Points of view: theatre, comedy and news
Comedy is a rather complicated beast, and no show perhaps exemplifies the challenges that a comedian may face over the course of a show’s lifespan better than Alex Kealy’s The Fear. Whilst a classic example of observationist humour covering the political and personal spectrums, the number of contextual issues over the course of the hour outwith the material ultimately detracts from the overall performance and unrestrained enjoyability of the hour.
Jane Bramwell’s and Michael Brand’s Wallis is an escape into a world of decadence and understated glamour through which we’re given a hole in the 4th wall from which to get a glimpse into the social weavings of the British upper class.
Dealing into the spooky, paranormal and unknown, Kathleen Hughes chats to Pepper&Salt about her upcoming debut show, Cryptid!,at the Edinburgh Fringe, finding certainty in the uncertain and the ghost stories that run rampant in this corner of the world.
The company of the world premiere production of FANNY - a new comedy by Calum Finlay centring on the life of Fanny Mendelssohn - have today issued an invitation to women musicians to take part in the Irish tradition of the Noble Call, which is derived from the tradition of calling on guests at a party to share a song, a poem or to respond to the mood of the day.
It’s always curious to see how universal themes are analysed, translated and reimagined in a modern context, especially the medium of political satire; how a story becomes relevant to each new generation regardless of time period. The Edinburgh University Savoy Group’s take on Biolanthe - Fraser Grant and Rosalyn Harper’s adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe - is a funny if somewhat uneven performance. With updated lyrics by Lewis Eggeling, this show has moments of genuine hilarity that are funny for the sake of being funny rather than humour that occurs because of a sense of existentialism or brush with reality.
Staging a classic is not an easy task. It comes with the expectation of novelty, of bringing to light another angle, to be edgy, to say something new about the themes or the issues. The Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group’s Little Shop of Horrors takes Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s musical is an incredible show on its own merits, but we can't help feel that there are some missed opportunities here. Tom Beazley and Amy Stinton have created a very gritty show that is fully focused on its critique of the American Dream, but we are really left to make our own connections to how these ideas manifest in the present day ourselves.
Pepper & Salt was founded by Frank Schwartz as a satirical periodical in the 1960s in New York City, which unfortunately became lost between his work as an English teacher, the age of digitisation and family, only to be found amongst other papers in February 2023 (the header is an example of one such papers... Continue Reading →
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