Tag Archives: Dominica Plummer

JOAN COLLINS BLOCKED ME ON TWITTER

★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Reviews, , , , , , ,

JOAN COLLINS BLOCKED ME ON TWITTER

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★

“Billy Walker has come up with a strong concept”

Joan Collins Blocked Me On Twitter is the brainchild of Billy Walker, who comes to us from Los Angeles, dripping in awards. In this 60 minute monologue, he gives us actor Theodore Emory Jones (stage name Thor Jones) who has landed quite close to the iconic Hollywood sign in LA, hoping to win a recurring role in his dream series, Dynasty.

Theodore, or Thor, has had a privileged upbringing under the care of his governess Helga von Winkle. He appears before us dressed in silk pyjamas and velvet slippers, naturally. He sets up an easy rapport with the audience, berating those who arrive late, and uttering a dismissive “suit yourself” every time we fail to respond enthusiastically—but not too enthusiastically, if you please—to the jokes. Thor is an engaging fellow, especially when explaining his obsession with tea. He is an Upper Crust Englishman on steroids, who has spent enough time in LA to be strangely familiar with Koreatown, and the BBC (Bonnie Baker Casting). Most of Thor’s time is spent talking with his agent on the phone, reminiscing with Helga (offstage), and treating us to a series of extravagant costume changes for a self audition videotape he is preparing. This tape depends on the role he is hoping to land, and he is often interrupted. So we get Alexis Carrington’s English butler in Dynasty, or a brightly coloured Elf for a Christmas commercial, to name just two. Thor’s one sided conversations with Judy (and the audience) are punctuated with short videos as Thor gives us the skinny on how these roles panned out.

Billy Walker has come up with a strong concept with Joan Collins Blocked Me On Twitter, but it’s short on details. We never learn, for instance, exactly why Joan Collins blocked Thor Jones on Twitter (and to refer to Twitter as X would be unfortunate in these circumstances). Vague hints are given regarding poorly chosen gifts left in Dame Joan’s trailer, and a funny video suggests that Alexis Carrington does not like her English butler. This show doesn’t really have much to do with Dynasty. It’s a comic take on the actor’s life, and a pretty accurate one, actually. No glitzy Awards shows, nor lunches in Beverly Hills celebrity spotting—just a man, at home with his phone, and his collection of teapots. Walker has created a sympathetic character nonetheless, and when the hapless Jones nabs a role—any role—we are there to cheer him on. With a bit more polish on the script, and some judicious cutting, Joan Collins Blocked Me On Twitter could be, who knows? Definitely not Fleabag, but maybe the great lady of the title might drop in one evening to see what became of Alexis’ butler once she fired him.

For anglophiles everywhere, and UK actors who are Los Angeles curious.



JOAN COLLINS BLOCKED ME ON TWITTER

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Reviewed on 9th August 2025 at Jade Studio at Greenside @ George Street

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Grant Terzakis

 

 

 

 

 

JOAN COLLINS

JOAN COLLINS

JOAN COLLINS

AETHER

★★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

AETHER

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★★

“a fascinating piece much like the women it presents”

If you’re intrigued by the idea of particle physics presented as a cabaret show involving four energetic performers stepping in and out of a variety of roles, Emma Howlett’s Aether is for you. Sixty minutes on the subject of an inscrutable universe will also give you a glancing introduction to female scientists from Hypatia in ancient Alexandria to Vera Rubin, who discovered dark matter. Meanwhile Sophie, the high powered PhD student and our protagonist, attempts to juggle particle physics and a troubled relationship with her physician girlfriend in the present day.

The feminist angle to Aether is important because it highlights perennial problems faced by female scientists working in fields dominated by men. From Hypatia’s brutal murder in ancient Alexandria to undeserved obscurity for ground breaking discoveries in recent times, women’s discoveries have been ignored or even erased. Sophie, on the other hand, has begun her career as a physicist by talking herself into a prestigious research programme that has included time at CERN, the place where every ambitious PhD student hopes to work. She is further encouraged to keep going by her tough and determined supervisor, even when Sophie is tempted to quit because she isn’t finding any answers in the enormous amounts of data she has to work through. But is it the unanswerable nature of the questions she is asking about the universe the real reason Sophie wants to quit, or is it her faltering relationship with her girlfriend? It’s not a dilemma that male scientists have admitted to in the past. Nor is it likely to gain much sympathy in any academic field where the stars are on track to win a Nobel Prize early in their careers.

There’s almost too much packed into the sixty minutes, even with the inventiveness of performers Gemma Barnett, Sophie Kean, Anna Marks Pryce and Abby McCann. Aether is part lecture, part drama. Some of the women we’re introduced to, such as magician Adelaide Herrmann, or medium Florence Cook, fit uneasily alongside a detailed explanation of Plato’s Cave, and a list of quarks to memorize. The show dazzles with the sheer amount of information presented, but there’s a risk of audience burnout. It’s not hard to identify with Sophie’s description of protons being hurled out of a Large Hadron Collider. Perhaps a longer play, and a slower pace with the lecture parts, might give the audience a chance to catch up. It is about important themes, and Sophie’s ambition, like that of playwright Howlett, deserves a chance to find the answers that every woman working in a difficult field deserves.

This play is a fascinating piece much like the women it presents. If it sends you out of the theatre with more questions than answers, don’t feel disappointed. Aether reminds us that good theatre, like good science, is worth the work it takes to understand. There’s a large universe out there, just waiting to be explored.



AETHER

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Reviewed on 8th August 2025 at Anatomy Lecture Theatre at Summerhall

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Giulia Ferrando | TheatreGoose

 

 

 

 

 

AETHER

AETHER

AETHER