EVERYTHING MARKED WITH: Three Weeks


Three Weeks

Nina Keen August 15th, 2016 by

Is the world just wrong? Or is Nina Keen just wrong? Because one of the two MUST be wrong. Nina Keen is not averse to the reviewer-speak standby of saying that a thing does or doesn’t “live up to its title”. So excuse me for saying that, whether she is wrong or not, Nina Keen […]


Stephanie Withers August 30th, 2015 by

Stephanie Withers gives the impression of being scared of running over the word limit. Her reviews release their information in staccato squirts of data. Occasionally she’ll pair two sentences with a comma. But mostly it reads like this. However, her reviews are better than this makes them sound. They’re perfectly clear and she always takes […]


Jon Stapley August 20th, 2015 by

There are some toys at FringePig who seem to think that that theatre-hags and cabaret-whores and music-prostitutes and childrens’-show…erm… whatever class of degenerate they are… should stick to hanging around in their own fleshpots. I’ve never really agreed, and so it is my pleasure to present the amazing, multi-faceted, quadruple-headed Jon Stapley. A good few […]


Robert Stevens August 18th, 2015 by

Robert Stevens’ reviews are like Volvos. Solid little review Volvos, chugging through the Fringe with their 120 words of reasonable, proof-read, quite-well-informed blah. He’s SO reasonable that sometimes the most cutting comments almost slip away unnoticed. He’s a bit of a mailed-fist-in-a-velvet-glove merchant: “David Elms’ low-level subtlety is a delight to watch,” he says – at […]


Ben Shannon August 12th, 2015 by

Ben Shannon is a likeable presence whose relaxed hand on the tiller eases the audience into the situation, combining a light-hearted patter and confidence beyond his years. Don’t take my word for it, though. Because those were not my words. They were a reviewer’s words, back when Shannon was in Three Men and a Saucepan […]


Gemma Scott August 27th, 2014 by

We’ve been wondering here at Fringepig why, when Three Weeks is such an insubstantial piece of festival trash, so many of reviewers have scraped through this year’s Fringepig audit relatively unscathed. On the whole, it seems to come down to the length of rope. Three Weeks writers, while certainly no better qualified than their peers, […]


Bruce Blacklaw August 20th, 2014 by

The thing about Bruce Blacklaw is that he writes a bit like Steve Bennett from Chortle. He even looks a bit like Steve Bennett from Chortle. And the way he keeps making little quips that sometimes work and sometimes just tip over into mean-spiritedness, that’s so Steve. The way the frustration leaks out that he’s […]


Laura Gavin August 16th, 2014 by

Laura Gavin “has an MSc in creative writing from the University Of Edinburgh” apparently. Yet there is nothing whimsical or narrative about her reviews. She has the look of a district magistrate, and her reports on Fringe entertainment are like something a stenographer would type up. Her reviews always feel like a weighing-up of the evidence […]


Tom Bragg August 14th, 2014 by

Tom Bragg, the magazine’s podcast editor, is not your usual Three Weeks hack, by which I mean he has very apparent writing skills and applies them skilfully to the publication’s puff format. I think I speak for my colleagues when I say that, when reviewing reviewers, it’s usual for us to glance at the stars […]


James McColl August 12th, 2014 by

If all reviewers wrote like James McColl, Fringepig would be out of business. Not that Fringepig IS a business, obviously. Not until someone has the guts to take out an advert with us, anyway. No, if they all wrote as matter-of-factly as this chap there wouldn’t be much to moan about. “Laurence Clark is a […]


David O’Connor August 9th, 2014 by

Sadly for David O’Connor, clicking on his name takes you to the Three Weeks theatre critic Dave Fargnoli. It’s almost as if Three Weeks is losing track of its million pickpocket street children. When you’ve read more than a hundred Three Weeks reviews you start to wonder why they even bother recruiting these youngsters anymore. […]


Laura Kidd August 8th, 2014 by

Laura Kidd is alright at reviewing, I suppose. She seems to get the measure of Lewis Schaeffer, saying “it takes almost the full 50 minutes of his show to start liking him”. That’s when other reviewers go off him, so it sounds like she saw a good one. And four stars is generous (in a […]


George Robb August 6th, 2014 by

This reviewer has, apparently, “been a fan of the Fringe ever since the age of 14, after stumbling upon it during a long journey from Argyll to England”. One senses that something is missing from this story, such as “as his mother desperately scoured the country for a school where he wouldn’t be bullied”. Perhaps […]


Gavin Leech July 17th, 2014 by

Gavin Leech is a theatre reviewer who only drifts into a comedy show once per Fringe, it seems. In 2013 he reviewed Jim Higo’s Free Fringe show That’s Not How You Spell Pedantic, and back in 2011 he had a look at Kev Orkian. “Punk poet and grammar-nazi Jim Higo has a list of language […]


Grace Brennan July 17th, 2014 by

One thing I’ll guarantee you: You won’t read a Grace Brennan review and then rush out to buy a ticket. This reviewer takes a somewhat low-powered perambulation through the thing she’s seeing that, such that – even within a Three Weeks one-paragraph writeup – there’s ample space to nod off. Now and then a sentence […]


Ian Freeman July 17th, 2014 by

Ian Freeman is a reasonably competent reviewer who likes the jokes to come thick and fast. If they don’t, he’ll complain that the show flags, or that the gaps between gags are unsatisfyingly long, or even “filled with inane chat”. All of which is fair enough. He’s generous with his stars although not exactly gushing […]


James Hampson July 17th, 2014 by

If you can imagine the art of performing comedy as something akin to spreading silage on stage, then you’ll understand the default position of James Hampson – he’s at the back of the room in a protective mac and gaiters, grimacing, with a peg on his nose. Reviewing’s a dirty job, but someone’s (apparently) got […]


Peter Dorman July 17th, 2014 by

I’m going to ignore the fact that Peter Dorman uses phrases such as “strap yourselves in” and “not one for the easily offended” and even – EVEN! – “a must see”… because, for the greater part, Peter Dorman is a capable reviewer. His reviews get to the point and express his opinion in plain English […]


Jessica Cropper July 17th, 2014 by

Jessica Cropper is a reviewer of the Phil Space school; her short reviews are all padded out with “if-this-is-your-sort-of-thing-you-won’t-be-disappointed”-isms. Basically, if you like yada yada yada, then this is a good choice. It reaches a head with Jessica Fostekew, of whom she says “So if you fancy comedy you can just relax to instead of […]


Sophie Nicoll July 17th, 2014 by

Sophie Nicoll is as solid a reviewer as you are likely to find in Three Weeks. In a short span of words she tells you how shows started, how they proceeded and how they ended – in that order. Then she’ll judge it, and her judging is quite humane. If there’s one small fault with […]


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