Fringe musicals reviews: Gladiatrix, Lost Harmonies and more

theSpace @ Venue 45 (venue 45) until 23 August

You’d be forgiven for not knowing much about gladiatrices as historical records barely mention them. In 200 AD, Emperor Septimius Severus decreed that women could no longer compete in gladiator games. “Henceforth forbidden” the records say.

From these two words and some footnotes, Paul Bianchi has created a 50-minute musical, rich with storytelling, stage combat and passion.Framed by a rhyming narrator who holds a history book, women of the era challenge, question, and ultimately choose to reveal what’s been left out and write their own history.

Parallels with modern-day politics and issues surface organically, reminding us that the struggle for autonomy among the powerless is a cycle history keeps repeating. We learn about four women each facing different battles - an immigrant under contract,a sex worker-gladiator, a wealthy woman who chooses to fight and a slave with a misunderstood skin condition - and we see how they live and respond to the decree. They’re not romanticised heroines, but real women making complex choices in a society that offered them few.

A piece about gladiatrices demands physical action, and it features well-executed stage combat with sword fights, spears, flips, and ultimately death. Humour is lightly woven in, mostly through the male characters, who serve as narrators and foils, allowing the women to have the focus.

The original songs range from catchy to deeply intense, and the entire cast performs them with strength, precision, and conviction. I Don’t Carry a Grudge, which introduces Severus, played with brilliant extravagance by Dashaun Vegas, is a standout moment with staging and production that fully come together. Bukky Oronti also deserves special mention, delivering powerful vocals and striking emotional depth as Deireoe - an immigrant whose contractual obligations to fight for her freedom are threatened. This is a musical resurrection of forgotten women. And yes, after this, you will think of the Roman Empire, just perhaps not in the same way you did before.

Suzanne O’Brien

The Real Housewives of the Zombie Apocalypse ★★★★

Greenside @ Riddles Court (Venue 16) until 16 August

It’s the season finale of Real Housewives of… well, somewhere or other - and oily host Campbell has assembled his gaggle of horrific, self-obsessed stars to mark the occasion with a studio special. There appears to be some kind of virus running rampage outside the TV tower, however, that’s transforming people into the flesh-eating undead. Might the innards-eating zombies somehow find their way into the security-protected world of Campbell and his preening entourage?

I think we can probably guess the answer to that one. And yes, the two popular culture tropes that Glasgow-based Clydebuilt Theatre collide together in their rip-roaring musical are hardly subtle. But who needs subtle when the results are as sharp, entertaining and biting (quite literally) as this?

But if The Real Housewives of the Zombie Apocalypse doesn’t exactly challenge or provoke, it sets out to entertain and does that spectacularly well. With virtually back-to-back numbers by John Paul Liddle (who doubles as the greasy Campbell) and Hugh Moore (who’s a mite underused as one of the women’s husbands), it’s really more of a pop opera than a musical. They’re universally strong songs, too, with plenty of ear-pleasing vocal harmonies, not only pushing on the plot but also serving to provide depth and back stories to Liddle and Moore’s ten-strong cast. Hollie-Ann Feeney soars ever higher as church founder Cassandra (it’s not a cult), while Lou Istoriou’s Selena finds a catchy Latin groove for her never-quenched lust for more online followers.

It’s churlish to mention just two of the exemplary mob of Housewives, but it’s the seven women’s endless backbiting, withering side glances and sassy rejoinders that stick in the memory. And of course, they’re far more concerned with scoring points over one another inside the studio than they are in the impending cataclysm outside.

It’s a deeply silly show in many ways, but its silliness is carefully crafted and impeccably delivered. And there’s even a Timewarp-like dance routine to get involved in - what’s not to like?

David Kettle

Lost Harmonies: The Search for Music ★★★

theSpace @ Niddry Street (venue 9) until 16 August

The world would be a quiet place without music, which is the reality in this piece, where it has been banned and forgotten for 25 years. A group of young people set out to bring it back, armed with desire and solid a cappella.

The story is simple. Music no longer exists, a young woman is visited in her dreams by a presence who tells her of music, and a mysterious tape from a long-forgotten band, Queen, is found. This isn’t a profound tale with fully fleshed-out characters or plot; it’s simply a framework for The Sweet Nothings group to perform. And they take every opportunity, with a single word or theme - fire, tragedy, love – triggering each number.

As expected, the voices take centre stage. The lead in each number rotates between performers, giving many their moment, whilst remaining a unified group. Songs include Tragedy, We Built This City and a big finish with Bohemian Rhapsody. All classic tracks that are easily identifiable from the setup or opening line, and performed with modern choreography.

There are a few shaky vocals, especially when songs demand higher registers - likely more due to nerves than ability - and in some cases, choreography interferes with the delivery. Microphone usage and effects are distracting, but the piece remains entertaining.

Suzanne O’Brien

No More Bull ★★

theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall (53) until 16 August

Theseus and the Minotaur is given an injection of early-80s era Andrew Lloyd Webber-style pizazz by this young ensemble company, which includes some great singers, glittering costumes and a topical focus on flawed rulers and the power of the people to resist.

With some stand-out singing from Emily Goovaerts as Ariadne, the cast have the mixed abilities of creatives at the start of their careers, but consistent infectious enthusiasm which, following a slowing of the pace mid-way with some more obvious spoken dialogue, is channelled into a rousing finale. “People of Athens, People of Crete, People of Power, People of Greece.” I’m still humming it now.

Sally Stott

The Foreskin Diaries ★★

Laughing Horse @ Bar 50 (Venue 151) until 24 August

An anti-circumcision would-be Ted Talk with songs from American “intactivist” Ron Low, this could also be usefully retitled: “Penile Surgical Disasters: The Musical!” Ron, inventor of the TLC Tugger (march is available in the bar afterwards) is a decent communicator — although he overdoes the malformed member slideshow — he even has a pleasant enough voice on occasion but — even if you’re understandably attached to your foreskin — all his songs go on far too long as does the lecture.

Ron is clearly loath to cut anything as at least half of the musical numbers could be usefully dropped and you can clearly feel the polemicists thumb (or something similar) on the scale. Most particularly: the song where a new father imagines the “penile hijinx” he’ll get to share with his newly circumcised son is just a big bowl of wrong.

Rory Ford

I’m Autistic - A New Musical ★★

theSpace @ Venue 45 (Venue 45) until 23 August

Lauren pushes for an autism diagnosis, Nat struggles to read the signs from a girl he likes and Chloe endures pathetic bullying from her mean girl peers and gaslighting from teachers in Leonora Brooks’ new musical about neurodivergence which, ironically, diverges very little from standard musical theatre territory.

Obstacles must be overcome in family, friendship and romantic relationships before our protagonists can be heard, understood and bring their story strands to a neat, upbeat and inspirational conclusion, belying the ongoing challenges for those on the autism spectrum which are portrayed empathetically elsewhere by an ensemble of twelve strong singers.

Fiona Shepherd

AI: Save Our Souls ★★

Greenside @ George St (Venue 236) until 16 August

AI is the burning topic of our era, so why not a musical? Two programmers create an AI avatar, which is soon evolving beyond their ability to control her in this show by writer and composer Igor Labutin. It’s nothing if not ambitious, featuring musical styles from rap to neo-classical, light-up costumes and an interactive element which mimics AI processes. But the result is an overburdened muddle, a show in which different elements pull in opposite directions and no one seems terribly clear about what they want to say.

Susan Mansfield