4.3 Miles From Nowhere review

4.3 Miles from Nowhere is where five teens find themselves after running out of petrol – and phone battery – on their way to a fancy dress party. It is, in a sense, a modern-day fairy tale which reminds us that sometimes we have to get lost before we can be found.


The play succeeds in capturing that teenage sense of confusion and the pressure of expectation that we all feel at one point or another as it seeks to explore our own ideas of independence and freedom.

Through the course of the night, each character finds themself wrestling with their self-confidence as they flirt, chat, drink, sing, dance and ponder. As morning dawns, so does the realisation that just being yourself isn’t so bad.

A nice element of the play is the variety between the characters and their frustrations, from family expectation to chatting up girls. Each of the five is fed-up of having to behave in a particular way and after the initial panic of being stranded in the woods wears off, they come to accept that it has in fact given them some sought-after respite from the roles they all play.

The themes touched upon here are well –trodden and there’s no real surprise in the direction the performance takes. Nonetheless, it’s an enjoyable hour with curious characters, solid acting, amusing dialogue and an emotive supporting folk-band to help walk us through the narrative.

4.3 Miles from Nowhere is mischievous, whimsical and cheeky, if not altogether original and although there is only so much you can learn about five characters in 60 minutes, you leave feeling like you have been on a journey of self-discovery with each of them.

3 stars

A review of the naughty Woof! A Werepunk

Woof! A Werepunk is the tale of a murderous punk who makes nightly visits to the window of his beloved to declare himself. Sadly, his advances go unnoticed in this comic-book inspired, dark fairy tale and the ‘Werepunk’ must find a way winning her over.

This performance is not for everyone but it’s a fresh and brave piece of work from Italian-born Paulo Faroni who penned the show, then had it translated into English.

His soliloquies are, at times, particularly poetic and touching as he attempts to woo the unknown woman, the closest glimpse of whom we ever get is when she opens a door or switches on a light and the stage becomes illuminated.

Faroni takes the notion of falling in love and twists it into something selfish and dangerous. Love itself is an inexhaustible theme and with Woof! we see a curiously new approach. For this alone it should be congratulated. Faroni would rather show us the shameful consequences of being in love through the Werepunk’s deranged anger at his rejection. Love is viewed paradoxically as it becomes a consuming force which results in frustration, loneliness and murder.

Sexuality is also explored without taboo in this work. The programme itself gives a snapshot into what we can expect from the show; it consists of creased pages seemingly torn from a wordless comic book showing a woman in varying states of undress as she… enjoys herself.

The play opts for a Watchmen-inspired comic-book flavour which on the whole works well. There is more scope for playing with the idea though, through graphic drawings and lighting effects; both of which could potentially produce a slicker show.

Woof! A Werepunk is a little bare, perhaps requiring a stronger sense of direction. That aside, it is a bold and ambitious work - both thematically and visually - and executed nicely with a strong sense of identity and style.

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