8th August - The day the free Fringe (so many shows)

Part One
Preparation, preparation, preparation. My bag is heavy with food, water (and a sneaky hip flask) and all the other trappings I need for my latest excursion. Bloody hell! This thing weighs a ton. But that's OK since I'm pretty much moving into the venue for the day... maybe longer.

The Counting House

192.co.uk

The Counting House is one of my many Free Fringe perennial venues. Sure, it can be a bit warm and crowded but, hey, it's a  Fringe venue. Also, did I mention free? - as in pay no money and buy no tickets. Now, there are a number of free venues but the Counting House always seem to bring in solid shows spread across its labyrinth of different rooms. Also, you can easily hang out in the little bar between acts. 


Anyway, speaking of labyrinths - I was just a minute ago. It's not a completely tenuous link (just moderately tenuous)....


Once Upon a Nightmare - 3 stars

In three words: Rainy day movie
Takeaway line: (in a Welsh accent) What a bitch.

In the grand tradition of such Sunday afternoon watching as The Neverending Story, Return to Oz and The Chronicles of Narnia comes the - very much live action - "film" of Once Upon a Nighmare. The audience enters to some music from the Labyrinth soundtrack (I told you there was a link). This can only be a good sign - all that David Bowie goodness without the disturbingly tight legwear. This is essentially a unique sequel to a film that was never made, played out live on stage - i.e. what happens if only when you return to the real world after saving the day in a different dimension? In fact, what happens if your brother never made it back at all?