Alexi Sayle
First up was Adam Strauss at the Underbelly Delhi Belly in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh. My friends and I arrived in the old town with plenty of time to find our venue and sneak in a cheeky pint. It was pleasant to nurse a pint in the bowels of the Underbelly in what seemed to be a converted beer garden. What the Underbelly is outwith the Edinburgh Festival remains a mystery to us but it's an interesting old building, full of nooks and crannies. Before we finished our pints I told Alan and Tony that Adam Strauss had got a very good review in a newspaper the previous day but there was still a sense of uncertainty about a show called The Mushroom Cure. It turned out that the title itself was a bit misleading. There is no 'mushroom cure' - just psychedelic trips on mushrooms. Strauss was not a comedian, more a performer giving a monologue about his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and his existential angst, which he seemed to have a lot of. To give him his due he's an articulate and smart guy and I was sympathetic to his OCD related problems but his performance left me a bit nonplussed. It could have been a lot worse but it wasn't what we were hoping for. We then legged it straight over to the other side of Edinburgh's city centre for our next show, Alexei Sayle at the Stand Comedy Club. Our expectations were high and we were not disappointed. It was uncompromising stand up from a witty and colourful character that often had us laughing very hard. I was surprised to find out that this was his first stand up show in about 14 years but, as Alan rightly pointed out, he's still got it. After that we dined at KFC and then headed back across town to the Old Town for a stage adaptation of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest at The Space. It turned out to be an all female cast, which instantly had my attention, and I tried in vain to appreciate their acting skills and not judge them by their looks. To be fair the acting was very good. The problem was that there was one sole male performer, dressed in a blouse, which didn't make any sense on an all female psychiatric ward. We were expecting his character to have gender identity issues but his presence among a group of female patients was never explained. Apart from this puzzling mystery the play was very well thought out and executed. I particularly liked the use of sound and light, especially when one of the main characters would give a short soliloquy about the effects of her illness in relation to the hospital. It was very effective. Next up was Rory McGrath and Philip Pope at the George Square Two. McGrath is a well known tv personality but I knew next to nothing about Pope. Their show was similar to Rich Hall's Hoedown - humorous songs on guitar and keyboard. The lyrics were funny and they interacted well in between songs with the audience and each other. I agreed with Tony that they were sort of Rich Hall but not quite to the same standard, both in terms of music and comedy, but it was still good entertainment and a nice cheerful way to end the Festival. After the show we had a very important decision to make - run for the midnight bus or stay and have a few drinks and get the 1.30AM bus. We wisely chose the later.
Rory McGrath
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