Tag Archives: Mat Ricardo

The Edinburgh Fringe Full Monty (nearly) – Day 17, 21st August 2022

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Have I got some Edinburgh shows for you? Yes, I have!

Here’s the schedule for 21st August:

12.15 – Mat Ricardo: The Extraordinary Gentleman, Gilded Balloon Teviot. From the Edinburgh Fringe website:

Mat Ricardo“A unique, hilarious and unmissable one-man show from the worlds most critically acclaimed variety artist. Scalpel-sharp wit and astonishing skills honed over three decades travelling the world’s stages, streets and spiegeltents come together to create an unforgettable hour of big tricks and big laughs for all ages. ‘One of the greatest variety artists working today’ (Scotsman). ‘The most talented man at the Edinburgh Fringe’ (BroadwayBaby.com). ‘Breathtaking’ (Evening Standard). ‘Terrific’ (Guardian). ‘The Derren Brown of juggling’ (LoveFringe.com). ‘Mat Ricardo is amazing!’ (HRH Prince Charles).”

I’ve seen Mat Ricardo a couple of times as part of the Burlesque Show that used to come to the Royal and Derngate in Northampton, and he was always superb. It’ll be good to see him in a full show by himself!

UPDATE: Good to see Mat Ricardo again – his juggling skills are second to none. A few gasp out loud moments – he said there would be. Whilst he’s technically brilliant, I’m slightly less sure of his ability to host a complete hour with his presentation style, but that’s just me. Nevertheless, it was thoroughly entertaining, and the hour flew by. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

14.05 – Fritz and Matlock, Pleasance Courtyard.

Fritz and Matlock“In a Sheffield basement, two men try to bury the bodies of their past to find a hopeful future. With no way out, will Fritz make it to his wedding? Will Matlock get away with murder? Or will the police finally raid the marijuana grow in the attic? A new dark comedy with a fresh take on men’s mental health, the care system and addiction. 2021 Offie nominees for Lead Performances and Most Promising New Playwrights. ‘Reminiscent of the works of Beckett and Pinter’ ***** (TheReviewsHub.com). **** (Stage).”

As well as Beckett and Pinter, this sounds rather Ortonesque, which is what drew my attention! Fingers crossed that it works well.

UPDATE: Definitely Pinteresque; not so much Beckett and definitely not Orton. Two excellent performances in an intriguing play with a clever twist that I certainly didn’t see coming, and I definitely won’t tell you about! Not sure that the plot was entirely watertight, and there were a couple of scenes that weren’t sufficiently clear for us to understand. But the acting certainly carries the day, and the play is definitely worth seeing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

16.00 – Afghanistan Is Not Funny by Henry Naylor, Gilded Balloon Teviot.

Afghanistan“In 2002, whilst researching a comedy, triple-Fringe First winner Henry Naylor and two-time Scottish Press Photographer of the Year Sam Maynard, went to the Afghan war zone. An extraordinary tale ensued in which they were threatened by a war criminal, captured by the Mujahideen and nearly blown up by the Taliban. Performed by Naylor himself, the show takes us back to the start of the modern Afghan tragedy. It comes direct from the Adelaide Fringe, where it won twelve five-star reviews and two major awards. European Premiere.”

This sounds like a truly fascinating mix of dark comedy and true tragedy. But it’s considered a hit, so that’s good enough for me!

UPDATE: A fascinating and very personal account of Henry Naylor’s time in Afghanistan, coupled with some extraordinary photographs that speak volumes, are at the heart of this slightly unbalanced show. Whilst everything to do with Afghanistan in this hour totally captures your interest and imagination, the framework surrounding it, with his dealings with the Gilded Balloon, and his psychotherapist, largely miss the mark. But it’s a very intense and thought provoking show. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

18.00 – Tim Vine: Breeeep! Pleasance Courtyard.

Timi Vine“Tim Vine returns with his new stand-up show. A mountain of nonsense. One-liners, stupid things, unlikely songs, wobbly props. (Plus utter drivel.) Tim’s like the manager of a sweet shop where all the sweets are replaced by jokes, and he serves them in the order he chooses. So, it’s like a sweet shop where the manager just throws sweets at you. Winner of Dave’s Best Joke of the Fringe 2010 and 2014. Star of The Tim Vine Chat Show (BBC Radio 4) and numerous TV appearances. Enjoy the foolishness. Then leave. ‘A symphony of silly’ ***** (Times).”

It’s been the sin of omission that we’ve never seen Tim Vine live before, so I’m sure this will be magnificent!

UPDATE: Having realised we’ve only seen Tim Vine in short spurts on TV we became concerned that a full hour of him might be too much. And so it proved. The relentless silliness quickly palled with us, and whilst others guffawed throughout, we only chuckled occasionally. As Mrs C noted, she wasn’t expecting it to be quite so *infantile*. Not for us, but I completely accept that he went down a storm with others! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

21.00 – Ballet Freedom, Pleasance @ EICC.

Ballet Freedom“Spectacular world renowned ballet company journey from Kyiv. Freedom Ballet celebrate their 20th anniversary in Edinburgh with 14 incredible dancers. An outstanding dance collective. Their intimate, sensual ballet is astonishing. This adaptation of their hit show Boudoir is about the moment of life, when knowing yourself, your love and your loss, you can truly see yourself in the mirror. Credits include performing with Franco Dragone, legendary director of Cirque de Soleil, and sharing the stage with Dita Von Teese, Queen of Burlesque Cabaret. Sold out tours in more than 30 countries with over 5,000 performances.”

Given the appalling situation in Ukraine I can only believe that this will be a truly emotional performance. I’m sure it will be a rewarding dance experience too.

UPDATE: Audience reviews online were about 75-25 in favour of this show, but those who didn’t like it *really* didn’t like it! We thought it was terrific; inventive, dynamic choreography, danced with joy and skill, frequently very tongue in cheek, lots of dark humour and even a few instances of audience participation (and don’t think by not sitting in the front you’re safe – you’re not!) Invasion by a hostile neighbour was tastefully suggested in a few of the dances. I was very disappointed at the amount of photography and videoing from audience members, which was extremely disrespectful of both the performers and other audience members. But we loved the show! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review – The Burlesque Show, Royal, Northampton, 3rd July 2011

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This was a complete leap into the Unknown. What would “The Burlesque Show” involve? The theatre’s website promised us a top magician and an exotic dancer. Well we certainly got them, and a whole lot more. So what is Burlesque? Well, from having seen just one evening’s entertainment, it’s largely old-fashioned variety with some titillation thrown in for good measure. But it also seems to have some retro style, and judging from the audience, seems to appeal to women more than men. Doing a bit of online research it looks like it’s a growing cult entertainment, with a considerable following. Well it’s never crossed my path before, but then I have led a sheltered life.

Kiki KaboomAnyway the good burghers of Northampton know their Burlesque as the Royal was packed again and the audience were in an extremely good mood! Our hostess was Kiki Kaboom (it didn’t take me long to realise some of these performers work under a Nom-de-Burlesque). She is a bright funny lady who got us warmed up with her rendition of “I’m a little girl from Maidstone”. She had great interaction with the audience and kept the whole evening going at a good pace and with an endearing warmth.

Elle AmourOne aspect of a burlesque evening seems to be that you get attractive young ladies taking the majority (but not all) of their clothes off. Far be it from me to judge which of Elle Amour, Kittie Klaw and Dani California did it best; but they were all entertaining, stylish, and performed with coquettish humour. Kittie KlawI particularly enjoyed La Klaw’s battle against a seemingly endless supply of spiders nestling about her body, which (of course) required the removal of clothing to get rid of them. Dani CaliforniaElle Amour did two routines, the second of which was particularly edifying as it involved quite a lot of bottom shaking. The interesting thing was how the whole thing really was done “in the best possible taste”.

Mat RicardoIt wasn’t all titillation though. There were some really funny and entertaining variety acts too. For example, we had Mat Ricardo. He’s a juggler – incredibly skilful, with very funny patter, a likeable personality; and he did two routines, both of which were ace.

Elliot MasonThen there was Elliot Mason, a singer of comedy songs about the most unlikely subjects. Two of his really funny songs were about corporate rebranding and the delight in finding sufficient washing up liquid left on the sponge in order to wash the cup that was left out of the dishwasher. He has a great attacking style and involves the audience so that it’s impossible to resist singing along with his ridiculous songs, even though you can’t. Great fun.

Dolores DelightWe had the singer, Dolores Delight, who really came into her own with her second half number, Moon River, performed alongside the most massive balloon you’ve ever seen (hot air balloons excluded). The balloon took on the appearance of the moon and it was a really charming performance.

Fancy ChanceYou couldn’t get more different from Dolores to Fancy Chance, who had two thoroughly memorable routines. In the first half she did a perfect parody of Prince (the “Squiggle” singer), in what I guess is the absolute true spirit of Burlesque. It was amazingly funny. Her second half performance was an homage to North Korea, which quite simply involved a bit of everything. It was just extraordinary!

Paul ZenonTop of the bill – in a sense – was the magician Paul Zenon, who did two excellent tricks; one which Mrs Chrisparkle says she has seen before (I don’t know who she was with because it was new to me), where he spun a full pint of Newcastle Brown around and around while it was perched inside a snooker triangle. Fantastic stuff. Even more effective was another routine where he invited a gentleman up from the audience who was wearing a smart jacket, got him to remove said jacket, whence he proceeded to stab a hole in the back of the jacket and pull endless bits of lining out of the hole he had made, right in front of the poor jacket owner’s nose, then only to present the jacket back unharmed. We spoke to the jacket’s owner on the way out – he said that although he was within inches of the trick being performed he had no idea how Paul Zenon had done it.

Jim DevereauxOne final act was Jim Devereaux; he starts off being a stagehand and ends up being an Elvis impersonator. He was brilliant! I’m not a great Elvis fan but he did his very best songs and it worked extremely well. Would you believe he is the grandson of Ed Devereaux of Skippy fame? Now there’s quality.

This is not in any way meant as a pejorative comment – quite the reverse – but I found the entire show to be the absolutely best “End of the Pier” night you could possibly imagine; or alternatively, the tip-top in cruise entertainment. If you’ve ever been on a cruise ship and seen really really good variety, you’ll appreciate just how excellent this show was.

The only thing that slightly confused me was the advisory age restriction notices placed outside the theatre. Not recommended for the under 16s. 16??? All you saw was one nipple and even that was due to a wardrobe misfunction. The language was milder than most other comedy acts we have seen. By contrast, when I was 13 I saw “Birds of Paradise” at the Garrick Theatre, where Miss Moira Lister was in charge of five rather lovely young working girls, who went topless for the majority of the second act. No one raised an eyebrow at the sight of a 13-year-old in the front row. The only raising was done by the 13-year-old in question. I do feel the age restriction for the Burlesque Show was misplaced and unnecessary.

Nevertheless, it was a really terrific night’s entertainment, which went down a complete storm with the audience. I definitely hope this becomes a regular feature; the Royal is the perfect environment for this sophisticated variety show.