#Review by Lou of A Highly Suspect Murder Mystery: The Betray-tors @HighlySuspectUK @SpaceUK #EdFringe #EdinburghFringeFestival #WhatsOnEdin #EdFringe25

A Highly Suspect Murder Mystery: The Betray-tors

review written by Bookmarks and Stages – Louise Cannon

Most of us have watched The Traitors on tv. The theatre company, Highly Suspect has cleverly taken the idea of it being on stage and ran with it in an interactive, humorous way. Given the popularity of The Traitors on tv, I thought this was a smart idea.
There is a host, who, although isn’t Claudia Winkleman, has some of her traits. There are 3 Betray-tors, who you get to know more about in the game.

Everything has been thought about, such as references to the tv show, such as past team games, contestants, including how some are related or pretending they are someone they’re not. These are all cleverly interwoven into the stories you hear. The twist is, someone is murdered, rather grizzly, off set. It’s up to the audience to piece together clues and solve puzzles to find the killer.

The resources the audience is given is all very nicely organised and from there, it’s fast-paced and there’s a lot to do to solve the clues and to find the murderer. It’s lots of fun to do in teams. It’s okay if you’re alone, someone will let you be part of their team. That’s what happened to me due to an unfortunate circumstance.

A creative mix of entertaining stories are well acted out between each character, intelligently, resembling someone who you could believe would be playing The Traitors. Some are told whilst you also work through the puzzles with the clever choice of music – Danse Macabre (Jonathon Creek theme tune music), playing in the background, adding to the mysterious atmosphere.

From start to finish, A Highly Suspect Murder Mystery – The Betray-tors is pure fun. The sort of highly engaging fun you don’t want to miss out on.

Can you find who the murderer is amongst the Betray-tors? Find out more info here to how you can have a go –
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/a-highly-suspect-murder-mystery-the-betray-tors

#Review of 1 Moment In Time @S_AlexanderMag @theSpaceUK #1MomentInTime #Magic #EdFringe #EdinburghFringeFestival #EdFringe25

1 Moment In Time –
Sean Alexander – The Confusionist

Review written by Bookmarks and Stages – Louise Cannon

1 Moment in Time focuses on just that. A moment in time in people’s lives as Sean Alexander – The Confusionist (a terrific name for a magician, I reckon), pairs this idea with his perfected magic and mentalism.

There is audience participation, which he approaches with warmth and throughout. He holds his own as no one takes an eye off what’s happening on stage.

Many tricks, although not all, are of a familiar type, but wrapped up in original stories that draw you in that bit more, that bit deeper. This is where the magic show really comes into its own. Sean Alexander is a great storyteller. What he tells you is compelling and heart-warming with a bit of wise life affirmation throughout. This, mixed with his magic tricks creates an entertaining, heartfelt show, which at times, tugs on the heartstrings. He packs in a lot into the 1hr slot.

Focusing on the magician’s hands, to study what he was actually doing, including in the close-up magic which is projected onto a screen, I, impressively, couldn’t see anything that would be a “tell” as to how he performed the tricks. He’s very accomplished in what he performs.

The finale was all done rather beautifully, although didn’t quite reach the wow factor. That factor, however, did come a few times earlier in the show in whole audience participation tricks, which I thought was a fun touch, and in performing tricks just himself or with an individual person.

I feel there’s more to come from Sean Alexander – The Confusionist…

You can check out 1 Moment In Time here: 1 Moment In Time

#Review by Lou of All Fired Up: An 80s Mixtape Musical @ARedinburgh #AllFiredUp #1980s #Mixtape #Musical

All Fired Up: An 80’s Mixtape Musical

The 1980’s are back with a bang with this upbeat feel-good musical that will have you joining in some dance moves synonymous of the era.

A burst of colour in the form of leotards and legwarmers and energised 1980’s music exploded onto the stage. Then we see a mother/daughter relationship have the age old argument of music tastes in a relatable generational tale, before time travelling again to the 80’s where older self meets younger self, told in an engaging journey of self-discovery.

The music chosen is wise and clever and sung by a high energy band, re-creating the favoured mix-tape songs, such as Footloose, Heaven Is A Place On Earth, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and more, which intelligently interweave throughout the story.

The songs chosen from the 80’s are still played a reasonable amount on the radio and easily found on streaming services, so many generations can enjoy this.

The actors/singers/dancers lift spirits and whisk their audience into a world of highly entertaining nostalgia with its vibrant, powerfully energetic, fun cast.

#Review by Lou of Murder She Didn’t Write @ARedinburgh #EdFringe @DegreesOfMurder #MurderSheDidntWrite

Murder She Didn’t Write

Review by Lou – Bookmarks and Stages

It’s Murder… but not as you know it. The audience participate in choosing a murder weapon and a place, so no show is the same. A Jessica Fletcher type character takes note of this improvised show and rounds up her suspects in true cosy crime style at the end, but can you figure out who the murderer is?
The victim, the culprit, the plot is never the same each night, due to this intelligent format.

The improvisation as seamless as though it was script-written, but honestly isn’t. What emerges is highly skilled improv as characters are quickly created to suit the roles and situations in a way that is funny and compelling.

What is created is something Jessica Fletcher definitely didn’t write has hilarious outcomes as they interweave the audiences suggestions into their murder mystery.

When I saw this, there was a sharp chicken nugget and a woman who had crocodile tendencies and a red carpet event and Love Island.
The charismatic cast mix these bizarre situations without corpsing and create light and shade to create a wonderfully compelling plot.

You can check out more info and how to buy your ticket here:

Murder She Didn’t Write

#Review by Lou of Shoot From The Hip @ShootImpro @ThePleasance #ShootFromTheHip #EdFringe #EdFringe25 #ImprovComedy

Shoot From The Hip

Shoot From the Hip is back for a limited run at their biggest Edinburgh Fringe Festival to date and it was packed.
It takes the premise of everything is purely improvised in comedic story-telling and games. The audience is asked for made up movie titles, genres etc, so every show is different in content surrounding the games.

It’s fast-paced, with Sam Russell at the helm of the group. The group gel well together and each perform improv expertly. There are no gaps in performance, meaning their thinking on their feet happens very quickly. Each scene and game with extremely funny results.

Shoot From The Hip is the perfect laughter therapy. Be prepared to laugh from beginning to end.

Shoot from the Hip is highly entertaining and hilarious throughout.

#Review of Tartan Tabletop: A Dungeon and Dragons Comedy #Comedy #ImprovComedy #EdFringe #TartanTabletop #EdFringe25 @Gildedballoon

Tartan Tabletop: A Dungeon And Dragons Comedy

Tartan Tables embodies an interesting concept that would be familiar to those who played Dungeon’s and Dragons in the 90’s. I was not one of those people, but it is explained how the game is played and its easy to catch on with how it goes.

Under the premise of a Dungeon’s and Dragon’s game, each show is different and with a different guest star, who most likely has a show of their own at the Fringe Festival, popping in each night. When I went, taking a chance as I had a space in my schedule, the theme was The Wizard of Oz. Each actor took on a character from the film and acted it out, weaving a bit of familiarity in a fantasy world with some real world satire.

The way the characters were introduced and the immersive feel to the world-building captured attention as did the idea of a dice that rolled for the next step in the story opening up all sorts of possibilities in the sphere of improvised comedy. As the story went along, there were peaks and troughs to the quality of the improv. There were many times on the day I went to see it where you could tell the cast were really working hard to find an idea to carry the story forward as they laughed with each other. There were moments when it did run smoothly and as you would expect, but I feel this group are somewhere between having some of their act polished and the rest of it, nearly reaching the mark, but not quite there yet.

They do have a different guest on, which may make a difference here and there as this means different experiences for different audiences will occur.

You can explore your ticket option into this fantasy realm here: Tartan Tabletop