This year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival was my first. With a view to putting on a play there in 2008, myself and my writing partner Jack Gibson ventured up the Scottish capital to see what it was all about and check out the 'vibe'.
We took in 6 performances during our one-and-a-half day visit and what follows are brief reviews of what we saw.
Teenage Kicks
This is a play about the late Radio 1 DJ, John Peel and his journey into the hearts and minds of his listeners. In the Universal Arts venue, which holds around 200, the play worked well and was well written and performed by the cast of three. One of the cast, lovingly referred to as Susan (played by a young man) played such diverse roles as an aspiring punk rocker to a shelf unit at Virgin records. The performances were good, the writing tight yet fluent and the whole experience, even for those who were not familiar with Peel's story (i.e. Jack) was a positive one.
Robin Ince Knew This Would Happen
Robin Ince is a stand-up comedian of several years experience and could be respectfully described as a Fringe 'veteran'. His stand up routine, in the Wildman Room at the Assembly @ George St lasted an hour or so. While I liked his material and was won over by his 'everyman' attitude, the set did linger five minutes too long. At the end, his material, based on science and such stuff, began to wander into the realms of obscure references and indecipherable quotes. I'm sure these must have seemed funny when Robin was coming up with them, but to an audience slightly less passionate about the subject, they just represented a weak ending to an otherwise very enjoyable hour of stand-up.
A Dependable Marriage
Somewhere on the top floor of the venue (C Soco, Chambers St) this play was performed to an audience of around 50 people, the vast majority of which turned out to be friends of the cast (something we discovered later that day - but more of that below). The play is about a couple who face the spectre of infidelity and handle it's consequences in a less than orthodox manner. While well written in places with some genuine laughs, the play ultimately left me wondering why I should care about what happened to any of the characters. The female parts were well acted but the male performers were wooden at best. One particular character who enters the life of the wronged wife as her 'revenge fling' was played by a guy who was clearly getting by on looks alone. The one highlight was the guy playing the all-too unaware husband of the main character's mistress, if only because he resembled Adrian Edmondson and his performance was the most comical, intentionally or otherwise.
What's Your Poison
This play, performed at the Roman Eagle Lodge, tried to explore the 'twin themes of addiction and dependence'. While most of the performances were passable, the character of Lisa, the most dependent and seemingly 'lost' of all the characters was seriously over-played. As a result, the audience's ability to lose themselves in the story was hindered. Although the story was worthwhile, the script seemed to wander and lose it's way, which meant the play ended with an air of issues being unresolved and of the audience really not caring.
Barbed and Spined
If Teenage Kicks was the highlight of our short visit, this play represented the lowlight. The cast was made up of those who had sat in the audience of A Dependable Marriage. The cast of that show were reciprocating here, filling out the majority of the 20-odd seats in what is surely the most claustrophobic venue at the Fringe, Venue 260 @ Jury's Inn. The 'venue' is basically a tiny, converted conference room on the 7th floor of a hotel and indicative of the fact that, at this time of year, any available space in the city is farmed out as performance space. The play, supposedly a 'vicious and provocative new drama' about fragile relationships, was, at best, a waste of time. I felt as if I had walked into a group of friends putting on a hastily written and poorly rehearsed play for their mates. Pointless profanity was thrown in at thirty second intervals and the performances were absolutely awful, proving that shouting your lines doesn't cover up poor writing and inadequacies in the talent department. For some reason I applauded at the end, probably just grateful that it was all over.
The Coach
The final play we took in, back at the miniscule Jury's Inn venue, was blessed relief after those who had sullied the 'stage' before them. Focusing on a football coach's shattered dreams and his obsession with living them through the boys team he coaches, the play fizzes along and provides some good moments. The performances are all solid, the main character being played well, with just the right amount of dark comedy and impending menace. Given the severely limited performance space, the play came across well and provided our trip with the upturn in quality it sorely needed.
The Edinburgh Fringe is a great place for catching the most eclectic collection of performances, either at official venues or by just wondering through the streets. An experience that should really be given more than one-and-a-half-days to appreciate properly.
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Monday, 6 August 2007
Book - Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (With Minimal Spoilers) - 2007, J K Rowling
So it’s finally over. Seventeen years in the writing, seven books, over 3000 pages, deaths, resurrections, battles, spells, curses, counter curses and, naturally, a civilisation-threatening struggle between good and evil. There's even room for a bit of the normal stuff; teenage angst, burgeoning romance, (complete with the awkward and uncomfortable moments) and rebelling against numerous authority figures. The Harry Potter adventure has finally reached its climax. We have been with our hero through everything. From the moment he was placed on the doorstep of number 4, Privet Drive, right up to the ultimate confrontation with the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Would the Boy Who Lived triumph against the one who gave him his famous scar? Or would evil win the day?
I picked up Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows with, I’ll admit, more than a trace of eager anticipation. It has often been said about the Harry Potter books, that they appeal to adults as well as children. I originally tutted, rolled my eyes and made the usual gestures of incredulity at the possibility of any book aimed at children being able to win over an adult market. However, being 12,000 miles away from home with time on your hands will do funny things to a man. So it was in 2002, when I purchased Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone from a tiny independent bookshop in Sydney. I haven’t looked back since. Although not a die-hard fanatic, I have faithfully read all the books and seen all the films. So, to now be picking up the final installment of what, at times, has been a gripping, saddening, uplifting and amusing tale, filled me with the aforementioned anticipation.
The Deathly Hallows sees Harry preparing to bring all that has happened since Hagrid exploded into his life all those years before, to a conclusion, one way or another. With his two closest friends, Ron and Hermione in tow, he sets off to complete the mission set him by Dumbledore before the former Headmaster’s death. He must find the Horcruxes in which Voldemort hid the fractured remnants of his soul and destroy them. While the wizarding world tries to carry on the fight without their most famous of allies, Harry, Ron and Hermione disapparate all over the country, both in their efforts to find the Horcruxes and to evade capture from Voldemort’s Death Eaters. There are plenty of developments along the way; Harry becomes obsessed with visiting Godric’s Hollow, the village in which he was born and his parents are buried, Ron and Hermione continue to grow closer (even after Harry and Ron have a friendship-threatening row) and some high profile members of the Order of The Phoenix meet sticky ends. It all ends in a climactic battle at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with Harry and a multitude of friends battling to hold off Voldemort and all of his supporters. In an attempt to confront Voldemort, Harry stumbles on his nemesis killing, albeit regretfully, his supposed, most faithful servant, Severus Snape. Harry learns from Snape’s volunteered memories, given up to him by the man himself moments before his last breath, that Snape was in fact Dumbledore’s man all along. Harry also learns what he must do to end the battles; that which has taken place in the school grounds and that which has been raging since he escaped death at Voldemort’s hands as a baby.
The battle is halted by Voldemort, to give Harry the chance to surrender himself and avoid further bloodshed. While the dead and wounded are gathered in the school’s Great Hall, Harry, unbeknownst to his allies, goes to meet Voldemort.
There is a real sense that Harry is growing up as the story unfolds, most notably when a character dies in the act of saving Harry’s life. From that point on, it seems he has accepted that he has a heavy responsibility resting on his shoulders. He starts to accept that he is becoming the person his mentors knew he must become. A leader, a hero and dare it be said, a saviour.
Now for the quibbly part.
J K Rowling said before the book was launched that two major characters would perish in the book. Although a sad decision on her part, it seemed to be a realistic one. Having all the good guys survive and all the bad guys die would, of course, be ludicrously far fetched. For a book aimed primarily at the younger market, it’s not a message that is going to set up young minds for the disappointments they would surely encounter later in their lives. As much as a story about a young wizard and his amazing adventures can be realistic, there has to be some measure of credibility. The death of a character who may have seemed too important to die, hammers home the point that life isn’t always fair and that, sometimes, bad things happen. However, following the revelation that ‘two major characters will perish’, I have to say that I was, if not disappointed (that might come across as a little macabre), then let down by the choice of characters when it came to the crunch. While the ones who die are undoubtedly important in the big picture, to describe them as ‘major characters’, I think was stretching it a little.
While I am undoubtedly a fan of the Harry Potter books, I have to admit that there are striking similarities between the story as a whole and Lord of The Rings. For Dementors, read Ringwraiths; for Voldemort, read Sauron; for Dumbledore, read Gandalf; for Harry Potter, read Frodo Baggins. It is not just the characters that bear a striking resemblance to Tolkein’s classic. As Harry has a connection to Voldemort, so did Frodo to Sauron. In this final book the similarities are at their most obvious. Harry, Ron and Hermione all set out on the road and endure hardships in an attempt to bring down the enemy (referred to, at times, as the Dark Lord, as was Sauron) by destroying things that were sacred to him. This journey compares to that taken by Frodo and Sam, at the end of which Frodo was charged with destroying the one thing that could destroy the enemy. One of the Horcruxes is a locket, which the three take turns to wear but it weighs down the bearer and alters their mood, a relationship not unlike that between Frodo and the Ring. After a particularly vitriolic argument, Ron storms off, leaving Harry and Hermione to continue the quest without him. This mirrors Sam’s departure after a confrontation with Gollum. In both cases, the departed returns in time to save their friend’s life and to rejoin the respective quests. In Lord of the Rings a major theme is that of many races working together to overcome a common enemy, a theme that is touched upon in The Deathly Hallows with Harry having to ask for help from a goblin. Throughout the series, goblins and wizards have never got on but in the face of such a formidable foe, the differences are reluctantly set aside. Mind you, it’s an understandable theme to include and what was J K Rowling supposed to do, have everyone at each other’s throats as evil took over the world?
All things considered, the Harry Potter books have offered me nothing but entertainment for the past four years (I was a latecomer, as indicated earlier). I have read very few books that have hooked me so completely that to put them down before the end involved a real effort. It took me a couple of days to get a third of the way in to The Deathly Hallows. The remaining 400 pages took me an afternoon. I think can safely say, that was a first. For all the negative points raised above, I have really enjoyed J K Rowling’s creations and the seventh and final chapter has done nothing to change my mind. Of course, there will be a multitude of opinions on how the whole Harry Potter story has reached its conclusion. They’ll range from those who are angrily disappointed to those (frankly unhinged) fans who will be deliriously fulfilled beyond all expectation. Personally, after closing a Potter book for the last time, I found myself disappointed. Not because of the book itself, but because I simply didn’t want the thing to end.
The final two sentences of the book, rather than offering a definite ending, hint the tiniest of hints that more could follow in the future. I for one have never been a fan of flogging something to death and sincerely hope that Harry Potter is left alone. As the man himself says towards the end of the book - the end of his adventures - ‘…I’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime.’
I picked up Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows with, I’ll admit, more than a trace of eager anticipation. It has often been said about the Harry Potter books, that they appeal to adults as well as children. I originally tutted, rolled my eyes and made the usual gestures of incredulity at the possibility of any book aimed at children being able to win over an adult market. However, being 12,000 miles away from home with time on your hands will do funny things to a man. So it was in 2002, when I purchased Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone from a tiny independent bookshop in Sydney. I haven’t looked back since. Although not a die-hard fanatic, I have faithfully read all the books and seen all the films. So, to now be picking up the final installment of what, at times, has been a gripping, saddening, uplifting and amusing tale, filled me with the aforementioned anticipation.
The Deathly Hallows sees Harry preparing to bring all that has happened since Hagrid exploded into his life all those years before, to a conclusion, one way or another. With his two closest friends, Ron and Hermione in tow, he sets off to complete the mission set him by Dumbledore before the former Headmaster’s death. He must find the Horcruxes in which Voldemort hid the fractured remnants of his soul and destroy them. While the wizarding world tries to carry on the fight without their most famous of allies, Harry, Ron and Hermione disapparate all over the country, both in their efforts to find the Horcruxes and to evade capture from Voldemort’s Death Eaters. There are plenty of developments along the way; Harry becomes obsessed with visiting Godric’s Hollow, the village in which he was born and his parents are buried, Ron and Hermione continue to grow closer (even after Harry and Ron have a friendship-threatening row) and some high profile members of the Order of The Phoenix meet sticky ends. It all ends in a climactic battle at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with Harry and a multitude of friends battling to hold off Voldemort and all of his supporters. In an attempt to confront Voldemort, Harry stumbles on his nemesis killing, albeit regretfully, his supposed, most faithful servant, Severus Snape. Harry learns from Snape’s volunteered memories, given up to him by the man himself moments before his last breath, that Snape was in fact Dumbledore’s man all along. Harry also learns what he must do to end the battles; that which has taken place in the school grounds and that which has been raging since he escaped death at Voldemort’s hands as a baby.
The battle is halted by Voldemort, to give Harry the chance to surrender himself and avoid further bloodshed. While the dead and wounded are gathered in the school’s Great Hall, Harry, unbeknownst to his allies, goes to meet Voldemort.
There is a real sense that Harry is growing up as the story unfolds, most notably when a character dies in the act of saving Harry’s life. From that point on, it seems he has accepted that he has a heavy responsibility resting on his shoulders. He starts to accept that he is becoming the person his mentors knew he must become. A leader, a hero and dare it be said, a saviour.
Now for the quibbly part.
J K Rowling said before the book was launched that two major characters would perish in the book. Although a sad decision on her part, it seemed to be a realistic one. Having all the good guys survive and all the bad guys die would, of course, be ludicrously far fetched. For a book aimed primarily at the younger market, it’s not a message that is going to set up young minds for the disappointments they would surely encounter later in their lives. As much as a story about a young wizard and his amazing adventures can be realistic, there has to be some measure of credibility. The death of a character who may have seemed too important to die, hammers home the point that life isn’t always fair and that, sometimes, bad things happen. However, following the revelation that ‘two major characters will perish’, I have to say that I was, if not disappointed (that might come across as a little macabre), then let down by the choice of characters when it came to the crunch. While the ones who die are undoubtedly important in the big picture, to describe them as ‘major characters’, I think was stretching it a little.
While I am undoubtedly a fan of the Harry Potter books, I have to admit that there are striking similarities between the story as a whole and Lord of The Rings. For Dementors, read Ringwraiths; for Voldemort, read Sauron; for Dumbledore, read Gandalf; for Harry Potter, read Frodo Baggins. It is not just the characters that bear a striking resemblance to Tolkein’s classic. As Harry has a connection to Voldemort, so did Frodo to Sauron. In this final book the similarities are at their most obvious. Harry, Ron and Hermione all set out on the road and endure hardships in an attempt to bring down the enemy (referred to, at times, as the Dark Lord, as was Sauron) by destroying things that were sacred to him. This journey compares to that taken by Frodo and Sam, at the end of which Frodo was charged with destroying the one thing that could destroy the enemy. One of the Horcruxes is a locket, which the three take turns to wear but it weighs down the bearer and alters their mood, a relationship not unlike that between Frodo and the Ring. After a particularly vitriolic argument, Ron storms off, leaving Harry and Hermione to continue the quest without him. This mirrors Sam’s departure after a confrontation with Gollum. In both cases, the departed returns in time to save their friend’s life and to rejoin the respective quests. In Lord of the Rings a major theme is that of many races working together to overcome a common enemy, a theme that is touched upon in The Deathly Hallows with Harry having to ask for help from a goblin. Throughout the series, goblins and wizards have never got on but in the face of such a formidable foe, the differences are reluctantly set aside. Mind you, it’s an understandable theme to include and what was J K Rowling supposed to do, have everyone at each other’s throats as evil took over the world?
All things considered, the Harry Potter books have offered me nothing but entertainment for the past four years (I was a latecomer, as indicated earlier). I have read very few books that have hooked me so completely that to put them down before the end involved a real effort. It took me a couple of days to get a third of the way in to The Deathly Hallows. The remaining 400 pages took me an afternoon. I think can safely say, that was a first. For all the negative points raised above, I have really enjoyed J K Rowling’s creations and the seventh and final chapter has done nothing to change my mind. Of course, there will be a multitude of opinions on how the whole Harry Potter story has reached its conclusion. They’ll range from those who are angrily disappointed to those (frankly unhinged) fans who will be deliriously fulfilled beyond all expectation. Personally, after closing a Potter book for the last time, I found myself disappointed. Not because of the book itself, but because I simply didn’t want the thing to end.
The final two sentences of the book, rather than offering a definite ending, hint the tiniest of hints that more could follow in the future. I for one have never been a fan of flogging something to death and sincerely hope that Harry Potter is left alone. As the man himself says towards the end of the book - the end of his adventures - ‘…I’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime.’
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