Tickle, Tinkle, Boys in the Buff & Love is Blue – Edinburgh Festival Fringe at C Arts, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh EH1 - four shows individually or in pairs. 4****: William Russell.
Tickle, Tinkle, Boys in the Buff & Love is Blue – Edinburgh Festival Fringe at C Arts, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh EH1 - four shows individually or in pairs.
4****: William Russell.
Dates: 2nd to 27th August 2023 (not 14,21) at 19:15 (1hr00)
Dereck Walker gives a first rate performance in Twinkle by Philip Meeks as a pantomime dame on the way towards the bottom of the bill. Having arrived at the theatre to find he no longer has the star dressing room he faces reality and, as he makes up for the evening, looks back at his life. It is touching, funny, Walker is a delight, and there is a nice black ending in which the star of the show gets his name and more in lights. The two musicals, Tickle and Boys in the Buff, have terrific words and music by Chris Burges. Tickle sends up those reality shows in which lads with no prospects are turned into overnight stars or influencers performing impossible, improbable things and Boys in The Buff is a send up of shows like Naked Attraction – indeed it is almost Naked Attraction the musical but copyright probably prevented that. It contains nothing to shock Aunt Edna should she wonder about going and has a lot to say about being proud of one’s body. In both shows Lauren Wood plays the diva running the event and does it, especially in Boys in the Buff, with the necessary style. David Heal and Owen Dennis are the boys from the dole queue turned into superstars as they hold on line tickling contests and do so splendidly. It also ends with a song you will leave the theatre humming, something that rarely happens these days. They also rise to the occasion along with Sam Walter and Andrew Ewart in Boys in the Buff which does end as the title promises although there, it has to be said, nothing surprising when the hats finally come off. In the play Love is Blue Walter and Ewart deliver four star performances, Walter as a brash young city trader who takes a boy on the streets, played by Ewart, in for the evening. Both flex their acting muscles impressively. It is tough out there on the Fringe and these four all offer value for money. As far as the musicals are concerned they are in the safe hands of Aaron Clingham.
Love is Blue by Don Cotter – director Prav MJ
Boys in the Buff, Twinkle and Tickle – director Bobbie O’Reilly.
Director and Choreographer - Robbie O’Reilly
Designer - David Shields
Musical Director - Aaron Clingham
Orchestrations - Joe Louis Robinson
Lighting Designer - Richard Lambert
Produced by | LAMBCO Productions