Jess Robinson is known for being on tv programmes such as Dead Ringers and The Last Leg.
Jess Robinson has divas in her head just desperate to get out to sing the tracks of her life, which come from her love and admiration of Elton John. She’s a powerhouse as she belts out songs that pay homage to him, but in various “divas” voices from Billie Holliday to Kate Bush to Britney Spears to Amy Winehouse to Billie Eillish and more… There’s even an amusing duet involving “Katherine Jenkins” and “Mary Poppins”. As surreal as it sounds, this is a very well put together show, which shows a large range of her impressionist talents. There’s also a bit of funny satire smartly put in there too. When she sings a song straight, she actually has a very listenable singing voice. Whether its her own voice or impersonating someone else’s voice. she has a large vocal range, whether its a popstar or she’s hitting the highest notes of an opera singer.
If you want to see what many female divas sound like singing Elton John songs, then check out more info here for Your Song
Jess Robinson also mentioned she has a book coming out soon. Published by Harper Collins, this biography tells the story of a member of her family in war times and also weaves Jess’s life in here and now in modern day Britain.
review written by Bookmarks and Stages – Louise Cannon
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
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.
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:
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.
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.
Meet Tommy Cooper, Bob Monkhouse and Eric Morecambe in a dressing room. Sounds a bit surreal, right? But this is where a sparkling kind of magic occurs. They’re not just funny, but they’re funny, funny, see the show to get the reference. The Last Laugh is performed by:
Damien Williams plays Tommy Cooper Simon Cartwright plays Bob Monkhouse Bob Golding plays Eric Morecambe
I saw The Last Laugh at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow which is what this review is based on. I first saw it and reviewed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It is on a grand tour, more details later in this piece. I don’t often go to see a show more than once. This is that good and finely honed. I have written a new review to give you something different to read. Just shows, there’s a lot to glean from this show, but no spoilers… I also have a whole extra bit to reveal… I thought The Last Laugh deserved a second viewing in a bigger theatre to see how it faired. I am so pleased to say, it still has the same magic, if not more and is on tour now. See details about how you can get your hands on tickets too after the synopsis and my full review below…
Synopsis
The Last Laugh sees three legendary comedians – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse – sitting in a dressing room, discussing the secret of life, death, comedy and what it means to be funny. Written and directed by the award-winning Paul Hendy and starring Edinburgh Fringe-legend Bob Golding as Morecambe, Damian Williams as Cooper and Simon Cartwright as Monkhouse, The Last Laugh is warm, funny, nostalgic and poignant.
Review
3 actors walk into a dressing room… They’re not just funny, but they’re funny, funny (see the show for that reference).
From the moment Damien Williams walked on stage as Tommy Cooper, (check out the feet) with the famous chuckle that builds and builds, it got off to a strong start. This strength never dipped throughout the show. By the time Simon Cartwright as Bob Monkhouse and Bob Golding as Eric Morecambe enter the theatre dressing room, the atmosphere is palpable and the compelling nature of this play gets even stronger.
There are some lovely, heartwarming touches, not only between the comedians who are being played, but also with a montage of pictures and chat about other comedians who have also dearly departed the earthly stage.
The repartee as they try out their acts and just chat feels so realistic, as do the mannerisms, personalities, costume and make-up. There are parts that the audience are subtly made aware of about the state of the comedians health, and perhaps not so subtly in Tommy Cooper’s at times, but at times, it is nuanced, with an expression, a certain positioning of the body. Damien Williams carefully lets you see beyond the laughter and at the same time, Simon Cartwright and Bob Monkhouse are also doing something noticeably funny at the other end of the stage. There’s something sophisticated and clever about how this all works. There are fantastic references to each of the shows Tommy Cooper, Bob Monkhouse, Eric Morecambe were in.
The talent doesn’t stop there. There’s music from a ukulele and songs to be heard, all done live by the actors.
The poignancy, the sacrifices the partnerships they have or in Monkhouse’s case, had is not only fascinating, but draws you closer to each of them as the actors allow you a glimpse into their inner thoughts and emotions. There are moments when it gets quite deep and then suddenly switches to another joke.
The actors always look like they’re having a ball on stage and the audience were all enjoying themselves too. The energy and passion they bring leaps off the stage and is palpable in the auditorium of the theatre.
I feel like I could write more, but I don’t want to give away any spoilers.
There is a newly added interval and the second half brings a Q&A session, which they all handled magnificently. They are passionate about who they’re playing and it just oozes from stage to audience.
The way it ends is cleverly done and follows from the poignancy that appears throughout the show. There is a bit of a bittersweetness to it all because of course none of the comedians are alive, but if they were, I think they’d approve. I like to think so anyway because the actors have done them and the audience justice. They’ve also given dead comedians a new lease of life in a considered, thoughtful manner. I feel this show will go from strength to strength and I think the actors could play more of these “old-timers”.
We were informed about the tour going on this year and the following year. I was in awe by it last year. I am still in awe this year and how this has grown from the Fringe to the West-end to New York and back to touring in the UK is deserved. can’t praise the concept, the writing nor the actors highly enough!
This is a show you can easily watch again and still be highly entertained.
Discover further information about how you can also see The Last Laugh here: Tour Dates and Booking
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 