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Edinburgh Reporter
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Reporter
Edinburgh festivals – our best reviews from the second week
Our reviewers have been busy out and about at the Fringe and the International Festival this week. And they have found some four (and five) star gems. All of our Festival coverage can be read over here. Ahir Shah: Work in Progress Ahir Shah has become an established Fringe performer. After a series of nominations, he finally won the main Comedy Award in 2023. On the back of his Fringe successes, he's become a regular media figure, featuring on BBC Radio 4 (Ahir Shah's 7 Blunders of the World) and also has had HBO and Netflix specials. This year Shah is performing a limited series of shows (14 -24), advertised as a work in progress but very much on course to becoming a fully realised show. Read more here. Orpheus and Eurydice Despite the richness of the English language, I think there are not enough superlatives to praise the creation of this rendition of Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice. From the very opening where we see the superb funambulist as Eurydice descend twisting into the underworld hanging from a harness to the final dénouement, the staging was outstanding, the music perfection, the singing immensely moving, and the acrobatics stunning. Read more here Wellpark Wanderer It is often said that Scottish performers are hard to find in the Festival and Fringe. Writing in 1976, the historian Owen Dudley Edwards suggested that 'there is little of Edinburgh, and even less of Scotland in the Festival'. Many see the Festival and Fringe as something imposed from outside on the people of Edinburgh. Such narratives persist. It's also widely argued that working class voices are marginalised within the Fringe. Especially, in the sphere of comedy, the Fringe is often seen as London-centric and dominated by middle class voices and perspectives. There are, fortunately, exceptions. Read more here Hingin Oan Fir Googsie The cast of Hingin' Oan Fir Googsie – John McColl (Gadge, also writer), Amy Fraser (Plucky), Jimmy Chisholm (Ghillie) and Alan Ireby (Potter), photo credit Liam Rudden Media Braveheart star Jimmy Chisholm leads cast in hilarious, thought-provoking Scottish comedy. Given up on Waiting For Godot? Never fear, you'll have a blast at Hingin' Oan Fir Googsie. Running for four more nights only, John McColl's new play at Braw Venues on George Street opened to much hearty laughter and rapturous applause from a largely local audience, an element of the warm reception no doubt down to the presence of Braveheart and River City legend Jimmy Chisholm, leading the cast as Ghillie. Read more here. Flamenco Guitar Odyssey If you're a bit worn out by all the noise and crowds of the festival city, why not take a break to visit Alba Flamenca on East Crosscauseway and enjoy some beautiful music? Philip Adie started life in Aberdeen, perhaps not somewhere we generally associate with flamenco, but for the past 25 years he has lived in mainland Europe, first studying under flamenco master Paco Pena in Rotterdam, then moving to Seville where he works as a flamenco guitarist. Now he's here in Edinburgh to share some tunes and tell us more about the origins and styles of this wonderful music. Read more here. Like this: Like Related
Edinburgh Reporter
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Reporter
Fringe 2025 – Ahir Shah: Work in Progress ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ahir Shah has become an established Fringe performer. After a series of nominations, he finally won the main Comedy Award in 2023. On the back of his Fringe successes, he's become a regular media figure, featuring on BBC Radio 4 (Ahir Shah's 7 Blunders of the World) and also has had HBO and Netflix specials. This year Shah is performing a limited series of shows (14 -24), advertised as a work in progress but very much on course to becoming a fully realized show. A change of tone I've been lucky enough to catch Shah on at least 4 occasions. I particularly recall a brilliantly delivered and powerful performance of his 2017 show Control, which illustrated a more lyrical aspect to his polemical material. I was surprised that he only received a nomination for the comedy award that year (especially having also seen one of the award winning shows that year). This year's show had a different tone to the shows I've seen before, with the political aspect far less prominent. He even felt that his politics had been mischaracterized by many; that he was merely a liberal and not a radical left winger. Certainly there was less of a polemical aspect to this show. Mechanistic routines He shows have always had a personal aspect, particularly drawing on his Indian heritage, but this was stronger this time. In particular the focus was on his happy embrace of full adulthood (he is now 34), settling down (getting married and thinking of starting a family (' I'm the broodiest man in Britain'). But alongside this was a desire to avoid being dominated by the 'mechanistic routines' of adult life, and maintain space for more meaningful activities. He drew on the examples of some of his older family members to illustrate the potential richness of life, as well as pay tribute to the sacrifices their generations made. There were several touching moments regarding his grandmother's life. In debt One strong theme that ran through the show was the devastating impact of financial worries and how debt can become all encompassing, and often leading to psychological and indeed physical health problems. Shah as long suffered with bouts of depression, with some of the deep money worries coloured his early years contributing to this. The image of his burnt family home, with the ground floor intact by the upper floor gutted, as a depiction of his own mental state was a powerful one. At several points in the show, the audience felt a little bit uncomfortable laughing given the clear anguish that some of the Themes dredged up in Shah. For long portions of the show, he clung to the back wall, sometimes feeling the rough sandstone with his fingers. He felt like a way of keeping his emotions somehow in check. The emotional content transmitted itself to the audience. Fragility I'm sure I was not alone in finding many parts of the performance moving. There was a definite fragility to the performance, though it was generally performed with Shah's customary articulacy. Shah's ability to build to and deliver a punchline was consistently illustrated in the show. Some of these cut against the seriousness of the theme, giving the performance and nice balance of light and shade. Before the show, Shah handed out bananas to those queuing up to see him (several queued for an hour to get some of the limited pay what you can spots). A nice gesture. More broadly, Shah's emotional candour made a deep connection with the audience. The lengthy and loud applause at the end was well deserved but it was also evident from their response that the audience had been on something of an emotional journey. No doubt they were some sections which Shah will need to work on and some of the transitions between sections were not as smooth as they will surely become. We were treated to a handful of his signature long, highly articulate broadsides but not as many as in his more fully formed shows. Shah promised, at the end, that 'it'll be something at some point – come back next year !'. I'm sure most in the audience would be only to happy to return and hear the fully fledged version. Ahir Shah plays at Monkey Barrel 3 at Monkey Barrel Comedy, at 12.00 – until August 24th. Tickets here Like this: Like Related
