Final Fringe
The Edinburgh Fringe has ended—by 9.30 yesterday, all trace of it was gone from the Royal Mile—but I thought I’d add a couple of final reviews to round it off. I was sorry not to get to Perrier-winner Laura Solon’s show; I tried to after she was nominated, but of course it was sold out for the duration. And to think I’d walked past her “small out-of-the-way venue” every day...
Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Adventures in Middle America Volume II ***
The Trachtenburgs generally get great reviews, but I’m afraid I was a bit disappointed. Given my fascination for found photographs, I had high hopes for their show, which is built around slide collections from yard sales and deceased estates—and those were indeed terrific. But the songs accompanying them were a mixed bag, and the performances a touch too raw for my tastes. The dad of the group, Jason Trachtenburg, had some good patter, but mother (on the projector) and 11-year-old daughter (on the drums) were surprisingly low-key. It was only when the songs paused and Jason gave us a sales pitch for Super-D Connectors that we got a glimpse of how funny their show could have been. But I did like the “Beautiful Dandelion” song, and the slide of a blonde in pink leotard draped next to a framed pic of an H-bomb explosion.
Andrew McClelland and Lawrence Leung’s Somewhat Secret Secret Society Show ****
We saw this with McClelland’s body double (the resemblance is uncanny), and it was a good show to go out on; maybe a little slow in spots, but the chemistry between these two long-time friends, with their hammy cries of “The All-Seeing Eye!” and “Take over THE WORLD!”, usually made up for it. None of the societies discussed would surprise a fan of Jon Ronson or John Safran—the Freemasons, that Yale mob—but Leung and McClelland put a fresh spin on such familiar favourites as the US dollar note’s pyramid, and their edited Australian election footage was a highlight (even though non-Aussies won’t have recognised Laurie Oakes and Michelle Grattan). With a less game audience this might only have rated a three, but we in the Omniocular of the Dreaded Goat all had a good time, so four it is. Not that it helps them now that their run is over—sorry, Brothers.
31 August 2005