The Beast's Pen

Dredging into faint memories of school history lessons, the Tolpuddle Martyrs were 19th Century Dorset farm workers who were transported to serve prison sentences in Australia for forming affiliations with trades union. This show, written by Neil Gore and performed by him with Elizabeth Eves, dramatises the story, adding pleasing folk songs. It is obviously a production that has meagre resources, but it compensates for this with low humour that makes the show look even cheaper and more amateurish, a bit like a Christmas pantomime in a village hall. This is a pity, because, when it takes itself seriously, it is actually rather good.

Okay, so this madcap comedy has already had a good run at Trafalgar Studios, but it’s a lot cheaper seeing it here. The title says it all – a creaking murder mystery is performed by an amateur company and everything that can possibly go wrong goes spectacularly wrong. Michael Frayn’s “Noises Off” covered similar territory, but this is better for being briefer and more condensed. The performances are all brilliant, but what strikes home most is the tremendous skill needed to ensure that it all goes right so as to seem to be going wrong. Sidesplittingly funny!

Any Stephen Sondheim musical, including one as obscure as this, is worth going out of the way for. Building a show around assassins and would-be assassins of US Presidents may seem more than weird, even for the great pioneer of new territories for musical theatre, but he uses it as an opportunity to explore a dangerous seam of malcontent and madness that runs through American history. Although the show sags between songs, lovely tunes and dazzling lyrics are plentiful. As with many Sondheims, the songs are rarely heard because the lyrics are so specific to the show. Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society has mounted this production and, if the performances fall marginally (only marginally) below the highest professional standards, it is heartening to see that enthusiasm for Sondheim is passing to a new generation.

Who gives a fig leaf?

Performed by two actors and an amateur choir which changes for different performances, David Greig’s play with choral music is a study of the aftermath of a mass killing in a church community centre. Neve McIntosh plays Claire, a lesbian vicar who is taking a choir practice at the time of the atrocity. Rudi Dharmalingham plays the killer and several other characters who Claire meets as she tries to make sense of what has happened and begin the healing process. The play includes vivid insights into the minds of those who are alienated from mainstream society, whilst never resorting to simplistic explanations. The unusual format heightens the overall impact, with the result that this is a gripping and deeply moving experience.

During 2010 in a Swiss hotel, England campaigned and lost its bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. William Gaminara’s new comedy focusses on the three leaders of that bid – David Cameron (Dugald Brace-Lockhart), David Beckham (Sean Browne) and Prince William (Tom Davey). Anyone hoping for sharp and perceptive satire of politics, football or royalty will be disappointed and the services of libel lawyers will not be needed. This is just gentle, old-fashioned comedy with touches of trouser-dropping farce thrown in, all the laughs being extracted from obvious comic traits in the general public perceptions of these figures. Three spot-on impersonations add to the fun and the laughter at the hilarious climax could well have been even louder because of the large number of Scots in the audience.

Steven Berkoff is an undoubted theatrical force even if his over-flamboyance and abrasive public persona can often make him irritating. Here, accompanied by two other actors, he makes an hour-long rant against virtually everyone associated with his profession, spewing bile over fellow actors, producers, directors, writers, audiences and, of course, critics. Written in verse, the play is often astute and funny, but it is also very one-sided. It sounds like Berkoff against the world and the very fine line between lament and sour grapes may sometimes be crossed.

Imported all the way from Kansas and performed to a morning audience of half a dozen, this play typifies the sort of jewel that Edinburgh can unearth. Writtrn by Jakob Holder, it is a study of two lovers (Amy Kelly and Jordan Fox), delving deep into their inner thoughts, their fears and fantasies, as they struggle to make the complete emotional and physical connection with each other. The writing is richly descriptive and poetic, the acting totally convincing and the direction fluid. It deserves a wider audience.

Covering the same ground as the film “Prick Up Your Ears”, Martin Mulgrove’s one hour play is an account of the last days of playwright Joe Orton (Jack Burns) and his lover Kenneth Halliwell (Stuart Denman). It grips and amuses in parts, but it tells us nothing new. Orton flew in the face of the social norms of the early 1960s both in his plays and his personal life and this play tries to emulate his writing style. However, what may have caused shocked hilarity 50 years ago barely raises an eyebrow today and a couple of Ortonesque scenes in the middle of the play misfire terribly. An unusually large cast of 14 do well and the production is not without merit, but it is all rather patchy.

Glenn Chandler’s new play features three of Britain’s most notorious serial killers: Moors murderer Ian Brady (Edward Cory); Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe (Gareth Morrison); and predator on the gay community Dennis Nilsen (Arron Usher). All are seen sitting at desks in their prisons or asylums, alternately reading out correspondence between themselves and “fans” from the outside world. Brady sees himself as an agony uncle, Sutcliffe as a Casanova and Nilsen as a confidante for young gay men. This rather static production tells us nothing that is not widely known. it scores with occasional dashes of ironic humour, but there are too few of them and, overall, it is rather bleak and tasteless.