Excellent. I got my own drum and had enormous fun playing it. I’m not sure that my playing made any difference, and I was certainly off the beat for much of the hour, but I had great fun.
Drum Tribe is from South Africa and as well as an immersive experience, the music was sensational. Watching the four drummers was a visual delight as well. They constantly had smiles on their faces and were really encouraging.
My verdict: ****
Wasted was the first thing I saw on my third day at the Fringe. Today, the Sunday, would be a Gilded Balloon, Bisto Square day.
At first, when we entered the theatre, I thought that the production might be an experimentation with immersive theatre in a tiny space. The audience is invited into the nightclub, to get a bit of a feel for the atmosphere that is the start of a night out that becomes ambiguous and has horrendous consequences for the two protagonists.
Will Merrick and Serena Jennings play all the characters, but the focus is on Oli and Emma, who end up going home together after a drunken night in the club.
I really liked the way the play presented the action from various viewpoints, and that at times certain moments are repeated so that the story of the night is pieced together.
The play explores a grey area in terms of sexual consent. Here Kat Woods explores some of the same territory as Gary Owen did in Violence and Son, recently at the Royal Court. Though both pieces don’t set out to take sides, there is a sense that we are asked to consider what can happen to men where things are not clear. That is slightly problematic in my view.
‘Wasted’, the title of the play, clearly has several meanings. Firstly, to be very drunk, and secondly to waste a life through one stupid mistake (though the first definition of wasted has a lot to do with that). The ending is left ambiguous, but I felt that the whole point was the title ‘Wasted’ and the horrific consequences of getting so drunk that neither of the two main characters can really remember what happened the next day.
Afterwards, a reviewer waited for me to ask me what I thought. Maybe he thought that an older person might not get the play, and wanted to check.
I enjoyed the production because it did make me think. It was well acted, and the writing was superb.
Further Information
Twitter @wasted000
My verdict: ****
This show is funny in parts with some ouch moments. It seemed relevant to go to a show about Bush and Blair on a day I had seen two other show based on political figures as diverse as Boris Johnson and Tony Benn.
The audience is welcomed into the theatre by Heartbeat (Nicola Blackman) and Bijoux (Linda John-Pierre). Their banter put the audience into a good mood. The lights went up and revealed Christopher Staines on stage. He looked so much like Tony Blair that the audience is already laughing and engaged.
This is the story of Tony and Cherie Blair’s holiday on Sir Cliff Richard’s island. Silvio Berlusconi and George Bush turn up. Among the guests are Alastair Campbell and Carole Caplin. Anyway, that mix is the crux of the narrative.
Basically, this is a slapstick comedy, rather than serious political satire. We have confusion and mis-identification, people being hit over the head, and women walking around in their bikinis. Some of it I found amusing, but most of it I felt was a little dated.
The audience clearly enjoyed the production on the evening I went, but I wanted a little bit more nuance and depth.
One bonus was that it was brilliant to see Linda John-Pierre again on stage. I had really enjoyed her performances in the RSC’s A Mad World My Masters.
Further Information
https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/when-blair-had-bush-and-bunga#overview
http://whenblairhadbushandbunga.com/
My verdict: ***
What a brilliant idea to fuse Beckett and Tony Benn’s writings. Indeed, the title says it all. This is an exploration of the life and writing of the politician Tony Benn, but with a Krapp’s Last Tape theme. The narrative is told with lots of humour. There’s also some sadness as it is clear that the central character is near the end of his life, and what an amazing life it has been. Benn (Philip Bretherton) even eats a banana, listens to his younger self, and finds an interesting array of objects in his desk drawer.
The personal life of Benn and his politics are cleverly woven together in an 80-minute show that kept my attention all the way through.
This Nottingham Playhouse production is really worth seeing.
Things that I had wished I had known
You might be sent down some steps to queue, but the venue is not just inside that door in front of you. Oh no! The odds are that you’ll end up going up about three flights of stairs. There are lots of stairs to climb to this venue!
Further Information
Twitter @TonysLastTape
My verdict: ****
I had such good fun at the Crap Music Rave Party. It felt like being back at the school disco many many years ago. You even get your hand stamped. The thing with this is that the music is cheesy, but it’s not crap, because it gets everyone on the dance floor with a smile on their face. A mix of the Macarena, Rick Ashley, YMCA, and Dancing Queen. I literally saw my life in music flash before my eyes.
Just great fun!
Further Information
Twitter: @Tomas_ford
My verdict: *****
between the acts 