War of the Roses III
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If this isn't the spirit of the Fringe, I don't know what is. So dark it makes Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet look like High School Musical.
The 3 sons of York and their goth girlfriends are sublime, and that creepy Warwick bloke is going to give me nightmares for weeks. But every member of the cast and crew and brilliantly OTT band deserves the "Show must go on" award. This was an outdoor show, at 9 p.m. and it was PISSING rain. Not only that, it's an outdoor show that involves a LOT of fighting, falling over, more fighting, running around… all of this on treacherously slippery ground, in costumes that might weigh you down even if they weren't soaking wet.
So, my deepest respect to the company for turning in great performances. And to the audience, for turning up in such numbers, for staying in spite of the absolutely awful weather, and for giving Whiplash the screams and cheers they truly deserved. (I'm sure the very vocal response wasn't only because it's hard to clap your hands when you're holding an umbrella.)

Review War of the Roses III:
Back in BlackCivic Offices AmphitheatrePlease don't tell us it's over . . .

Alas, it seems the third annual instalment of War of the Roses, the smart, ferociously fun and maddeningly ephemeral Whiplash Productions version of Shakespeare's history plays, has brought this series to a fittingly slippery climax of sexual chicanery and international throne-wrangling, virtuoso eye-gouging and rock-opera clamour. Performed outdoors - this year with atmospheric lighting effects (by Conleth White) and a bone-soaking downpour effect (by God) - Paul Burke's exhilarating production recognised that no dynasty is so complex that it can't be identified with the right combination of punk-goth fetish gear, and no battle too brutal to forgo the balletic mayhem of a WWE SmackDown tournament. Gavin Kostick's witty scripting gives the clashes a lean, mean clarity, but it's the quick-witted, high-calibre cast - battling the elements without ever losing grip of their swords or, most impressively, their words - who take this grimy and savage squabble and turn it into something truly heroic.

.Show concluded
Peter Crawly