I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Tag: Theatre

It’s all about the shows.

The Edinburgh Festival

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Once again I visited the Edinburgh Fringe this year. It was, as always, great fun, with some truly excellent shows, and of course, some really quite terrible ones too. But overall it was great.

There were a few shows that stuck out, but only a few. But that’s kind of what matters at the fringe. You find a few things that make you sit up and think, and the rest, whilst fun, is just a part of the trip.

One thing that stood out was a production about Delia Derbyshire, which I quite enjoyed, but I actually knew a lot of the content was before I went to it. It was good to see a show about her anyway, and it was good to see people talking about her work.

Edinburgh Fringe 2015: What Would Spock Do?

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Edinburgh Fringe 2015: What Would Spock Do?
Edinburgh Fringe 2015: What Would Spock Do?

Ok, I love Star Trek. That’s only fair to say, but even so, this was a lovely little show. It was fun, poignant, and very well done. It was a one man show, and the one man was one of the actors who was in the Frontier Trilogy. He was excellent.

I’ve no idea if this show will go anywhere else after Edinburgh, but if it does I can thoroughly recommend it.

Edinburgh Fringe 2015: Now Listen to me very carefully

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Edinburgh Fringe 2015: Now Listen to me very carefully
Edinburgh Fringe 2015: Now Listen to me very carefully

An interesting show this one. Not perhaps my favourite of 2015, but still good. It was about a guy who was obsessed with Terminator 2. Which was especially interesting as the guy who performed the show was the guy with the obsession!

Edinburgh Fringe 2015: The Frontier Trilogy – The Rattlesnake’s Kiss

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Ed Fringe 2015: Frontier Trilogy - Rattlesnake's Kiss
Ed Fringe 2015: Frontier Trilogy – Rattlesnake’s Kiss

This was the last in the trilogy and was not only an incredible performance, but also a fantastic story in its own right and a great end to the trilogy itself. If you ever get a chance to see this trilogy I would strongly recommend it.

Edinburgh Fringe 2015: Under Milk Wood (Semi Skimmed)

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Ed Fringe 2015: Under Milk Wood
Ed Fringe 2015: Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood is one of my favourite poems, if not my favourite of all. One of the best live performances of it that I’ve ever seen was by Guy Masterson. I saw it years ago and it was truly brilliant. So I’ve been going to see Guy Masterson every year at Edinburgh to see his shows, and they’ve all been brilliant. But I’ve always wanted to see his Under Milk Wood again.

So when I found that it was on again this year I knew I had to see it, and I did. It was a shortened version, or as he puts it the “Semi Skimmed” version. It was brilliant. Utterly brilliant. A complete joy to watch, and I loved every minute of it.

In fact, I had thought that it couldn’t really get any better than this, until the end when Guy Masterson said that he had CDs of the complete, unabridged performance for sale.

Ed Fringe 2015: Under Milk Wood CD
Ed Fringe 2015: Under Milk Wood CD

I had to have one, and so I did, but it got even better, because he signed the CD for me, and I got to chat to him, albeit briefly.

Ed Fringe 2015: Under Milk Wood signed CD
Ed Fringe 2015: Under Milk Wood signed CD

Edinburgh Fringe 2015: Shakespeare for Breakfast

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Ed Fringe 2015: Shakespeare for Breakfast
Ed Fringe 2015: Shakespeare for Breakfast

I’ve been to see Shakespeare for Breakfast almost every year I’ve been to the Fringe. It’s always amazing. It’s always great fun. This year was no different at all. It was brilliant. It was Hamlet.

Shakespeare for Breakfast is a difficult thing to explain if you’ve never seen it before. It’s Shakespeare, sure, but it isn’t like any kind of Shakespeare you’ve seen before. It’s fun, it’s current, it’s witty and it’s over in an hour. Added to that you get a coffee and a croissant in the bargain. Not bad for the Fringe, not bad at all.

So if you ever go the Fringe you should try out Shakespeare for Breakfast and see if you like it.

So that was the Edinburgh Fringe

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This year’s Edinburgh Fringe felt bigger than before. In fact, it felt a lot bigger in many ways. The crowds seemed denser and much more difficult to navigate through, and even the cab drivers said it was a bigger event than in previous years. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but it felt like it.

I did enjoy this year’s fringe. As always there were highs and lows. Amazing shows, and things that are better left unremembered. But that’s the way it has always been, and I’ve been going for quite a while now.

Going to the Fringe is always a gamble. Just because a show has a 5 star rating doesn’t mean it’ll actually be good or indeed that you’ll like it. Added to that, the weather is an even bigger gamble, although you could argue that it’s always going to rain if you’re in Edinburgh for the fringe, and I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet.

But it was good this year, and it was fun on the whole. It’s a tiring holiday though. It’s the kind of holiday that you come back from more tired than when you left, and that’s getting increasingly difficult.

I’ll be posting thoughts on my favourite shows over the coming days, but as for those that didn’t appeal to me, I’ll leave them alone and won’t bother boring you with them.

Edinburgh Fringe: Chaplin

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Chaplin isn’t the easiest subject to take on in just over an hour, but this small production tried and I think that they did it quite well actually. They told his story very well even though there’s a lot to tell and it was a very complex story indeed. But overall I enjoyed the performance.