(4 / 5)

Ru Paul’s Drag Race has skyrocketed through society in the last couple of years, bringing out new Queens every year and from, almost, every country. As one of the OG fans, its been a wild ride to see this trajectory, but also wonderful to see the UK represented. And well represented it is, with artists such as Lawrence Chaney.

A young, scottish Queen, Chaney jumped onto our screens and stole our hearts. In their early 20’s at the time, it was astonishing for us to see someone so well curated and with their drag act essentially down. No wonder they became the Queen of the season.

I have only seen Chaney once, on the UK Huns Tour, and in an old nightclub from my youth. The focus was very much on the UK Huns song, and lipsyncing from all the girl group. There were elements of stand up from Chaney, but not enough to really see the charm they showed on the show.

From Holyrood to Hollywood takes us, post Drag Race, across Chaney’s life since, from fame to their personal life, to the show the night before with questionable audience members. It’s a laugh a minute, despite Chaney’s failing voice, peppered with lip syncs, specially sliced together with verbal snippets, adding so many levels of comedy to the performance.

Chaney is a true comedian, taking on the audience when they go rogue, quick witted and fast with the jokes and come backs. They are very comfortable on stage, and treats us as if we have known one another for a long time. A big space feels intimate, and as if this show is only for us. They are also crude, rude, with no barriers and not a moment of holding back. They are for sure a comedian who isn’t afraid to offend, but somehow does it in a lovely, personable way. And not to mention, they are fabulous, in thier chic purple air stewardess get up.

Drag Race fans will eventually be absolutely delighted, when they bring out their winning sceptre to finish off the show. We get to re-live the crowning moment and, after some time feeling as if we have had a lovely chin-wag, we feel personally very proud of our purple Queen.

Lawrence Chaney, From Holyrood to Hollywood is every Drag Queen Comedian lovers dream, with a sense of intimacy in amongst the rude jokes and quality lip syncing.

(2 / 5)

Noted as one of the most haunted cities in the UK, and a stone throw from the notorious Greyfriars Kirkyard Cemetary, Ed Fringe regulars would have seen the Ghost Tours Bus parked up and taking visitors on a spooky ride through the city.

I’ve always wanted to go on the bus tour, but never found the time to squeeze it in. But, with it being fringe, press tickets were available and, as it is conducted by trained actors, it felt apt to take part.

Joining, coincidentally, at just outside the Frankenstein pub, we are admitted to an old bus that has been kitted out inside with tables and seats, velvet curtains, old lamps, reflecting gothic culture and old horror films. It is plush and feels like taking part in a seance. However, the initial induction was in want: we are greeted by our tour guide, dressed ghostly but who did not seem to want to engage with us. Taking our tickets however, was an man dressed in an ordinary manner, breaking the illusion quite instantly. It was a real shame to have this initial introduction and likely impacted how the rest of the tour felt.

Throughout the journey, there are snippets pointed out to us, of mass grave sites and places where reported ghost sightings have been. These are sometimes elaborated upon, others not. The ones that are are very interesting, but others that would seem likely stories visitors would be more interested in e.g. the ghosts of the castle, are merely commented on existing and swept over, leaving us wanting a lot more.

We have the opportunity to jump off at the oldest graveyard, which did have this spooky feel and started to get your hopes back up of returning to the good ol ghost tour. Sadly, however, our tour guide of the day, while following his script in both spooky facts and the story line, often broke character to bring his own commentary such as a dislike of Ed Fringe, a moment of warning to not venturing a certain way in the graveyard due to thefts resulting in his shouting at the tourist who didn’t listen, and commentary on the traffic. Again, it sadly broke the magic slightly and, perhaps he was just having a bad day, but did not seem relevant information or part of the experience at times.

Throughout, we are introduced to a story line of a supposed ghost lady who slowly breaks down the bus. We are introduced vocally to the driver, an alcoholic ex-prison inmate, and this gave an interesting element to our story. We’re told the bus once carried bodies, we end up in an exorcism, and there are plenty of jump scares through speakers and the screens. Myself as a complete wimp was jumping at all of this, but only proved its sufficiency in this way.

Overall, the Ghost Tours Bus is certainly an experience and a novel way to explore a haunted city such as Edinburgh, after you have done the traditional sightseeing. It adds another element to its past, and the experience is something for all horror lovers. It just happened that this particular tour had many moments of the illusion broken and felt slightly disappointing when so much has clearly been put into the aesthetics and planning.

(3 / 5)

I’ll be honest – I had no idea about the Gwyneth Paltrow Ski incident. Maybe I’ve been under a rock. But in a way, this was a great introduction, with all the drama and opportunity to make the story even more theatrical.

If you are like me and been under a rock, Gwyneth Goes Skiing looks back, with artistic licence, at the recent court case between Gwyneth Paltrow and the ordinary member of the public, Terry Sanderson, after a collision in the Utah mountains. Awkward Productions have of course interpreted and hammed up this story for our entertainment.

I was introduced to Awkward Productions with Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story only a few months ago, coming out in stitches and with an appreciation for this company’s approach to theatre. Perhaps my expectations due to this were too high, as this particular show didn’t give me the same wow factor.

Compared to Diana, we see more from the company’s production and Joseph Martin’s portrayal of the ordinary man out of the spotlight was hilarious, with moments of ad lib executed perfectly and still in character. Linus Karp, our Gwyneth is also comical but the character felt too much like their Diana character, with the same narrative hooks, movements and gestures. Karp is a fantastic as a performer, but for me, there was just too much similarity between their two characters for me to be allowed to be taken over by the story line.

Like Diana, audience interaction is paramount and this is done really well, with multi-media use and a surprise in the audience choices. The audiences themselves also gave in fully and this made hiccups or narrative surprises very funny and added another level to the production.

While everything at Fringe is shorter, at just over an hour however, this show felt as if it needed just a bit more trimming. The start was delayed slightly by the sold out audience and therefore, while running over schedule anyway, it lead to a lot of quick dashes by the audience. And perhaps it was this atmosphere, but it felt as if our court scene took a while to reach its conclusion. It was a shame to feel this way and with it running over, it felt as if attention in the room was slightly lost.

Gwyneth Goes Skiing is every bit silly, camp and melodramatic. With a few tweaks, this could easily be up with Awkward Productions Diana: The Untold and Untrue story as a masterpiece of fringe theatre.

(3 / 5)

Going into this production, I didn’t think I would be witnessing something so deep. Who thought Spam would evoke such political discourse and commentary on colonialism. Sierra Sevilla combines this and more to bring us this deep and intimate one woman show.

For The Love of Spam tells Sevilla’s personal story, of growing up in Gwam, living in the USA and moving to the UK, where her home comfort was … Spam. Spam has a warm place in her heart, of childhood and home life and of her origin, and a reminder of simpler times. She reminisces fondly on her past, with slightly darker jokes regarding wishing for natural disasters because it meant no electricity and therefore a dinner of spam. But there is sadness and there is negativity, from other cultures where they turn their nose down at the canned meat throughout her life, in a way, hurting not just the spam, but her.

As we continue, we are driven into a much more political conversation, highlighting elements between Gwam and the USA, which I, embarrassingly, had no idea about. From a bouncing, bubbly and jokey performance, it suddenly becomes dark and we are asked to reevaluate our lives and what is important. Sevilla does well to lull us, through dancing, high energy and puppetry to reach this point. This way, it becomes a unexpected plot twist – using imagey projected, she gut punches us with this realisation. Ending the show, we are in a contemplative position, through a nuclear countdown, as we are asked to question what we would do in our final moments. It is deep and sometimes a bit awkward, as Sevilla makes her favourite dish on stage.

While being brought into comfort to only be brought out of it worked really well, I do wonder whether this was a point for a more shocking ending; while the silence and contemplative finish was unique, it potentially petered a little. There was invitation to join on stage but this was signposted to only one and, while the essence was to bring us intimately in, it felt slightly selective and voyeuristic. I do wonder whether there was a point where we could have all joined and been more a part of these final moments.

For The Love Of Spam was an unexpected and interesting production; intimate and funny, the political and social commentary was equally alive and proved educational as well as entertaining.

(4 / 5)

We sadly live in a world where, the discourse of weight, body acceptance, body shaming and everything above and in between, is slowly getting better. Yet, there is always the other side of the coin, diet culture, a sense that to be able to be sporty or fit or active, you must be a certain weight or have a certain look and this is also on the rise.

I first saw Katie Greenall a few years back at the once fantastic Vault Festival. What I found appealing about her and her art is that she wasn’t afraid to be metaphorically bare on stage, to be bold, and be open, on a topic and in a space where there could be criticism and the potential to have her vulnerability challenged.

There is nothing different between that show and BLUBBER in that approach. She is open, honest, and direct with us. She notes she didn’t want to make another play about her body, and yet it becomes what drove her creation. BLUBBER originally meant to look at a plus size group of synchronised swimmers that inspired Greenall to take up the sport but, while it starts this way, she takes us through the journey she had in making the production, where it makes her reflect on her own body and her relationship with it.

Water is a huge theme – her sense of ease within it, how it removes physical pressures and feeling, how it lifts her spirit and makes her feel at home. And so she uses this throughout, visually and also in an invitation to interact with her. It is beautiful, and calming and heart breaking all in one.

As someone who has struggled up and down in her weight herself, the very candid thoughts and feelings she has is hugely resonating. They are things you think and never say out loud or divulge to anyone else. And so for her to tell, essentially, a group of strangers brings a very special element to this production; a space to emote and feel and be real and ultimately, be intimate with her.

Greenall refers to her body often as another entity and this separation feels not only as a coping mechanism she has created but another figure in the production; one that is scolded and hated but wants to love and be loved. Using physical theatre and movement, she attempts to combine the two characters and it is moving and heart wrenching all in one. The production has its moments of comedy, but it mostly has a calm feeling, such like water, and a sense of talking with a friend. It doesn’t need any grand crescendos or surprises to take us on a journey and tug at our emotions.

BLUBBER is a fantastic piece of theatre, addressing body culture from a personal viewpoint. It most importantly doesn’t have the approach of acceptance and putting a finger up to society, but the reality of the actual struggles and pain that is felt in bodies, which is relatable, beautiful and deeply resonating.