Fringe theatre reviews: Holly Street | Vagabond Skies: The Van Gogh Musical + more
Musicals and straight theatre come together in our latest batch of Fringe reviews, sampling the breadth of what the festival has to offer.
Holly Street ★★★★
theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39) until 23 August
Set in the writers’ room of fictional soap opera Holly Street, with the occasion of its 35th anniversary just around the corner and a novel concept needed to grab the viewers’ interest, Long Face Theatre Company and New Celts Productions’ play of the same name is a classily written and performed sitcom farce, with the madcap spirit of Fawlty Towers and the pop culture-hungry edge of Spaced.
With a new whiteboard reclaimed from the rubbish and brought into the room to help the group plan, its secret magic powers are making things go very wrong. Everything that gets written on it comes to life, so as the increasingly desperate team brainstorm, for example, a zombie apocalypse hitting Holly Street, they find they also have to do battle with the undead at their doors.
While this all might sound silly and light-hearted to the point of being pretty much unnecessary, the sheer comedic style and physical vigour brought to the table by the quintet of actors involved and director Kate Stamoulis is addictive. The play is very well acted, from Lewis McLaughlin’s witty and incident-packed script, and the pacing is bang-on to keep the jokes flowing and the characters moving.
McLaughlin himself is in the cast, although he’s least used as Ross, one of the writers. More fleshed-out are nerdy Callum (Jed Bury), prickly poseur Stewart (Xander Arron-Gonzalez) and by-the-book Reece (Cameron Millar), while Jonah Sorsbie is given a gift of a role in Arthur, their over-privileged, under-qualified and bumblingly self-destructive manager, who demands Basil Fawlty comparisons.
Such a young company bringing a piece of comedy to the Fringe will often find they’ve bitten off more than they can chew, that a reasonable effort still pales in comparison to the hundreds of pros working around them, but not here. For all concerned, Holly Street is a significant calling card.
David Pollock
Vagabond Skies: The Van Gogh Musical ★★★★
Gilded Balloon at the Museum (Venue 64) until 21 August
The turbulent life of Vincent Van Gogh is so full of drama and pathos that it seems natural material for a musical. Composer and lyricist Tony Norman began writing Vagabond Skies in the 1990s, and now brings it to the stage with orchestrator/arranger Mark Edwards, director/choreographer Sarah Dormady and 11 performers.
The framework which holds the story is the relationship between Vincent and his brother Theo, a successful art dealer who supported him throughout his career, and draws directly on Vincent’s letters to his brother. Alex Bloomer as Vincent and Richard Dawes as Theo lead the cast in superb voice.
The story runs chronologically through the last ten years of Van Gogh’s life, when he leaves his work as a not-very-successful preacher to become a painter in Paris, Arles and finally Auvers-sur-Oise. The shortening of the musical for the Fringe creates a sense of hurtling through seismic events: Vincent’s great hopes of building an artists’ colony, his row with Gauguin, his breakdown, the incident with the ear.
Meanwhile, the cast delivers one gut-wrenchingly emotional song after another, transforming themselves from prostitutes to art dealers to asylum inmates. I particularly liked the times when the women tell the story: Cien, with whom Vincent lived for nearly two years; Agostina, the cafe owner; and Johanna, Theo’s wife, who pledges, after his death, to take the brothers’ legacy forward.
My chief contention with the show is this: it’s all too easy to see Van Gogh’s life as a tragedy. What sits contrary to that is the sheer number of incredible paintings he produced in those ten years, which are full of life and colour. The musical doesn’t always show this, though it does show the work in a splendid animated backdrop which paints itself as the story unfolds.
Susan Mansfield
The Uncrackable Case ★★★★
Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) until 25 August
What happened to Humpty Dumpty might not be a question keeping people up at night, but this clever and chaotic family musical makes a cracking case for why it should be.
Jill, a determined documentary filmmaker, is eager to carve out her own identity beyond her famous brother Jack’s shadow. At the centre of her latest documentary is Humpty Dumpty. When Humpty's famous fall occurs and the King's horses can't save him, Jill finds herself accused. The incident is unpacked in this fast-paced courtroom drama, full of nursery rhyme characters reimagined in wildly entertaining ways.
Four talented cast members seamlessly multi-role, playing everyone from Goldilocks and Little Bo Peep to the Three Little Pigs and even the Old Woman. Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf appear on opposite sides of the courtroom, as prosecution and defence. This is a clever twist that’s just one of many.
The choreography is sharp and energetic, with quick transitions and imaginative, yet fairly simple, costume changes. Every movement and character is purposeful, each given the time and attention it deserves. The musical numbers are catchy and diverse, ranging from boyband choreography to line dancing and even TikTok-inspired moves.
Emily Spowage’s portrayal of Humpty Dumpty as a fame-hungry influencer is hilarious, complete with a giant egg-shaped crash helmet. Purvi Parmar also shines as a suspiciously involved King, adding a regal edge. Parmar also plays the hare and the tortoise. The physical contrast between the two is played for full comedic effect and is definitely a highlight. The cast’s full commitment and infectious energy make this a joy to watch.
The set design is a smart, cartoonish courtroom setup that supports the chaos. It’s a surreal, silly, and smart reimagining that’s ideal for the whole family.
Suzanne O'Brien
Charles II: Living Libido Loca ★★
PBH's Free Fringe @ CC Blooms (Venue 171) until 23 August
Wigs and corsets abound in this loud comedy romp, in which thrusting party-goer Charles out-moves a thunderous Cromwell, outlives the plague, (sort of) saves London from the Great Fire, and attempts to seduce his mistresses and anyone trying to avoid him in the audience.
The reworkings of pop songs are sharpest and deserve more polished singing, while interesting historical facts battle an assault of 1970s-style innuendo. It’s a piece fuelled mainly by willpower and its attempts to get the audience to “join in” with singing “I’m a whore” and faking an orgasm have a roll-out-the-barrel energy but, in the late afternoon, feel a bit of an ask.
Sally Stott
Charming ★★
Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236) until 23 August
In this light-hearted sequel to Cinderella, Prince Charming is an older but ever-dashing figure in florals, played with pantomime-esque aplomb by the wonderful Nigel Miles-Thomas as a cross between Prince Charles and Hugh Grant.
When Claire Toeman’s leopard print-wearing Fairy Godmother arrives to tell him Cinderella wants a divorce and harangues him for not owning a mobile phone and other modern-day banalities, he clearly needs to saddle up and find some more fun friends. Instead, a series of magic wand-driven plot twists sees him snogging his vibe-killing tormentor, before she spirits him backstage. Luckily, he pops up again at the Assembly Rooms in Sherlock Holmes: The Last Act, which is more polished.
Sally Stott
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