Paradise in the Vault
Napoleon’s 100 Days
★★☆☆☆ Basic
Napoleon’s 100 Days is a comic telling of Napoleon’s epic escape from captivity on the island of Elba, performed by its writer and producer Andy D (for Dickinson) at Paradise in the Vault for the first two weeks of the Fringe.
Mark Twain’s The Stolen White Elephant
★★★☆☆ Absurd
Performed by Andy Dickinson, this version of Mark Twain’s absurd short story The Stolen White Elephant changes the original setting of New Jersey to Manchester. It’s amusing, satirical and totally bizarre.
The Richard Osman Fan Club
★★★★☆ Pointless entertainment
The Richard Osman Fan Club, at Paradise at the Vault on Merchant Street, takes its lead from Osman’s new career as a cosy crime writer rather than his old one as Pointless co-host.
The Lament of Dorothy Wordsworth
★★★☆☆ Meditative history:
The Lament of Dorothy Wordsworth, by PenPal Productions at Paradise in The Vault, is a careful piece of literary and historic interest.
The Grandmothers Grimm
★★★★☆ Enjoyably illuminating:
Literate and relevant, playful and serious, The Grandmothers Grimm at Paradise in The Vault is an involving, thought-provoking and extremely enjoyable hour.
Twelfth Night
★★★☆☆ Rumbustious jollity:
Charging at Shakespeare at full speed and with all comic guns blazing, Some Kind of Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night at Paradise in the Vault will win no prizes for subtlety but should please a wide audience.
Quines
★★★☆☆ Poetic history:
Quines from Gerda Stevenson at Paradise in the Vault is one of those home-grown, quietly accomplished shows that will never hit the headlines but are the backbone of the Fringe.
Hecate
★★☆☆☆ Fairly foul:
As befits a play so often performed and studied, Macbeth has been the object of many reworkings and extensions over the years. Unfortunately, for every Dunsinane there are ten less memorable efforts. The Little Shakespeare Company’s Hecate falls into the latter category.
Antigone na h’Éireann
★★★☆☆ Intriguing modernisation:
Antigone na h’Éireann, by Aulos Productions at Paradise in the Vault, is a reworking of Greek tragedy that has some odd transitions in mood, but hangs together impressively.
Monologue Slam for Aulos
Aulos innovates with comp and crowdfunding perks:
Aulos Productions is holding an open monologue slam and offering free youth theatre workshops as a crowdfunder perk in its bid to raise funds to bring two productions to EdFringe 2018.
