← MickeyJoTheatre
MickeyJoTheatre
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 Day 6 REVIEWS (She's Behind You, Miles, Consumed, Rift, and more)
00:09:33
Loading summary
Transcript12 lines
- [00:00]
Unknown Speaker 1
I finally committed to getting back in shape. Hit the gym, ate clean, did everything right. But after two days I felt drained. My body just couldn't keep up. That's when I found Stem Regen. It supports the release of my own stem cells to repair, recover and actually rebuild from the inside out. Now I'm not just working out, I'm bouncing back. I feel stronger, more energized, and more like myself every single day. Stem Regen didn't just change my routine, it changed my recovery. Empower your body to recover from within. Whether you are focused on recovery, longev or just overall wellness, Stem Regen helps your body feel the best it can release the best version of you. Try Stem Regen today at StemRegen co. Use code POD25 for 25% off your first order. Again, that's StemRegen code POD25.
- [00:51]
Acast
Acast powers the World's Best Podcasts Here's a show that we recommend.
- [00:58]
Unknown Speaker 2
Foreign.
- [01:04]
James Richardson
I'm James Richardson and I host the Toadley Football show four times a week. If you're not familiar with it, perhaps you care to give it a listen in the season ahead because we cover all the big stuff, Premier League, Champions League, in depth, European League coverage, Football League and more. We've got insights and analysis from the best reporters in the industry and we've got quizzes and nostalgia too. Plus, we're going to be bigger and broader than ever for the season ahead. So check out the Totally Football show wherever you get your podcast. The rest is not as good as the Totally Football Show.
- [01:40]
Acast
Acast helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.
- [01:50]
Unknown Speaker 2
Oh my God. Hey. We have made it to day number five at the Edinburgh Fringe 2025 this morning I headed back to the Traverse Theatre to see Consumed by Carys Kelly. This is an award winning piece of theatre that depicts a family reunion for the 90th birthday of a great grandmother. We see a lot of these like family dinner table dramas. We see a lot of intergenerational family stories, but it's comparatively rare to get four different generations within that and in 70 minutes it manages to unearth every conceivable source of family tension and anx and stress as we career from this strained polite stress to an emotionally explosive and violent conclusion. But it's all women on stage. From the 90 year old, unapologetically outspoken great grandmother played scene stealingly by Julia Dearden to the grandmother with a secret, her daughter who hasn't visited for years, having some years ago moved to London and her daughter, who is an outspoken Gen Z activist and vegetarian, which I will say is a type of character that is portrayed inauthentically, loud and confidently every single time I see it. But as we pour ourselves more and more glasses of wine and this incredible set by Lily Arnold begins to crumble around them, we dig into both a birthday lunch and the concept of generational trauma. This is probably one of the best depictions of that idea that I've seen on stage. Talking about learned behaviours, talking about cultural identities, talking about relationships to eating and relationships to men. This play had an awful lot to say about the Northern Irish experience and about the female experience, and it's a hilarious and shocking riot. Well, there were two performers in this Edinburgh Fringe show, so it was not at all crowded. Actually, I have just seen my 40th show at the Edinburgh Fringe 2025, and it was the highly recommended comedy play, Don't Tell dad about Diana. Think everybody's talking about Jamie. But in Ireland in the 1990s, with the other key difference being that this is not just a story focusing on a young queer man, it's a story spending equal times focusing on him and his female best friend. He is Connor. She is Hannah. He is an aspiring young performer, she is an aspiring seamstress. Together they are a Diana drag act. However, it is August 1997 and timing proves to be surprisingly fateful. We come to find out the extraordinary extent to which they are both deeply obsessed with Diana. And I think that actually makes this a better depiction of her legacy and her impact than the shows that try and portray her directly. You feel the love for her and what she means to people more acutely by seeing it through the eyes and the actions of others. That being said, this is an out and out comedy play. It is hilarious even in its moments of tragedy. These characters are both totally endearing and more than anything else, it becomes a real love letter to their friendship and the charming mixture of the emboldened confidence of young, determined artistry with an insufficient creative outlet and abject naivety. It's just a really lovely show. The weather may be chilly, but my heart is thoroughly warmed. Go and check out Don't Tell dad about Diana at Underbelly Cowgate. My next fringe show took me back to the Pleasants courtyard for down to chance. It's 1964. We're in Anchorage, Alaska, and local, frustrated, underestimated reporter Jeannie Chance finds herself in the midst of a 9.2 magnitude earthquake, defying military instructions and going on air to help reassure the people of the local community and to coordinate volunteer efforts. At the beginning of the show, we meet her with the frivolous assignment of covering a town parade. And by the end she is one of a handful of inspiring characters realizing a remarkable achievement. It's a lot like come from away in that sense. I was expecting something more zany sort of quirky comedy. And that's not what this is whatsoever. It's really a lot more cinematic. It would probably make a really great film film the way that they're telling the story on stage, which among its cast of characters also includes a grumpy general, an older man, also underestimated, who is an avid radio enthusiast and becomes integral. And the two teenagers improvising an all night radio show in between Genies broadcasts is via just two performers on stage and a handful of microphones and other props as well as accessories to differentiate the characters. Now, the whole thing is perhaps a little bit too madcap. It could probably be tidied. There are a few too many false starts in terms of the exchanges of dialogue and the frantic putting on of hats and coats, which can make parts of the early narrative a little challenging to grapple with. But by the time we get there, it's really engaging and it's also very unique. There is nothing else quite like this at this year's Fringe. Go and check out this story of human achievement at the Pleasant Courtyard Show. Number 42 of the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe was Rift, another play at the Traverse Theatre. This is American set. It follows two half brothers, one of whom is incarcerated, the other whom is visiting him either in person or or via video link over the course of some 27 years of his incarceration. And over the course of these conversations they touch on a lot of different issues. And this is where I have something of a problem with this play and why I didn't take an awful lot from it, because for the most part it felt as though we were addressing topics without really exploring them. Talking about cyclical abuse, talking about white supremacy. He finds out within their first meeting that his brother in jail has joined the Aryan Brotherhood. And he subsequently tries to instill in him anti racist ideology. But the script, and by extension the these conversations lack nuance. Because the characters lack nuance. It doesn't feel like these are developed and consistent characters. It feels as though their decisions and their conversations with each other are written in order to generate maximal drama. And their dialogue too often feels like the voice of the playwright. Almost immediately their conversations feel inorganic. Both characters age considerably over the course of the play, but that isn't entirely believable either. And to explore this dynamic in this relationship is an interesting enough concept and it's passingly funny and it has some striking moments, but the whole thing falls down when it fails to be believable and, by extension, engaging. Show number 43 of the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, for me, was my last show at Summerhall. It is the beginning of the end, but still some gems left because I just saw Miles. This is a play with music about the life of the iconic, legendary jazz musician Miles Davis, portrayed by the extraordinary young actor Benjamin Akintayosi, whose changes in vocal affectation and whose physicality and whose mesmerizing performance were astonishing. One of the best performances I've ever seen in an Edinburgh Fringe. He is joined by Jay, an IRL virtuoso jazz trumpet player. The concept for the show being that Jay is sort of invoking and in conversation with the smirking ghost of Miles Davis, with the two of them chatting about his thoughts on one particular album that he recorded. This being a pretext to various stories about his life and various memories. It's a Little bit Terrence McNally's masterclass in that way. It looks really stunning. It's got a fantastic set, really great sound design, amazing projections. It's been written and directed by Oliver Kadaby. There's some brilliant moments within the direction, some really visually striking stuff, and of everything I've seen so far, this might be the show that feels the most ready to transfer onwards and have a full production. It could definitely be extended. It's a theatre piece as well as a lesson about music history that credits different musical styles with their cultural roots, as well as the brilliant artists who were Miles Davis's contemporaries. And like any great piece of music, it has plenty of fantastic notes. It could just do with perhaps a few more dynamics and a sense of direction, but this is definitely a show and a performance to watch. This is mainstream entertainment. That is a bop that I just heard in the musical how to Win Against History at Underbelly at the Edinburgh Fringe, AKA the Big Purple Cow. This is a new musical about Henry Cyril Paget, a true historical queer icon somewhat lost to history, whose colourful, if slightly depressing life story is being presented to audiences in this equally colorful show with, I must say, the warmest and fondest and most delightful of vibes. I so so wanted to love this because the performers were so charming. The energy of the whole thing was so great. Unfortunately, the pace presented such an issue. We Just never really got any sense of momentum. And while a lot of musicals are relying on pre recorded tracks, it fascinates me that you would bring this many musicians to the Edinburgh fringe to have them sit still, not play their instruments and stare at you in silence for so many prolonged periods of time. Gorgeous glitzy costumes and a handful of really funny jokes, although perhaps too few. But in a show that inevitably just left me a little tonally confused because the material itself doesn't really feel aligned with the opening mission, which is to prove that Henry's life did actually have joy and love and that it wasn't all in vain. For the most part, it is largely quite sombre. That being said, there is so much to like about the whimsical presentation. I am convinced that there is a delightful show in there somewhere. And to make up your mind for yourself, head to the Big Purple Cow and go and see how to win against History at at the Edinburgh. Fritt is behind me. That's what I was trying to do there. Go and see the. I just saw she's behind you. At the Traverse Theatre as part of this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe. And that is the easiest five stars I have given all week. I have only just stopped crying at the beginning of the show. Johnny McKnight enters as a pantomime dame dressed as Dorothy Gale from the back of the audience, and begins an incredibly well thought out, uproariously hilarious and surprisingly moving thesis on the history, purpose and enduring relevance of the pantomime dame, a fascinating staple of British culture, long since deserving of closer theatrical scrutiny. And Johnny quickly does fantastic work to this end, addressing panto's historic social shortcomings, explaining the concept of pantomime to international audience members better than I've ever managed to, as well as realising the pantomime dame is an important anti establishment voice. Only there's something else as well. Because as we learn about Johnny's own history as a pantomime performer and writer, we start to unpack the loaded conversation of the unspoken gay truths of pantomime and a historic lack of representation. And just like Rob Madge's brilliant solo show My Sons Are Queer, but what can you do before it? It eventually becomes a triumphant tribute to acceptance, community and love. This show is so smart, so funny and it captured my entire heart. If any part of you thinks you don't need to check this out at the end of a fringe, my answer is, oh yes you do.
- [11:26]
Unknown Speaker 3
Now you can fly anywhere in the world and pay discount prices on your airline tickets. Book a flight today to London, par Madrid or anywhere else you want to go and pay a lot less guaranteed. Call the international travel department right now at Low Cost Airlines, 8002-1551-4180-0215-5141.
- [11:52]
Unknown Speaker 2
That's 800-215-5141.
- [12:00]
Acast
Acast powers the World's best Podcasts Here's a show that we recommend foreign.
- [12:12]
Unknown Speaker 2
I'm.
- [12:13]
James Richardson
James Richardson and I host the Totally Football show four times a week. If you're not familiar with it, perhaps you'd care to give it a listen in the season ahead because we cover all the big stuff Premier League, Champions League, in depth, European League coverage, Football League and more. We've got insights and analysis from the best reporters in the industry, and we got quizzes and nostalgia, too. Plus, we're going to be bigger and broader than ever for the season ahead, so check out the Totally Football show wherever you get your podcast. The rest is not as good as the Totally Football Show.
- [12:48]
Acast
ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.