#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

#Review by Lou of Austentatious – An Improvised Jane Austen Novel #Austentatious @FollowTheCow #EdFringe #EdFringe25

Austentatious – An Improvised Jane Austen Novel

Review by Louise Cannon – Bookmarks and Stages

When I first saw Austentatious a number of years ago, I could see they were onto a good thing. Back then, they were playing to small audiences in small spaces. Now, they’ve moved up in the world and played to a packed McEwan Hall, a significantly larger venue. In Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, I thought it most fitting to return to this improv comedy group.

The premise is clever, taking part of a familiar title and adding something that gives a location, like a garden and a character like a gardener in this instance and say its a lost novel of Jane Austen’s before the improvisation begins…

Dressed in morning regency dresses and suits and double-entendres throughout created the main backbone of the piece, that this time was set in a garden with some familiar Pride and Predjudice characters and a nod to Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh, which, although are contemporary people, fit into the piece, after a while, only momentarily pulling you out before pulling you quickly back into the supposed lost classic. What ensues is laugh-out-loud parody that links the world of Jane Austen with the comedy genre, respectfully keeping to the themes you would expect from any Jane Austen novel. They show and understanding of Jane Austen’s works, the time period very well throughout the play and add in a type of comedy that you would see in sitcoms in times gone by. The cast bounce off each other and rarely was there a pause between scenes. A couple of times you could tell someone couldn’t quite think of something to say that wasn’t similar to what had already been said, but the clever thing was, the actors went with it and made it work and didn’t lose the flow.

Austentatious is a comedy group I highly recommend for an original take on Jane Austen’s writing. I highly recommend the entertaining and joyful, An Improvised Jane Austen Novel, where the novelty of such a concept of Jane Austen meets Improv grows.