Spiegeltent, Edinburgh
3 stars
Cabaret, it seems, can be for Christmas as well as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Or at least that’s the message from this brand new festive venture from The Gilded Balloon, who’ve knitted together this well decked out compendium of acts to tickle fancies, warm cockles and make Christmas even camper than it already is. There’s magic, mime, puppetry and dance from four acts introduced by cheesy compere Philip Dundas. Top of the bill, however, are the magnificently clad Australian troupe, Drags Aloud.
These four divine divas set the tone for the evening by lip-synching their way through I Want A Boob Job For Christmas before giving way to magician Kevin McMahon who works his way through some old time tricks set to a bump n’ grind Hammond organ soundtrack. The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are up next with a selection of ditties that show them up as sensible footwear’s answer to The Proclaimers. Clive Nicholas Andrews comes from the Norman Wisdom school of prat-falls as he makes use of an umbrella, a bowler hat and a suitcase, while hip hop dance duo Etch n’ Sketch do a fair enough pastiche of chavtastic street moves.
With each act split into bit-size chunks, highlights of the evening include two very different reworkings of The Twelve Days Of Christmas, a surprisingly straight rendition of John Lennon’s War Is Over, and a hilarious take on the M’namanah Song. This comes complete with costume changes that may well have been purloined from the late Leigh Bowery’s wardrobe. Best of all is The B52s party anthem, Love Shack reinvented as Toy Sack. The whole shebang runs nightly at 9pm until the new year. Sno’ joke.
The Herald, December 8th 2008
ends
3 stars
Cabaret, it seems, can be for Christmas as well as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Or at least that’s the message from this brand new festive venture from The Gilded Balloon, who’ve knitted together this well decked out compendium of acts to tickle fancies, warm cockles and make Christmas even camper than it already is. There’s magic, mime, puppetry and dance from four acts introduced by cheesy compere Philip Dundas. Top of the bill, however, are the magnificently clad Australian troupe, Drags Aloud.
These four divine divas set the tone for the evening by lip-synching their way through I Want A Boob Job For Christmas before giving way to magician Kevin McMahon who works his way through some old time tricks set to a bump n’ grind Hammond organ soundtrack. The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are up next with a selection of ditties that show them up as sensible footwear’s answer to The Proclaimers. Clive Nicholas Andrews comes from the Norman Wisdom school of prat-falls as he makes use of an umbrella, a bowler hat and a suitcase, while hip hop dance duo Etch n’ Sketch do a fair enough pastiche of chavtastic street moves.
With each act split into bit-size chunks, highlights of the evening include two very different reworkings of The Twelve Days Of Christmas, a surprisingly straight rendition of John Lennon’s War Is Over, and a hilarious take on the M’namanah Song. This comes complete with costume changes that may well have been purloined from the late Leigh Bowery’s wardrobe. Best of all is The B52s party anthem, Love Shack reinvented as Toy Sack. The whole shebang runs nightly at 9pm until the new year. Sno’ joke.
The Herald, December 8th 2008
ends
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