"Glasgow Girls" - November 2012

I doubt there's a greater compliment I can pay "Glasgow Girls" other than to say that at times it threatens to finally be the National Theatre of Scotland's 'next Black Watch'.  It can't maintain that high level throughout, but there are moments, several of them, that left my spine tingling.  And my only disappointment of the night was discovering when I got home that I couldn't buy the soundtrack.

Cleverly, David Greig's book mocks the very idea of a musical based on a group of schoolgirls campaigning against the treatment of asylum seekers in Glasgow - and some characters are happier than others to find themselves on stage.  Considering that the cast all play multiple roles (and at times themselves) it sounds on paper as if it could get very complicated, very quickly, but helped by some superfast costume changes it hangs together seamlessly.

While the show as a whole certainly doesn't feel overlong, some scenes and songs don't serve the show as well as others.  It's not that they weren't good - just that they dilute the truly great ones.  There are also times in the high tempo songs that the lyrics become very difficult to pick out.  It's frustrating for an audience when sounds levels aren't spot on, and a huge pity as the lyrics we did catch deserved to be heard.

From the playful "Opening Montage", through the earworm inducing "Glasgow Girls", the sinister "At It" to the devasting "It's No a Weans Choice" there is a massively diverse tone in the numbers, reflecting the contributions of the show's several composers (the Kielty Brothers, Soom T, Patricia Panther & Cora Bissett).  My own favourite was Bissett's "From the 16th Floor" - an ethereal lovesong to Glasgow, while Waldrof preferred the Kielty Brothers' punchy "Ain't Done Jack" but there are many others that last in the memory.

The cast all meet the enormous challenges set by director Cora Bissett and choreographer Natasha Gilmore admirably and it seems unfair to single out individuals but the short turns by Dawn Sievewright as Tommy Sheridan and Myra McFadyen as the 'headmaster' were magical.

Along with some wonderful songs, a talented cast and powerful story, "Glasgow Girls" has three more things going for it - its humour, emotion and a clear affection for Glasgow.  Despite the issues highlighted, it really wouldn't be a stretch to describe it as a musical comedy - there is no shortage of genuinely laugh out loud lines.  But there will also be tears - including many prompted by a single line, not even spoken on stage, that had half the audience reaching for their Kleenex.  Yet it rarely feels manipulative and avoids becoming mawkish.  The worst accusation you could legitimately throw at it would be that it gives a rose tinted portrayal of Glasgow, but it does acknowledge the city's problems and maybe it's no bad thing once in while to focus on the positive aspects of the city.

And just to show that I was paying attention, there's one more 'release' we'd like to see...

We, the undersigned, in recognition of our enjoyment of "Glasgow Girls" at the Citizens Theatre demand that the National Theatre of Scotland release, without delay, a cast recording of the soundtrack in order that we can continue our enjoyment.  While we recognise and appreciate that a version of the title track is already available, that's really just teasing us...  

What do We Want?  Glasgow Girls Soundtrack!  When do we want it? NOW!

Waldorf & Statler @ View From The Stalls

Feel free to add your comments on the show and demands for a soundtrack release in the 'heckles' below...

Glasgow Girls runs at the Citizens until 17th November and will be at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East in London from 8th Feb to 2nd March 2013.  The show is presented by the National Theatre of Scotland, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Citizens Theatre, Pachamama Productions, Richard Jordan Productions Ltd in association with Merrigong Theatre Company, Australia
Image by Drew Farrell used with permission.

"Glasgow Girls" - coming soon...

Later this week we'll be seeing the new musical from the National Theatre of Scotland, based on the group of Glasgow schoolgirls who fought a high profile campaign on the treatment of asylum seekers.  But before it opened I got the chance to pop along to a "Social Media Call" at the Citizens for a sneak peak and Q&A. We normally decline this type of invitation as we prefer to experience things as any audience member would, but this was just too interesting an opportunity to miss.  And a quick check of our archives revealed that we'd only ever said nice things about those involved in the show...

After a chat with NTS Digital Associate Eve Nicol who had kindly sent us the invite, I got to watch three scenes.  Before talking about the content, I want to say a bit about how revealing it was to see this process.  A sharp reminder that what audiences will see as fast paced, flowing pieces of theatre is the result of many hours of repetitive rehearsals and a lot of standing around waiting for other people to do their bits.   So it was quite a big ask for them to have a group of bloggers and tweeters descend on them  on the day of their first preview.  Especially as they had to run through each scene twice to let us take photos and some amateur organisation delayed things while they sorted out their sound.

Given that we'll be posting our thoughts on the full production in the next few days, it doesn't seem very sensible to comment much based on three short extracts.  But what was immediately obvious was how full of energy the show is, and how wide ranging its musical influences are.  I'm a little concerned that the combination of accents and high tempo songs made it tricky to catch the lyrics but I'm hopeful it will just take time to become accustomed to them.

Afterwards, in the Citz foyer, director Cora Bissett who is the driving force behind the show, was able to tell us how it came about and why it became a musical.  As she answered our questions we were joined by the cast who shared their thoughts on meeting the real 'Glasgow Girls' and why they expect the show to engage a London audience next year.

It all made for a very enjoyable couple of hours, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it all 'properly', but I think it will make it just that bit harder to write our post about it.  Actually, that's not true at all as I expect to be writing a wholly enthusiastic review. But it does worry me that in the unlikely event that I don't enjoy it I would find it that bit harder to write a negative review having met those involved and witnessed first hand their commitment and enthusiasm.  Actually, that's not true either.  I'd be fine writing the review - it's just that afterwards I'd feel really guilty about it.  Then again, I could always just get Waldorf to write it up...

Thanks to Eve Nicol and all at the National Theatre of Scotland, the Citizens and particularly Cora Bissett and the cast. 

We've now seen the full show and posted our thoughts on it.

Glasgow Girls runs at the Citizens until 17 November
Image by us (I'll take a camera next time if we get invited again!)

"Midsummer [A Play With Songs]" - November 2008

Traverse Theatre Company's "Midsummer [A Play With Songs]" is not a musical, let's get that out of the way right at the beginning. It's not. No I'm actually not being facetious. It does what it says on the tin; it's 'a play with songs'. David Greig and Gordon McIntyre have meshed together theatre with music in an almost cinematic way - the music forms part of the soundtrack of the story. It's not just an incidental but integral part of it but without the full on inate ridiculousness of a song and dance extravaganza.

A story of a chance encounter between Helena (Cora Bissett) and Bob (Matthew Pidgeon), and the resulting weekend spanning Midsummer 2008 in Edinburgh (although possibly an Edinburgh in a parallel universe as 24th June is a Saturday, not a Tuesday, in this one). Chock full of references to the city that is its setting we Weegies probably only got half of, however at no point did we feel like we were sitting in the middle of a private joke.

The story of Helen and Bob, and the characters that weave in and out of their weekend is filled with joy, absurdity and heartache. The fourth wall doesn't so much as come down, but is non-existant from the start as the audience becomes confidante to both characters. The interaction between those on stage and those watching is as important as what is happening to the two protaganists. With some lovely set pieces you're drawn into the tale that's unfolding in front of you. An ingenious set designed by Georgia McGuiness completes this visual feast. The devil is in the detail, with a programme that's supplied with a random vinyl record (ours was Don't Make My Brown Eyes Blue by Crystal Gayle), a code to download a couple of the songs from the show and a link to Medium Bob's Flikr Photostream. The only thing missing was one of Traverse's ubiquitous script books.

In an hour and 45 minutes Bissett and Pidgeon produce two excellent performances in demanding roles that require a huge amount of physical acting and the ability to sing and play guitar. Their performances and a clever script charm you into liking two people who with all their flaws you really shouldn't. I came out grinning, and will look back on the show with a warm glow similar to what "Venus As A Boy", "Molly Sweeney" and"Amada" have left.

Photo by Douglas Robertson. Used with permission.

"Amada" - September 2008

"Amada" at Cumbernauld Theatre was a late addition to our autumn plans, largely driven by me realising it was directed by Cora Bissett and featured Itxaso Moreno(Roam, Yarn). Even with this I couldn't convince Statler to come along. He couldn't get past the international aspects of this Arches Theatre Company production and the blurb on the promotional materials involving "emotional landscapes". And it's a pity he didn't, because it was one of the best productions I've seen all year.

Moreno, Alia Alzougbi (who we'd also seen in Yarn) and Richard Pyros perform marvelously in a beautifully constructed tale of the tragic events of a young girl's life,from her childhood through her marriage and eventual death. For a story that has sadness at its heart it's filled with humour and joy. You come out warmed by the tale, and its telling.

Bissett has brought together a variety of techniques, that could have overwhelmed if not done so artfully. Beautiful use of backlit silhouettes, puppetry and on-stage sound effects are woven together masterfully, with Nerea Bello and Galvarino Ceron-Carrasco providing wonderful colour and atmosphere through voice and guitar respectively.

Even an overly sensitive smoke alarm, triggered by an on stage candle, causing an unexpected interval and audience and performers a mid show trip to the car park (thankfully it was dry) couldn't spoil what was a truly memorable evening.

My only regret is we saw this so late in its run - it has one performance remaining on Tuesday 23 September at MacRobert Arts Centre in Stirling.

Review of the Year - 2010

We managed to see over 50 shows in 2010 – a bit of a drop from the last couple of years. While that may reflect that there were fewer shows that grabbed our attention, it’s also due to the fact that we had fewer available evenings this year. Time constraints also curtailed my trips to “A Play, A Pie & A Pint” at Oran Mor and we really struggled to find much to interest us at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. Even so, we were unable to fit in a number of shows we had been really keen to see this year such as Grid Iron’s “Spring Awakening”, DC Jackson’s “My Romantic History” and the NTS’ “Beautiful Burnout”. Of course, that still leaves us with a lot of great theatre that we did get to see…

Back in March the Citizens production of “Backbeat” left me with the feeling that it didn’t quite manage to gel its separate elements, but ten months later it remains one of the most striking shows I saw – full of visual style and featuring some excellent performances – particularly from Isabella Calthorpe. The Citz also gave us their brilliantly entertaining “One Million Tiny Plays About Britain” with its energetic cast, and their Community Company’s harrowing “The Grapes of Wrath”. It was also at the Citz that we caught the ingenious and delightful "The Event".

The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Douglas Maxwell’s “The Miracle Man” formed part of their ‘tfd’ season aimed at teenage audiences and was a wonderful piece of theatre for those of any age - a perfect balance between hilarity and heart-wrenching moments.

I was particularly disappointed not to see more of the Tron’s Mayfesto season of ‘political’ theatre as the one show I managed to see – “Address Unknown“ provoked a surprisingly powerful personal response and featured fantastic performances from James MacPherson and Benny Young. In a much less serious moment, but still packing an emotional punch, the Tron’s outrageous production of “Valhalla!” left us laughing all the way home.

The Tron were also involved in what was unquestionably the best piece of theatre we saw in 2010. It’s had plenty of plaudits in places much more significant than our little blog, but we need to add our own recognition of what “Roadkill” achieved. Written with restraint by Stef Smith, creatively directed by Cora Bissett and performed by a wonderful cast it was a flawless piece of theatre that took audience ‘engagement’ to a level I didn’t think existed.

John Kazek’s performance in Roadkill was the finest we encountered this year – transforming chameleon-like from vicious pimp through concerned policeman to a loving African father. Marianne Oldham’s quirky portrayal of “The Girl in the Yellow Dress” at the Citz also made a big impression, while Richard Magowan showed the impact a genuine stage presence can have as Sky Masterson in Theatre Guild Glasgow’s “Guys and Dolls”. Another performance that really impressed us was Joanna Tope in "Promises Promises" and we were completely won over by Janette 'Krankie' in "Aladdin".

Thanks to all those involved in the shows we've seen this year, and also to all of you who have shared your thoughts here. We'll be back in a week or two with our plans for the first half of 2011.

"Roadkill" - November 2010

This was our third attempt to see "Roadkill". We missed out on tickets for its pre-Fringe run at the Tron, and then despite tipping it as a show to see in Edinburgh we found the entire run sold out by the time we were able to plan our schedule. Even this time round, we had checked in advance with the Tron when tickets were going on sale and phoned first thing on the morning they were released - and availability was already limited. But there's no doubt about it - it was worth waiting for. While its inherent nature and limited audience capacity mean it will never become a cultural phenomenon in the manner of "Black Watch", make no mistake, "Roadkill" is a piece of theatre of that level of quality. Please be aware that our comments on the show give more away about the plot than we normally try to do.

Although staged in a flat in Glasgow's southside, the performance began as soon as we boarded the bus taking us from the Tron to the 'venue'. It's a brilliant way of introducing the characters as we meet young Nigerian Adeola on her arrival in Glasgow. And it's partly the wonderful naive optimism she displays in that short trip that makes it so difficult for the audience to watch as she is forced into the sex trade.

When watching a great piece of theatre, I often find particular scenes or lines being indelibly burned into my memory. But that isn't the case here. Instead, what has stayed with me is the almost uncontrollable urge to scream at Adeola to tell John Kazek's police officer of her plight. And I do genuinely mean uncontrollable - I was actually concerned the shouts in my head were going to escape through my mouth. We often talk about theatre being 'engaging' - for me "Roadkill" took the word to an entirely new level.

But although many of the play's scenes are disturbing and distressing, the brilliance of Stef Smith's writing is that it knows when to pull back. So many 'issue' based plays would take things to such an extreme dramatic conclusion that it would lose that vital, and horrific, realisation that what we are seeing is an everyday occurrence. Similarly, I think many writers would have been unable to resist the temptation to have the police officer Adeola encounters be less than genuinely concerned for her welfare. Indeed I think it's this lack of the dramatic that keeps the play grounded in reality and gives it a real power to affect its audience.

And of course, three magnificent performances help a little. Mercy Ojelade's transformation as Adeola is heartbreaking, but for me the real strength in her performance was actually to make it believable that this young girl would find the strength to escape. As 'Auntie' Martha, Adura Onashile brings out the complexity of the character as both abuser and abused while John Kazek is chameleon-like in several male roles.

Much of the credit for the show must also go to director Cora Bissett and her team responsible for the video elements of the production. With projected footage displayed on the walls, ceilings, a TV, and even a cast member, this is by far the most impressive incorporation of video footage and animation I've encountered in theatre. It's used ingeniously to bring Adeola's nightmarish experiences to life in a way we can just about comprehend and tolerate.

Although we could probably guess that such exploitation goes on close to home, it's very easy not to think about it. And while I'm not sure quite how successful it may be as a 'call to arms' for individuals to help those affected, anything that can raise the profile of the issue politically should be welcomed. And importantly, it never feels like the artists themselves are exploiting those living the lives of the characters it depicts, or comes across as preaching to the audience.

Roadkill is a co-production from Ankur Productions, Pachamama Productions and Richard Jordan Productions in association with the Traverse Theate Company and Tron Theatre. It has completed its current run of performances.
Image used with permission

"Sub Rosa" - January 2009

Ladies and gentlemen of a theatrical persuasion... can we please have your attention for a moment. It feels only fair to give advance warning for anyone hoping to impress us with a production in 2009 - "Sub Rosa" has just set the bar and it is very, very high. It is, quite simply, magnificent.

Staged in the backstage and unseen areas of the Citizens' Theatre, writer and director David Leddy's promenade production immerses the audience in the tale of Flora McIvor and the tumult that results from her arrival at 'The Winter Palace' theatre. In a series of scenes we spend time with members of the company and others as they tell us of the part they played in Flora's revolution.

The cast performances are as good as I'll see this year. In cramped spaces, this is theatre at its most up-close-and personal. There are no hiding places - every glance and movement will be noticed but here they are crafted to perfection. There is no fourth wall to break - and with a group size limited to fifteen, every audience member will have felt they were being given personal attention, and that it mattered that they were there to listen to the characters' tales.

It would be unfair to single out particular cast members - they were all marvelous - and it would also risk revealing a little too much. So I think well just say 'thank you' and 'well done' to Cora Bissett, Angela Darcy, Louise Ludgate, David Magowan, Alison Peebles and Finlay Welsh.

But don't get the wrong idea - the strength of "Sub Rosa" isn't just about the performances - David Leddy's script and direction are just as finely honed. The tale is part grotesque horror, part puzzle with a good measure of black humour and the visual delights include a fantastically memorable first sight of Vaclav the Strongman. But during a short pause between scenes, although enjoying the show immensely I suddenly suffered a moment of doubt. It was just all too good - it would take some ending to conclude the evening in a satisfactory manner. Well, twenty minutes later I exited the theatre by a fire exit - completely satisfied by the outcome.

This must be a hugely challenging show technically - there can be several groups wandering through the theatre at any given time, and the cast will perform their scenes 8 times an evening! And yet, thanks to careful planning and our effective guides we were almost totally unaware of anyone else in the building. Substantial contributions are also made by the atmospheric soundscape from Graham Sutherland and some stunning lighting from Nich Smith.

But there is one huge failing that the show has. We never get the chance to show our appreciation to those involved - it doesn't seem appropriate to clap at the end of each segment and there is no group finale. So, cast and creative team for "Sub Rosa", please consider this a standing ovation from View From The Stalls.

Sub Rosa is a co-production between Fire Exit Ltd and Citizens Theatre and runs until 31 January with performances commencing every 20 minutes between 7pm and 9.20pm. Book now - tickets are going fast!
Image by Tim Morozzo used with permission

Review of the Year - 2008

It's reached that time of year again where we look back on what we've enjoyed, and with over 100 productions to choose from we shouldn't be short of a few highlights...

Back in May we really enjoyed "The Drawer Boy" but I commented that 'by next week it will probably be a vague memory of having had an enjoyable night at the theatre' - yet I was completely wrong and months later it is still vivid in my memory. Beautifully written and directed I think it was probably my favourite play of the year - Brian Pettifer, Benny Young and Brian Ferguson were simply phenomenal and delivered three of the best male performances we saw this year.

Other male acting highlights included the masterful Will Lyman in "The Patriot Act" and Stephen Hudson's breathtaking performance in "Zero".

Another show that made a big impression early in the year was Borderline's production of D C Jackson's "The Wall" - a beautifully observed comedy of teenage angst. It also gave us one of the best female performances of the year from Kirstin McLean.

Indira Varma's performance in "Twelfth Night" was another highlight - as was Cora Bissett in the delightful"Midsummer [A Play with Songs]" which proved to be our most out-and-out enjoyable show this year.

But many of this year's high points can't exactly be called 'enjoyable' due to their content. Sweetscar's production of Sarah Kane's "4.48 Psychosis" was an unforgettable experience and Waldorf raved about "Deep Cut" for which I couldn't get a ticket. But I only have myself to blame for missing another show which she considers to be her favourite show of the year - "Amada".

There have been many shows that contained moments of theatrical magic that will be burned into our memories for years to come - the final moments of "Restitution", the 'Munchkin Strike' segment of "Wicked Christmas 3" and the incredibly powerful moments in "The Caravan". We've also been left with very fond memories of "Sunshine on Leith", "Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off" and "Heer Ranjha (Retold)".

But if we are talking about sheer entertainment value there isn't any doubt about my highlight of the year, and to be honest I'll consider myself hugely fortunate if I ever have more fun in a theatre than I did at "An Audience with Brian Blessed".

And yet, even as 2008 slips away, we've already got high hopes for 2009.

Edinburgh Fringe 2010 - First Picks

We spent Sunday night working our way through this year's programme for the Edinburgh Fringe which launched at the end of last week. Surprisingly (and disappointingly) it didn't take us anywhere near as long as it has in previous years and if truth be told we found it pretty slim pickings. Usually we end up with a huge list that gets narrowed down to forty or so shows we plan to see but this year we found it a struggle to reach thirty. There's no guarantee we will see all of them once we have taken into account time/location and then scheduled them across a few day trips through to Edinburgh, but here are the shows that have caught our eye so far...

NonsenseRoom return to their home at Rosslyn Chapel and we're looking forward to finally seeing their show based on the Chapel's "Apprentice Pillar". In addition to 'normal' performances of "The Apprentice" there will also be 'special evenings' on the 7th and 14th of August which include a light buffet and tour of the Chapel and are well worth paying the extra ticket price for. NonsenseRoom have a second show at the Fringe - "Hairy Maclary & friends" based on a series of popular children's books - we won't be seeing this one ourselves but have no hesitation in reccommending it based on all their previous shows.

Next up is boxing based "Beautiful Burnout" from the National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly which comes with a cast that includes the usually impressive Ryan Fletcher.

"Blackout" from ThickSkin is inspired by the story of a Glasgow young offender waking up in a jail cell, and its description as "a 45 minute smack in the face" gained our attention.

David Leddy's "Sub Rosa" established itself as one of the greatest pieces of theatre we've ever seen when we saw it at the Citizens last year. With its site-specific nature we're not completely sure it will translate quite so well to its new location - but what is certain is that we're looking forward to finding out!

The Citz has its own presence at the Fringe with "The Girl in the Yellow Dress" as part of the programme at the Traverse but we might wait and catch that one when it reaches the Citz in September.

Those of you who have followed our Fringe tips in previous years will know that anything described as "darkly comic" is likely to catch our interest, and "Honest" from the Royal & Derngate Theatre duly did so. The fact its tale of a man in the pub determined to tell the truth, no matter what, is staged in a local bar also adds the novelty factor often required to stand out from the crowd.

"Imperial Fizz" could easily have got lost amongst the thousands of shows in the programme and defining itself as a "surreal, intoxicating comedy" risked it ending up on our blacklist. But the involvement of performer David Calvitto who impressed us so much in "The Event" was enough to convince us to give it a go.

I'm a little worried that Waldorf's selection of "In Memory" may turn out to be a total tearfest but it sounds like it has the potential to be a powerful piece of theatre - and on a more shallow note I'm a sucker for an interesting publicity photo.

Another of Waldorf's picks is "The Interpersonality Workout" which appears to be an amusing take on corporate training but I tend to think the reality of these events often takes them beyond parody. But hey, it has the advantage of being free, so why not?

Despite how it might appear at times we don't spend our time sticking pins in the Fringe programme to choose shows, and quite often we'll place a lot of trust on the basis of what we've seen a company do previously. Dogstar Theatre's "Jacobite Country" was an easy pick on that basis - despite its somewhat bizarre blurb. We really enjoyed their award winning "Tailor of Inverness" and are also pleased to see it getting another outing at this year's Fringe.

"Jacob's Ladder" from Pocketful Productions promises to be "a twisted comedy about religious politics, social position and sexual immorality" - more than enough to get itself added to our list.

An office romance doesn't sound particularly promising for a comedy, but then, writer DC Jackson is responsible for some of the funniest shows I've seen in recent years so "My Romantic History" at the Traverse is a must see for me.

This next pick is an interesting one as I saw a production of Louise Welsh's play last year that proved intriguing and frustrating in equal measures. Our review prompted some intriguing revelations about the play/production that makes me want to have a look at this new production of it. Warning - trust me that "Memory Cells" is a show worth seeing, but I'd really suggest going into it cold. Don't go looking for any reviews of it and whatever you do don't go searching out our one.

Sex trafficking appears to be quite a popular topic this year and while Emma Thompson's Executive Producing role on "Fair Trade" seems to have generated a fair amount of publicity, we don't think we can face two shows on the matter in a single Fringe and have opted for Cora Bissett's "Roadkill" based on the fact that pretty much everything we've ever seen her involved in as actor/director has been nothing short of brilliant.

Yes, we know that the Fringe tends to throw up a lot of self reverential and self indulgent shows full of theatrical in-jokes that are totally unfunny to 90% of the audience, but for people who see as much theatre as we do it's hard to ignore a show that doesn't take theatre too seriously. And we hope we don't fatally damage any credibility we may have established over the last four years when we book up for "A Slacker's Guide to Western Theatre".

Simon Callow has built a reputation as a real draw in Edinburgh with his Dickens based show and this year his performance in "Shakespeare:The Man from Stratford" is bound to attract an audience. But given our long-standing year round policy of declining press tickets it's a bit of a stretch for us to justify ticket prices of £20 plus for a single show when we could be seeing three others instead. Maybe if we can sort our schedule and time off to take advantage of the 2 for 1 offer on 10th August...

Euthanasia is always an issue that I'm interested in seeing being dealt with by theatre and "6766" sounds like it's going to rush in where others fear to tread. This is quite possibly the show I'm most looking forward to this year.

Few words divide our opinion on a show's blurb more than 'moving' - it seems to be a magnet for Waldorf and sends me scurrying for some comic relief instead. So I think she'll be on her own for "Speechless" despite the involvement of Sherman Cymru who brought us "Deep Cut" last year.

I'll also be ducking out of seeing "Stationary Excess" for different reasons - it lost me at "Imprisoned on an exercise bicycle..." but Waldorf's still keen.

Of course there are just as many shows that I'll be left to see on my own - including "Stitched Up" which claims to be a "bitterly comic take" on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Its timeslot might be tricky for us to schedule but it sounds like it might work as a funny conclusion to a day of more serious shows.

Another show likely to cause us scheduling problems is the EGTG's version of "The Tempest" as it takes place on a barge down in Leith. But it's not just the venue that piqued our interest - we enjoyed their version of "Tiny Dynamite" a couple of years ago and director Claire Wood's blog provides an interesting insight into the production process.

I had nearly marked "That Moment" in my copy of the programme and then didn't as it wasn't quite enough for me to make the effort to see on my own and I knew it would be too hard a sell to get Waldorf to come along. So I was pleasantly surprised when we compared our picks to find that it had made it onto her list. Perhaps it's another show that's benefitted from the whole 'theatre eats itself' vibe.

But she's back on her own again for what sounds like a 'choose your own adventure' type performance in "Threshold" from 19;29. I'm a little cautious about this kind of stuff (terrified I'll miss a turn and wander off and get lost!) and the note that 'price includes a bus ticket' doesn't help matters.

We certainly wouldn't be rushing to see another "Hamlet" at the Fringe but SEDOS' "The Tragedy of the Prince of Denmark" might be an intriguing look at the play's events from a different viewpoint.

Waldorf's hoping to see "Tunde" but a 'powerful drama' about modern day child trafficking sounds a little too close to 'moving' for me...

How workers in a call centre cope when faced with a natural disaster isn't really an obvious choice for me - especially as the blurb says it's "funny, poignant and moving" but somehow I still want to see "20:20 Vision". Maybe it's my mother's 'end of the world' fixation coming through...

"The Typhoid Marys" true-life tale of 43 women confined in a psychiatric hospital for being carrier's of typhoid seems unlikely to provide a comfortable afternoon but sometimes those are the shows most worth seeing.

The Fringe often features shows that deal with a personal journey or triumph over adversity and Waldorf has picked out "Unshakeable" from the programme. Paul Betney's performance based around his diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease sounds a little too 'personal' for me - I prefer my shows more 'at arms length' but it sounds very much Waldorf's cup of tea.

We have very few hard rules about things that we won't see at the Fringe but "Ups and Downs" has managed to persuade us to break one of them. We've learned that shows in hotels are considerably riskier than those in other venues and in fact we can't think of a show we've seen in one that would gain anything like pass marks. But KDC Theatre's show about a group of the newly dead as they await judgement is the kind of thing we like to see at the Fringe so we're taking a deep breath and giving it a chance.

"Two couples explore the threat of honesty and our perverse need for it" sounds like typical Fringe stuff and wouldn't normally warrant our attention but "While You Lie" is written by Sam Holcroft whose "Cockroach" has the distinction of being one of only half a dozen or so shows that have genuinely changed my opinion about something important. And the fact it's on at the Traverse is generally a measure of quality... and provides a nice excuse to eat at the nearby "Spirit of Thai" restaurant.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the "slick, dark and very funny" that got "Wild Allegations" onto our list, but rather a hint at the play's format/structure. In any medium I tend to enjoy things that provide alternative views of the same events or any kind of 'he said'/'she said' situation so it was the mention of "parallel but conflicting tales" that grabbed me.

"a site-specific, interactive shopping experience" was enough to send me running in the opposite direction but I wasn't surprised to see "Your Dream Wedding" from Anything Bloody Goes on Waldorf's list.

That's all we have from the 'Theatre' section of the Fringe programme but we like to dabble in the 'Music' and 'Musical' sections too. As soon as we heard Alan Cumming was bringing his musical show, "I Bought a Blue Car Today", to the Fringe it was top of our 'hot ticket' list. And we'd enjoyed his performance in "The Bacchae" so much a few years back that we don't even grudge paying £20 a ticket. We're amazed there are still tickets available for his 3 night run but don't wait too long to book up.

We're also hoping to see "Spring Awakening" and I'll see "Fresher" if it can be slotted around a day's schedule.

And that just about concludes our tips for now, although we may add shows to our list once we get more details about shows such as cast etc. It's also unlikely we'll be able to see all these shows as past experience suggests there will be time clashes and distances between venues that will prove insurmountable given the relatively short amount of time we can spend in Edinburgh.

We are always open to suggestions for other shows to see, but if you're planning on e-mailing us about your own show, please do so as early as possible. We always get a few e-mails each year in the middle of the Fringe asking us along to see shows that sound fantastic but we simply can't rearrange our plans at short notice. And with that in mind I had made a mental promise that I would go along to see the first show that sent us a press release after the programme launched - so although it wouldn't have normally been on our list, is technically in the 'Comedy' section (which we haven't quite got round to yet), and is in a hotel venue, I will be going along to see "Dildon't".