musicOMH is in need of a glass of something strong. We have recently seen Denise Van Outen's solo show, Blondes,at the Udderbelly Cow Barn (17.50). The show is a showcase for her singing skills which are decent enough, her voice is versatile, but it also requires her to speak between numbers, to banter with the audience, to exhibit a degree of warmth, something she seems to be entirely uncomfortable with.
She sings her way through Marilyn, Madonna and Kylie, all the time throwing in stilted quips care of script writer Jackie Clune that one can almost hear thudding to the ground.
The whole set up was so strange and awkward in tone that, towards the end, I began to wonder if it might be some kind of exercise in meta-theatricality and that I might be witnessing one of the most subtly subversive things on the Fringe. About five minutes towards the end the lights went out and the sound failed and I thought, ah, this is it, everything is about to twist around and reveal itself. But no it was just a power cut and sound was quickly restored. Van Outen strolled back on stage and did her last few minutes with the same uneasy film still over her face.
Tickets are selling healthily though and no doubt will continue to. musicOMH much preferred Wil Hodgson's Punk Folk Tales at the Pleasance Dome (20.20), more rambling yet almost lyrical tales about life in Chippenham from the pink-haired care bear collector.
She sings her way through Marilyn, Madonna and Kylie, all the time throwing in stilted quips care of script writer Jackie Clune that one can almost hear thudding to the ground.
The whole set up was so strange and awkward in tone that, towards the end, I began to wonder if it might be some kind of exercise in meta-theatricality and that I might be witnessing one of the most subtly subversive things on the Fringe. About five minutes towards the end the lights went out and the sound failed and I thought, ah, this is it, everything is about to twist around and reveal itself. But no it was just a power cut and sound was quickly restored. Van Outen strolled back on stage and did her last few minutes with the same uneasy film still over her face.
Tickets are selling healthily though and no doubt will continue to. musicOMH much preferred Wil Hodgson's Punk Folk Tales at the Pleasance Dome (20.20), more rambling yet almost lyrical tales about life in Chippenham from the pink-haired care bear collector.
