★★★★

“the audience for last night’s performance left happy and entertained, and you will, too”

Flat and the Curves are back at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with their new show, Rosé- Tinted. If you’ve never seen this talented group before, don’t hesitate to book a ticket. Oh, and take your men friends. They’ll learn a thing or two about how these satirical sirens see men and their less endearing habits. But it’s all good fun, and even the lads will appreciate the ladies, their music (and their jokes).

This talented group is Katy Baker, Charlotte Brooke, and Issy Wroe-Wright. When I last saw this group in London, they had a fourth member as well, and honesty compels me to admit that Flat and the Curves do better when they’re a quartet. Rosé-Tinted is just as sparkling as earlier shows, but having an extra voice helps carry the load of their incredibly energetic performances. They can perform everything from opera to soul, with a touch of raunchy blues thrown in for good measure. They have much more to offer than your average cabaret show. And that includes a running commentary with songs to make your grandma blush. Or maybe not. After all, they are singing about experiences that every woman has had, regardless of one’s date of birth.

Many of the songs in Rosé-Tinted will be familiar to fans of Flat and the Curves. They range from useful advice you can get from meeting female soulmates in the loo, to less than happy memories about hen dos. In fact, when Flat and the Curves have advice to offer, you’d better listen. (Don’t ever wear a jumpsuit where there’s a lot of competition for the loos. Just sayin’). Then there’s all the angst that comes with hosting middle class dinner parties. And a torch song about the disappearance of “real” men. The song about P*** suggests reasons for this—and it’s hilarious. There’s some new material including a rather offbeat little song about The Easter Bunny but why the heck not? It gives the girls time for a breather before launching into their next energetic set. At just sixty minutes, this is a shorter show designed for Fringe conditions, but the audience for last night’s performance left happy and entertained, and you will, too.

ELVIS MCGONAGALL: GIN & CATATONIC? at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★★★

“like all good whiskies, McGonagall’s lines slip down smoothly with just the right amount of burn”

The fabulous tartan-jacketed Elvis McGonagall is holding forth at the Patter House for this year’s Festival Fringe, and you do not want to miss his latest show, Gin & Catatonic?. For sixty minutes, you can relax from the Fringe mayhem outside the Gilded Balloon as this wannabe Laureate delivers poems on a great variety of subjects. A veteran of innumerable poetry slams, McGonagall is never short of inspired invention. He’s also a well-read man, and the way he puts together the comedy, with more serious subject matter, provokes both laughter and moments that make you go “hmmm”, when you remember them on the bus home.

Much of the material takes the form of rants against well known politicians, but since McGonagall is a poet, these rants have to rhyme. This works well for poems about the King’s latest speech, promising better times for working class folk. Rhyming “nouveau riche” with “quiche” would make any king’s speechwriter wish she or he, had thought of that one first. Brexit is also up for merciless lampooning of course, and the metaphors are as richly inventive as the lies we were told to “get Brexit done.” A poem inspired by the late Adrian Mitchell entitled “Sorry ‘bout that” sums up McGonagall’s thoughts on one prime minister in particular. And it’s not just the ingenious poems, but the memorable one-liners that emerge like the finest of single malts. Once our poet gets warmed up, quips like “a Goldman Sachs glove puppet that shrunk in the wash” emerge with speed and precision. And like all good whiskies, McGonagall’s lines slip down smoothly with just the right amount of burn.

Mixed up with the political satire are nods to Brecht (“The Resistible Rise of the Milkshake Martyr”) and Evita, all shaken together in a combustible commentary on a certain newly elected politician with ultra right wing views. When you tire of politics, though, McGonagall is happy to reminiscence about the good old days during lockdown, relaxing with his rescue cats. They are just as opinionated as he is, apparently. Gin & Catatonic? is a delightfully put together show that isn’t your standard stand up, and is much more than a poetry reading.

Gin & Catatonic? offers comfort for lingering epidemics, unwanted substitutions in your online supermarket list, and thoughtful suggestions for a new national anthem. Enjoy!

Tag Archives: Edinburgh24

FLAT AND THE CURVES – ROSÉ-TINTED

★★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

FLAT AND THE CURVES – ROSÉ-TINTED at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★★

“the audience for last night’s performance left happy and entertained, and you will, too”

FLAT AND THE CURVES – ROSÉ-TINTED at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Underbelly Bristo Square

Reviewed on 4th August 2024

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Rebecca Need Menear

ROSÉ-TINTED

ROSÉ-TINTED

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ELVIS MCGONAGALL: GIN & CATATONIC?

★★★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

ELVIS MCGONAGALL: GIN & CATATONIC? at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★★★

“like all good whiskies, McGonagall’s lines slip down smoothly with just the right amount of burn”