The first
day we went was still part of the preview week, and we got free tickets for a drama called Proof
(Official Link). It was about the daughter of a recently deceased mathematician who had been suffering from dementia. She and her sister are concerned
about her own mental health and how she is dealing in the days following his death.
It was an insightful drama, brilliantly acted, particularly by the main woman and
her father. It had moments of comedy and we all left having been thoroughly
entertained for an hour and 20 minutes. Great show and I recommend it,
especially if you have any interest in Maths. 8.5/10
Next we
went to The Pin (Official Link),
which was written and performed by three young comedians. This was my favourite
show of the day. It was sublimely funny and brilliantly acted considering we
saw the first performance of the festival. It was a sketch show with a twist – the scenes
connecting the storyline were told in reverse meaning it was backwards, like a
comedic version of Christopher Nolan’s Memento. Please go and watch this if you are
at the Fringe this year. 10/10
The final
show of the day was a stand up comic called Rhys Darby (Official Link), best known for playing Murray in Flight
of the Conchords. He was funny with some clever observations about hand dryers
and his performance was full of energy and sound effects! I did think he had
the least polished show of the day and the comedy fell away at times. Still it
was very entertaining and will only get better after a bit of improvement in
his routine. 7.5/10
The next
day was the first official day of the Fringe and therefore prices skyrocketed
and performances improved. First up was a free show called The Nutters (Official Link), which was about spotting various type
of weirdos in the UK. It was a good idea, which was poorly executed and a
little too obvious. But for a free show, I guess you can’t complain too much. 5.5/10
We didn’t
think we’d be seeing another show as the three we had tried to buy tickets for were all
sold out. However we managed to scrape some more free tickets to a stand up
comic called Chris Stokes (Official Link). His stories centred on his nerdy personality and the run of bad luck that
occurred to him on a daily basis. He had some really clever observations and
managed to tell a story about him being mistaken for an alleged peado, with a
12-year-old directly in front of him in the audience – tough work for even the most experienced of comics.
8.5/10
We managed
to get tickets 20 minutes before this sell-out show started by begging someone
in the ticket office. It was David
O’Doherty’s (Official Link) new performance and it was brilliant. It was
hilariously funny and at times too fast to hear all the jokes. His songs were
top class as well, especially the first one. 9/10