edfringe

The Edinburgh Fringe Interview – Scott Matthewman on Reviewing Theatre

Reviews play a critical part in the Arts world, especially during the Edinburgh Festival. Who is reviewing you, did it read like a five-star, why is nobody turning up, and what can you do with them in September?

In this podcast, I’m joined by Scott Matthewman. He has been working as a theatre critic for nearly twenty years, sometimes as a part-time freelancer and at other times as a fully employed staff writer. We talk about the importance of reviews and reviewers in the Arts, how reviewing has changed over the years, and what can be done to improve the review landscape at Edinburgh and other Fringes around the world.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Epilogue

Ewan Spence is joined by theatre producer Fin Ross Russell (The Collie’s Shed) to look back at this year’s Fringe, the preparation required, what happens next, and plans for 2024.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Paul Beeson (Never Trouble Trouble, Until Trouble Troubles You)

What does it mean to bring a legend back into the light? That’s the challenge faced by Two Halves Productions in the delightful tongue-twisty Never Trouble Trouble, Until Trouble Troubles You. 

Writer and performer Paul Beeson joins the podcast to talk about the life of Bobby Walker, and portraying the legend at the Edinburgh Fringe. Joining Heart of Midlothian Football Club in 1896, Walker became one of the first footballing superstars; before fading from the public eye. What responsibilities are there with a biography, how do you find the voice of someone born in the 19th century, and what is it like to perform in a museum full of the memories of the legend?

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Cindy D’Andrea (Cat Shit Crazy)

Cat Shit Crazy, with either an exclamation mark replacing the eye or a censored graphic over the title, caught a lot of attention as the Fringe started, in part due to the aforementioned ‘we can’t have that sort of thing on display at the Fringe’. Sometimes the best publicity comes as a surprise. But the show is about much more than that.

Hollywood-based Cindy D’Andrea’s autobiographical show is much more than that. At one of the darkest moments in her life, her best friend suggested she should get a cat. Moving from I hate cats, to countless feline friends over the last fourteen years, this is a story about a woman, a cat, and unconditional love.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Mario The Maker Magician

What happens when you decide to make your own magic from whatever you can find around you? What happens when you add a dash of robotics to the magic? And then an old tomato soup can from the bin to be your next robot assistant.

That’s the world of Mario The Maker Magician. It’s a family show packed with slapstick humour, handmade robots, and a lot of skill. THere’s a mix of science, creativity, showmanship, and laughter that is incredibly hard to balance. Mario makes it look easy.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Tom Mayhew (This Time Next Year, We’ll Be Millionaires!)

When you do comedy, there’s always a message – the old adage of only punching up is born from many a hard-earned lesson on the stage. You can do that powerfully with force and aggression, but if you prefer a milder comedian, then why not ask Tom Mayhew.

Tom’s show for 2023 is ‘This Time Next Year, We’ll Be Millionaires!’ and beyond the well-timed nod to something the audience may be more familiar with to catch their attention, Mayhew has much to say on capitalism, on hopes, and dreams, in a whimsically sweet hour that delivers some sharp satire on the United Kingdom when you least expect it.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Benjamin Alborough (Absolute Monopoly!)

The Fringe is not static. Neither are board games, and the classic Monopoly is a perfect example. It’s not a great game, it’s poorly designed, and it ruins friendships and families. Benjamin Alborough not only has the arguments on the dangers of Monopoly, but is also going to reinvent the game with the help of the audience.

Absolute Monopoly is an interactive yet rather chaotic gameshow; from going through the rules through becoming the board to play the game, to deciding the winner. If there’s going to be one.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Rebecca McGlynn (Asexuality!)

Rebecca McGlynn’s musical ‘Asexuality’ asks what it means to be a man in the 21st century and how toxic masculinity affects those of us assigned male at birth. It’s an autobiographical musical comedy about Rebecca’s life before transitioning.

Sitting down with Rebecca in a brief moment of sun, we talk about the power of Sondheim and choosing to do a musical for a show about queer identity; and why life never fits in a nice three-act structure.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Colleen Lavin (Do the Robots Think I’m Funny?)

One part of the Edinburgh Fringe for every performer is being judged; by the audiences, by the industry, by the reviewers, and pretty much every part of the business. Which makes it all the more interesting that Colleen Lavin has not only built a robot to judge her, but it’s doing it live, every day, in from of an audience.

In ‘’Do The Robots Think I’m Funny’, Colleen asks what it means to be insecure in the modern world, how comedy and improv mix, and the differences between a room in Chicago and a room in Edinburgh. Underneath it all is the nagging question of the moment… will we all be replaced by robots?

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The Edinburgh Fringe Show 2023 – Sid Singh (Table For One)

Featuring cameos from Columbo and The Eiffel Tower, here’s my chat with Sid Singh. His Fringe show for 2023 is “Table for One”, where Sing talks about his dual career as a stand-up comic and human rights advocate – careers that see him taking on the US Government over human rights before dealing with deportation from India while staying in Germany. 

The show, which is supporting and raising money for the Centre for Gender and Refugee Studies, asks how you can fight the good fight while you are far away from home.

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