Monday, August 11, 2008

"Markus Birdman: Sympathy For the Devil" - Edinburgh Fringe 2008


We saw Markus Birdman as a last minute gap filler last year, and liked what we saw. So we headed back for his new show - Sympathy For The Devil - at the Pleasance Dome this year. In possibly the hottest venue at this year's Fringe (sit under the fan - we recommend it), we waited to be amused

And we were.

The show did seem to be a little unstructured at points, and was possibly being fine tuned for the Fringe audience (we saw it in the first week), but was still very funny. In particular with some unrehearsed audience interaction which prompted Markus to hope that no members of the press were there. Well we were (sort of) but it was hysterically funny and 'spitroast' is our new swear word of choice - you had to be there.

Calling on his family background with a father who's a vicar, and his own atheism we get some amusing family conflicts and moral dilemmas. Although we do have a quibble with his statement that 'the Easter story is the only tale you would tell a small child that ends with an execution' - we came up with Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood on the way home (although both are vigilante action rather than state sanctioned). Birdman's philosophy is that it's better to regret what you've done than what you've not. And you won't regret seeing his show.

Markus Birdman is at the Pleasance Dome at 8:20p.m. until 24 August.

PS Co-incidentally this was the XKCD cartoon that was posted on the day we saw the show.