Browse reviews

Edinburgh Fringe 2010

Celebrity Autobiography

Eugene Pack

Genre: Storytelling

Venue: www.underbelly.co.uk

Festival:


Low Down

 

Celebrities are a constant source of amusement at the best of times. Their sincere declarations of love for each other are usually followed by an acrimonious divorce and instant marriage to another celebrity. The damage limitation is usually offset by an appropriate tell all book, written by themselves, (honestly !), with the opportunity for an insight into their spoilt lives as they see it. They have all worked hard to get where they are and the spoils of the ridiculously pampered are rightly theirs.

Review

From the outset we are advised by Eugene Pack, the creator of this concept,  that all excerpts we will hear were genuinely allowed to go to print. Remarkable when the topics range Tommy Lee ‘s candid advice on how to sexually satisfy your partner, not for the light hearted or naive I must add, to what  is in Sylvester  Stallone’s fridge???. The writing is perfect fodder for comedic delivery and the performers take every opportunity  to deliver punch line after punch line. This talented ensemble, know their craft well and having researched approximately 300 autobiographies they select carefully from publications that sit well together. A sparse set, no props needed apart from the glossy books. A great piece of theatre when the full ensemble take to the stage to read.

 In light of the recent revelations about Tiger Woods recreational activities, his advise on the joys of putting, surely only he could find them, are peppered with double entendres that do leave you thinking that he was always laughing at us. Ivana Trump was always a grotesque spectacle , well aren’t all the Trumps now that I think about it? Her thoughts on how “she is just like us” despite her mode of travel being a limo, accompanied with her belief that her approach to child rearing is a successful “no nonsense one” are a total scream.  The audience hoot with laughter at the proclamations of Diana Ross, who really believes her own hype, that she is there for anyone of us who need her. Just call her up apparently she’ll be there.
The hour just flew by and I genuinely laughed from the moment the show began to its end.  It was a treat to hear George Wendt , (Norm from Cheers), read David Hasselhoff’s ,insecure, yet amazed by his own brilliance, Broadway debut as Dr Jekyll.  The sublime Michael Urie, Ugly Betty, brought the house down with his hilarious interpretation of Tommy Lee. Highlights for me were the Katie Price- Peter Andre duos distinctly apposite views of their lives together. How could they have been surprised that their relationship didn’t last? The finale wove the anomalous memoirs of Debbie Reynolds and the predatory Elizabeth Taylor as they described the same event of Liz stealing Debbie’s husband Eddie Fisher. Superb.

Published