Three's Company, Two is a Party theatre review

Three's Company, Two is a Party @ Sweet


Three’s company, Two is a party fuses cabaret, comedy and dance theatre to poke fun at the jealousy-fuelled bitchyness of women and the insane lengths they go to in their quest for one up-man-ship. Always funny and at times, cutting, the show is a great starter to a girls’ night out.


A variety of familiar scenes appear, from the toilet conversations in clubs to the inane small-talk between ‘friends’ when they are left stuck with one another at the bar. In many ways, the show explores female insecurities and this it does to good effect. There are occasions, however, when it may seem to laugh a little too hard at the type of women it represents.

That said, there is a sense of nuance to their social commentary, most notably between the two sequin-clad girls when they construct balloon voodoo dolls of one another and move with devious purpose across the room, contorting and manipulating the other. This sequence is surprisingly dark and delves beneath the surface of harmless drunken confrontation to something more sinister.

As our two ladies exit the stage, on wanders Jayde, an unemployed comedian who is accompanied by her suitcase crammed full of costumes from MC Hammer to her Asda uniform. Jayde appears as the half-time entertainment and succeeds in winning over the audience with her Cheryl Cole impression and wonderfully terrible ‘rapping’ in her urban poetry.

The performance of all three women is playfully funny and at times, clever, and while most women will not identify with this type of character, we’ve all born witness to their kind on our own nights out.

An energetic and amusing performance, ideal if you’re looking for a light-hearted appetiser to your own night out.

3 stars

A review of one-man show Faust/us

Faust/us @ Sweet


Faustus has received countless adaptations but attempting re-tell this classic tale in a one –man show is particularly ambitious. This is obviously, a simplified version of the play and large number of interesting elements of the classic text are necessarily omitted in order to facilitate the style of the performance.

Animation, projectors, lighting and physical theatre are used to good effect. Initially Faustus communicates with God and the Devil over the phone which is a nice twist. It also means the play can develop more dramatically as the two sides, although more notably Mephistopheles, make their ominous presence known.

Two spherical projectors behind our actor are cleverly interlaced with his narrative movements, varying from Pythonesque silliness to Japanese-style horror.

Faust/us effectively captures the terror the man himself feels. He also conveys the comedic fury of Mephistopheles in all his lyrical glory. Our actor looks the part; he’s poised and doctor-like when himself, terrified and victimised when he ought to be and frighteningly ghastly when he’s the Devil. .

The roles are played well and with a good deal of gusto, no easy feat. He’s poised and doctor-like as Faustus and suitably terrified when higher powers are bearing down on him through fearsome voices booming into the room. In the grip of evil, he contorts and wrestles with his clothing and there is a convincing sense of hellish turmoil until he is finally carried off to hell.

A convincing performance, if sometimes vague or clipped in its retelling of the classic tale.

3 stars

LOL, dance and physical theatre review

LOL @ Zoo Southside

Smiley face.

A dance performance about social networking sounds awful in theory but LOL is a hugely enjoyable and thoughtful piece of work that needs to be seen to be understood.

The nature of online social networking is explored with poignancy, nuance and humour through dance, spoken narrative, multi-media imaging and a mass of tangles wires as the only prop. The six dancers – three female and three male – walk nonchalantly on stage wearing causal clothing, in fact not looking much like dancers at all. The movement between them is frenetic and they intertwine with one another, at times slotting together like a living jigsaw puzzle, and at others, moving entirely independently.

Dance is fused with speech which can be humorously robotic and is presented in a variety of forms including text-speak, emails, facebook wall-posing and instant messaging. The style of dance is distinctive and, at times, violent. Arms are wrapped around necks and bodies are jerked upright, pulled across the floor and folded over one another. When we hear the familiar log off ‘bing bong’ sound, our performers collapse, lifeless, onto the floor. This device serves as a slick way of moving from scene to scene.

Humour is an integral aspect of the performance. One particular routine begins with the sound of typing as two dancers move both together and apart with each staccato note. The two chat, flirt and argue through their movement with the varying rhythm of the intensifying typing. Despite their seemingly odd and jarring movements, there is a strong sense of cohesive narrative between their ‘conversation.’ Very clever and amusing to watch.

The notion of falling in love with someone we’ve never actually met is also explored as the dancers pair up and act out their first real meeting after chatting online. The results range from successful to comically uncomfortable and succeed in provoking thought about our willingness to give away so much of ourselves to someone we don’t really know.

LOL is all at once funny, poignant, tragic, uncomfortable and hopeful. It encourages us to consider how our use of technology is affecting the way in we interact with one other; despite our gratuitous communication, we still struggle to really communicate.

4 stars

Beowulf - A Thousand Years of Baggage review

Beowulf – A Thousand Years of Baggage is one of those shows that makes your Fringe. A riotous performance and a great example of experimental theatre and the stunning results it can achieve.


In this song-play, a seven-piece band accompany three actors, two singers come dancers and fur-clad Beowulf himself who makes a grand entrance sporting sunglasses and dripping with masculinity.

A text as mysterious as Beowulf ought to be treated as such in its performance. The 3182-line poem, based in Scandinavia sees warrior Beowulf seek to defeat the psychotic Grendel, a troubled young man akin to Psycho’s mother-loving Norman Bates.

Forget the stage. Actors and musicians roam about the spherical room, hiding behind pillars, kicking over chairs in blind rage, standing atop tables and helping themselves to drinks at the bar, even offering them to the audience. It’s messy but effective and we are immersed in an underworld of betrayal and Anglo Saxon limb extraction.

The music is thunderous and unpredictable, supported by emotive and pitch-perfect vocals. The spoken portions are poetic and melt effortlessly into the accompanying music and acting. As with all great poems, the tone constantly shifts and the audience is with them every step of the way.

The battle – both physical and vocal – between Beowulf and Grendel takes place around the auditorium and amongst the audience as we twist and turn to locate the constantly moving performers. There is also a strong sense of humour to the show and the performers succeed in communicating a whimsicality amid the madness.

The queerness of the Danse Palais Spiegel tent in George Square is the perfect setting for Beowulf; sporting a giant metal chandelier, booth seating and mirrored pillars it feels more like an elaborate gypsy cart than a venue.

While it’s cacophonous and brutal, there are moments of tenderness such as those between Grendel and his malevolent mother.

Beowulf is gritty, daring, intelligent and cleverly executed.

5 stars

Bespoke Magic - On the Fringe of Reality review

Bruce Glen, ‘the gentleman Magician’ cordially invites us into a world of make-believe with his show Bespoke Magic – On the Fringe of Reality.

He talks us through the world of wonder and amazement on our doorstep citing Edinburgh’s great fantasy writers like Robert Louis Stevenson and J K Rowling. It’s rare, but occasionally you experience a Fringe show that feels like it’s for tourists and this is one of them; the explanation about Edinburgh’s history wouldn’t feel out of place on a bus tour.

Smooth-talking Glen skilfully blurs the lines of fantasy and magic in his performance. From asking us how long a piece of string is and demonstrating that it in fact changes in length, to reciting poetry about a famous Edinburgh pilfering performer as he executes the classic cup and ball trick.

Dreamy dulcet tones envelope us throughout the show but once they’ve lulled us into his Fringe of Reality, they becomes a little irksome.

Glen’s final flourish involves borrowing three rings from the audience; consequently making them disappear and re-appear. His movements are grandiose and the overloud operatic love song that accompanies it is clichéd. This style feels dated and great magic speaks for itself, really only requiring friendly and mystical presentation.

That said, our performer is a gentleman and charmingly friendly towards his audience and as a result he manages to keep them entertained - and mystified - throughout the show.

2 (and 3/4) stars

Penny Dreadful's Etherdome review

Three dentists in nineteenth century America are seeking to create pain-free surgery. For two it is the altruistic act and scientific advancement while for another it becomes part of a money-spinning, power-hungry venture. Our three dentists concoct their own potions and elixirs – or pinch them from one another - in the hope of striking it lucky.


A delicious performance by all three actors; from squirming in pain to teeming with malevolence they immerse themselves in each of their roles. At times it wcould be unclear who was playing which character – they also play supporting roles - although this wasn’t helped by limited stage space. There were, perhaps, too many different parts outwith our central three.

The style is very much Nosferatu does dance as the performers move dramatically and dangerously across the stage, re-appearing through curtains and staring down the audience. There’s a great deal of medical rivalry between them which is played out through gothic cabaret and macabre performance.

The venue itself – a specially erected, creaking, wooden carnival tent with swing doors and soft roof – is perfect for such a show and complements the Victorian-style set which houses wooden furnishings, apothecary bottles of varying shapes and sizes and indeed the waist-coat clad actors themselves.

The subject of anaesthesia for a show is curious as it remains a questionable thread of modern surgery despite being around for over a hundred years. There’s an interesting message to the show; that three doctors were ultimately left damaged despite searching for a drug to ease the sensation of pain itself.

3 (and a bit) stars

Federer Versus Murray theatre review

Federer Versus Murray is a play about how tragedy affects the already complex strains of long-term married life. Hard-working nurse Flo is exhausted and unhappy. Jimmy has been made redundant and spends his days sprawled on the couch watching Wimbledon trying to find ways to reconnect - both physically and mentally - with wife Flo.


The awkward atmosphere and unpleasant bickering between the couple is something we’ve all witnessed, whether in our own families or others and so there’s a natural fluidity to the conversation, even if it can be uncomfortable to watch.

While the play deals with sadness and loss, there is fond banter between the two and a strong sense of Glasgow humour in the self-deprecating dialogue.

Jimmy, stifled by his wife’s reluctance to talk about the family’s loss, channels his grief into his love of sport and, in particular, Federer, while wife Flo staunchly supports Murray.

One notable scene is that of them readying themselves for the semi-final. The two paint their faces in support of their chosen athlete and to Jimmy’s dismay – and Flo’s amusement – he accidently paints a St George’s Cross.

The play does not seek to resolve, rather explore the complexities and rivalries of relationships by mirroring them with public ones. In the characters we see much of ourselves and Murray versus Federer allows us to be flawed and stubborn but also capable of forgiveness.