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Edinburgh Reporter
12 hours 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
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Edinburgh Reporter
Review – Hingin' Oan Fir Googsie ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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. It wasn't just Chisholm's deft and generous performance, playing up the warm, comic humanity of the character that carried the show however, but compelling turns from the rest of the cast and an absurdist, laugh out loud funny script that had the house in fits from the outset while still addressing the challenges of dementia with dignity. Read full review here immy Chisholm (Ghillie) is seated with John McColl (Gadge), Amy Fraser (Plucky) and Alan Ireby (Potter) JR Cruicks This author does not have any more posts. Like this: Like Related
Scotsman
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
River City's Jimmy Chisholm back on stage in new Fringe play
Jimmy Chisholm, fresh from his demise in River City, returns to his first love – theatre – in a new absurdist comedy at the Fringe. He tells Chad Maxwell about starring in a soap and sharing a lift with Mel Gibson Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. 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... There would have more than a few River City fans shedding a tear or two following the death of one of their favourite characters Sonny Caplan, the 'silver fox' of Shieldinch, who died in the arms of his on-off love interest Maggie McLean in an episode aired last week. Sonny was a loveable rascal and a chancer, but he will be sorely missed by his fans. But there's good news too. The actor who played Sonny, Jimmy Chisholm, is coming off TV and straight on to the stage in a new Scottish play, Hingin' Oan Fir Googsie, premiering at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe ths month Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad We caught up with him this week to talk about his five-year stint as Sonny in River City, and about the new absurdist comedy in which he is about to star. Jimmy Chisholm has worked with some of the most prestigious theatre companies in the UK (Picture: Lisa Ferguson) 'I loved Sonny,' Chisholm said. 'I'll miss him terribly. I just thought he was a great wee guy. He was willing to do anything for anyone. It's been amazing having a regular job as an actor, and it's nice to get a chance to develop a character and give him a life of his own in a series. 'You really feel you belong to something, which you don't get much as a theatre actor because you're usually together for seven weeks or so and then you never see each other again.' River City itself is living on borrowed time with it set to be taken off air next year. Fans want it saved but Chisholm is doubtful. 'I know there are moves afoot to save it, and they did that with Take the High Road with the protest Save Our Soap (Chisholm also starred as Jimmy Blair in that show for five years in the Eighties and Nineties) but I don't see that sort of thing happening now. Whatever money the BBC needed to produce River City will have already been allocated. They've got to allocate their money two years before they make anything.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The upside for Chisholm is that his departure has allowed him to get back to his first love – theatre. 'To me, that's acting,' he said. 'I mean, yes, I love TV – well, I loved playing Sonny – but, to me, theatre describes acting because you're there from start to finish. And no matter what happens you have to deal with that and go through it, and, you know, there's a sort of 'take me by the hand' suggestion to an audience which you don't get to do through a camera – it's more like modelling, you're just presenting an attitude, a line, an image, whereas it's all linked from beginning to end in a theatre and the audience see it all, the magic – and the mistakes!" Jimmy Chisholm with fellow Hingin' Oan Fir Googsie cast members Alan Ireby, left, Amy Fraser and writer John McColl, right (Picture: Liam Rudden Media) Chisholm has worked with some of the most prestigious companies in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, and in London's West End West, as well as making many appearances in the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, to name but a few. However, he is also a champion of the importance of small local theatres to entertain audiences. He said: 'I think, like everything else, theatre has been confused with profit, whereas, to me, it's a community service. To me it's a part of society to be able to sit down next to total strangers and watch something and be able to turn round to a stranger and know you're feeling the same thing at the same time. Again, it's like a belonging – which is a major theme of Hingin' Oan Fir Googsie – a feeling of oneness. I think that's why people are struggling so much with loneliness at the moment. We're not prepared to go as ourselves to a strange environment and become part of a bigger environment. That's what theatre is asking you to do and I think that's very very important in this day and age. 'Nothing does that better than the Fringe with so many small venues. There's no reason for why someone chooses your show on the day, but the point is that out of the one or two million people who are randomly walking about looking for something to see in the Festival they pick yours and they tell someone in the pub that night, 'don't go to that show, it's rubbish', or 'go to that, it's brilliant'. And that is how most shows operate in the Festival, apart from the big conglomerates that have taken over the Festival now.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad All that said, Chisholm is, of course, hoping they choose his show... 'They'd be very foolish if they didn't," he said with a smile. 'Hingin' Oan Fir Googsie is a play, shall we say, inspired by another play called Waiting For Godot. It discusses similar themes but, at the same time, it is very different. It is theatre of the absurd. It's not saying anything is fact, it's not saying anything is a lie, but it is asking you to think and I think any audience will be constantly reminded that this is a story about the human condition rather than anything else, and you'll recognise that in yourself without it being laid on with a trowel. 'It's a very poignant play, but also very funny and that is where the absurd comes in. You might laugh at something and then, ten seconds later, you're going 'God, that could be me'. Yet what you're watching doesn't bear any relation to you or your life. But it's what they're saying, what they feel... It's theatre, it's storytelling. I think it is beautifully written and, to me, it's engaging from start to finish, and I hope it will be to the audience.' But despite Chisholm's love affair with theatre, there is no doubt that featuring in Braveheart with Mel Gibson was a big highlight in his career and he tells a story of his first meeting with Gibson that reveals not only the young Inverness lad's rising fame, but also his burgeoning confidence in the acting business. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Getting a chance to be on set with Mel Gibson in a film that was so well received was brilliant. It's probably the most famous thing I've done,' he said. Gibson by that time, of course, was an international film star, but he quickly found out that the Chisholm was also a household name in Scotland. 'When I walked into the hotel room for my interview for the job, there was Mel Gibson sitting on the couch and he got up and shook my hand and I was totally tongue-tied. I'd never met anyone as famous in my life. He sort of went, 'Hi, I'm Mel Gibson,' and I said, 'Yes, I know'! Then I said, 'I'm Jimmy Chisholm' and he said, 'Yes, I know'! Then I realised I was still holding his hand! 'I let it go and he said 'please have a seat, there's not much to this interview, I hear you could do this job falling off a log, so if you want it, it's yours.' And I said, 'lovely, thanks'. And he said, 'right I'll get you down in the lift, I've got to go out and check some locations for the film'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'When we got out of the lift, there were these two women with a huge metal trolley for cleaning, and one of them looked at me, then turned to the other and whispered and it was obvious they recognised me from Take the High Road – this was the Eighties – and so they came running over shouting 'Jimmy Blair, Jimmy Blair!' They hadn't spotted who was coming out of the door with me at this point, so Mel Gibson said, 'Oh it's nice to have a celebrity on the show!' And I said to him, 'Don't worry, Mel, this'll happen to you one day!'' There is no doubt that Chisholm will secure TV appearances in the future. He has been so much in demand that he holds the record for guest appearances in Taggart. As Chisholm puts it: 'I've been killed more times in Taggart than anyone else!' But for now, the theatre's the thing once again as he looks forward to playing in John McColl's Hingin' Oan Fir Googsie. Chisholm regards it as a real treat to be back in a small Fringe venue. We suspect audiences will feel the same.
