Mark Watson
Our first show of the day was at 5.40pm but Tony, Alan and I decided to head through to Edinburgh with an hour to spare and squeeze in some valuable drinking time. We navigated our way to the Old Town part of the capital and found a pub selling some delicious but scandalously overpriced Thistly Cross cider. I can't remember what the pub was called, either Innis & Dunn or Innis & Gunn. If I had ordered an non-alcoholic beverage then maybe my brain would now be able to locate the exact name of the pub. We didn't have time for a second pint so we moved on to the George Square Theatre, a spectactuarly ugly building belonging to Edinburgh University. Grey concrete sucked the soul out of the building and it's ugliness was only heightened by the quaint cobbled stoned streets and tenemants of the surrounding area. Educating Rita is a play written by Willy Russell about the relationship between Frank, a somewhat disillusioned University tutor with a drink problem, and Rita, a frank talking hairdresser who takes a course in English Literature to lift herself out of the perceieved limitations and monotony of her social class and peers. Through the interaction of Frank and Rita, the only two characters portrayed, the plays goes on to deal with themes of social class, education, personal freedom and aspiration, and culture. The script is sharp and witty, at times challenging, and laced with a sense of impish fun which prevented the play from getting bogged down with too many references or discussions about literature and poetry. Matthew Kelly and Claire Sweeney had good chemistry together and played their parts convincingly. The set design was very detailed and well put together, giving the air of a scholarly study to contrast with Rita's working class dress and talk. It made you think about who literature and poetry and art belongs to. The way Frank would search for his hidden stash of whisky bottles behind various books on the shelves was a nice touch. All in all, a very enjoyable 90 minutes with lots to think and laugh about. After the play we sheltered under a canopy nursing some pints as the rain belted down. Ah, a Scottish summer. Up next was Mark Watson, an English stand up comedian best known to me from occassional guest appearances on Mock The Week. His show was called The Information and on the stage was a screen with Mark's mobile number, twitter account and email address. I overheard Alan groaning 'I hope this is not going to be more audience participation like with Adam Hills'. But fear not, Alan, as Mark Watson had plenty of good material to bulk out his routine. He did interact with the audience, which was good fun, but most of his jokes came from the whole topic of information access on the internet and other such technological advances. He was much funnier than I expected him to be and much wittier than his tv persona. As Alan pointed out, this is what Adam Hills should have been. We were all starving after the perfomance so we bought some overpriced food from some of the kiosks situated along the Assembly George Square. It was our best meal of the Festival, but McDonalds and Burger King were the level we were judging it by. We popped into the Udderbelly for a pint, wondering what this strange building was used for outwith the Festival, and then hung about the Gilded Balloon for a few pints as we waited for The Rubberbandits gig to start. Some 'technical issues' delayed us. Maybe one of them was having an Axl Rose diva strop. 'I'm not going on stage until ma God damn burger is cooked just the way I like it!' Eventually we were let in and ushered downstairs to the nightclub. We stood about not quite sure of what was going to happen as The Rubberbandits, a hip hop comedy duo hailing from Limerick in the west of Ireland, are not averese to writing songs of a potentially offensive nature. It was a case of hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Well, it was a suprisingly entertaining evening of two men wearing polyester bags over their heads rapping to music videos shown on a big screen behind them. With a couple of exceptions all the songs were funny and clever, and I was impressed by their ability to rap in sync with the music videos. Even their banter, or craic, inbetween songs was amusing. Irreverant, edgy but strangely entertaining. The show ran ovetime so we had plenty of time for one last, or was it two, pints before the 1.30am bus back to Glasgow. Another successful Festival. Mission accomplished.
The Rubberbandits
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