Tag Archives: Samuel Skoog

The Edinburgh Fringe One-Weeker 2018 – Bucket Men, 18th August 2018

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Our first comedy show for the week is Bucket Men, at C venues – C royale, Studio 2 at 17:45 on Saturday 18th. Here’s what it’s about: “A and B work hard, and they take pride in their work. Turn up, swap stories, share sandwiches, do the job, go home. If only upstairs would fix the bloody kettle. Surely if they stay obedient and unquestioning, it’ll happen eventually. And why wouldn’t they? It’s a living, after all. But something is wrong. Or maybe, everything is going exactly according to plan. Bucket Men is a brand-new, darkly comic, absurdist play about the banalities of evil and the storied cycle of brutality. Because at the end of the day, someone’s gotta do it.”

This is produced by one of my favourite theatre companies at Edinburgh, Fear No Colours, and they never fail to create drama that’s challenging, disturbing and inspiring. This is the last performance of Bucket Men so I’m glad we were able to squeeze it in on our first day. It’s written and directed by FNC stalwart Samuel Skoog, and I’m expecting something Beckett-like but with a very modern twist. It’s 55 minutes long, so check back after 7.00 pm to see what it was like, and by then the next preview blog should be available to read too.

Beautifully surreal, very thought-provoking, not entirely sure what it meant, but that really doesn’t matter! Rather uncomfortable at times (deliberately so) and some great performances. Their run has been extended into next week, and I’d really recommend it!

The Edinburgh Fringe One-Weeker 2016 – Mercury Fur, 25th August 2016

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Next up, what sounds to me to be a most intriguing play. To my shame I hadn’t heard of it before but it sounds full of the challenges I relish from theatre. It’s Mercury Fur, performed by Fear No Colours, at The Main Space @ C Cubed, Celtic Lodge, Brodie’s Close, Lawnmarket, at 13:00 on Thursday 25th. This is from the official website: “In the burning and blood-soaked ruins of London, two brothers prepare a child for sacrifice as their only means of survival. Philip Ridley’s savage masterpiece asks how far we will go for the ones we love.”

Not too much information there, but I’ve done some research and it looks to me like Mercury Fur might resemble an Edward Bond’s Saved for the 21st century? I’m primarily going to see it because we saw both Fear No Colours’ productions of two Sarah Kane plays last year and they were superb. By Edinburgh standards this is quite a long play so check around 3pm to see how it went and by then the preview blog for our next show should be available to read too.

Post-show update:

Just like last year, the thing that impresses me most about Fear No Colours is their ability to create vibrant, passionate and indeed violent theatre in a very confined space with incredible physical control and accuracy. This is a gripping and engrossing production of a play that, personally, I feel isn’t a patch on the Sarah Kanes they took on in 2015. It has a fascinating concept of how you get your kicks in a post-apocalyptic London, and there are some riveting sequences, but on the whole I feel the play is about half an hour too long. It’s also not as eloquent as Edward Bond! Great performances though, and terrific ensemble playing. Not physically gory but you need a strong mental attitude to survive!