Comedy

Having now seen 'Showstopper!' twice, I can testify that not only is each performance achingly funny, it’s a genuinely new full-length musical every time.
 
The hugely talented team make improvisation look easy, astounding the large audience in George Square 4. They are orchestrated  by an on-stage director, the smooth Dylan Emery, who must whip up a last minute musical for a capricious producer ‘Cameron’ on the end of the phone line.

Emery’s introductory skit may seem like a gimmick but he is fundamental to the show’s success, the pulsating heart that beats life into the scenes by cutting in expertly to introduce new twists, rewind, or move the action forward. This leaves the rest of the group to work their magic.

The audience suggest song styles, a location, theme and title for the musical. On this occasion we saw 'Holy Crap! The Musical', set in the Garden of Eden with sections in the style of 'Wicked', 'The King and I', 'Sesame Street', Noel Coward, Tarentino and Brecht.

The cast are all consummate actors, singers and comedians and, most importantly, equally enthusiastic as a principal, chorus member or even a prop. Ruth Bratt exemplified this by being side-splitting as both an infectiously teasing Lucifer and a wave lapping against a rock. 

The songs and quips they devise are excellent in themselves, but the real joy is seeing them rise to ludicrous challenges with enough guts to fill an offal bag. The highlights are threatened mutinies against the director, and the performers testing each other's imagination with a leading question like “Tell us why?” which ususally leads to a spontanious song and dance. 

Due to its references, the experience is especially gratifying for musical theatre and film buffs, but can rightfully be listed in the comedy section as it is hilarious. The audience trickle away from the evening satisfied that they have taken part in top-class in creativity in action. Worth seeing again and again.

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is at Musical Theatre @ George Square until 30 August, 22:50.

Equipped with a ukulele and buckets of offbeat charm, the enigmatic Lady Carol wants to give us a lesson in womanhood.
 
She’s certainly ladylike, elegantly perched on a stool in a black fishtail dress, but there’s much more to this songstress than meets the eye.
 
A blonde siren, she is delightfully unassuming and addresses the audience like a long-lost confidante. But like a siren, her call has dark undertones. Tales of Facebook stalking and wanting to be a witch, reveal the mischievous streak beneath her charming comic ramblings. She creates an atmosphere of exposed intimacy; delicate, understated and faintly bewitching.
 
And then she sings. It’s like having your hot milk laced with a shot of brandy. The raw magnetism of her voice engulfs the Pleasance Over The Road room, as she mixes interpretations of the likes of Radiohead, Queen and Kings of Leon with her own material.
 
Her vocals add a powerful intensity to her quirky persona, in a contrast that is utterly intoxicating.

Lady Carol: Tomorrow is My Turn is at Pleasance Courtyard until 31 August (not 24), 20:15.

In their second Fringe excursion, Jollie (a fusion of John and Ollie) commandeer Underbelly’s stage as a preparation for something much greater. 

The pair explain that after toiling away on Britain’s lamentable story and song circuit for too long, they’ve finally hit the big time. They’ve been invited to perform at the prestigious European Festival of Storytelling and Song in Warsaw.
 
Obviously, then, the Fringe is a mere warm-up, and their fizzling chemistry is injected into a ‘rehearsal’ presentation of songs, sketches and a low-budget slideshow about our European cousins. We find out what really happened at that football game in no-man’s land, and that Ollie wants to use vampire stories for some rather un-PC metaphors.
 
Jollie are a refreshingly complex double act. Like a hand in a snug rubber glove, it’s a perfect fit, but not without friction. Lacing their friendship is the awkward fact that Ollie used to go out with Amy, now John’s wife. This succulent underlying tension spills over into subtle put-downs, erratic artistic decisions and bickering over how to stage their masterpiece.
 
They generally avoid the all-out European stereotypes, in favour of latching onto a single word or story and giving it a ridiculous rewrite, creating silly songs and surreal sketches galore. From John’s deadpan declarations of their struggle for artistic integrity to Ollie’s melodramatic script additions, 'Abreast of Culture' is an fabulously animated and creative hour.
 
The real John and Ollie could continue to develop their material further, but their believable intimacy shines on stage, resulting in a mini-drama of friendship that is as magnificent as it is shambolic.
 
Jolie: Abreast of Culture is at Underbelly, until 30 August, 18:55 .