... Are You Dave Gorman? Pleasance It all started- as these things often do- in a pub. There he was, finishing off a pint, waiting for his cab to arrive, when someone at the bar shouted: Taxi for Dave Gorman, and two people stood up. What began as a coincidence, developed into a hobby and descended into something far more fanatical that has ended up as a show on the Fringe. Gorman is the man on ...

... My Life Has Stood, the Journey of a Portrayal Komedia @ Southside Actress Edie Campbell has spent the last 14 years with a quiet obsession for Emily Dickinson, America's finest female poet, mythical recluse and prolific correspondent. And for most of that time, Campbell has been striving to bring a play about Dickinson to the stage. Unable to separate her own character from that of her subject ...

... Mark Maier Assembly Rooms You cannot help liking a comic who provides his own opening act and then gets involved in offstage arguments with himself before coming on in his own persona. Mark Maier opens in the guise of an Israeli minicab driver turned comedian, with jokes on peace talks and airport security, and an engaging grudge against John Lennon. As himself, Maier takes us on a seamless ...

... Jeffrey Cobb's Stress Management Roadshow Komedia @ Southside Do not be misled by the title of the show, the actual star here is a certain Moose a cross between young Barbara Windsor and a minia ture Spice Girl. Moose (Zoe Bywater) is Jeffrey Cobb's (Tim Kane) extra-efficient assistant, in spite of which he is still 'one of the world's most stressed out individuals' posing as a stress ...

... Bob Goody's Bite of the Dog Pleasance Bob Goody reads his poetry. Not, it must be said, a fantastic premise for a show. Particularly when it is the sort of punk poetry that sounds like Patrick Fitzgerald crossed with Jilted John and performed in a posh thespian accent from down London way. But somehow Goody manages to pull it off. Yes. a lot of it is naff. Yes, it will appeal to middle-aged ...

... Simon Bligh- Zips, Whips and the Bloody Chains of Christ Assembly Rooms It s a funny old world, isn t it? I saw Jackie Mason the other day and the house was packed with Jews and Gentiles alike roaring at his dissection of all things kosher, and I found myself lamenting the fact that we Catholics don't have our own Brit version to rip the bells out of the smells. Until I saw Simon Bligh, that ...

... Perrier Young Jazz Awards 2000 Cafe de Paris Big-name judges such as vocalist Salena Jones and saxophonist Jean Toussaint, chaired by journalist Jack Massarik, selected this year's pick of the bunch from three categories--musicians, bands and vocalists. Each of the performers, who had won through a long series of heats to reach the final stage, was given ten minutes in which to shine before an ...

... Mixed sample of Berlin style Drill Hall Berlin Brecht Calling the audience pinheads at the outset and then ordering them to sit down may have seemed a good way of giving the contemporary theatregoer a brief taste of Bertolt Brecht's twenties Berlin. But the subsequent interpretations of his songs and poems failed to live up to that initial deliberate rudeness and lacked bite. Apparently, ...

... The Original Virgins The Acoustic Cafe We're not your normal boy band, jokes Stephen Wambsganss about The Original Virgins, an acoustic duo he and Carl Hodson formed four years ago--and what a relief that is. Instead of the emphasis being on image and tacky lyrics, we are presented with two obvious talents who are not afraid to be original and honest in their songwriting. Hodson met Texan ...

... Reliving Rattigan's heydays By JOHN MARTLAND Michael Darlow's reworked biography of the man who was one of Britain's most successful playwrights for a 20-year period between 1936 and the mid-fifties made an absorbing Book of the Week: Terence Rattigan-the Man and His Work (R4, from Monday, April 10). Clive Merrison was the reader, and of particular interest was Rattigan's time as a ...

... Billy Smart's Circus Battersea Park/Touring Most people agree that director Tony Hopkins always puts on a good show, and this is no exception. Some of the faces may be familiar, but that does not detract from the overall effect of a very attractive presentation which combines fun, skill and tnnns. Linking the acts is Italian clown David Vassallo who, with his wonderful facial expressions, ...

... II Barbiere de Siviglia Cardiff/Touring Giles Havergals 1986 production of Rossini's comic masterpiece for Welsh National Opera continues to wear well, its timely revival at the New bringing forth well-earned laughter and applause throughout. Commedia dell arte staging, designed by Russell Craig, has been meticulously reproduced with a rollicking sense of fun by Aidan Lang. There is much ...