THE KAYE HOLE at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★★★

“a tremendous night of outstanding queer entertainment”

I mean, where do I start with this one!? ‘You going to Kaye Hole?’, I kept being asked last year, having never heard of it and missing getting my hands on a ticket before it sold out during my short visit. Naturally, I made it one of the first things to book this time. And boy oh boy will I be returning!

Reuben Kaye, an Australian comedian, singer and writer, hosts this queer late-night cabaret at Assembly’s Palais du Variété. Each night, an eclectic line up of guest performers take to the stage to entertain the crowd.

After warming up the crowd with an electric energy and stage presence, and inviting us warmly to his ‘hole’, Kaye introduces the first act, New York cabaret artist Salty Brine. Brine compels us with us an Annie Lennox number (from their solo show These Are The Contents of My Head) in a performance which is mesmerising and offers real star quality. It sets the bar high for the rest of the night. Next up, it’s comedian Josephine Lacey, a self-described ‘gilf’, who terrifies one particular member of the audience by menacingly flirting with him before making jokes about his genitals. Her humour is quite blunt and brutal, but the jokes are so funny you can’t help but laugh. She’s also up here with her show Autism Mama, and if this snippet of her comedy style is anything to go by I’m sure it’s an absolute hit.

Marshall Arkley is next to heat things up – literally – with an act combining fire-eating and striptease. This is quite different from the standard street performers you’ll see here at fringe though, with a jaw-dropping moment which involves balancing one of the fire sticks on the tip of his penis. Alex Hines then performs a hilarious act which at one point involves being breastfed by Kaye who wears a giant pair of fake breasts. It’s totally mad and you can’t take your eyes away. The penultimate act of the night, Jacqueline Furey, impresses with her sword swallowing, which is sexy and terrifying all at once.

But the most bonkers act of the night is definitely saved until last, as Tara Boom performs a hula-hooping routine, completely naked, with a popcorn maker strapped to her head popping actual kernels as she smothers her body in butter. It’s completely unhinged, off-the-scale level of bonkers, and a beautiful end to the night which has the audience in fits of laughter as we’re cheering her on. I’ll save the final twist in her act for you to see for yourself!

Throughout the night, Kaye promotes all of the performers’ solo shows, and concludes the night with a wonderful act of community as everyone in the crowd is encouraged to promote their own fringe shows. It might be hard to believe that, in a night involving a man balancing a fire stick in his urethra, this moment is one of the most memorable, but it really is. Kaye delivers a little monologue about the financial struggles of performing at the festival, and it’s a really touching moment that shows Kaye’s care for the artists is just as a high as his passion for the craft.

The Kaye Hole is a tremendous night of outstanding queer entertainment which is quickly selling out its run, so get a ticket!

THE KAYE HOLE at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Assembly George Square Gardens – Palais du Variété

Reviewed on 15th August 2024

by Joseph Dunitz

THE KAYE HOLE

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★★★

“has all the ideas for a really interesting production, but perhaps just needs a bit more focus”

Charlie (James McGregor) is an FX trainer in his mid-30s and he’s going through a divorce. So, he does what any single person freshly out of a relationship would do and gets on the dating apps. He makes new friends, moves into a new flat, even reignites a spark with an old flame. Stephanie Martin’s latest play Did You Mean to Fall Like That? is the tale of one man trying to get his life back together, whilst maybe making some new self-discoveries along the way.

McGregor finds a tenderness and vulnerability in Charlie, and as the story progresses he does slowly but surely get us very much on side. There’s a very nervous energy at the start, as if he’s uncomfortable having to talk to an audience about this (and maybe he is) so it does take a little more effort from the audience to get on board. A bit more of a controlled start to the storytelling, really making sure those early beats (and especially the humour) lands would really help us is ease into it.

One of the strengths of Martin’s writing is the way she sets up Charlie’s life and the external circumstances, particularly in terms of him not having a child. He and his wife were trying IVF, and I can’t quite recall if this was the catalyst for the divorce or if it was other things, but either way Martin does a fairly brutal thing of planting him in a world surrounded by children. Whether it’s ending up in a children’s playground, playing with his nephew, or probably the most difficult, seeing a woman who he could’ve maybe ended up with having a child herself. It’s a quietly tragic thing that reoccurs within the text and within his story. These moments however need to be made more of to really stick as emotional points in the play, either in the writing or in the pacing of the production, which tends to jump around quite abruptly from moment to moment, rather than letting us into Charlie’s mind, to see how the external factors are distressing him and causing change.

A later plot point in which Charlie realises he might have romantic or sexual feelings for another man is a bit shoehorned in, and sort of comes out of nowhere. It feels like a really key part of Martin’s story that needs more seed-planting and time to grow. There’s also an odd inconsistency in the text in which Charlie who is generally soft and gentle will suddenly drop a swear word or graphic reference, which feels often out of place and makes it that little bit harder for us to be on side with him.

Joel Moffett’s Sound Design is a good support in setting up atmosphere and emotional turning points, always feeling like it plays with the text and tone rather than against it. There’s a gorgeous moment where the volume in a club scene builds and then does a subtle drop at a key plot twist, which is really impactful.

It has all the ideas for a really interesting production, but perhaps just needs a bit more focus and less rushing through the emotional beats of the story. Still, it’s a pleasant enough hour and touches on themes which I’m sure will be pertinent for many.

Tag Archives: Joseph Dunitz

THE KAYE HOLE

★★★★★

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

THE KAYE HOLE at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★★★

“a tremendous night of outstanding queer entertainment”