Hunch

As usual, Edinburgh is bursting with single performer productions this August and over at Assembly Roxy, Kate Kennedy has written and is performing Hunch, and her portrayal sure packs a punch.

Decision making doesn’t come easy to everyone, and those stabbing aches you get in your gut when you don’t know what to do can happen at any moment in life’s ups and downs. It is soon established that this happens to our female character, Una, and when a gut feeling saves her life, she is called upon as a new superhero, to help others to do the same in Hum.

Hum is a world relatable to our own, with analogies to make you chuckle, but also removed enough to evoke the imaginations of the audience. The whole piece is a whirlwind of different characters, whether Hunch, Una’s given superhero name, is saving others or coming to terms with her own thoughts and feelings in her new role. As Kennedy switched between roles, the in-sync lighting really emphasises her skills as she effortlessly changes from minister to office worker to her own Dad, amongst many others.

As someone going in with very little prior knowledge of the script or piece, Hunch was an excellent surprise, despite taking a while to bed in in the midst of the tornado of personas, and Kennedy truly soars, captivating from her arrival on stage. A brilliant example of how one actor can bring to life a whole town.

Hunch. Assembly Roxy until the 26th August.

N is for Nonsense Room

There seemed to be more pushchairs than parents as the sold out crowd transcended on the George Square theatre this morning for the Shark in the Park. Nick Sharratt’s popular books have been adapted for the stage by Nonsense Room, ABA International Touring and Macrobert Arts Centre, and the end result is a performance which is almost the mirror image of the illustrated storybooks. 

Timothy Pope is very excited for his birthday and when the big day finally arrives, his newly acquired telescope becomes glued to his hand as he discovers all kinds of things in the distance. But no sharks… No sharks in the park, no sharks in the dark, no sharks on windy days… or are there? As the three stories are brought to life, Timothy looks all around with his new toy to find just what he’s looking for, with a little help from his friends both on stage and off. 

Although there was a constant sense of restlessness, the audience were keen to join in with the rhymes and verse as the three actors inject song and cheer into the shark based antics. With a brilliant set and costume design straight from the books themselves, this family tale of bedtime tricks, gusts of wind and dreams of talking seagulls is a great introduction to the theatre for 2-5 year olds. 

Shark in the Park | Assembly George Square Theatre | 10:00

C is for Children are stinky

This is introduced as a highly factual show and as the sold out crowd were entertained pre-show with balloons and sneak previews of what was to come, it was soon apparent that this may have been a teeny fib. 

Circus Trick Tease are at Assembly George Square Gardens currently with Children are Stinky and somewhere amidst acrobatics, lifts and of course, fart jokes, the Australian duo challenge children to defy their statement that children are lazy, unco-ordinated and most of all, stinky. 

In 50 minutes of pure 90s cheese and some over-enthusiastic communication, Kylie and Jason perform a series of circus-esque routines, as they work their way through their list of definitions for children. With audience participation a plenty and a bouncing disco soundtrack, the pair had the audience roaring with laughter and the enthusiasm was contagious as they wowed with an array of hula hoop tricks, a handstand on a stack of six chairs and lifts from both halves of the duo. 

A bit overboard on the cheese element for my liking but the younger members of the audience were cheering for more as the duo hyped up the atmosphere. A show full of whoopie cushions, impressive lifts and even an egg to the face; Children are Stinky is one for those with a love of toilet humour and a cheeky circus trick or two! 

Children are Stinky | Assembly George Square | 12:35