Paul in London

After four full days over five days, it was time to bid farewell to Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Fringe (and reviewing for the guys at Whatsonstage.com and The Public Reviews ). Going to the Fringe requires discipline in itself. You need to be able to plan a day of seeing shows, get to each of them in time (and not get lost). And manage to eat and drink something on the way. Sleep is always good too. Adding the requirement to write short and coherrent 200 word review of what you are seen within 24 hours and give it a star rating is really like trying to be too clever for one's own good. Of course nobody reads the reviews (even the performers in some cases). They only read how many stars it has. And the star system could be quite complicated. Not so in Edinburgh. Arriving here Johnnyfox advised of the tendency for everyone to inflate stars and described it in one of his reviews as "reviewers spunking stars up on the wall in order to be bylined on the posters." There

The first reflections on the shows seen to date with @Johnnyfoxlondon and a jaded boo following an awful Faulty Towers experience...   Edinboo: Reflections on a bad lunch and a fringe so far... (mp3) Meanwhile, I have published elsewhere short reviews of the following shows so far: Little Shop of Homos The Deacon Mary Blandys Gallows Tree Still Life Dreaming The Melody Blog Please Retain For Your Records More detailed coverage to follow...

Summertime is a chance to be out of London, which given recent events has been quite a relief. But it hasn't all been muscle boys in tight speedos on beaches of Nice. I am also at the Edinburgh Fringe reviewing for Whatsonstage.com and The Public Reviews . It is a great opportunity to see some strange and interesting shows and meet some rather lovely and talented people. I will publish and tweet these reviews separately, along with the links to the above sites. I'm up in Edinburgh until Sunday so welcome any suggestions for things I should catch, but at the moment I am on a deadline to publish three more reviews and find a complete stranger who speaks fluent French. Now if I only had my instructions a few days ago when I was surreptitiously taking pictures on the beach... The things we do for cultural inspiration... Now back to the laptop...

Napoletango is a bit of Argentinean tango fused with Neapolitan songs, movement, flesh and style. Actually there was a lot of flesh and sitting where I was on the last night at the London Coliseum, I had a terrific view of bare breasts and firm buttocks (and the occasional bouncing penis). But this is a very entertaining show that tells the story of a family from Naples who become a famous tango troupe. It was at it most successful when it was not trying to tell a cheesy story and focused upon the dancing talents of its large cast. The shower sequence and the bed sequences were particularly funny (and exhausting to watch) and combined with a fantastic soundtrack it was a slick and fun night out. It also helps if sitting on the aisle seats you know a few dance moves yourself. And if you have ever been to a tango dance class the first half of the show where the troupe learn the moves will seem familiar... This show has been a hit in Italy (the last time I saw a hit show from Ital

Finally caught Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello over the past weekend. It is an excellent looking production with a great cast and star performance by a pig that gets wheeled about with what looks like a very long extension cord. The music is fine too. But watching this show is almost as unsatisfying as post-war rations. What should be a very cracking musical comedy gets bogged down with subplots and misplaced sentimentality. And when the farce finally gets going it is quickly jetissoned as if fun can't be had at the theatre. The central message at the end (and a very English one at that) seems to be by conniving with the corrupt townsfolk you can enter into society... Perhaps if part of the creative team that managed to suck the life out of Mary Poppins (and drag it out for three tedious hours to boot) could trot off and come back with a shorter funnier version of this show down the line... All the ingredients are there for a smashing show... There is just a bit of swill t

Thursday evening was an opportunity to catch Rock 'n' Roll Theatre's production of Four Dogs And A Bone at the Phoenix Artists Club . The play, by John Patrick Shanley (of Moonstruck and Doubt fame), focusses on the business of Hollywood, the backstabbing and shenanigans that go on to get a film made. It is a dark world where bond completion companies, sexual favours and lecherous producers rule. This piece which runs a little over an hour focuses on two actresses appearing in the film. One is an established theatre actress, Collette (Laura Pradelska) who does not want to become a character actress. The other is Brenda ( Amy Tez ), an up and coming performer so desperate to be famous she chants daily for it... Each know that slight changes to the script could improve their career prospects remarkably. They enlist the support of the writer and the producer to help secure their aims, with sometimes comic and always engaging results. The Phoenix Arts Centre, with its

This year's summer pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery is a hot noisy affair... Imagine a spaceship has landed in Kensington Garden (albeit one made out of wood) and is about to take off with various plant samples... While Peter Zumthor may have had in mind a tranquil garden and oasis from the rest of the park, in reality the noise is just amplified to unbearable levels with the hoards of people inside. And on a warm day it just feels so much warmer... Still the temporary concrete pathways leading to it are lovely. Tranquility is better found inside the gallery with Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto's exhibition  The Mirror of Judgement . It is  a meditation on religion and faith amongst cardboard and mirrors... It runs until 17 September and is worth a look... Free too...

A play about the men who assassinated Thomas Becket , the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1171 seems an unlikely source of an entertaining night. But this production at the Southwark Playhouse of Four Nights in Knaresborough is so sexually charged, so pumped up and full of machismo and so bloody and funny that it is hard to resist.

Madama Butterfly (appropriately subtitled "Japanese tragedy in three acts") is a little too dramatically obvious, and musically unsatisfying. But the performance by Kristine Opolais as Cio-Cio-San is the sort of dramatic and powerful performance that this piece needs and she had the audience cheering for her on Saturday night. It is all high melodrama and her transformation from a meek and feeble fifteen year old girl, to a woman rejected is incredible and really fleshes out this minimalist production.

It is possible that the title of the show The Worst of the Late Night Gimp Fight at the Soho Theatre, is one of the funniest things about this show. The singing is patchy, the clothes are a bit scrappy and most of the men look like they need a wash. But gradually over an hour they do kind of win you over with their show. The Godfather sketch (featured above) is indicative of their antics. There are plenty of gimps, and a few piss-weak fights. They could have also worked on the front row a little more as they seemed to be making their own entertainment... The material is good but you get the feeling they could take the comedy a little further and a little darker... Here's hoping they keep pushing those boundaries beyond the obvious... They are at the Soho Theatre until 8 July.