The Holyrood Tavern – Edinburgh Festival 2006
Its amazing what you
can do with a tin of green paint. Its even more amazing
what you can do with a bottle of Magners The fire brigade
kicking doors down They found the fire
– now all they need is a hose Mr Miller laughs his
head off at The Holyrood Mr Miller vets the
punter Our supporter at
Lindsays The Chuckle Brothers
getting pissed up Me brotherŐs pissed
off Al Stick having a
laugh Krysstal plays darts Henning & Otto
womanising Still at it –
with Laura this time Mike Belgrave joins
the flyer brigade Frank Sanazi reads
MikeŐs flyer Slaughterhouse Live KrysstalŐs biggest fan SabrinaŐs film crew New material The stairs Luka the barman Two Nuns Fringe Sunday The audience Brian & Krysstal
& Friends e Live The guitar I bought
from Cash Converters The guitar I didnŐt
buy |
The Holyrood Tavern
– Edinburgh Festival 2005 Peter Buckley Hill, Boothby
Graffoe with Brian Damage & Krysstal Until the last weekend of this year's fun
fest, the most un-remarked-on development at the Fringe was the creative rise
of the tiny and shabby Holyrood Tavern, a 50-or-so seater drab room behind a
dingy pub at the bottom of the Pleasance Hill en route to the old Gilded
Balloon and the new Smirnoff Underbelly. Seldom visited by Armani-clad media
moths, only six years ago the Holyrood Tavern used to have naff shows you
wouldn't want to see even when drunk and wearing a thin tee-shirt on a rainy
day. In the last five years, though, it has been programmed by Vicky de Lacey
(female half of the Brian Damage & Krysstal comedy act) and the Holyrood
has become a fascinating hotbed of interesting acts - some brilliant, some
talented though underdeveloped and some just plain bizarre. Wil Hodgson Last year, the Holyrood Tavern's Wil Hodgson
won the Perrier Best Newcomer award. Laura Solon This year, their Laura Solon rightly won the
prestigious main Perrier award for Kopfraper's Syndrome while, with less of a
fanfare, their Desperately Seeking Sorrow (Johnny Sorrow & Danny
Worthington) was nominated for the new Malcolm Hardee Oy Oy award. Vicky de Lacey and Brian Damage run the Pear Shaped
comedy clubs in London and Sydney and are shaping up as the new Malcolm
Hardee, although adding a pair of breasts to his legendary bollocks. They
drink, they can spot talent and they run fascinatingly creative bills in
shabby venues. So, while the media moths are attracted to the
brightly-coloured and wackily-posed posters of the three (or, with the
Underbelly, four) main venues and sign up the Douglas Bader end of the
creative spectrum - acts with no legs - the really interesting acts have been
passing them by. It will be interesting to see if this changes
next year for two reasons. One is that Pear Shaped at the Holyrood Tavern
have now won Perrier Prizes at two consecutive Fringes. John Fleming – Writers Guild Edinburgh Festival 2005 |
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