Fringe Reviews - Noise Next Door, Nina Conti, Baro

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After a slightly disappointing start to the fringe from Andrew Lawrence on Wednesday we saw some really good stuff tonight...

The Noise Next Door: Chaos Control - Absolutely excellent improv comedy troupe - so good I might go again! It's ridiculous but hilarious and these guys are clearly very, very clever. Just don't mention giant badgers.


Nina Conti: Talk to the Hand - Nina Conti is a favourite of mine - we've seen her show at the fringe several years, and even seen her perform in a room above a bar somewhere near Ipswich (long story - 77 used to live there). Anyway, it was excellent as always. She is a comedy ventriloquist and she perfectly blends her expert ventriloquism (several characters, many accents, and even the occasional song!) with comedy while all the without any ridiculous pretence that her puppets are real. She's gentle, but I wouldn't sit in the front row unless you want to participate!


Barockestra - PICTURED - A bunch of middle aged rockers playing stuff that sounds vaguely like classical music. A Lucius Malfoy look-alike who raps in German. A glamorous opera soprano who is a bit iffy on high notes. Ballerinas and can-can dancers. Overall very surreal. We had free tickets and were in a good humour from earlier shows and a few beers and had a good laugh, but I think it we'd paid, been sober, and queued in the rain for half an hour we might have been less happy. Not all of the audience stuck with it to the end...