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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
NewsRevue - 24/7
Verdict: Rollicking parodies
Edinburgh 05 - C electric - (60 mins)
(The Edinburgh show and cast of NewsRevue is reviewed here during its later run at London's Canal Café in September 05)
NewsRevue delivers its customary fast-paced, high-energy cabaret.
Over the course of an hour, the cast of two actesses, two actors, and one pianist, perform a rapid-fire succession of skits and song-&-dance numbers. They satirise 2005's news topics, celebrities, politics, terrorists, tv and print media - and modern society in general.
Every member of this year's crew has an instantly likeable stage presence (except, perhaps, when portraying particularly unsavoury characters). The Papal succession is drama is played out in one rock-and-roll number. In another, one of Michael Jackson's own tunes is used to lynch him.
Perhaps the most upbeat number is I've got a brand new Chelsea Tractor, a celebration of the joys of being a member of London's middle-class, sung to the tune of the I've got a Brand New Pair of Rollerskates. One of the cast, after the show, flags it as her favorite sketch. Perhaps that's because it's free of parody of human folly or inhumanity. Or perhaps it's because it's performed sitting down (and miming driving a large Range Rover) - giving the cast a chance to catch their breath before the next act.
A very clever skit shows what would happen if new immigrants to England - which the writers of letters to the editor of the Daily Mail despise - became supposedly ideal British citizens by taking on those very same anti-immigrant attitudes.
TV also comes under scrutiny. NewsRevue nails EastEnders with a sketch that asks whether it can be resuscitated.
One reliable vein for NewsRevue humour is to cast geopolitics and its major players - Bush, Blair, Condoleeza - into one archetypal television mythology or another. The finale is a rework of a rollicking Star Trek parody rap.
By this point, the big surprise is that the actors are still standing - instead of collapsed in exhaustion. In fact, they look like they are having so much fun, the audience can't help but feel the same way.
Cast Credits: (alpha order): James Burton. Kylie Butler. Thomas Nelstrop. Gemma Whelan. Pianist - Pete Smith.
Company Credits: Writers include (alpha order) - Martin Baum. Gary Beard. Marc Blakewill. James Burton. Noel Christopher. John Cowen. Mike Facherty. David French. Simeon Goulden. James Harris. Paula Hazard. Pat Hughes. Hil Jennings. Paul Jones. Alistair Kerr. James Kettle. Philip Lunn. Ross McGivern. Terry Newman.. Thomas Nelstrop. Simon Ounsworth. John Random. Charlotte Reather. Michael Schipper. Jason Smart. Derek Thompson. Mark Till. Henry Widdicombe. Josh Widdicombe. Director - James Harris. Musical Director - Pete Smith. Technical Director - Ross McGivern. Script Editor - Marc Blakewill. Producer - Emma Taylor.
END
(c) Brad Hall 2005
reviewed Sunday 11 September 05 / Canal Café Theatre, London
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
