It was my day off so I went on an ADVENTURE. Recklessly, I had only booked one show in advance of yesterday (more on that later), so it was kind of a free for all in terms of what shows I saw. Let’s get into it.
So I kicked off with seeing Harriet Braine, who I once played Super Smash Brothers with. For some reason. She does art historical comedy songs, to the tune of pop classics - I won’t spoil any for you, but the Heironymous Bosch one is worth waiting for. She’s hilarious and at 1:15 at the Golf Tavern, which is bloody miles away but so so worth it. Us Buxton Fringe Award Winners gotta stick together, right? *flips fake hair*
After that I saw Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story, which is a musical about some hella gay murderers. The actors were fab and did some gr9 singing, and the pianist was a bloody champ, but the star of the show was the SEXINESS. Like turned on by crime sexiness.
I am a mess. But yeah, I would recommend.
Continuing my exploration of queer original musicals, I went to see How To Win Against History, a show that I saw last year and loved, which is about the crossdressing Marquess of Anglesey, and is HILARIOUS. I was a bit worried that it would maybe have become a bit too big and would have lost the intimacy from the tiny box it was in last year, but that wasn’t the case. It’s a heartwarming, hilarious romp through a rarely-told story. They said that the soundtrack will be out in a couple of days, and I am eagerly watching Spotify for when it drops. Fun bonus fact: How To Win Against History semi-inspired the play I wrote for my dissertation this year, which was about the history of crossdressing. I put a fleeting reference to Henry in the play and I got *HUMBLE BRAG* 79 for it, so thanks the How To Win crew.
It’s no secret that I love Dolly Parton. She remains the only famous singer that I’ve seen live, with the exception of the Glee cast (don’t stop believing, guys). I know most of her songs by heart, and the day she dies will be one of the worst of my life.
DollyWould, by Shit Theatre, begins with a crazily slowed down version of Jolene, and the madness doesn’t end there. There are wigs, boobs, heels, cloning and misogyny, all fantastically woven together in a show which examines legacy, individuality and, of course, country music. It’s hard to describe, but do go (once you’ve seen my show, of course, as they are on at the exact same time of 9:15pm).
I stayed in Summerhall to see a show called ‘Some Tiny Plays About How Fucked We Still Are’, which was a quasi-verbatim play where internet-written scenes, taken from Reddit, answers.com, Twitter etc., were chosen at random through a bingo-ball system. We also had bingo cards with quotes on, which we had to cross off if any of the actors said them, in order to win fabulous prizes. Now, if there’s one thing I love as much as Dolly Parton, it’s BINGO. This was a great show for me, and whilst I did poorly at the bingo, I did have a great time. One of the tiny plays about how very, very fucked we still are, I think came from answers.com and went as follows:
‘How long can a five year old girl hold her breath? I have a date next week.’
YES Gordon Ramsey sex dwarf
And that was my day off. Art, murder, dresses, Dolly and bingo.
I’m having a great Fringe.