[fringe +18] the oddie man out

Thanks to the recommendation of hnpcc (plus an awful lot of my friends went last Tuesday [without me – sob]), molokov_au and I braved the heat (currently in the record ninth day of a 35+ Celsius [95 F] heatwave with no end in sight), to see A Record or an OBE. It is a Goodies tribute of sorts, but set in a universe where Bill Oddie did in fact walk away from the group in 1975. In real life the group was having so many problems that Bill and Graham did not actually talk to each other at times, even though they were still writing scripts together. One would write half an episode and the other would finish it, leaving some "interesting" [1] plot twists in the middle. Anyway, this was The Goodies at the height of their appeal. They had 4 songs in the UK top ten. And Bill has left them to record an album on his own. [2] So Graham [Ben Mackenzie] and Tim [Rob Lloyd] are left to plan the next series, but keep running into the stumbling block of their missing member. While they are writing a comedy, this play isn't a comedy, but rather a serious analysis of what might have happened, told with great pathos and understanding of the historical dynamics of the trio, performed by extremely competent actors. Previous knowledge of The Goodies is not required, although useful at times. The only thing that was wrong with the play was that Graham couldn't wear his trademark coat and Tim his Union Jack waistcoat, otherwise the actors would have died of heat prostration. Highly reccomended. Go see it. This was followed by a lovely dinner at La Guillotine [Hmmmmm. Creme de caramel!], whilst killing time waiting for Cyranose. Yes, I have seen Cyranose before, but I thought I might as well see it again, particularly since I wanted to by some merchandise (DVD copies of the plays I haven't seen). And I admit that I might have bought a few tickets for friends (who were sad, or complaining that they couldn't afford the Fringe because they were about to tour America, or who had given me lifts in the past, or who had a birthday recently, or who had been the only person happy to see me that day [it's time I stopped working for Soylent Industries]), all on the condition that if they couldn't make it to the show, they give their tickets to someone that could. [3] Anyway the show was as excellent as always, although I noticed that more than a shade of boredom had inflicted the players, as they kept trying to score points against each other (which is always fun). Well worth seeing again, although my hat is off to Samantha who has now seen the show seven times (I recognised her from last time). At one stage in this show, where the audience was supplying words, Sound & Fury suggested that we could be as dirty as we like, which resulted in them getting words like "mud," "laundry" and "dirty." On the good news front, they should have just finished an audition for putting on Testacles and Ye Olde Sack of Rome at the Garden of Unearthly Delights at midnight on the weekend (in La Cascadeur I believe). More information as I get it. Also, while walking people to their cars, I discovered a "Dessert Palace" on the western part of Gouger open to quite late that serves coffee and lots of sweet asian desserts. Must try it some time. Looks interesting. Tomorrow [Fringe +19]: It's off to the Garden to hopefully see Tripod perform. I say hopefully, because Scott has apparently just had a kid, so it may just be Bipod. That's the last of my pre-booked shows. I might do Lumina on Friday, Every Film Ever Made and Testacles on Saturday, and am debating Ollie. [1] It must mean he has interesting lobster claws... [2] Someone once ran a punk-rock superhero RPG campaign where the superheroes took the names of famous rock musicians of the 20th Century. I must have been channelling this universe, because my character had the secret identity of ... Bill Oddie. [3] Only a third of them made it to the show. Sigh. I really don't know why I bother any more. The third that did make it waxed enthusiastically enough about the show that I was glad I had done so. Still, those third can expect frowns unless they can prove they gave their tickets to someone I didn't recognise. Sorry. It's a rather sore point, since I especially stressed the condition when I gave them the ticket and they all agreed. Grrrr.