Edinburgh Fringe (it's not movies but who cares)

Yeah, I know, it's all gone a bit quiet. The thing is, I've only watched about three movies in the last two or three weeks and I've been too busy attending shows at the Edinburgh Festival (well, okay, the Fringe mainly) to actually write anything.

So, with not much to say about movies at the moment (normal service will be resumed... eventually) I decided I could go all self-indulgent (really unusual for a blog, he said sarcastically) and just tell you all about what I've seen at the Fringe.

Don't run away yet - for one thing, it might help you if you're in the area and thinking about going to see something. Secondly, some of them are actually movie-related and therefore in keeping with my movie-related blog - so there!

This is all so far (and I've not seen a duff show yet), but there is still more to be seen. Of course, I might have even less time to write as of next week, because the Edinburgh International Film Festival kicks off and then I'll really have no spare time.

So far at the Fringe I have seen...

ALFRED WILLIAMS TELLS A JOKE

One man, one joke - but he spins it out for an hour. If you like wordplay and puns or enjoy that off-on-a-tangent kind of humour that Billy Connolly made famous, you'll probably like this. It feels rehearsed and not entirely natural in places, but is a good laugh all the same.

RICHARD HERRING: MENAGE A UN

Herring's back doing stand-up again and making a grand job of it. Potatoes, Maxine Carr and the pathetic life of a 39-year-old single man are just some of the things he talks about. If I'd laughed any more, I might have stopped breathing.

WINSTON CHURCHILL WAS JACK THE RIPPER

Amusing little effort by Andrew O'Neill, who has managed to combine his interest in Jack the Ripper with his experience working in a London museum to reveal, well, exactly what it says above. And he proves it, too! Patchy but funny.

REBECCA CARRINGTON: MANY WAYS TO PLAY YOUR LOVER

Some of her stand-up material wasn't too funny to me, but her technical ability on a cello is incredible, as she takes a tour of world music and replicates the sounds of folk music from all over the globe.

BACK TO THE FUTON

Paul Kerensa does an hour of stand-up comedy about the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy. Sounds bizarre but, providing you are familiar with the films, it's side-splittingly funny. If you're not familiar with them, it's probably not for you.

GRAFFITI CLASSICS

Went to see them last year, they were great. Same again this year. A string quartet comprising two lovely young English ladies, a mad Irishman and an even madder Romanian, playing a mixture of classical music and folk tunes (and even a bit of Ennio Morricone - just to throw in another movie connection). This show is dynamite - classical music like you never imagined.

THE SPAGHETTI WESTERN ORCHESTRA

Played last year as The Ennio Morricone Experience, and return this year to once more thrill us with the music of Ennio Morricone and their incredible reproductions of the spaghetti western foley effects and dodgy dubbed accents. The fact that it's all played with a kind of mock seriousness only adds to the enjoyment. It's also probably the only show at the fringe where you'll get to see people playing a theremin, a saw and a box of cornflakes.

THE OLD SPICE BOYS

A three-piece Antipodean skiffle outfit, who may or may not be a bit mad. I'm certain at least one of them is. They play great music though, and if you've ever wanted to hear Prince's "Kiss" or The Who's "My Generation" as skiffle numbers, now's your chance.

BLACK JEW DIALOGUES

Serious debate about bigotry, racism and prejudice mixes with sketches on the same subject matter, performed by a black man and a jew. Their heart's in the right place, but the comedy works better than the serious stuff. Then again, if it gets even a couple of people thinking it will have been a success.

ONE-MAN STAR WARS TRILOGY

One guy acting out the entire trilogy by himself. He obviously must take the films really seriously to do something this ambitious but at the same time he knows when to take the piss out of them as well. Absolutely hilarious show but once more there's a caveat - if you're not familiar with the trilogy you will be completely bewildered. If you are familiar then it's a must-see.

DOUG STANHOPE

Angry, drunken man attacks everything. And how. This guy is hilarious but not for the faint hearted. I'd mention the kind of thing he jokes about, but it would probably mean this website getting thrown up in all kinds of awkward places on search engines.

JFK: THE MUSICAL

The fateful day in Dallas is recreated by a young predominantly-female cast (I believe only JFK himself is played by a bloke) who all turn in solid performances aided by a bunch of catchy songs. The truth about what really happened in Dallas - presented in a rather tongue-in-cheek fashion.

BATACUDA SOUND MACHINE

12-strong ensemble from various countries of the world who shake the walls with their 70s-inspired brand of latin-influenced jazz-funk (with a dash of hip-hop in there too). If you want something to dance to, this is it. I'm the world's most boring man and will never set foot on a dancefloor - yet even I was helpless to stop myself gyrating away at this lot, and they seem to enjoy themselves as much as the audience do. Magic.

DOOM RIDERS

Gothic horror as stage comedy. The play itself is very amusing and the three guys performing it are a talented bunch, but it actually ended up being even more funny as they mercilessly tortured each other on stage whenever a line was fluffed. Great fun.

BACH-BUKOWSKI

The poems of Charles Bukowski, set to music by JS Bach. Sounds totally wrong on paper, but in the flesh it works. The only downside is that they start to sound the same after a while - but if they're good to start with then I guess there's no harm in that.

And finally...

RUTH PICKETT: AN ENDLESS SERIES OF DISTRACTIONS

Wow. A one-woman show about a girl who lives and works in a charity shop in the village of Pilkington, along with her imaginary cat (which suffers from OCD and is addicted to DIRTY DANCING), with appearances from various other Pilkington residents, all played by Pickett. It's ambitious but those ambitions are met with gusto.

It's a bit weird and very, very funny. Pickett is, for me, this year's revelation - she can write comedy, she has wide range as an actress (doing both comedy and a particularly upsetting dramatic moment near the end), she's got wonderful comic timing, she writes and performs some fantastic songs (an ice cream man, a hoover and a household cleaning product are just some of the catalysts for the funniest songs this side of Monty Python), she's rather pleasing on the eye (thought I'd mention that for the blokes among you) and she has real stage presence. In short, she's one of the most gifted performers I've seen. Even the slightly weaker moments, and there are a couple, are still fun because Pickett's performance is such a joy to behold.

She's even gone to the trouble of creating a Pilkington website where you can meet the characters, so the experience isn't just confined to a one-hour show. Click here if you want to visit it.

This is the only show so far this year that I actually went back to see a second time a week later, and the only one I could be arsed posting my comments about on the Fringe website (just in case any of you were wondering why some of these words seem familiar).

If this lady is not a major star within the next couple of years, then I might very well start assassinating various members of the entertainment industry.