Alastair Lawless
The Kelpie, the Loch and the Water of Life
★★★☆☆ Radio fun
Arkle’s The Kelpie, the Loch and the Water of Life is an ideal mid-afternoon diversion for the last week of the Fringe.
Cyrano de Bergerac
★★★★☆ Unexpectedly touching
There is an almost wilfully uneven quality to Arkle’s Cyrano de Bergerac at the Hill Street Theatre, but – eschewing much of the heroic bombast that is usually associated with the play – it manages to be convincing and affecting.
crackers
★★★☆☆ Strong performances
Edinburgh based writer cmf wood’s crackers, at the Royal Scots Club, performed by EGTG explores the stigma attached to mental ill-health, particularly amongst teenagers.
The Satyricon
★★★☆☆ Smutty
Martin Foreman’s new adaptation of Petronius’s first century bawdy comic romp, The Satyricon, is at Assembly Roxy to Saturday in an initially awkward staging that eventually finds its pace and pomp.
Bytesize Theatre
★★★☆☆ Welcome
The lack of time to plan for live theatre at this year’s Fringe has not deterred the Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group. Bytesize Theatre is a collection of three new plays presented on the online Fringe Player. The three pieces are not all equally impressive, but each has intriguing elements.
The Taming of the Shrew
★★★☆☆ Uneven updating:
Arkle’s take on The Taming of the Shrew is a largely successful attempt to make relevant one of Shakespeare’s plays that is most troubling to modern audiences.
The Lark
★★★★☆ Fiery:
There is fire in the belly of EGTG’s telling of The Lark – Jean Anouilh’s take on the story of Joan of Arc – at Bellfield in Portobello to Saturday.
