NoPro London's Thomas Jancis and Correspondent-At-Large Martin Gimenez are at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe checking out experiences from our FOMO Guide to the Fringe and beyond.
If it's immersive, immersive-adjacent, or if they suspect it might be, these immersonauts are on the case.
Events are in alphabetical order, and this will update as we go. Use the handy "On This Page" links to navigate.
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Concerts of the Future
House of Oz, The Sonicrats and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
£11.5; Summerhall Lobby at Summerhall
Run Concludes August 30
As five budding musicians, we are met by a scientist in the hallways of Summerhall. Orchestral music drifts towards us along the atmospheric corridors.
In response to a few simple questions, mine include how often I see an orchestra and what noises I make when alone, I become the world's first player of the Mummerette.
Scientists Ciarian and Erick introduce me to my instrument. The Mummerette is a hard plastic wand-like instrument that as I wave through the air lets out an almost muttering hum. The rest of this futuristic quintet play other new instruments such as the Borvok, Sajura, Yulane and Kylos. These names and sensor-filled objects are unique. The post show wall shows the names and players of these different creations.
“It is said it takes ten thousand hours of practice to be an expert.” Erik states “That was your ten thousand hours!”
So to another room to don VR goggles.
We are to play Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, alongside the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Does the footage of me viewed post Symphony mostly show me giggling as I wave the Mummerette through the air?
Of course it does.
This is a delightful half hour experience which offers something truly unique. The members of the audience leave, smiling and expressing what fun they had.
My apologies to the cellist in the footage, who appears to sit next to me in the VR experience. You smiled with the kindness of an experienced artist who has been placed next to the toddler who is going to ting the triangle in the big show.
— Thomas Jancis, London Correspondent
Jill's Tupperware Party
Asparagus Mousse
From £14; Belly Laugh at Underbelly, Cowgate
Run Concludes August 30
Standing outside the hall, where the 80th Tupperware convention will be held, after a busy year of selling those fine plastic boxes ringed with rubber, we are greeted warmly by Jill (Coral Bevan) and Jill (Ricky Hunt). But of course we are also Jill, as made obvious by our nametags. We are presented with a goody bag containing a candy to give us a little boost of energy. There is even an icebreaker. (Mine: what kind of ice cream would you be? I said raspberry ripple.)
Unfortunately the Tupperware company can't afford chairs so the crowd of Jills had to stand. But we know why we are here. The Jill who sold the most Tupperware must be celebrated! It is time to announce King Tup!
Co-created by Bevan and Hunt, along with David Alwyn, Jill's Tupperware Party is a wild and manic experience, enhanced by the great heat in the small theatre space.
Most of the Jills fall into our roles quickly, booing a Jill who cheated in the competition or forming a dance train around the space. Some poor souls, who clearly have no idea what they have got themselves into, stay at the back avoiding attention.
Our lead Jills handle interactivity and interjections with great skill. A highlight is taking the rolecall. Jill is here, as is Jill, but we must WAIT OUR TURN and not speak over each other.
This was a great piece of entertainment, especially in its early afternoon slot.
Is it a cult? Are there some greater, dark forces at work? All I know is that my leftovers will be nice and fresh when I pop them in the microwave for my hungry kids.
Thanks Tupperware.
Thankerware.
— Thomas Jancis, London Correspondent
Lizzy Sunshine
Liz Coin
£13.5; Coorie at Gilded Balloon Patter House
Run Concludes August 31st
Lizzy Sunshine is going to do a two hander with Jamie Rain about positivity.
Okay, their co-star is running late but this is the Fringe! Lizzy is determined to keep a positive attitude and can only do this with the help of the audience.
Liz Coin, the titular Sunshine, is wearing a top with ‘Lizzie’ in big letters and a sparkly yellow tophat. A manic musical theatre loving ball of affirmation and can do sayings!
There was a good amount of interaction and Coin does an excellent job of handling a very crowded space. Audience members are selected to read scripts or offer problems that can be solved. Lollipops offered for good jobs.
One costume change has Coin asking us to sing Rihanna's “We Found Love” to cover, which we do gladly.
This is an endearing hour with a deep vein of sadness. We can see Lizzie backstage, trying to remain positive and even slapping herself to keep her smile. Sometimes love and positivity can't change a person. “It's not his fault. It's not my fault. It's nobody's fault” Lizzie says quietly towards the end.
With so many shows on offer at the Fringe, this festival can be very tiring and make you feel quite lonely. It just feels good to sing a song as part of a group.
Sometimes we need a sense of community and love and this show provides both together with shiny moments of joy.
— Thomas Jancis, London Correspondent
A Queer Little Murder
Savannah Hankinson
From £11.5; Coorie at Gilded Balloon Patter House
Run Concludes August 30
To quote the great novelist Snoopy “it was a dark and stormy night.” Suddenly it is not a shot that rings out but a scream!
A house on the queer haven of Rosebush Island, a party of the great and the queer is due to take place. The power goes out and our characters are trapped for the night, the party host found dead in the library.
But who dunnit? The Irish Nun, excited to meet lesbians? The timid assistant? The Ukrainian Supermodel? Our narrator's valley girl ex? Well, also our narrator who adores a murder mystery.
They all have motives.
Savannah Hankinson plays all the roles with a variety of accents, switching postures quickly to converse and argue with themselves. The set is simple, a stool and a bottle of champagne.
After being presented with our suspects, we as the audience shut our eyes and raise our hands to vote for the murderer. Thus ensuring five different endings and an actual tension as fingers are pointed over the cooling corpse.
This was a fun and queer hour and Hankinson handles the interactive aspects well.
A man throws a note (as requested) and when challenged with “you can't throw things at me, I'm gay” simply responds “I'm very sorry. I didn't know you were gay” which results in Hankinson taking a very long swig from the champagne bottle.
This is a good natured and fun solo show with some delightful gags. Just the right amount of interaction AND some suggestions of new murder dramas to go and catch up on when the Fringe is over.
— Thomas Jancis, London Correspondent
Ten Ways to Die Happy
Sisifo Production, ERT – Emilia Romagna Teatro and Emanuele Aldrovandi
£16.50-£17.50; Cowbarn at Underbelly, Bristo Square
Run Concludes August 31
If you’re of a certain generation of American, you probably remember the board game “The Game of Life”, where you moved a car playing piece around a series of life events acquiring wealth and kids to fulfill the American Dream of a nice house in the country with a white picket fence.
In Ten Ways to Die Happy, Italian artists reframe the game of life into an expiration of energy (in the form of flowers), and acquisition of happiness (manifested as placards that participants can raise or lower depending on life events) for eight (eventually nine) randomly selected audience members. With a computer screen providing prompts, and a performer functioning effectively as a dungeon master, the eight randomly selected participants are given various starting attributes in life that effect their gameplay working through “years” of life. The goal of the game… to run out of life force (the flowers) with full happiness (all placards up), an elusive goal that only one player in my game achieved.
While the selected players are in the game, the rest of the audience functions as the rest of humanity, judging the players through some tasks, or in my case, using a mid-game gambit to take over the life of one of the players. So even if you’re not initially picked, there are still many opportunities for involvement. The various scenarios presented raise questions about morality, love, community and life. On a whole this piece plays like a lower stakes mode of Dungeons and Dragons with theatre games taking the place of dice rolls removing flowers or placards at random and dramatically.
Ten Ways to Die Happy’s blend of high tech with a commanding solo performer charms us into having fun, even if you aren’t one of the main players, even as the metaphorical life races past, you just want to take time and admire the flowers before you toss them away.
– Martin Gimenez - Reviewer at Large
The Van Gogh Shogh
Donna Oblongata
From £13.5; Front Room at Assembly @ St Andrew Square
Run Concludes August 30
We pay to partake in the ‘Vincent van Gogh Experience’, entering a room full of calming music and AI enhanced footage of his paintings.
The man of the hour (Donna Oblongata) stumbles in with greying skin, neon orange beard and filthy bandage over his ear.
He is here with an Uber Eats delivery.
Everyone has paid to see his famous art. Why is he still broke?
Oblongata in their press release stated ‘When I first saw an ad for the $50 ‘Van Gogh Immersive Experience’ I thought, “what would Vincent think of that?” First off, he’d probably be delivering for Uber Eats and unable to even afford a ticket. Anyone trying to make a living as an artist, especially if they are paying to bring work to the Fringe, will be familiar with struggles of poverty, acceptance and recognition and maybe it’s time to rethink our relationship with art and how much we’re willing to pay for what we say we value.’
Vincent helps train four budding artists. They sit on stage working at their canvases. He looms behind them, sipping his stolen Uber Eats beer, wide eyed and teeth bared. “What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you?” he hisses. He asks purely so the grief can appear on the canvas. If yellow was a pet, what would it be?
There are plenty of moments of interaction and Vincent does not suffer fools gladly. We help him write a letter, statement by statement, to art dealing brother Theo. (“Send me paint. Or else. LOVE YOU. Vincent.”)
Ultimately I found this a charming hour, Oblongata conveying the tragedy of ‘the mad genius’ while also shining a light on what a force of chaos Van Gogh probably was.
— Thomas Jancis, London Correspondent
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