Fringe Review : Echo & Narcissus

This play is evidently pretty old, first found around 6AD I believe. It was mostly narrated by one player, while the rest of the cast played multiple roles. As all the cast were dressed in very similar garb, this wasn’t a major problem. Most “scenes” were  introduced by the narrator and only one or two of the cast had major roles in each scene, the rest providing crowds or atmosphere.

The show was a mixture of theatre and dance, and the cast managed to combine these disciplines extremely well, no idea how they didn’t run out of breath at times!

I don’t think the plot is particularly important as it’s fairly straight forward.  “Echo” (a nymph) is a chatterbox/storyteller she often told stories to the Goddess Hera, while Hera’s husband (Zeus) seduced Nymphs. When Hera finds out about Echo’s duplicity she curses Echo by taking away her voice, except to repeat other peoples words. When Echo meets Narcissus (who only cares for himself) she cannot attract him and broken hearted she fades away until only her voice is left. Later Narcissus sees himself in a pool of water, falls in love with his own reflection, falls into the pond and drowns (oops!), his body is never found, only a flower.

Echo was cleverly played by two players at the same time, moving together and taking turns in saying their lines. This I assume is part of the “old style” theatre going back to ancient Greek theatre (perhaps) that the entire production mimicked (I’m guessing).

It was very entertaining and rather different from modern day theatre that seems to insist on complex plots and characters, this production was really all about the players entertaining the audience with their talent.

Echo hugging “herself”

Two other players

Echo (one half of)

The Goddess Hera

I can appreciate that this would not be to everybody’s taste, but I did find the combination of music and the players skill intriguing.

In summary a very enjoyable and entertaining show.

EdTweetup at Innis & Gunn

For those not familiar with #EdTweetup it’s a Twitter “Meet Up” organized by @btocher every couple of months (or actually when Baxter decides to organize one), it takes place in different venues around Edinburgh and is basically for Twitter users to meet each other in person and have a few beers together.

Innis & Gunn are an independent brewing company based in Edinburgh (their beer is actually brewed under contract by Belhaven in Dunbar) who produce a somewhat unique range of “Oak Aged” beers, in that their beers are matured in American white oak Bourbon barrels. Innis & Gunn at 32 Potterrow is a new venture (to my knowledge) for them, in that it is actually a bar (although the current plan is that this will only exist for the summer) and I believe the bar itself is actually run by 56 North.

As part of the evenings event there was to be a Innis & Gunn beer tasting, which I was looking forward to, I am familiar with their “Original” beer having enjoyed it on numerous occasions, normally by the bottle but occasional I’ve come across it on draught, I have also once tried their Rum Finish version.

We were each given a small “shot” style glass in which to sample the beer, our host “Martin” first introduced us to the Innis & Gunn “story” (I won’t repeat it, but for those that don’t know it, you can read it on their website here) and then introduced us to each beer in turn, giving a brief explanation which was backed up by printed tasting notes, handing bottles around the table, allowing us to help ourselves. I did feel that proceedings were a bit rushed, but with nine different beers to sample it had to be to get through all of them within the hour allotted for the sampling. Anyway on to the beers and my opinion :-

Original

A golden colour at 6.6% ABV and aged for 77 days. As I said I’ve enjoyed this beer before on a number of occasions, it’s, it does have a unique flavour which is slightly sweet and in my mind reminiscent of treacle, there is also a similarity to some whiskies, which is probably from the oak ageing (some whiskies are also aged in similar bourbon oak barrels).

Blonde

A light straw colour at 6 % ABV and aged for 37 days. My first taste of this beer and probably my last, my least favourite of the range I found it too sweet and almost fruity in flavour. I guess it might work as an after dinner drink, but not to my taste.

Highland Cask

A light brown colour at 7.1% ABV and aged for 60 days. This is a limited edition beer aged in Scottish Whisky barrels for 18 years (I don’t know which whisky/distillery the barrels came from), it’s fairly similar to the original but does have a deeper smoother flavour and hints of  whisky.

Canada Day 2012

A reddish-brown colour at 7.7% and aged for 49 days. A limited edition created for Canada Day 2012 (Innis & Gunn beer is particularly popular in Canada). I wasn’t too sure about this one, it is apparently made from a number of different malts to balance out sweetness and bitterness, I thought it tasted a bit too bitter and a bit spicy, it may well work with the a nutty cheese as suggested by the tasting notes.

Winter Beer 2011

A darkish brown colour at 7.4% and aged for 48 days. Another limited edition beer and probably more suitable for the winter than mid summer. Tastes heavier than the other beers, not dissimilar to a Scottish dark ale, quite smooth with a hint of sweetness reminiscent of honey but maltier.

Irish Whiskey Cask

A very dark mahogany/black colour at  7.4% and aged for 60 days. This is a stout which is matured in barrels from “a famous distillery in Ireland”, I do like a good stout, particularly if it has hints of chocolate or coffee (or both), although I’d probably rate this above Guinness but below a number of other stouts I’ve tried. It does have a certain flavour to it which probably comes from the Irish whiskey barrels, not a good thing in my opinion (I find most Irish Whiskey a bit sharp and harsh for my taste).

Scottish Pale Ale

A gold colour at 7% and aged for 41 days. Their version of an IPA, which are traditionally hoppy and more bitter than a regular ale. This beer is certainly “hoppier” than the others and a bit more bitter, but not enough to make it stand out from other similar IPA’s. There is a tendency for smaller “craft beer” breweries to in my opinion “over hop” their IPA’s, probably following the same tendency coming from American Pale Ales, but that’s probably an entire Blog posting on its own! This is NOT “over” hopped and would possibly be to some people’s tastes.

Independence Day 2012

A light gold colour at 7% and aged for 54 days. Almost half way between the “Original” and the “Blonde”, it’s a fairly light beer but with a fresher almost citrus finish, similar to a fruity orange flavour common from using American hops, not to my personal taste but may be more popular with those not keen on beer.

Rum Finish

A dark brown colour at 7.4% and aged for 54 days. Not dissimilar to the “Highland Cask” but a bit sweeter and sharper, I guess the difference between Rum and Scottish Whisky. I’m not a big fan of regular rum, but I do like spiced rums. There used to be a limited edition “Spiced Rum Finish” but unfortunately it is no longer available, I think I might have preferred it.

Summary

By the time we had tried the ninth beer in quick succession it was getting a little hard to judge each individual beer, not helped by using the same glass for all the beers. I’ve never been convinced that drinking a small sample gives a true impression of a specific beer, but I’ll probably be sticking with the “Original”  in future, unless of course they come out with another limited edition I haven’t tried. A fun experience and if you are organizing a group night out it might be worth asking about doing the beer tasting yourself.

After the beer tasting, we got down to the serious business of drinking and chatting, I did notice that very few (if any) people were actually drinking Innis & Gunn 🙂

Some of the bottles at the end of the tasting

Free Comedy at Edinburgh Fringe

So we are well into August and that means my birthday has passed (quietly without major incident) and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is underway.

Last year I had just finished a work contract so was relatively flush money wise and in no immediate hurry to get another job, this gave me the opportunity to enjoy the Fringe to its maximum, I believe I saw over 50 shows last year.

This year my situation is somewhat different, not so flush on the monetary front and looking for a job, so less free time and ready cash 😦

Prices for shows can vary from as little as £5 up to £20 or £30 (or even higher) but probably the average show price I would guess being around £10-£15 (this is a wild estimate based on no research what so ever). However there are deals out there, there’s the 2 for 1 deals on the first Monday and Tuesday (6th & 7th this year) and there is the Half Price Hut plus there are lots of free shows at venues and on the streets.

I do enjoy wandering up and down The Royal Mile and seeing a combination of the street performers and the venue performers creating a chaotic kaleidoscope of entertainment. It also provides lots of photographic opportunities and challenges.

On Friday while taking a wee rest from my wanderings a young lady was standing nearby promoting a free comedy show “starting in 20 minutes” just down the street, so I decided I had nothing to lose but an hour and headed down into The City Cafe

John Hastings – Unrelentless

The Basement Cellar of the City Cafe is a smallish venue downstairs under the main cafe, it works well for a small crowd providing a fairly intimate area for a one man comedy show. I’m not a big fan of stand up comedy normally and didn’t have high expectations, but I did enjoy the show which was mostly a series of anecdotes from his life (supposedly). I chuckled a few times and didn’t really cringe or flinch, there weren’t any children in the audience during the show I saw but I was a bit surprised at some of the language used for an afternoon show (started 16:15) which is supposedly rated as a PG show, perhaps the comedian thought it safe to add some more adult material with no children in the audience. Worth stopping in if you have an hour kill.

PBH’s Free Fringe

There’s an interesting story to the “Free Fringe” which can be read at the link above it runs alongside the official Edinburgh Fringe Festival and provides mostly comedy shows for free at numerous venues across Edinburgh.

On Sunday I was at a loose end so I thought I’d head up to the Kil-der-kin bar for a couple pints and catch another free comedy show. If you haven’t been to the Kil-der-kin it’s a pretty nice pub, being at the bottom of the Royal Mile below the Canongate Kirk it’s a little off the main tourist area and quieter than pubs further up the Mile, it also has three “Cask” Ale taps that regularly change, mostly providing good real ale from some smaller Scottish breweries. The shows are held in a small side room away from the main area, seperated by a curtain.

Comedy World War II

Every night (I think) this show is on and promotes 3 stand-up comedians, although it is advertised as a war, this is just a gimmick. The show is hosted by “Christian Schulte-Loh” a German comedian who has his own free show, appropriately called German Comedian. Christian was arguably funnier than the three comedians that followed, although this was possibly because he managed to get a rapport going  with a group of swiss women in the audience.

The first comedian up was Bobby Carroll who I thought was the funniest of the three, although not great and not good enough to make me want to see his show. The second comedian was not funny at all and apparently does not have his own show (I’m not surprised). The third and final comedian was David Mulholland who I did not find particularly funny, although he did admit none of the material he used were in his actual show.  Obviously with different comedians being featured each night, you might be luckier than I and see some funnier comedians. It IS worth noting that most of the audience were not from the UK and did seem to find the show funnier than I did. (I did say I’m not a huge fan of stand up comedy).

Almost immediately after this show was another, I had enough time to take a “rest break” and order another pint from the bar before heading back to see the next show:

Byron Bertram – Guilt Ridden Sociopath

I had actually seen Byron performing at Hunter Square on Friday afternoon, where he did some fire juggling and escaped from a chain and straight jacket (fairly run-of-the-mill street performance, although he was quite funny). His live comedy show is much more brutal, certainly not suitable for children and reasonably funny. His style reminded me slightly of Dennis Leary in that he would go into a long rambling litany of quick fire observations and comments before hitting you with the punchline, not to everybody’s taste but quite clever when it worked. The rest of the audience had a mixed reaction some were in virtual hysterics others were obviously not so impressed. Not a bad way to kill an hour with a decent pint of beer.

A couple images of Byron’s street show :-

 

 

 

 

 

My Ratings Explained

On occasion I’ll be giving my personal ratings on something, whether it be an event, a location or a drink, I’ll be giving ratings out of 5 which I rank as follows:

0/5 – Absolutely terrible, avoid at all costs (it’s unlikely I’ll ever give a rating this bad)

1/5 – Really bad, don’t touch this!

2/5 – Poor, try and avoid if possible.

3/5 – Average, acceptable (My most common rating)

4/5 – Very Good, above average, worth seeking out.

5/5 – Excellent, could not be better! (Very rarely will I rate anything this highly)

Hello world!

On occasion I’ve felt the need to say more than is possible in other places so I have started this blog. This means that there will NOT be regular posts, I’m not a writer, I’ll only be posting occasionally when I have something to say (if it’s worth reading is another matter entirely!).