Latest news with #Chopin'sNocturne
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews: Chopin's Nocturne You Can't Say That My Marlene Good Morning and Goodbye Hands Up! Baby CEO
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... THEATRE Chopin's Nocturne ★★★★ Summerhall (Venue 27) until 25 August As a teenager, Australian comedian Aidan Jones was a talented pianist. He failed to get into music school, though, so – after spending some time concentrating on MDMA, he jokes – he turned to stand-up. During lockdown, however, he returned to the piano, and particularly to Chopin's Nocturne in E Flat Major. Look it up: you will recognise it. Chopin's Nocturne | Darren Keane It is his love of that famous, beautiful piece – and of the reclusive Polish composer that created it – that powers this charming hour of comedy and classical piano. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad At its heart is a music lesson. Jones sits down at an upright piano and entertainingly takes us through the Nocturne, note by note, section by section. The tension of a diminished chord is likened to the anxiety of seeing a drunk man on a train. The sadness of a minor cadence is like being denied a cookie. A major resolve is like coming home. Around this, Jones weaves autobiographical anecdotes, stories about Chopin, and plenty of daft humour. There is a good gag comparing smoking meth to test cricket, a remarkable tale about Chopin's contemporary Hector Berlioz going back on a plan to murder his ex-girlfriend, and a lot of revealing insights into the Polish composer's life and work. Movingly, Jones explains how the dissonant C Flat that threads its way through the piece reflects Chopin's longing for his homeland from the salons of Paris. Jones delivers all this with easy-going Aussie charm and a blokey, bogan chuckle. He plays the piano beautifully, too, and has an infectious capacity for exuberant physical comedy. And, as the show develops, it gains real resonance. When Jones plays Chopin's Nocturne all the way through at the conclusion, it is deeply moving. FERGUS MORGAN THEATRE You Can't Say That ★★★ PBH's Free Fringe @ CC Blooms (Venue 171) until 16 August Meet Zora, an alien from a distant galaxy, stranded for years on Earth, and - frankly - struggling with the ways of humans. Why do we lie, deceive, not own our own abilities and talents? Why, deep down, are we all so sad? The solution: she'll found her own town, conceived from the start as a happier, fairer, more joyful place - if we can only agree on how any of that is actually going to work. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Writer/performer Nina Rubesa's somewhat slight solo show has grand ambitions and big themes, but she struggles to address many of them in a particularly convincing way - despite her easy charm and understated, somewhat offhand perceptiveness. Certain anecdotes seemingly spun on the hoof are gently but genuinely illuminating, while other material could do with more work and delivery practice before it properly hits home. Audience participation - and there's a fair bit - is generally welcoming, though an early dance routine drags on for far too long. You Can't Say That has a simple set-up with bags of potential, and Rubesa is an undeniably captivating performer, but the show still feels somewhat like a work in progress. DAVID KETTLE THEATRE Hi Mum! ★★★ Greenside @ George Street (venue 236) until 16 August Dealing with death and grief looks different for everyone. Hi Mum! explores this through estranged sisters brought together in a funeral home viewing room, their mother lying in a shroud before them. Over 45 minutes, they confront unspoken emotions, grapple with letting go, and reconnect under the shadow of past pain. The cause of their fractured relationship stems from their mother's behaviour - although what she actually did to them is left deliberately vague. While this adds a layer of mystery, it also makes it harder to fully connect emotionally. Still, the differing ways each sister processes grief and the past are compelling to watch. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What Tamara Al-Bassam's script and the performances do effectively is reveal a lingering bond beneath the bickering. There's a shared history and pain that neither can fully articulate, but it's felt. For such heavy subject matter, the piece avoids becoming overly sombre with the inclusion of light and comic moments. While the tonal shifts from sadness to humour to tension can feel jarring, they mirror the emotional turbulence of loss. Performers Mhairi Gilmour and Kirsty Young navigate these changes well. Some of the most poignant moments come from the sisters' tender, intimate interactions with the beautifully hand-carved wooden figure representing their mother. These moments powerfully represent connection and loss. SUZANNE O'BRIEN THEATRE My Marlene ★★ Checkpoint at Assembly Checkpoint (322) until 17 August There's a certain sleight of hand required to stage a biography of Marlene Dietrich. The actress was forged in the studio lights of Hollywood and the smoke-filled cabarets of Weimar Berlin. But this brisk whistle-stop show doesn't peep behind the curtain at the women underneath. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The setting, with its cabaret tables and low lighting, promises sensual intimacy. Tjaša Ferme flirts with her audience, conscripting us into Dietrich's world as 'soldiers' performing for us as wartime entertainment. Brisk brush strokes paint images of her early life, move to Berlin, rise as an actress, before moving to Hollywood with a string of affairs along the way, notably with Joseph von Sternberg whose camera turned her into one of the first stars of the silver screen. But references to exile from Germany, bisexuality, and to her relationship with stardom, are leave a tantalisingly two-dimensional image. Ferme's musical interludes are strong: smoky Weimar jazz slides into Wagner as the shadow of Nazism lengthens. Yet the spell falters in the audience participation, where awkwardly read telegrams stall the momentum. It's an elegant sketch, but a sketch all the same. The woman who once made the world swoon remains, here, an untouchable silhouette in a tailored suit. ALEXANDER COHEN THEATRE Good Morning and Goodbye ★★★ theSpace @ Niddry Street (venue 9) until 19 August Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad There's a quiet beauty in the everyday. Particularly morning routines like opening the curtains, watering plants, and sipping hot coffee. This gentle, considered piece from Taiwan captures the comfort of being at home, shut away from both torrential rain and outside pressures. Though listed as Theatre, this would be better described as more of a dance piece. Over 30 minutes, we follow a woman's morning routine told entirely through movement and gesture. She does yoga, showers, drinks coffee, and puts on makeup. After each cycle, she's interrupted by a glimpse into another part of her life, and the next routine subtly shifts to reflect it. Lala Sue's movements are fluid and deliberate, and there's a particularly joyful sequence where she dances with her plant, which she clearly and dearly adores. Her soft humming of Fly Me to the Moon, along with sounds of rainfall, creates a calming, cinematic atmosphere. Some moments feel over-explained, particularly when large, printed words like 'meetings', '9–5', or 'work' are used to represent external pressures. These additions feel unnecessary when the choreography already communicates enough and allows for freedom of interpretation. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's a thoughtful, aesthetically pleasing piece about the repetition of daily life, as a clock ticks away in the background. SUZANNE O'BRIEN THEATRE Hands Up! ★★ theSpace @ Niddry St (Venue 9) until 16 August Essentially an extended sketch with about 15 minutes of plot stretched to three times its natural length, this comedy by writer-director Izzy Higgins runs out of steam early doors but still yields some laughs. Two ludicrously incompetent criminals stage a home invasion and take a couple who have recently split hostage for reasons that no-one is entirely clear about. Higgins has obviously instructed the cast to just have fun with their performances — which sometimes works, sometimes not. Full marks, however, to Leila Biggs for consistently playing it more-or-less straight and providing an entertaining cipher for the audience's confusion. RORY FORD THEATRE Baby CEO ★★ theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39) until 23 August There's a half-decent punchline to this intentionally rambling, barely coherent and entirely autobiographical show from American memoirist and journalist, Sabra Boyd, but it really needs a more experienced actress to make it work. Boyd was trafficked by her own mob boss father — who also stole her identity and set her up as a CEO of some bogus company by the time she was five. Incredibly, this is barely the tip of the iceberg as Boyd breathlessly documents a series of increasingly unlikely misfortunes. Boyd is perfectly likeable but this endlessly complex catalogue of calamity needs a more compelling performer to make it work. RORY FORD
West Australian
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
What's On: Your guide to events around Albany and the Great Southern, June 5-11
From art exhibitions to launching local music, here's your guide to the week ahead in the Great Southern. THURSDAY John Toohey: Terra Exhibition , Albany Town Hall, 10am FRIDAY Great Southern Land Archives Exhibition , Albany Public Library, 9.30am Lez Karski , Wilson's Brewery Bar, 5pm Wine Journey with Castelli Estate , Albany Entertainment Centre, 6.30pm SATURDAY Intro to Pottery: Handbuilding , Vancouver Arts Centre, 9.30am Aidan Jones Presents Chopin's Nocturne , Spectrum Theatre, 7pm The Australian INXS Tribute Show , Albany Entertainment Centre, 7.30pm Double Singles Launch: Tammy London and Simon London and the Spirits , Six Degrees, 8.30pm SUNDAY Something Else , Wilson's Brewery Bar, 5pm MONDAY Allen Kennedy: Beyond the Surface Exhibition , Vancouver Arts Centre, 10am TUESDAY Macrame Workshop , The Empty Bobbin, 2pm WEDNESDAY Karlee Bertola: A Celebration of Pollination Exhibition , Vancouver Arts Centre, 10am Social Craft Night , The Empty Bobbin, 5pm Planning something? Let us know! Send details of your event to greatsouthern@
