Fringe Comedy
Gayle Anderson
Puddles Pity Party
Assembly George Square
five stars
Angela Wand
Gilded Balloon
two stars
Tessa Waters
Gilded Balloon-The Counting House
two stars
PUDDLES Pity Party is a cynicism detox of a show. A laugh-out-loud, life-affirming hour spent in the company of coffee, Kevin Costner and a crooning 6ft 8in clown. After last year's much tweeted and talked about debut, Puddles is back with another sensational showcase filled with power ballads and pathos. With his shaved head and whiteface make-up, he cuts a melancholic, fidgety figure. Chewing on comedy-sized wads of gums, he hoicks up his pom-pomed Pierrot costume. He coughs, splutters and occasionally squeaks. He adjusts his jauntily-angled micro crown. What he doesn't do is talk. His between tunes routine is a master-class in mischievous mime. The audience are soon more-than-willing collaborators. A steady procession of them are chosen to be his comedic cohorts. They play air guitar, waltz in furry animal hats, sing karaoke and hold his box of torch song tissues. On the night I'm reviewing, comedian, Hardeep Singh Kohli and Puddles share onstage cakes and kisses. And the voice, oh, the voice. His sad, haunting baritone is the surreal soundtrack to the show. Accompanied by a moving wallpaper of onscreen images - home movies, classic films and yes, Kevin Costner, he belts out some classic rock ballads. Bowie, Adele, Cher, Queen and loads more. He stamps them all with his own wistful watermark."We Don't Need Another Hero," he purrs and he's right. We've already got one. Puddles for President!
Runs until August 29
ANGELA Wand's stage outfit offers some clues as to the type of show you're going to get. A mad mash-up of fun fur, animal prints and sequins - it screams, loud and proud and is an assault on the senses. An American now living in Sweden, Angela is billed as a super-star clown. In Wounded Animals, she explodes onstage talking the talk and walking the walk in a madcap virtual -Vegas style opening routine. It offers real promise. Things take a decidedly darker turn however when Angela bequeaths some of her clothes to the audience before setting off on an autobiographical journey. Her hugely impressive circus skills now come into play. Whips, lassos and roller-blades are the physical punctuation to powerful, poignant tales of religion, racial prejudice and the death of her dog. At times however, it's like a colourful confetti of random, disjointed thoughts. There aren't enough laugh-out-loud moments to break up the bleakness. More a performance piece, it feels somewhat misplaced in this late night comedy slot.
Runs until August 29
IF YOU like your comedy punchline light and hip thrust heavy then Over Promises is the show for you. Award-winning Aussie comedian and trained clown, Tessa Waters appears to have "gone troppo" as she leaps around the stage gurning and gyrating like there's a party in her glittery pants. Low in actual plot or patter but high in audience participation the mainly twentysomething crowd are soon lapping up this studenty-style nutterdom. The exaggerated single eyelid flickers and giant, galumphing lunges are very funny indeed, but other repeat gags are less effective. Her cries of, "it's a baby" whilst she lobs a succession of imaginary infants into the crowd becomes a bit tedious after the third nipper. Tessa is undoubtedly a talented physical comedian, but it would have been nice to see her stretch and develop these talents a little more and I don't mean with more booty shakes and star jumps.
Runs until August 29
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here