Maeve and Phoebe’s Edinburgh Fringe Picks #2

It’s been showpalooza for the past couple of weeks so we haven’t had time to blog. But here’s a selection of the best of some amazing stuff we’ve seen (in Maeve’s words, obviously, as will become evident as I gush about a variety of gorgeous women I’ve seen):

• Lady Rizo. Oh Lady Rizo. Stunning, hilarious, bizarre, a fabulous mix of odd and honest and glamourous and talented. Her Dolly Parton / Blondie mash up is inspired and the original songs stand strong among the fabulous covers. We can’t talk about the show without mentioning that I had the honour of being invited onto the stage (ok, so I enthusiastically volunteered), where I witnessed the Lady’s costume change, was interviewed about how I lost my virginity, enjoyed a spontaneous Ani DiFranco cover and generally had some of the best minutes of my Fringe behind a screen in front of a live audience. But while this was the fun part of the show, the real glory was in the beautiful arrangements and soulful performances, the comic timing and mischievous air to the whole affair.
• Frisky and Mannish: 27 Club. We managed to score some last minute tickets to Frisky and Mannish and we weren’t disappointed. They had some of the best on stage banter of all the cabaret we’ve seen and their songs were fabulous, creating a sound that felt like much more than just two voices and a piano. Totes have a crush on Frisky now too.
• A Donkey and a Parrot. In contrast with all the cabaret and comedy we’ve seen, Donkey and a Parrot is a sweet, generous piece of theatre which warmly invites you in to its world. A one woman show, Sarah Hamilton is gentle and wide-eyed without being saccharine. Also, she has the coolest set we’ve seen, a barrel packed with bells and whistles and hidey holes.
• Asher Treleaven. Ok, so I am really including this in honour of a select 6 minutes in the middle of Asher’s show in which he does the best and funniest diablo routine I’ve ever seen. The rest of the show is fine, but the diablo is glorious and worth your money.
• Bec Hill is More Afraid of You Than You Are of Her. Bec Hill’s brand of comedy is gentler, self-deprecating and pleasingly geeky, with pop up art flip books, fun props and a lovely awkward tone which endears you to her immediately. She was just what we needed on an exhausted Tuesday afternoon.
• The Showstoppers’ Improvised Musical. Tuesday afternoon was for fun, geeky comedy, but the night before kicked off with gins in hand at Showstoppers, which was clever, hilarious and musically pretty great. Loads of fun. Want to go again so we can see how much is improvised and how much rehearsed!
• Tom Thum. This guy is amazing, a fantastic beatboxer with a show that will blow you away. He is loaded with stars, all well deserved.
• Fork: Electro Vocal Circus. This one gets an honourable mention as it’s one of Phoebe’s top shows (she saw it twice) but not one of Maeve’s. Phoebe loves a cappella choirs and found this odd Finnish quartet’s use of electronic looping and effects fun and wonderful. While I was VERY taken with the use of capes and unitards (if Sarah has the best set, these guys have the best costumes), I thought the electronic effects actually took too much away from the vocals and I just felt like I was in a nightclub. A weird, funny nightclub in Finland is hardly something to be sniffed at though!

We’ve got a bunch to see before we finish up in less than a week (eep!) including Reginald D Hunter, Susan Calman, Kemble’s Riot, Mae Martin, SexyTime, Briefs and more. ARGH!

One down, twenty-four to go.

“Can we open the doors?” said the front-of-house girl. “There are forty-five people outside.”

“Did you say four or five?” I said.

“No. Forty-five”

Our first preview. And we had an audience! Despite a brief microphone issue, our 15-minute changeover ran smoothly under the expert leadership of Phoebe, Linda and our venue tech, Emma. Up went the lights and we were on. All ran smoothly and – shock horror – the audience laughed and clapped in all the right places!

We’d been booked for a performance at the Spiegeltent for the Edinburgh Festivals Magazine launch that started 15 minutes after our scheduled show finishing time. Feeling super organised, we’d practiced the walk from one venue to the other the day before. All was well. Until we ran into our friend, Spanky, who manages the Assembly Gardens, and were informed that there are TWO Spiegeltents…and we’d practiced walking to the wrong one. The walk was a good couple of kilometers more than we’d planned for.

We calmly informed the gang that they’d be taxiing not walking to the second performance and continued to flyer out front for our show.

“WannaSeeAnAustralianAllGirlCabaretWeSingSongsByMenAndDanceReallyBadlyIt’sFunny!”

Flyering, we’ve learnt, is about getting as much information about your show out of your mouth as quickly as possible.

I’m not sure whether it was during the speedy cab ride across Edinburgh, or as we ran through the rain, all tutus and flying hair towards the Spiegeltent, but at some point last night, I decided this might just become the best month of my life. The Spiegeltent was already full of drunk artists, crew and press and a woman on stage was plugging her show and singing. Of course, we couldn’t find the organiser or the stage manager (“Things at Edinburgh are…fluid…”, the guy we hired our instruments from had told us). We hung about backstage and then the SM started setting up 6 mismatched mics. Before we knew it we were announced and we pranced onto the stage.

After the speediest rendition of Fat Bottomed Girls we’ve ever sung and our old favourite, You Shook Me All Night Long, we were off the stage again and out into the crowd to be greeted by Virginia Gay, sporting the best yellow dress I’ve ever seen. I think I need to work on my ‘cool factor – “We went to primary school together!” isn’t the best greeting for an Australian cabaret and TV star. But I recovered and we all had a little artisty banter and agreed to see each others’ shows.

The walk home in full tutu was littered with macho wolf-whistles and the odd interested glance, something we’ll have to get used to. Four of us decided that the rock star life was not for us, eschewing booze and burgers to pick up some fancy cheese and crackers at Tesco. You could be forgiven for thinking you were witnessing an orgy from the satisfied moans echoing around the apartment when we got out of our stockings, boots, sweaty bow ties and mammoth hair dos, popping our tired bodies into PJs as quickly as we could before setting up shop in the lounge to eat our feast.

A quick debrief with the whole team and we were ready for bed.

One show down, 24 to go.

 

Maeve Marsden’s Edinburgh Fringe Bucket List

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing bucket lists by members of the Lady team. If, like Linda, you don’t know what a bucket list is Here is mine:

1. Kiss a girl with a Scottish accent. Or a boy. It is amazing the effect cute accents have on my normal sexuality.
2. Get one (or more) 5 star reviews. Our first reviewer is in the house on Saturday, so fingers crossed!
3. Be able to scale the flights of stairs to our apartment without having a heart attack. Also, climb Arthur’s Seat. Might have to conquer the staircase first…
4. See Hannah Gadsby’s show, Hannah Wants a Wife. Become said wife. We had a beautiful, intimate moment at the Adelaide Fringe in 2011 when she spotted me in the crowd, invited me onto the stage and improvised a hilarious schtick about how ugly and terrifying my concentrating face is. I think our romance is off to an excellent start. On a similar theme, I’d like a private serenade of DeAnne Smith’s Nerdy Love Song. Wearing no pants…
5. Make the most of the Fringe Central producing and touring events. Introduce Phoebe to as many people as possible as my BusinessWife while maintaining a straight face. Get another Lady to take sneaky photos of their reactions.
6. Take Dr Joe to Confessions of a Grindr Addict and take bets on how many audience members will be on Grindr during the show.
7. Eat vegetarian haggis. I also intend to eat a veritable ton of Indian food. Mmm Indian food in the UK is the best. Well, I imagine Indian food in India is better, but beggars can’t be choosers. Finally, I hope to sample all of the toppings available at the vegetarian eatery, The Baked Potato Shop on Cockburn Street. Hehe…Cockburn…
8. Challenge Kiera Daley of LadyNerd to a tetris-off. I am a tetris machine. I spent at least 3 hours of our flight smashing tetris records. Korean Airlines seat 47G didn’t know what hit it, for realz.
9. Perform on the Spiegeltent stage…tick! Lady Sings it Better performing at the Edinburgh Festivals Magazine launch 15 minutes after our opening night. We will be walking off the stage and then setting off at a trot for the Assembly Gardens to perform. Eep!
10. Buy a kilt so I fit in with the locals…and half the Lady Sings it Better team.