repertory Company of Korea for their staging of Shakespeare’s The Tempest; NeTTheatre and Grupa Coincidential for Turandot; Banana Bag and Bodice for Beowulf a Thousand Years of Baggage; Shock N Awe for Muscle; The Louis Dorra Trio; and literature talks and discussions under the the banner of These Silences. The Little Devil award goes to Jim Haynes, one of the co-founders of the Traverse, who fell ill after arriving at this year's festival.

The Scotsman Fringe First awards for new writing. The final week 3 awards have been announced: Look Left Look Right's You Once Said Yes, Tobias Wegner's Leo, Ross Dungan's Minute after Midday, Belarus Free Theatre's A Reply to Kathy Acker: Minsk 2011 and Gbolahan Obisesan's Mad About The Boy. Further details can be found here.

The Bank of Scotland Herald Angel awards. The week 3 awards have been announced. The Herald Archangel is the theatre director Max Stafford-Clarke, artistic director of the Traverse back in the 1960s, who is directing A Dish of Tea with Doctor Johnson. The Herald Angels are: veteran sitarist Ravi Shankar; Amjad Ali Khan (Indian lute player); Wu Wei (sheng player - Chinese mouth organ); Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe for The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan; Forest Fringe; Summerhall venue; and Fuel for The Simple Things in Life. The Little Devil award goes to the Zoo Southside venue who have struggled with power supply problems this week.

The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence at the Fringe: best actor - Billy Mack for The Overcoat; best actress - Alessija Lause for Danny and The Deep Blue Sea; best ensemble - Glasgow Citizens Theatre for The Monster in The Hall; and best solo performer - Gerard Logan for The Rape of Lucrece.

Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards: best comedy show - Adam Riches; best newcomer - Humphrey Ker; panel prize - The Wrestling.

Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize 2011: The TEAM for Mission Drift.

Amnesty International’s Freedom of Expression award: joint winners were Sold and Zinnie Harris's The Wheel.

The Carol Tambor Edinburgh to New York award: Leo performed by Tobias Wegner of Circle of Eleven and directed by Daniel Briere.

Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe award: Remarkable Arts.

Holden Street Theatres award: Theatre Ad Infinitum's Translunar Paradise.

Scottish Arts Club in conjunction with EdinburghGuide.com - Best Scottish Contribution to Drama on the Fringe. Catherine Wheel's One Thousand Paper Cranes.

Total Theatre awards: work by emerging artist / company - Sailing On performed by ShadyJane; physical / visual and devised performance - the joint winners were Jeff Achtem’s Swamp Juice, produced by Canadian company Bunk Puppets and the UK’s Scamp Theatre and Turandot which was produced by NeTTheatre and Grupa Coincidentia; innovation and experimentation - the joint winners were Maybe if you choreograph me, you will feel better presented by Tania el Khoury at the Forest Fringe, You Once Said Yes by Look Left Look Right at the Underbelly and Adrian Howells’ May I Have the Pleasure? which was produced by The Arches and staged by the Traverse.

Arches Brick award for emerging talent: Tania el Khoury for Maybe if you choregraph me, you will feel better at Forest Fringe.

Malcolm Hardee comedy awards: Johnny Sorrow (comic originality), Benet Brandreth (act most likely to make a million quid) and Kunt and The Gang with their promoter Bob Slayer (best publicity stunt).

FringeReview awards. Outstanding theatre shows: Theatre Movement Bazaar's Anton's Uncles; Theatre Ad Infinitum for Translunar Paradise; and Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari from SHUNT for The One Man Show.

Dave Funniest Joke of the Fringe 2011. Nick Helm ... "I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves."

Other awards include Threeweeks Editors' Awards, MTM:UK Musical Theatre Awards, Mervyn Stutter's Spirit of the Fringe Awards, So You Think You're Funny and the Allen Wright Awards for Journalists.

Punters' 2011 Visit

We took in 23 shows (it would have been 24 but the performance of The Wheel was cancelled on our first day) and 4 art exhibitions during our one week visit to Edinburgh.

As I feared, the drama programmes at the Traverse and Assembly were below par overall and the National Galleries of Scotland were having a low key year. We did not see anything on the International Festival - the few shows that were appealing were not on during our stay. Comedy as a whole was also somewhat below the standard of recent years ... or is it me - am I just getting older?

On the positive side, poetry appeared in our schedule for the first time in a number of years. In fact, on balance I would vote Luke Wright's Cynical Ballads and Gerard Logan's excellent performance of The Rape of Lucrece as the two highlights of our visit.

If I was to give one single recommendation then it must be for Gerard Logan's The Rape of Lucrece. With its very minimal set (the use of a white scarf) and powerful performance of Shakespeare's narrative poem it stands alongside the very best Edinburgh Festival Fringe one-man shows down the years.

Added on August 29th, 2011. Gerard Logan has just won best solo performer in The Stage's Awards for Acting Excellence at The Fringe. Judge Gerald Berkowitz explained: “Making poetry come alive is a challenge to any actor, as is making Shakespeare come alive. For a single actor on a bare stage to do both, absorbing us in the psychological drama of one of Shakespeare’s few non-dramatic works, is a true accomplishment. We all commented on how engrossed we were in Gerard Logan’s performance and what a surprise it was to find that the hour was over.”

Here is a brief summary of our thoughts on what we saw:

• overall an average year
• best drama production - Oedipus - particularly enjoyed The Chorus
• best one man show - The Rape of Lucrece closely followed by I, Malvolio
• most powerful drama - Roadkill
• most enjoyable drama - The Monster in The Hall
• best poetry show - Luke Wright's Cynical Ballads
• best comedy - Dr. Phil's Rude Health Show
• best dance / physical theatre - Swimming with my Mother. Unfortunately, we missed out on several other very good dance shows
• best visual arts - David Mach's Precious Light which celebrates the 400th anniversary of the King James' Bible. The Northern Renaissance: Durer to Holbein at the Queen's Gallery was also enjoyable
• this year's "turkeys" were Last Orders and What Remains which to put it mildly were both far from audience friendly - the word impenetrable springs to mind.

Post-Mortem on the 2011 Festival

Views on the 2011 festival by the critics have largely been limited to summaries - this offering in The Guardian is an enjoyable read - or pointing out what was different this year. However, there is virtually no discussion on whether the festival as a whole has been a good one or not. Of course, I am quietly ignoring those sections of the media which loudly insist that every festival is absolutely wonderful.

Let us start with The International Festival. Here the punters tend to drive the debate with the critics often left in no man's land. The ongoing discussion concerns the use of themes in recent festivals. To generalise, the majority of punters appear to dislike the use of themes; they would prefer a balanced international programme. The absence of the choral concerts at Greyfriars this year also occasioned much criticism. What many punters struggle to accept is that with each passing year it is becoming ever more prohibitively expensive to mount a programme of genuine quality. Who has the money to allow such programmes to be mounted? In the first 15 years or so of the festival's existence First World governments were prepared to subsidise appearances by the major companies from their countries as a means of marketing their countries. We have recently seen a return of such subsidies but only from those countries with the necessary money, i.e. those in Eastern Asia. I do not for one moment envy Jonathan Mills' task of squaring this particular circle ... punters' predilections versus economic reality. However, as I have mentioned several times before he could help himself by biting the pragmatic bullet and omitting the visual arts and drama. The former should be left to the Edinburgh Arts Festival and the latter to the Fringe, particularly to the Traverse Theatre.

There are the perennial claims that the Fringe is gloriously vibrant while the International Festival is sadly dull and jaded. The Fringe, as ever, is in fact a mixture. As usual it contained a modest amount of innovative work along with some really excellent productions. It also contains much that, while it can be entertaining, is run of the mill and some productions that are frankly very poor. Here are some of my thoughts this year:

• there was no "must see" show
• there was a noticeably greater use of technology this year, as illustrated in this Scotsman article. For the first time I thought that the use of video was generally thoughtful and germane to the pieces concerned, as opposed to coming across as simply the (over)use of a new toy
• there was more audience participation, as illustrated in this piece in The Telegraph. This is a topic that seems to divide punters, possibly along generation lines? I have no problem with it if it is relevant. I do have a problem however if the piece is principally built around audience participation. I particularly have a problem with it when punters are bullied. Perhaps it is just my age
• cabaret seemed to be back in favour this year with a lot more shows than usual
• similarly, poetry appeared to enjoy a mini-renaissance with the likes of Tim Key, Luke Wright, Tim Clare, John Osborne and veteran John Hegley. Once upon a time it used to have its own section in the Fringe programme. I saw and enjoyed Luke Wright's Cynical Ballads. In fact, the highlight of my festival visit this year was Gerard Logan's really excellent performance of Shakespeare's narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece
• dance had probably its strongest year since the late, much loved Aurora Nova venue was going strong
• puppetry also had a good year
• notwithstanding a number of very good productions I felt that it was a disappointing year for drama. Overall the Traverse programme lacked balance and was not up to the standard of recent years, plus the disappearance of the small venues in the Assembly Rooms adversely affected the quality of Assembly Theatre's drama programme
• for an old trooper like me who generally prefers his humour dry and topical the seemingly inexorable shift towards silly humour leaves me cold I am afraid.
• music suffered from a lack of media coverage
• in the media Lyn Gardner of The Guardian continued the debate which started last year on the inflated use of stars in reviews of Fringe shows

The Film Festival has had, to use that well-hackneyed phrase, an annus horribilis. Internal politics - I feel particularly sorry for Martin Mullighan, the producer or was he the director?!? who is the fall guy in all of this - funding issues and the struggle for a credible identity in the current film industry all contributed to a bad year. The post-mortem on the festival had but one theme - the media putting the proverbial boot in. The most comprehensive piece can be found in The FT, followed by The Guardian, The Scotsman and The List among others.

It is currently a case of wait and see. The search for an artistic director and the question of whether it should return to an August date in the calendar may determine if the 2011 experience was merely a temporary dip in the Film Festival's fortunes or if it is part of an inexorable decline.

The Art Festival has had a relatively low key year from a marketing perspective, i.e. there was no - what I would call - major exhibition in 2011. The highlight for me was David Mach's Precious Light exhibition which celebrated the 400th anniversary of the King James' Bible.

The Jazz and Blues Festival has struggled in recent years to gain sufficient media attention. It may be my imagination but this seems to have coincided with the disappearance in the last two years of the free All On A Summer's Day concert in Princes Street Gardens. Hopefully, better times may be around the corner.

It is difficult to comment on either The Book Festival or The Military Tattoo. Both can be considered to be niche areas which have their own reliable audiences but tend to do nothing particularly earth-shattering. There is nothing wrong with that ... no criticism is implied ... long may they thrive and prosper.

Edinburgh Art Festival

Links to selected reviews:

Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival

Edinburgh Film Festival

Links to selected reviews: