Edinburgh Fringe 2012 DAYTRIP

I wasn't sure if I would visit my pals at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, but I booked a daytrip for me and Rob, an early train and a late train back to York, four shows of different genres and enough time for a big dinner at the steak and mussles place! I actually booked the trip when I thought my friend Suzie was coming from America so they were all chosen with her in mind! Suzie is into sporty things and arty things, also she is a published children's author/illustrator, so she likes kids things too! So the four shows I picked were Peter and the Wolf performed by two Russian clowns with minamilist puppets! Leo, a one man dance sensation! The Man Who Planted Trees, a nice little eco-puppet story half in French and my friends' comedy sketch show A Brief History of Scotland, so she could meet them! If I'd have known I was picking for Rob I would have cut the first three!! It turned out he did like my friends' show the best, lot of laughs! I have reviewed it before but there were new sketches and tighter old sketches, it was great. DBS are an excellent young theatre company, I'm proud to have been involved in a few of their ventures!



So we arrived in Edinburgh in the rain (August, of course it's raining!) went straight to John Lewis and had a massive breakfast while looking out of their cafe windows at the rooftops, this was a highlight! It didn't rain all day, Peter and the Wolf was good fun, the first half anyway, when they played the record and acted it out, the second half had odd new-age lift-muzak playing while they fucked about like a couple of idiots, that way you left the show with awful music in your head instead of the recognisable tune you enjoyed in the first half! We then had a coffee and went to see Leo. Flip!! He was amazing! I can't even begin to describe how clever it was, maybe there's a youtube video I can post here. Again, it went on a bit too long but otherwise I really liked watching it. Then The Man Who Planted Trees, which I saw last year and booked because I thought Suzie would like it, it was just as good as last year. Love that dog puppet. After seeing my pals' show and Rob meeting them and having a drink we had an amazing big meal at mussles and steak, then we came home- man we were TIRED!

War Horse (New London Theatre)

My Norweigan pal came to stay last month, she is a big theatre junkie, but she prefers musicals. She told me to book us a show that she hadn't seen. I booked War Horse, because all though Linn didn't want anything too heavy, I thought she would enjoy it on an aesthetic level if nothing else.
I saw War Horse at the National a couple of years ago with my emotionally stunted sister, so I had to hold in the tears so as not to embarrass her and I nearly died in the process. This time I was with Linn and Alison and at the end we were all sobbing tears of grief and joy- the best kind of tears.
War Horse is Spectacular.
The puppetry is amazing. Less than ten seconds in you will believe the horses are real. You will worry for the actors safety when the horses freak out, you'll think "god, those horses could hurt someone!" they are that well designed and performed.
The music is beautiful and emotive, the stage craft is excellent and hasn't changed that much since the theatre switch, the story is TOO emotional. If you're an emotional cripple, like I am, go to War Horse once a year, it's so much better than a breakdown, just let it all out.
Alison started crying when Joey turned from a foal into a grown horse, that was only 15 minutes in!
I don't care if they're making a film, I'm not interested, nothing could compare to this experience, a real horse will never be as engaging or as charming and tragic as the puppet Joey. I effing love War Horse.

The Dark Crystal (1982)

Apparently if you grow up watching films like The Never Ending Story or The Goonies you have fond memories and you still enjoy them now. Well, I saw The Never Ending Story as a child and I thought it was shit then.
This I missed as a child and I'm glad. I think it would have given me terrible nightmares and more to the point it was shit. No story to speak of, slow, tedious, terrible script, etc.
You can't group a film like The Dark Crystal with The Princess Bride or Labyrinth, two 80s films I also missed as a child but saw as an adult and actually enjoyed. The latter two films are clever, well-written and funny. The Dark Crystal lacked everything. It was like a big advert for what was probably a very boring board game.