Mitch Benn
The weather in the week leading up to our first day at the festival was actually pretty decent but on the allotted day it was peeing down with rain. But this was not going to stop us from having fun. First up was a theatre production of George Orwell's classic Animal Farm at the Assembly George Square. I was curious about this, having recently read the book for the first time. The play started with a voice over in what sounded like Russian but with a screen above the stage providing English subtitles. Initially I thought that this was just a reference to the Russian revolution, which Animal Farm partly satirises, but the cast came on stage and started speaking in the same language. This had not been mentioned in the Fringe book. Furthermore, the lines spoken by the cast and the subtitles on the screen were out of synch, so it was difficult to know exactly who was speaking. It took me about 15 minutes to adjust to this, but after that I quite enjoyed the show. The acting was of a decent quality, the stage props and set design were quite clever and much thought had been given to the screenplay. So it was a good production, just not what we had expected. (The cast were actually from Georgia, not Russia, but we only found this out later) After Animal Farm we had a good wait until out next show, so we (Tony, Alan, Hannah and I) had a bit of lunch and a pint while trying to evade the lashing rain. Mitch Benn was next. I was unfamiliar with his work but according to Alan he was a contributor to Radio Four's topical The Now Show. I have listened to it a few times and found it funny and interesting so I had fairly high hopes for Benn. We crossed to the New Town and settled into our seats at The Stand Comedy Club. Benn's show was called Don't Believe A Word and was a humorous foray into astrology, homeopathy, and, somewhat predictably, religion. Basically things that you can be sceptical about. I was waiting for a big religious bashing rant but it never quite amounted to that, thank goodness. Not so much because I am a practising Catholic but I just want to be entertained and not have an atheist push his own agenda. Benn did a bit of agenda pushing but he was not too bad. I disagreed with some of his points of view but wasn't offended at any point. He was more irreverent than offensive. But was he funny? At times yes, so it was a decent show. After Benn we had an early dinner at Conan Doyle's pub and then made our way back to the Old Town, this time hiring a hackney to shelter us from the rain. Tim Vine was our final show of the day. The king of corny but clever one liners and general silliness. We nursed an agreeable pint under the shelter of cover and then queued up for the show, a long queue which did not surprise me. He's a sell out performer. Alan and I had seen him live a couple of years ago and had enjoyed his set immensely, so we knew that we were in for a good show. And indeed we were not disappointed. Corny but very funny. And not one swear word or crude joke. We had a drink at the Waverley Pub, kitsch and fun, and then headed back to Glasgow for one last pint. So, overall a successful start to the Festival. Just hope that the weather is kinder to us next time.
Tim Vine
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