Jolly

Yet again we didn't have any firm plans to go out until late afternoon and then it turned into an awesome Fringe-going evening. We grabbed our dinner at Locanda Marina on Cockburn Street and it was outstanding.

Fringe show 35: Jollyboat (4.5*)
Jollyboat are a pair of brothers who sing amusing songs. Well I have seen Jollyboat in three compilation shows this year (so far) and once last year… so it was about time I saw the whole thing. It was a bit of a worry that I might have seen their best material already. But no! A terrific show, I thoroughly enjoyed it from end to end. Even the pirate pop songs medley was funny the fourth time round. Jollyboat are decent singers but this isn’t an obviously polished act. But I wouldn’t want it to be - the personalities of the brothers is part of the charm. Loved the song about female comedians, loved the love song / puns song. All of the songs were funny, and surprising, and very clever. And they even parody one of their own songs. Which is genius. This is free Fringe and if you give them a fiver you get a CD of the songs. Lovely. Oh, and there is some partial nudity which does no harm.

Fringe show 36: The vacuum cleaner (3*)
The vacuum cleaner is ‘absurdist’ theatre from a young theatre group called Ferodo Bridges. I’m afraid I have very little experience of absurdist theatre so I find it hard to know how to judge this. It was interesting, it was awkward, it was weird and sometimes uncomfortable. It felt quite exposing at times, both for the audience and the performers. There was a clever bit about the National Theatre, and I loved the Liverpool FC song. Overall I quite enjoyed it.

Fringe show 37: Titty Bar Ha ha (4*)
I saw an excerpt from this at The Distraction Club so thought I’d give it a go. Hope and Gloria work in 1940s club Titty Bar Ha Ha, and in this show we are welcomed into their world. This is mainly musical comedy with a storyline to hold it together, and quite a lot of filth thrown in. The story is silly but works pretty well. But it is the combination of costumes, accent, song and vulgarity that is hilarious and brings it all together magnificently. This show had quite a bit of audience participation and as I was one of the audience that participated this part was particularly awesome. But the girls are so good I would have much preferred to skip this bit and just hear from them. The singing was outstanding – lovely voices and lovely harmonies – and a real highlight for me was the mashup of Tainted Love and Bang Bang. I also loved the kazoo section, and in particular the excerpt from Chess which was surprisingly beautiful.

By the way all reviews from me and Cyclops can also be found on our blog - here.