Coffee-Table Notes

Spiegeltent, Edinburgh Three stars The economy size Christmas tree perched on the tiny stage at the end of the Spiegeltent catwalk lends a deceptively cosy air to the start of La Clique’s latest cabaret compendium for this year’s Underbelly-run Edinburgh’s Christmas. The tree doesn’t last long, however, and is quite rightly jettisoned from view by teutonic diva and MC extraordinaire Bernie Dieter. It’s still November, after all, and as Dieter points out, “this isn’t a fucking panto.” Under the guidance of director David Bates, Dieter hosts a showcase of some of the most wilfully individual talents around in a night that would probably work much the same without the occasional festive reference shoehorned in. This makes for a greatest hits set of bite-size routines that never outstay their welcome, be it the return of Heather Holliday’s sparkly and suggestive take on sword-swallowing and fire eating, or gentleman juggler Florian Brooks. There is old-school comedy magic from P...

Mike Frinton was on a ferry sailing across Sydney Harbour when he chanced upon a familiar looking TV show. In the short film, the heads of German chancellor Angela Merkel and then French president Nicolas Sarkozy had been superimposed onto vintage footage of a butler serving dinner to his elderly mistress. As he is forced to pretend to be the other four guests to keep his mistress happy, necking four courses of red and white wine and other drinks as he goes, the butler becomes increasingly inebriated. As a satirical comment on the uneasy relationship between two European states regarding the Euro, this was amusing enough. Frinton, however, was taken aback by the fact that behind the politicians’ heads was Dinner for One, a sketch which had been filmed by a German TV company in 1963. Since then, the recording of the sketch had gone on to become an institution that is still broadcast in Germany every New Year’s Eve. Dinner for One has even entered the Guinness Book of Book of Record...

The Playhouse, Edinburgh Four stars When Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvyn Gaye and Stevie Wonder lead a large ensemble paying homage to the man who gave them their musical careers, the occasion is carried by some of the greatest pop songs ever made, just as the previous two hours have been. Coming at the end of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy’s adaptation of his autobiography, the moment is given extra pathos by the film behind the actors showing archive footage of the event being replicated. It’s a lovely touch in Charles Randolph-Wright’s production, first seen on Broadway in 2013 and now embarking on its first UK tour following a West End run.   The show is framed by Edward Baruwa as a magnificently grouchy Gordy, pacing his office like a wounded bear as preparations for the star-studded 25th anniversary of Motown go on without him. Inbetween comes a lavish and slickly choreographed potted history of the independent record label which changed the face of pop mu...