DarkChat - Reviewing the Edinburgh Fringe since 2008
DARKCHATTERS Phil and Legs first came across "The Ginge,
The Geordie and The Geek" in 2009 and were impressed
with what they saw. As a result we have followed them every
year, culminating in the trio receiving nominations for Best
Comedy Show in 2009 and 2010. We shall be seeing them
again in August and we caught up with them during rehearsals
to find out what fun and mayhem they are preparing for this
year's show.
2012 Interviews
A selection of some of our favourite interviews from our archives.
We first came across Les Enfants Terrible in 2008, and they went
onto win our 'Best Entertainment' award that year
They triumphed again the following year with 2 awards for their
darker piece " Ernest and The Pale Moon", Best Actor
and Best Director.
Their 2010 event " The Vaudevillains" was a grand piece of theatre
taking over the Pleasance Dome for a day with Sue Appleby
triumphing as Best Supporting Performance in a Musical.
This year they are back with a new show and Oli Lansley kindly took time
out of his busy schedule to tell us about this years show.
Occasionally the Edinburgh Fringe throws up an unexpected surprise, a young upstart performer that takes the Fringe by storm moving onto great things or a show you think you won't like that you end up loving. It's not often that the unexpected surprise takes the form of a (then) 85 year old entertainment legend.
In 2009 DARKCHATTERs David & Katerina went to see "Nicholas Parsons
Happy Hour" and duly provided it with nominations for Best Entertaiment and
Special Awards for "Jo Caulfield" and "Daniel Sloss". Sadly, they lost
but the host deservedly became the first recipient of our
Lifetime Achievement award.
Despite a busy schedule the legend that is Nicholas Parsons gave us this interview:
Last year DARKCHATTER Anne had a hunch to see Mary Bourke
and after charging from one end of Edinburgh to another to see her,
we were not disappointed. She duly received 3 DARKCHAT
nominations for Best Comedy/ Best Comedy Performance and
Best Free Show.
This year she is moving from the Free Fringe to The Stand and she
honoured us with her no nonsense (and frankly potty-mouthed)
comments. I probably should advise you to read this after 9pm and
with no-one under the age of 16 in the room or possibly the house!
People increasingly believe Edinburgh is a comedy festival. DARKCHAT
always try to see as many different styles of show that the Fringe offers
and last year Martin McCreadie deservedly won the award for Best Actor
for his mesmerising performance as Alex DeLarge in "Action To The
Word"s production of " A Clockwork Orange".
We caught up with him during rehearsals as he prepares to
re-create the role at the Pleasance Courtyard.
Click here for the full interview
DARKCHATTER Dave caught up with 'that one off the comedy programme on the telly' Dan MItchell in person for a beard-off, a fair
bit of alcohol and a chat about his new show
'Free Egg' which he's taking to the Fringe for the
first time as a solo perormer.
Last year DARKCHAT David thoroughly enjoyed
the triple nominated "StripSearch"
We spoke to Peter Scott-Presland to discover
what Homos Promos will bring to the Scottish
capital this year and to Damola Onadeko about
reprising his role from last year's show.
In the process we discovered
how much the Scotish gay scene has changed
in almost 40 years!
DARKCHATTERs Rick, Chris & David saw the fantastic Late Night Gimp Fight last year after which they received a nomination for Best Comedy, and won the DARKCHAT award for Best Song "Coming" (Chicago).
The boys are back again this year and David from the group kindly granted us an interview to explain their past and how to survive a month at Edinburgh using only alcohol, 3 different meals and cheese strings!
In 2010 DARKCHATTERS Phil & Legs saw Tread The Boards production of " The Importance Of Being Earnest". They so enjoyed their version of Oscar Wilde's classic that it won 2 awards including Best Play.
Artistic Director John-Robert Partridge told us about the two shows they will be doing in Edinburgh this year:
In 2008 DarkChat's Fringe started badly, we were on a Comedy Bus that unfortunately was missing a decent bus and some decent comedy. Ashley Frieze came on board and changed all that with his guitar and traffic perfect timing.
He let us know how his preparations for this year's new show 'Discografitti' were going.
2009 was the year DARKCHAT first became aware of the multi-talented Alexis Dubus. Whilst DARKCHATTERS Phil and Legs chose the rude sounding "Alexis Dubus - A R*ddy Brief History of Swearing" (nominated for Best Comedy) Anne, Katerina and Dave selected " Marcel Lucont - Sexual Metro", without realising they were the same person (reviews can be found in our 2009 review pages).
We found out what both have planned for 2012.
We first saw Four Sad Faces back in 2009, this year they have dropped the Four (although we think there might still be 4 of them and gained a new member.
We found out what other surprises they have in store for their audience for 2012.