Palestinian comedian/actor/writer Alaa Shehada won friends and prizes last year with his funning and haunting one man show The Horse of Jenin, which he reprises in the latter half of this year’s Fringe. But he has also brought a new production, The Bridge, to Assembly Roxy, providing another snapshot of life in occupied Palestine. Like The Horse of Jenin, it communicates the grim truths of the day-to-day struggle with the conversational warmth and observational acuity of an accomplished stand-up routine.
The bridge of the title – known by different names depending on whether you are Palestinian, Jordanian, Jewish or British – is the sole remaining gateway between the West Bank and Jordan. Thousands of people make the crossing every day, delayed yet somehow undeterred by paperwork, searches, intimidation. Shehada’s mission is to transport his uncle’s olive oil to his relatives in Jordan. He sketches out the various characters he meets en route – wise-cracking driver, sharp-as-a-pin old lady, beautiful stranger – emphasizing the humanity at the heart of a journey fraught with frustation, intimidation and uncertainty which would be straightforward in any other land.
Jitters, the latest production by duo Britney, playing at Summerhall, feels like a parade of first world problems in comparison, but what a parade. Charly Clive plays Charlotte, poised to marry a much older man in the wedding dress she’s had for years, just in case. As she puts the finishing touches to her make-up, she spars with her husband-to-be’s daughter El (Ellen Robertson, who wrote the play), with whom she attended Brownies twenty years earlier. El is understandably suspicious of Charlotte’s motives and the haste with which her father is remarrying following the death of her mother. Charlotte can give as good as she gets as the two peers face off, ramping up the arguments around money, the manosphere and motherhood before descending into blackmail and hypocrisy. Tables are turned and sympathies shift as fast as the pair can volley their views across the room in this impressive, articulate hour.
Also appearing at Summerhall, writer/actor Jude Green makes an auspicious Fringe debut with Toast, about an out-of-work actor wrangling with precarious income, the benefits system and an agent convinced they know best, caught in an Orwellian loop of phone calls with faceless operatives, all voiced by Jack Wakely, where no progress can be made (“your call is not important to us”). Green sits or stands, script in hand because, they say, they are not paid enough to learn the lines. The cycle of vexation eventually breaks down and their interrogator begins to critique the play itself. Clever callbacks and meta gags follow before the deadlock is broken when Green and their call centre worker flip the script and have a candid conversation.
The Bridge, various times, Assembly George Square Studios, until August 16
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/the-bridge
Jitters, 12. Summerhall, until August 30
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/jitters
Toast, 12, 20 Summerhall, until August 16
