Edinburgh '14 Wrapped Into One

Another Fringe over

The Snow Dog has gone home

The cars are packed and ready

How this year has flown....by

An 8am start and we say our farewells

Hat and I set off, coffee in hand

The Carpenters on CD

All packed up in the van

5 hours later, we cross the border 

It's raining, what a shock....

Eventually we're here in Edinburgh

To the Pleasance is our next stop

The wings are tiny with no space to move

Where will the sofa and bed go?

And what about the 4 huge masks?

4 actors, a husky? Hang on, and me though?

It's midnight now and no time to think

Tomorrow we shall finish up here

A restless night and another early start

The tech is over, time for beer!!

The month is filled with lots of promo

Handing out flyers, meeting the dog

Dressed as an Inuit giving kids balloons

Up to the Royal Mile we jogged

We have seen a lot of shows

Some good some bad

Comedians who made us laugh

And theatre which made us sad

The last few days have been just great

The get-out went really well

The sun was finally shining

And which made our last day swell!

Last night we went to dinner

The cast, the crew and friends

Hat and Ben gave us presents 

None of us were ready for the end

We then went to karaoke 

And sang the night away

We danced and drank, then danced some more

The time we had was great.

I'm going to miss this company 

For all it's quirks and charms

The month has been quite mental

Here, there is no such word as 'calm'

To Hat and Ben I say thank you

For giving me a job

You both are simply amazing

As I write I'm trying no to sob

Because this month has had highs and lows

Yet you have made it fun

It's great being part of the Flouse family

And I am sad it is now done.

To Charlotte, Becky and Colin

3 more great friends I have made

You are wonderful in every way

My sanity you have saved!

So thank you all for the memories

Of geography, colours and food

The laughs, support and a damn good show

Snow Dog '14 I LOVE YOU!!!

I Know My Opinion Doesn't Count But: Part 5 Odd Shaped Balls

Odd Shaped Balls: * * * * *

Today I went to see a WONDERFUL show written by Richard d Sheridan, and performed by his brother Chris Sheridan. This magical, brotherly duo have done an incredible job. This show deserves every single on the the 4-5 star reviews it has received, and there are a lot of them.

One reviewer describes this show as one he has waited to see "my entire life" and I think this comment is extremely justifiable! A one man show about a Rugby player who is outted by his ex-boyfriend and has to face his coach, his team, the media but ultimately has to face up to it himself.

I found this play extremely inspiring; not only for the fact that it shows the unfortunate reality of homophobia within sports, but also for the incredible performance by Chris Sheridan. He pulled all of the stops out physically (it was a small space to work in as well but it was used extremely wisely) and vocally using a variety of accents to differentiate the many characters he plays and the many emotions he portrays throughout the piece. 

His versatility is incredible; a one man show is hard enough but add in a variety of different characters in both genders for a 55 minute show, I was completely blown away by the amazing talent in front of me and I was absorbed into the piece from the off set. 

Great comedy mixed with a very strong underlying message to people of all ages made this show completely incredible. I loved every second of it and think anyone up here should really go and watch this incredible piece of theatre. Lots of love to the Sheridan brothers and a big congrats to you both for an amazing show! 

#HowTheNHSSavedMyLife

This evening, Neil and I went to see the wonderful and forever gorgeous Tiff Stevenson at 9.15pm at the Gilded Balloon. Tiff is a comedian that, not only will have you rolling around with tears streaming down your face, but is one that will CHANGE THE WORLD....and has wanted to ever since she was 14 (watch her show and find out just how she did just this).

Tiff said something in her set today that I think is a very worthwhile and great cause; she has set up the hashtag #howthenhssavedmylife and I wanted to share my story as I am one of many who have had their life saved by the NHS and its wonders.

When I was younger I was a very clumsy child and was certain I had broken a mirror;

Aged 9 I broke me little toe and the NHS made me cool by giving me crutches 

Aged 10 I dropped a plate on my big toe and the NHS bandaged me up

Aged 11 I over stretched ligaments in my knee and yet again was given crutches 

Aged 12 I had my tonsils removed and they provided me with endless amounts of ice-cream 

Aged 13 a lump in my neck of suspected cancer with a tail spiraling down my spine was removed and a beautiful scar remains

......5 years, so surely only 2 more to go and my broken mirror days would be over 

But alas, no such thing has happened....

When I was 14 I started to get severe stomach pains and no-one could tell me what the problem was until 4 years later when I finally got sent to a specialist having lost around 2 stone in a month, just a bag of bones and was told I have something called Crohn's Disease. I pretty much fell apart there and then but thank God I have the NHS there to support me.

Things don't always go right in the NHS and probably never will do, but having been in and out of hospital for the last 4 years, I have been treated with the utmost respect by the staff and doctors, been given free medication every other month which helps me to become a (nearly) normal human being so without the NHS I would probably not be how I am today. I am extremely lucky to live in this country and be offered free medication. by the NHS.

But the best part? They have helped my lovely boyfriend Neil STOP SNORING so, yes I shall be forever in their debt!! 

I Know My Opinion Doesn't Count But: Part 4 Vikki Stone: Instrumental

Vikki Stone: Instrumental * * * * 

Vikki Stone is a woman of comedic brilliance, lyrical genius and music extraordinaire! Vikki takes us through some of the moments in her life which inspired her splash of musicality from school to becoming a backing singer to Elton John and ending of something I was not expecting.

I was gutted I actually missed the opening to her show but as I walked in she was rapping in the style of "we didn't start the fire" about where all of her musical instruments came from and some interesting stories behind them; very amusing and I was also completely blown away by the fact that she could speak so fast, I am pretty sure I didn't hear her catch her breath at all during the entire song.

She made light of the fact that one of her instruments wasn't working well which I actually thought was a lovely touch to the show with the occasional "F**k* and "Oh S**t" thrown into her never ending hilarious speech. 

The section of audience participation was absolutely cry with laughter funny!! The man she got up on stage to play Elton John was bloody brilliant and a great sport as was the man forced to dress up in a dog costume and I was howling with laughter the entire time. Vikki has a great nac for story telling in a way that is both very fun and engaging and then she flawlessly steps into song making me wish my life was actually a musical and wanting her to follow me around everywhere making this weird and wonderful dream come true.

At the end of the show, she sat down at her piano and starting singing a song about her dad who recently passed away. About half way through the song, tears started streaming down my face as anything relating to dads is very close to my heart because I am lucky enough to have a dad that is also my best friend (I can't even listen to the song "Wake Me Up when September Ends" by Green Day without blubbing- I may have to take the American Idiot album out of my car before I have a crash.....). So when she started singing about her dad and his support for her and how he passed away I couldn't stop myself, I was a wreck! 

Vikki Stone is a wonderful singer and song writer and I would love to go and watch her again and I think anyone up at the fringe should go and support such an amazing woman. She is on at Cowgate Udderbelly at 7:30pm 

I Know My Opinion Doesn't Count But: Part 3 #meetandtweet

#meetandtweet * * * *

At 3am I finally got to sleep having fixed everything for the show and I was up again at 8am ready for our show at 11am sow when 2pm hit I was ready for bed, a lovely cat nap to keep me going for the rest of the day. So when I got dragged out at 2.30 to go and watch a show in the pouring rain I really did NOT want to leave the apartment.

"We are going to watch a show about Twitter" 

"I can just sit at home and go on Twitter, why do I need to watch a show about it?"

Puppy dog eyes and a big grin on my friends face and I get blackmailed out of the door in the rain to watch some show about Twitter....

Well, it was brilliant!! It made me look at my life in a slightly different way. Upon walking in, we got handed a piece of paper and a pen and were asked to write down our twitter handles and put it into a bucket. A man, Declan the magician and writer, with 161 Twitter followers decided to try and meet 150 of them and so #meetandtweet started. He traveled all over the UK meeting so many weird and wonderful people including a woman who spent her days in prisons and rehab centers teaching women how to gain their self confidence back again. 

When the BBC got hold of the story of the man who wanted to meet his Twitter followers, something wonderful happened; the power of the internet took over and Declan became an internet sensation over night! 12,000 followers in half an hour, people from all over the globe inviting him to interviews and all because one wet Sunday afternoon he was bored and created a tweet wondering if anyone had or could meet their twitter followers. 

I went into his show feeling tired and begrudging my friend from dragging me out in the rain, and came out feeling uplifted and wanted to take part in something bigger myself. So when he offered out the bucket of twitter handles at the end, daring people to meet up and follow suit, I couldn't resist and now I am waiting to hear back from @evejepson to see if she wants to carry on the #meetandtweet with a coffee and interesting chat with someone I have never met before but could potential know all about me!! Exciting world we live in, especially when engrossed in the internet. 

I Know My Opinion Doesn't Count But......: Part 2 The Greatest Liar In The World

The Greatest Liar In The World: * * * * *

We all know the beloved Disney film about Pinocchio but what happens to him when he has grown up and is a real boy? Well, this middle aged show man known as the "Greatest Liar In The World" decides that on his final night of the show he wants to tell everyone the truth about where he came from and why he is the way he is.

This 5 person show was magical to say the least; the musician with one arm I was completely mesmerized by for the first 5 minutes, the mime artist/clown was so beautiful in her movement the entire way through that every time she was on stage I was completely enthralled, the girl who did a lot of the puppet manipulation (a hard thing to get right and she became invisible throughout the puppet sequence which was great), the 'liar' of the show, Pinocchio if you will had such great stage presence that I found myself wanting him to catch my eye so I could see what he was really thinking about and the comedy guy- his timing was perfect and his oh so cheesy jokes cracked me up throughout. A very strong and tight-knit cast, very enjoyable to watch.

The costumes were amazing, had a really great through line, the set was simple yet effective, the lighting was really lovely when is was being operated correctly (sometimes I found myself looking at the girl operating the show to see what was going on), the props were all essential, nothing put in there for no apparent reason which I strongly agree with as a designer myself, the writing was great and the direction of the show was outstanding.

The girl in blue; the use of the umbrella and flowers was so simple yet effective and had me sobbing by the end. The puppets, especially the shadow puppets were phenomenal, I loved every second of their manipulation that it felt like I was watching a really slick part of a Tim Burton film. And the comedy throughout; wow, it had me leaning forward in my seat waiting for the next punchline.

Overall, I LOVED THIS SHOW!! It was completely amazing and I shall most definitely be going to watch it again and hopefully pick up bits I didn't notice before. 3.30 pm Pleasance Beside, Familia De La Noche--- storytelling at it's best!

I Know My Opinion Doesn't Count But..... : Part 1 VocaPeople

So, up here in "Sunny" Edinburgh I have the privileged of going to watch loads of shows, some free, some paid for and thought, just for fun, why not do my own reviews:

VocaPeople * * * * * 

When I saw the poster of a bunch of people wearing what can only be described as human condoms (or aliens of you will) not being able to speak but can only sing, I wanted to run a million miles away. I am SORRY but it sounded like one of those shows where the director said "OK guys, I want to make something weird this year, something that will stand out at the fringe, something so odd that people will want to watch it just because you are all wearing condoms for hats" however.,... 

HOLY CRAP!!! It was AMAZING!! I can't even begin to explain to you how much I loved it. And the other 500 people in the auditorium. 8 aliens come down from the planet Voca and crash into planet Earth. They need to recharge their space batteries and the only way they can do it is by making music with their mouths.  

The cast as a whole are both very talented and funny. They kind of reminded me of Jim Carey meets Pitch Perfect. They had a great relationship the entire way through with each other and with the audience. Audience participation is a necessity and everyone in there was up for a good laugh.

The poor girl with blue hair from another show at The Pleasance  got dragged up onto stage to have 5 men dressed entirely in white with jet black eyebrows that you can't really trust and had song after song dedicated to her. What a great sport! 

I loved absolutely EVERYTHING about this show and think everyone should come and see it at The Pleasance Grand at 6pm, but hurry, I think this will be a sell out show before we all know it.