The last show at the Fringe was not the greatest show on earth. It was not a total disaster. It was just like any other show, anyday in the run. We had good chemistry on stage, we all did our best with the monologues, adn the audience was fairly good. It was not going out with a bang, it was not sinking the ship: it was a show like any other. I was so proud. The thing about the last show is that I will never read that script again. I will never say those lines, never perform that piece or wear that costume. It seems too sudden to be over. It also doesn't seem fair. I don't know what to think today as so many of my friends are leaving and there is no rehearsal and the strteets have died down so much. I don't think I believe it's all done with yet.

Cheers

Today is the last performance of "Tits & Blood" in Edinburgh Scotland. I am lucky enough to be in this last show, and I am so excited. Rehearsal today was pretty fun, but we are so excited that it's the last night, but for me it's a real split. I am so excited to be going home and getting back to my classes, my friends, and my own country. I am thrilled to be in the last night and to have abreak from this hard work, btu at the same time it'll be sad to leave this show. It has been increadible to work on and an amazing personal experience. Plus, who wants to leave Scotland? I will miss my friends here, especialy Izzy and Helen, who I really want to visit.

Anway, Other than tonight being the last ngiht of the show, it's also getting to the end of our trip. I am taking last minute pictures, getting trinkets and last minute things I'm dying to do.

Should be a great show!
Cheers

I did miss a day of posting, but it was because I did so much. The 24th I went to two plays that were very different. The first was "Would you Like a Cup of Tea?" which is a very modern piece. They had people making tea in their mouths and spitting it into cups and two adults wrapping a child in cloth until she looks mummified. It's very symbolic and quite but-wrenching, which is the point. This story about a family's problems is told surrounding the ritual of tea time. You discover that the father sexually assults the child with the help of his mentally ill sister and the mother, who doesn't want a family, feels helpless and alone.
This is a very terrifying story, which is the point, but I personally would never see it again. It took too long to explain what it said in the first five minutes, the modern twist is not somethign I personally enjoy, and I almost vomited when I had to leave the audience while a child was still tied to a pole, liiking like a tortured mummy.

The other was much lighter adaptation of "The Marriage of Figaro." This lighter piece is quite funny and does fallow the same line as the original French Play. The characters are wild and absurd, the costumes are amazing, and it is enjoyable in that it is not a day of heavy theater - but slap-stick spectacle. The lighting did have many issues as the Macs would come on before they were appropriately positioned. Still, it was a cute little play with fun actors and nice flair.

Yeasterday I was in the performance, which was nerve rackign in the new space, but I did alright. I think that we actually were very energetic and emotional but the audience was appauligly terrible to us. They threw things and made-out in the front row, and talked to other peopel the entire time about anything and eveything NOT to do with the play. The cast of "The It Boy" was possibly the rudest audience imaginable but we handled it so professionally, that I really am proud.

My night was made much better after, however, because I got to see "Hey Diddle Diddle" immediately after my show. This musical is based on the old rhyme. In the land of Diddle the same things happen every day and life is perfect until a young girl jumps into the storybook to escape her life of arguing parents. The lyrics are hysterical, and have some quite adult jokes, while the chemistry is hit-and-miss. Still, this is a delightful musical that is a lot of fun, no matter the age. With brilliant light effects, a fun cast, and a cute idea, it made my night.

Cheers

Yeasterday was more of a tourist day than a theater day. We went up the Royal Mile away from the Castle to go see Holyrood Palace, one of the Offical Residences of Her Majesty the Queen. We got to see the palace, the ruins of an abbey and the garden. Some of the art was truly amazing, adn the palace is very elegant, and extremely historical. We also went by a real kilt-maker's shop to admire the dresses, which are beautiful (well the kilts were cool too).
We then went to see some Stand Up Comedy with Free Fringe. The comedians were pretty good, though one was certainly the funniest. We were able to see one of the more famous Deaf comedians, which was really interesting. I felt that some of his jokes on the Twin Towers were out of taste, but otherwsie he was pretty witty and you couldn't really tell that he was deaf. It was really nice, actually, as far as having a realaxing day.
Yeasterday night I went to see our own show to figure outthe logistics of Liar's Club, and I have to say that I think the new space has negatively effected our steam. There is so much space that we are not used to that you lose the intimate and secretive feel of the show. I hope that we can figure out how to bring that back to this venue soon, because we are only perfomring til the 28th.

Cheers

Yeasterady I was able to see "Frank's Life" and "Tango Fire" whcihwere two completely different performance works. Having seen both, though, I can easily say that variety is certainly what the Fringe is about.

"Frank's Life" was a play that is in the same vein of the movie "The Truman Show." Frank lives in New York and since the age of 3 has been filmed for a television show. The Network is losing popularity, as is the show, so all the people in the show are lookign for other jobs. As Frank deals with missing Barbers, friends, and a wife, he eventually stumbles upon the truth that his life is a show. The point is to see how he find this out, and what he does about the fact that they are takign him to an institution when the show gets cancelled.
With a mix of terrible American accents, flubbed lines, and the difficulty of watching two scenes at the same time, one would think that no one would come see this play. However, the cast is quite adorable and caring, the twists in the plot are fun, and the adorably quirky Joy makes anyone smile. Joy, the younger sister/actor in Frank's Life is my entire reason for staying through the show - she is animated, cute, and enchanting. That said, I hardly think anyone should support a show on the basis of one actor. I got to see it for free, if you get that chance, go see it. If not, I don't think you will want to.

"Tango Fever" on the other hand is a smash hit for anyone who likes to watch Tango dancing. Timing, character, rythm, skill, and daring: that is what these eight dancers have. They effortlessly achieved increadibly difficult tosses and lifts, interacted well with the crowd, and made everyone eant to dance. You can tell from the audience that the Tango is about passion and fire, just as it is about excitememnt and love. I have to say I think everyone was blown away with a variety of dance tecniques shown on stage in tandeum with the engaging personalities of the performers. This is why people will always love Ballroom.
The costumnes were numerous, as in any ballroom show, and fit the music and style of dance very well. I have to say that each costume fit the boy of the woman or man it was on to an impressive degree - we shoul all be so lucky as to have clothes that fitting. And the barely-there dresses, the wet hair, and the gentle fog/mist, there was no doubt about the title, this was "Tango Fire."

Yeasterday was also our first performance at Augustine's. I was not there for the show, but apparently the obsticles of space are not as easy to handle as we thought. The biggest thing I need to watch for is the pole, in all honesty, but I hope that I can get used to it easily. I am getting nervous not only about that, but about the crowd as well. I went out to flyer the mile yeasterday and so few people wnted a flyer. It was a little sad. Everyone said they had one, or that they had already seen it (which is good), but I was only able to give our three flyers in an hour, and it was disheartning. I hope it was just a slow day. We will see when I go out today to flyer.

Cheers

So I'm starting to compile a large number of reviews of the shows I've seen, so I'm going to start with the most recent and work my way back. I'm certain this will lend itself to more than one post, and more time than I currently have at the moment, but I shall do my best to make a dent in the mound of reviewership...

Yesterday, August 22nd, I saw two shows - Growing Up With Martin at the Greyfriars Kirkhouse and Frank's Life at Augustine's. The first, Growing Up With Martin was very well written and witty, but I'm sad to say that the delivery left the performance wanting. There were moments I sat thinking 'I should be laughing, this is funny,' but I wasn't because the actors didn't punch something or ran past it. The tone of the performance was very much on one level - it was both emotionally and vocally monotone. The blocking itself was very psychological and could have been easily motivated, but wasn't played to its fullest. I came away in essence 'whistling the costumes,' since I found some of them very funny and fitting and some others rather out of place.
Frank's Life I thought was very well played. A precursor to the Jim Carrey film 'The Truman Show' it is about a man whose life is a television show and what happens when he finds out and tries to break free - or rather other people spill the beans to him and the shows ratings put it in danger of cancellation. The actors were energetic and exciting, and although you definitely could tell what their original accent was in most cases, they did a very good job of affecting American dialect. They had a lot more set on the Augustine's studio stage than I've seen in a lot of places - on one side of the set was the producer's office with desk, chair, and accessories, in the middle a couch indicating a living room, and on the other side a dining room set up and a bar. Something about the end of the play left me feeling a little weird. Personally I think they could have done without the blood effect - especially since he was supposed to be 'faking his death' and the cameras had been turned off in the play at that point. It brought the show's comedy down a peg. Also, there was no music for the curtain call, so the final blackout looked to be a bit like all of the scene changes and it wasn't until the actors bowed that the audience was sure it was okay to be clapping for them. It was a very amusing show and a fun idea, so I do recommend it to anyone who was a fan of 'The Truman Show' or just likes the sound of the description in the program flyers.

I'm having trouble remembering which dates I've seen what without my own journal with me, so the next two reviews are from, I believe, Saturday. (Logic tells me I performed on Sunday, and therefore saw nothing and worked instead and that Monday was no show - cheers for the process of elimination). That day I saw two shows at Augustine's - a production of The Winter's Tale and Behind Closed Doors. The production of The Winter's Tale was rather exciting - it used the text to create an experimental piece for a six person ensemble and a disc jockey, which was rather cool (for lack of a better term). The disc jockey provided an underscoring for the entire show perfectly timed to the action on stage rather than a recording which might have been too fast or too slow for the actors themselves. The piece recognized its own theatricality - not only did the actors watch each other from the sidelines, but they set up and dismantled the stage as part of the piece itself. Costume and set changes were most often made in plain view. The double casting was an exciting challenge for the cast - their swaps between characters were fluid and stark, you knew when they changed. That only became a problem at the end, when the characters being played appeared at the same time. Well, go see, you'll understand.

Behind Closed Doors is one of those plays not for the squeamish. It deals with issues of abuse - both as a child and in relationships with significant others - and how these abusive relationships affect our subsequent relationships and our mental capacity and personality. The show offers a chance for audience interaction, reminiscent of a choose your own adventure story - some lucky members of the audience trade better sightlines for the chance to affect the story's outcome. The movement of the story was so fluid that I was left wondering how on earth they communicated these decisions so well among the company. It was a very good show encompassing a lot of physical theatre. The reality of this show is what struck me the most. It didn't pull any punches - including the S&M display of the final scenes.

Yesterday morning we also had the Fringe USA event, which was a lot of fun. The performances included a musical theatre group from a New Rochelle, NY high school, a comedienne, us of course, an excerpt from 'Girl Blog from Iraq,' and the Three Mo Tenors. As part of our presentation Bree did her monologue for the audience, which was absolutely excellent. I was impressed by the Three Mo Tenors, though. They were brilliant, and I am definitely going to attempt to see them before the end of the week. I have two more performances - Thursday and Saturday - so I will miss seeing the three that performed during the USA event (they have a double cast) but I really want to go anyway. If the other group is as good, I'll be in music heaven.

Don't go off thinking that I'm only seeing shows at our venues though; I have gotten a chance to do some of the touristy things and see the city. Before tech on Monday I explored Edinburgh Castle, which makes the history nerd in me shout with glee. Once I'm done with this some of us are headed down the mile to take a look at Holyrood Palace and the Parliament building, both of which are unfortunately closed for tours during the month of August. Then there's always the plan to make it up to Stirling Castle or Lauriston Castle before I leave. It's so weird to think that we've already been here for so long and it's almost time to leave. Time to go for now. Cheers.

As far as today, we had the Fringe USA show! We were able to see selections from four other groups (including the increadible "Three Mo' Tenors" that blew everyone's mind). Our miniature performance got a great reaction and really showed how talented we are as a group. Everyone reacted to Bree's monologue really well - I highly expect that most of the people will try to see our show. This really was an amazing oportunity for us because so many people attended (definitely our biggest audience yet) and these people will be wonderful word of mouth. Everyone is really proud of how we performed and excited by what this could mean.

Tonight I plan on going to "Frank's Life" at Augustine's and to "Tango Fire" which is a Latin Dance show. It should make for a very well-rounded day of theater and flyering.

8-4-06

I saw two shows today, one that I did not much like, and the other that I loved. I saw "Mary and the Stripper" first. Because it was a preview, I hope that many of the issues they experienced will change. The lighting was horrible - I say that because of the cues, not the light design. They had issues of the stage goign to balckout in the middle of a scene, and of strange lighting so you couldn't see the characters. You could also see the entirety of the backstage area if you were sitting in thefront row on the house left side. These will no doubt be fixed by the tiem the show goes into a full run, but they were very distracting for me personally.
There were three actors - one man, one woman, and a young girl who was a dancer. The writer used a combination of dance, scenes, monologue, and music to tell the story of Mary and Jesus in parallel with the story of a Stripper named Stormy. The young man played Jesus, Lucifer, the Stip Club Manager, and a Missionary. He was very dedicated and sincere in his roles, moving seamlessly from a man you love to hate, to the Holy Son, to an adverage Joe. The woman who played Mary and Stormy also moved from madness to purity very well. The acting was truly well done.
My issues with this play lay in the script as many important parts were left out - like why the Stripper left the Strip Club. The audience was left with more questions than answers, and a very Biuble Sunday speech. It was not somethign I personally could get into, but I believethat for some peopel this coudl be agreat show.

The other show I saw was "ASAP" (which as of the 21st of August is stillmy favorite show). It is the story of two couples, where a member of each couple is killed in a car crash. Left behind are Paul and Amy, who grieve together and remember the great, and the difficult, moments of being a four-some. It is an absolutely hillarious show, that acurately protrays love, friendship, loss, and survival. The script is amazingly real and comes natural to the actors. The actors show raw emotion, intense humor, and truly engage and charm the audience. This is an increadible show everyone should see. It rang especially true to me, as I also have lost someone so dear to my heart.

8-8-06

After performing on my own for the first time on the international stage (the most increadible experience ever) I went to see "Love Me Dorthy." This was a late night drag showthat was very campy, and almost in the vein of "Rocky Horror." There was a great deal of audience participation, a hillarious love story, and a wonderful host named Patty O'Furniture. It was simply light, funny theater to go to when you are in the mood for some camp and men in heels. It's not the greatest show alive, but it is a great deal of fun if you want to relax for the evening.

8-9-06
"Starcross'd" was... interesting. A bizarre mix of Shakespearian, minimalist, and existential theater there was so much going on in this production with presentation, language and set that the audience was easily confused. The story was cute, but ordinary (the what-did-Shakespeare-do-to-inspire-Romeo-and-Juliet part 247). The actors were not very dedicated to thier choices (making a gay sex scene look more like an ackward "oh no my hands are caught in your pants" scene). The chemistry was rediculously off - it looked as though the brother and sister were the only people who had met before the show that day - and the cast knew... well, most, of their lines. In all honesty, I was very disappointed because it had much more potential as a script. I hope that it gets better as the run moves along.

8-10-06
"Into the Hoods" is an amazing Hip-Hop Musical that is too increadible for anyone to pass up. The dancing is perfection - where entire groups move as one with amazing execution of even the most difficult moves. They looked liek they had the most amazing time with eachother, they interacting increadibly well with the audience, and they handled themselves very well. I saw the production where the sound board blew in the middle of a song. I didn't even realize it because the dancers finished the show, dancing in perfect time, without any music. It was not until the Stage Manager came down to apologize that the sound board was out, and that we woudl not be able to do the curtain call without it, that anyone knew they had been dancing without music for the first time. They did not miss a beat - it was increadible.
The talent of these performers is amazing, thier skill and dedication is inspiring, and they make you leave with the biggest smile you have ever seen. This is truly the best way to introduce the Hip Hop Musical to anyone, of any generation. Brilliant work. If only there were more shows like this, no one would leave a theater.

8-13-06

Tonight's Late Night idea was to see "The Sperm Monologues" at the Underbelly. The idea behind the show is that every mad who donates sperm records a little videofor thier child to see when they turn eighteen. Broken hearted widows , lonely magicians, crazy teenagers, a deaf man, and a convict are amoung the touching, funny, and interesting donors. Some of the monologues are just purely fun, and some ring increadibly true. Either way, this exploration into why people donate sperm, and what they expect, really opened my eyes to the kinds of people there are in this world. We all want, and hope, and need, and relaly are not that different from eachother. It was very well executed (all three actors were dedicated to thier roles and very convincing) and highly recommended.

8-15(?)-06

"Honk" is a musical made from the story of "The Ugly Duckling." While the story has many new characters in the play than in the book, the play makes for a lot of fun. This show is clearly aimed at younger crowds, with a few laughs for the parents thrown in. Musically, I cannot say how they did, but I can say that they were a great deal of fun to watch. Some of the staging was not ideal for the audience, but all of the cast seemed to enjoy themselves and they really got into the idea of a musical. The interesting thing about musicals is that hte actor is supposed to be so overcome with emotion that they can only sing to express themselves. This can be lost in modern musicals, but I think that the cast of "Honk" truly understood this concept. It made for a nice afternoon that was a great deal of fun. If you like ducks, go see it, if you have kids, go see it... but if you want a high-class musical, I suggest Le Marriage de Figaro at Augustine's.

Today is our Tech day, because we are moving from Greyfriar's Kirk House to Augustine's. The move is not far, in fact we are just one street over from where we were. Still, it's sad to say good-bye to Greyfriar's. It was really specail for me that I got to perform on our last day there. It really felt wonderful. The audience was increadibly responsive - you have never heard people laugh so much in your life. It was a really amazing way to say good-bye.
Today, I also have rehearsal at noon because we will be performing for the US Embassy infront of all the US Fringe Shows tomorrow! I am so stunned, and excited, that I get to be a part of this - it is so amazingly increadible, and the audience is going to be huge, which will bring in a lot of people to Augustine's no doubt! We also are performing tonight at Doctors - a local pub that we frequent - in order to attract more people. Really, this is increadibly exciting stuff, I mean so many people will be witness to our work and be able to see us perform that I can hardly imagine the effects... they should be increadible!
Also, I am posting a retrospect today of all my past journal entries, so please look at that as well for reviews on several shows and some of my acting progress.

Cheers

Yeasterday I saw two shows. The first was "Afternoon Tea with a Transvestite" which was absolutely fabulous. It is exactly as it sounds: you enter into a room with a table and eight chairs (there are seats around the table for a larger audience) and you sip tea and have biscuits with a Transvestite, Max, and his wife. It is not so much a performance as a discussion where you realize the intricate details of the life of a transvestite, the relationship with his family, and how transvestites may not in fact be transexual (one simply prefers women's clothes, while the other may insist that she/he is a woman, or may be attracted to men). I met some wonderful people and had a very enjoyable time while learning a great deal about alternate lifestyles. I highly recomend it as Max and his wife are absolutely charming and great fun.

The other was actually two plays that were presented by Davidson college. They were both compelations of Shakespeare. The first was entirely musical, which I can have no bearing on as I am tone deaf. Still, I could tell soem of them could sing no better than I can (and that is truly tragic). The other production was a compelation of many scenes from various plays of Shakespeare.
The issues with this play included the fact that there was no clear link between one scene to another (nor any common thread). Also, the actors believed that if they felt soemthing intensly they shoudl shout it as loud as possible - the feeling could be anger or love - which made sitting in the audience quite ackward. Still, they used a very interesting combination of theater, music and photography. There is a great deal of skill in combining these elements effectively, whic I did enjoy. They also has a good mastery of diction and enunciation along with understanding of the language, which is difficult for young actors performing Shakespeare.
However, I would rather have not attended the rest of the production, nor woudl the two spectators next to me. It was good, for English majors trying theater for the first time, but it is not something a theater person woudl enjoy seeing (unless, of course to boost their confidence).

I do not mean to soudn negative or to slight anyone, so please do remember that everyone's opinion is different. For me, this was simply what I felt coming from the production.

As far as today, I was not able to see any shows as I went out to flyer the Mile and performed. The performance went very well as the director suggested that I change the direction of my introduction. I adress my cast-mates when I am throwing the script away, which makes it seem very real, and gave me an amazing burst of energy. I was very happy with how it went. We had a lot of good energy today and we kept it goign throughout the production, I was thrilled:)

Cheers

As for the rest of the festival, I have to agree with Michael in that I've seen more mediocre and seemingly bad shows than good ones. My confidence in the quality of the musicals performed here has waned. The two best shows I've seen so far have been ASAP and The China Vase. ASAP was beautifully written and brought all of us in the audience from laughing out of our chairs in one scene to the edge of tears - and sometimes over - in the next. The China Vase is one you definitely need to be prepared to go and see. The actors described it to me as anti-war propaganda that was intense and disturbing, and man did they deliver on that end of the bargain. While there are a few interjected audience addresses at certain points, it's not about telling the audience that we shouldn't send men off to battle, but about what happens to men when they're expected only to fight and obey - and what happens when some refuse to do so or even go a bit too far. This show is disturbing in its reality.

And now off to Augustine's to see another show and then flyering outside the venue!

Yeasterday I saw "Pains of Youth" at the Quaker meeting house. Well, I mostly saw the play, as I passed out half way through due to overheating. The playhouse must have been over 100 F and I passed out on my way out the door to cool off. However, before this, I was able to see just over half the show. The plot I am still unsure of, though it is a tale of mixed romances where a young writer and an older woman are in love and support the house of a maid, a runaway countess, and her boyfriend. The Countess is very young and flippaint, but absolutely brilliant in the study of medicine. She is in competition with the woman who loves the young boy and wants to break up the house. The Countess' boyfrined sleeps with every female in the play, always in order to get something.
The play is quite confusing at parts, but all of the actors are very dedicated to thier roles. They portray very believable quirks, with each character having positive and negative atributes. The chemistry is fantastic and the players are engaging. The set is minimalistic, providing an almost surreal feeling to the very old-fashioned play. The costumes fit the 1920's, though the play predated this period. They also are very fitting to character, and enhance everyone's worst atributes.
I wish I had seen the ending, and I may very well go again to see it. It was a good play overall.

I was also able to see "The Improverts" very early yeasterday morning (00:30). They were an improve/ comedy team that had good chemistry together. The problem is, however, that they were not actually very good with making improv funny. While they most certainly could continue a storyline or figure out what they were smuggling, it took a lot of time before it became funy to the audience. Part of this was because they were not willing to go all the way with some suggestions - censuring themselves, if you will. The other problem was in the actual games they picked which were very good at testign skill, but not truly accesable to the audience or very heavy in participation. Overall, I say they have some skill, but that it was more liek lookign in on a classroom than seeing a show

As far as wrighting goes, this is a brilliantly laid out script that relies on quick wit and understanding. The script discusses the issues men deal with as far as thier masculinity and self confidence as relating to the small size of thier penis. As a woman this revealed a great amount about male security and how stressful image can be on a man. It's a very similar delema to a woman and her breasts. We augment them to feel more feminine and desirable, just as these men wish to enlarge thier... package.
As far as acting I have two things to say: One must actually have ever heard an american southern accent to try and use it. And, it would be nice to know your lines a week into the run of the show. The performance was far from professional nor stellar, but the script is a daring one,