BARE

Happy that the 3rd night of my show at the Ed Fringe (Monday) was the best so far... still 8 to go though!

On Monday, we went to see ‘Bare’, a play about the criminal underworld of bare-knuckle boxing. It was our first show of the Fringe this year apart from a snippet of gay Asian comedian Paul Sinha’s show at the Sunday FUNdraiser at the New Town bar and the Hammer and Tongue slam where I participated – both of which were very entertaining.

‘Bare’ works very well as a piece of physical theatre. The acting is great throughout and the collective violence scenes are performed with energy, conviction and adrenaline-pumping precision. A lot of work has gone into reproducing the lingo of the criminal underworld, delivered with gusto. However I was disappointed with the script. The dialogue felt hackneyed and redundant at times. The storyline is rather thin and, in my view, the disjointed, non-linear, structure of the play detracts from any real emotional engagement with the characters. But it largely does as it says on the tin: a powerful adults-only, violent, foul-mouthed, in-your-face, testosterone-driven piece of physical theatre. Three stars at least.

Yesterday it rained. Miserably.