Edinburgh round-up | 9 August 2018

Trump Lear is a chaotically enjoyable one-man show with a complicated premise. David Carl, an American satirist, has arrived on stage to perform King Lear when Donald Trump’s voice interrupts him from the wings. The President threatens to kill him unless he delivers an accessible version of the Shakespeare classic ‘that isn’t boring’. With improvised puppets, Carl rattles through the play while Trump interrupts and offers directorial notes. Something weird happens. A curious mutual admiration springs up between the artist and his patron. Despite its messy presentation, the show works because Carl is a superb impressionist and his wide-ranging gags hit the mark more often than not. The action is interspersed with TV adverts promoting Trump-branded products, which include academies for high-earning parents. ‘You’ll never have to attend a school event with criminals and rapists again.’

Galway-based Druid theatre brings its version of Waiting for Godot to the International Festival. Deliberately stagey performances portray the tramps as out-of-work vaudevillians rather than suicidal outcasts who get beaten up every night by mysterious thugs. This is an urbane and perhaps over-civilised production which is so sure of its comic effects that the laughter comes infrequently. Lucky’s speech is performed brilliantly by Garrett Lombard, whose blond fright-wig stands two feet high off his head. He looks like Jon Bon Jovi struck by lightning.

Dominic Frisby’s Financial Game Show offers cash prizes to audience members who take part in a trivia quiz. Example: ‘Which is more valuable today, gold or platinum?’ It’s gold. Platinum has slumped recently. Those answering correctly reach a second heat, and after a further round of questions a winner is announced. He’s given a locked safe and a code to break. The audience are encouraged to help him crack the code.