Fringepig

Bruce Blacklaw August 20th, 2014 by Vince Guttering

The thing about Bruce Blacklaw is that he writes a bit like Steve Bennett from Chortle. He even looks a bit like Steve Bennett from Chortle. And the way he keeps making little quips that sometimes work and sometimes just tip over into mean-spiritedness, that’s so Steve. The way the frustration leaks out that he’s […]

Maud Sampson August 16th, 2014 by Vince Guttering

First, a confession: I do not always know what Maud Sampson is talking about. “Think less 50 Cent and his hoes, more Tupac in his 1995 police custody video talking about rap as poetry,” she advises as a way to understand Rubberbandits. Tupac? He was one of those rapper chaps, wasn’t he? Forgive me, I […]

Evan Beswick August 6th, 2014 by Vince Guttering

This year, Beswick had me at Hello when his review of Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel opened with: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a successful show in possession of good reviews, must be in want of a bit of an upgrade.” And I quite like how he tries to keep the tone […]

Troy Holmes July 17th, 2014 by Vince Guttering

Troy Holmes… is that a man or a lady? It sounds like a man, doesn’t it? A male erotic film star, in fact. Troy Holmes. Good name. Yet it seems from the picture that Troy Holmes is a lady. Ooh hang on, she’s American. That explains everything. Anyway, to start my discussion of Troy Holmes, […]

Lizzie Milton July 17th, 2014 by Vince Guttering

The thing I like about Lizzie Milton’s reviews is that she doesn’t try to write like a reviewer, or rather, like what the average Three Weeks critic THINKS a reviewer might write like. Milton writes the way your friend might talk when coming out of a show. Well, depending on what your friends are like. […]

Maeve Scullion July 17th, 2014 by Vince Guttering

Is there a name more deliciously Joyceian than Maeve Scullion? I can imagine Maeve Scullion being one of the ladies Leopold Bloom eyes up from behind his bushes in Ulysses. You’d expect no nonsense from Maeve Scullion. No nonsense, and maybe some soup. I imagine her going down ‘the comedy’ with a big ladle, just […]

Clara Plackett July 17th, 2014 by Vince Guttering

The best thing about Clara Plackett is that she gives everyone she reviews the benefit of the doubt. Well, this is the best thing about Clara Plackett as a reviewer. I don’t know what the best thing about Clara Plackett as a PERSON is – perhaps it’s her smile or her kindness to animals. We […]

Agnes Chambre July 17th, 2014 by Vince Guttering

Oh, Agnes Chambre. Agnes Charm-breh. AGNES… Chambre. Did any name evermore deliciously combine the apparent and the other? The matriarch and the madame? The kitchen and the bedroom? The no-nonsense and the funny business? If I could be reincarnated, as a woman, I would definitely call myself Agnes Chambre. Or even Agnes Chamber. A chamber […]

Tom Bateman July 13th, 2014 by Vince Guttering

Tom Bateman’s reviews have a measured, precise quality pitched somewhere between politician and cricket commentator. But if his praise is always qualified his criticisms are even more so. He muses over one show he did not “fully connect with”, saying that it “may be that the show lacks ambition”. He isn’t sure. He’s wondering. Some […]