Nothing quite prepares you for Tommy Tiernan and his show last night at the Gilded Balloon for what was his second total sellout show. His show was a storm and his topics insane but one thing for certain was that Tommy Tiernan was on high form.

A Full Review will be live soon.

This is the second famous person I’ve come to review at the Fringe, the first being Jennifer Coolridge and now Aunt Hilda from that iconic TV series Sabrina the Teenage Witch and much more besides. I have to admit I had not really seen her in much and I had not seen her do stand up so I was thinking this might be a little hit and miss.

Rhea’s husband and father of her new baby opened up for her. This really came out the blue and seemed a little strange. He had a few good jokes and the audience did start to warm to him though his act was very New York in it’s feel and his delivery. The revelation that he was Caroline’s husband and the gig got a big laugh.

Rhea came onto the stage like a mini explosion she was both manic and measured giving a slight insight into how the show would go, I guess it was here I saw why Mike opened up for her. Her Scottish accent was spot on and her show would take in fruit, sexuality, her relationships, her new daughter, and language which would become an overall theme of her show.

One of the surprising aspects of her show was the level of research she did on the countries she was gigging in. Most acts, no matter who they are, forget the name of the place they are in let alone be able to incorporate a lot of local stuff into their act. From TV, sales assistance around the world, and the tattoo, Rhea is a master storyteller in that she keeps her stories simple and easy but creative and insane, these are not just jokes, they are carefully crafted mini reality stories that Caroline delivers with a skill that is hard to ignore.

Her show has a few distinctions that does genuinely make it stand out. The first being a fearless attitude towards the audience and the attacks came heavy and long (poor Marco) yet very few US, though Rhea is Canadian, can get the balance right in attacking a UK audience. One thing we are is very open to attack and not only the British but Scottish people got a heavy dose of what we love and she handled it perfectly. This balance was important and think it added a great feel to the evening.

Unlike UK acts Rhea was quick to point out when the audience groaned at something which was another aspect of her show I really liked. There was a bald guy in the audience and she mentioned it, at which the audience groaned slightly in which she said ‘I think he knew he was bald when he walked in’. The difference between men and women, relationships, and when men stop talking had the Scottish women behind and in front of me almost on the floor laughing, this was wonderfully delivered.

Caroline Rhea probably stunned and impressed a lot of that crowd who thought they where just going to get some celebrity stories and what it’s like to be a celebrity. This is usually what bad comics when they don’t have decent material, for Caroline she had more material than the hour show would allow and she managed to slip in a few Hollywood insights along the way but she didn’t let this punctuate her whole show.

Her Sound of Music bit I could watch till I was blue in the face. Though this was a 16+ show she remained very respectful (sans the odd F-word) and didn’t bitch about celebrities she’s worked with and yet her 1st Class adventure was another hight point of her show.

‘This show was really impressing and I wanted more but such is the timing at the fringe Rhea was almost kicked off stage as the other show was about to come in. That aside she could have continued for another 20 or 40 minutes and it would have still remained fresh and funny. This show came of of left field and was one of the best things I’ve seen, Caroline Rhea should be seen, loved, laughed with, and crowned. Whatever you think this show is going to be lick, forget it, erase it from your mind, and sit back and get ready to be stunned!’

A South African duo The Brothers Street bring a new style and fresh ideas to the now very popular music/comedy shows at The Fringe. Their show was in a small overly hot room at Gilded Balloon and their show had the audience in stitches and at one point swaying. They won over the crowd and one thing was certain The Brother’s Streep are fast becoming a 2010 fringe favourite.

Their music was more creative and smoothly written than some of the other acts like theirs at the fringe. With topics ranging from a song about Disney Princess to their Ode to Anna Paquin the Brothers where really able to show the audience what they where about and just where their music and comedy where coming from. Their Anna Paquin song was actually sung to Anna when she was on The Graham Norton Show and they have been building up an international following ever since.

Musical comedy isn’t easy to do and some of the acts that we have seen have either been able to do it, and do it will, whilst others have been somewhat lacklustre. This, I have deduced, is down to the performers ability to write songs that are simply songs that can stand up on their own. The badder of these types of shows are like poets who write a poem but try to hard to make it rhyme. That’s like music comedy, it doesn’t have to have punchlines and such in every line.

Simon and Dylan manage to make their songs stand up as songs, they are well written, wonderfully accompanied by their acoustic guitar strumming, and performed with a good humour. One of the highlights of the show came from their Pirates themed four minute opera which was amazing, and when Simon came into the audience and sat in the front row and got the whole audience to sway, was pretty ace to see!

Their comedy did sometimes play second fiddle to their music and their performances together. Unlike their songs their jokes or sketches in-between was more conversation than stand up and they remained funny and engaging – and at times rather sweet. Towards the end of their show they tell us a story about how they got to come to the Fringe on the back of the Anna Paquin song, a New Zealand springfree trampoline company agreed to sponsor them if they wrote them as song. Looking at their flyer the guys didn’t lie.

‘This was a fringe debut from a duo who really knew how much it meant to them to be able to perform at the Fringe festival. They gave the show their all with great songs and beautiful banter these guys really know how to make an impression. The Brothers Streep are a music comedy duo like no other!’

Mysterious Skin is a hard book to read and an even harder film to watch. It’s subject matter of memory, aliens, abuse, sexuality, and love is portrayed in a delegate and meaningful way with both book and film giving slightly different interpretations that bring this all to life. Seeing Mysterious Skin as part of this years Fringe Festival wasn’t to surprising since the festival has the worlds most diverse line up of shows, what was surprising was to see a play so skilfully produced and directed with actors truly committed to the play that their performances are of the highest order.

Prince Gomolvilas script play focus’s on Neil and Brian who are both telling different stories though the first part of the play, and are characters you might not normally relate to yet this production aims to open you mind to the world they enhabit. Based in the 1980s and with a subject matter that many people have questioned, Mysterious Skin has been transformed into a stunning piece of theatre that so respectfully handles this subject matter.

If you have read the book or if you have seen the film try not to come to see Mysterious Skin at the Gilded Balloon with any notion or ideas from the aforementioned. The playwright has been smart to distance himself from these to write a play that is respectful to the book but is almost totally different from the film. He has allowed Brian to be stronger and more angry yet though he remains a victim in many ways over the course of the play he gains some strength in his pursuit to try and find the answers he is looking for.

Neil he is a destructive character who’s confidence, sexuality and wants masks the wrong that has been done to him since he was 8. Rick Kissack (Neil) brings a more vulnerable Neil to the stage, still head strong and determined to do what he wants to do Rick allows you to see past all that and see a greater inner soul and pain.

The play focus’s more on the alien abduction with the audience spending a lot of time with Brian (Danny Worthers) and Avalyn (Myfanwy Waring). The more time we spend with them the more we see through the determination of Brian and his belief that he was abducted and we see something else, this relationship is explored more and your able to understand each character a lot more. Danny’s strength in his portrayal of Brain lays, I think, in his knowing that something else has happened to him and the more time he spends with Avalyn the more he sees that it was unlikely he was abducted.

There are a few scenes in the play that are not only beautifully handled but give the play a love the main characters are longing for. The film’s rape scene of Neil is brutal and graphic, the self destructive nature of Neil comes to a head in a way you would never wish. Peter Darney (Dir.) handled this with respect and rather than just show his audience the rape scene alone, as in the film, Darney splits the stage between Brian and Avalyn – Neil and the man. Never gratuitous the scene brings the worlds of Neil and Brian back together again and leads the audience to the character discoveries of memory and truth.

After this scene Myfanwy Waring (Avalyn) gives a monologue so heartbreaking and poignant it becomes a gentle voice of all the characters. After the Avalyn and Brian part ways over a cloud she sends him a letter. Myfanwy delivers a beautiful, honest, and painful performance that opens up her characters obsession, loneliness and need, a trait they all share. She lays the scene for the final revelation and discovery that Brian is going to go through with Neil.

We got the chance to meet with some of the cast after their performance last night and they told me they had not seen the film or had time to read the book. This was probably the best thing they could have done as both stay in your memory. Leanne Rowe (Wendy & other characters) and Paul Standell (Man & other characters) take up the many other roles in the play, from Brian’s mum and dad, to Wendy, Neil’s best friend. Leanne makes Wendy as frustrated as any best friend would be with someone like Neil, though she loves Neil she knows, deep down, that he is unable to love her back. Her advice, warnings, and anger at Neil are met by his bravado but there is hope in the advice she tries to get through to Neil and she becomes a much needed shoulder for Neil.

Paul, much like Leanne, plays a variety of roles in the production most noticeably the man who rapes Neil. The film has Neil and the man meet but there is no chat or pick up, Neil is about to pack it in and decides to go back with the man. In the play they meet at a bar and this change from the film is a welcome one and handled with care and respect.

“Mysterious Skin is a powerful story that is both horrifying and beautiful. The cast give a performance that is honest, fresh, and realistic bringing to life characters that are believable, helpless, and lost. It is a truly stunning piece of theatre who are at the fringe for the first time. You have to see this play, there are few productions of this quality and is one that I enjoyed immensely.”