Principal Edinburgh George Street

August 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27 

Script:   Stagecraft:   Performance:   

This morning I took a walk around Yester Woods near Gifford with my wee dog Daisy, deliberating on the marking for Interactive Theater’s newborn baby, Pamela’s Palace. Was I really going to give a vernal work-in-progress five stars? Was that really the right thing to do? Then I remembered something important. I had taken my wife to the show, & as we were leaving, I was practically begging her to tell the girls at her work to organise a Fringe posse & all go out together to see Pamela’s Palace. In that moment I was vicariously experiencing the Mumble’s 5-star litmus test – if one feels compelled like the Ancient Mariner to tell everybody you know (or the wife knows) to see a show, then its the definitive 5 Stars.

Meeting upstairs in the pleasure-to-be-at Principle Hotel, some of the audience are befrocked in pink smocks as we are led down to a traverse style setting of chairs, with the salon spread out quite jazzily between us. This was only the sixth ever show – a 3 night run in Brighton, & three so far in Edinburgh – but God did create the world in six days! Apparently there have been changes made after every edition, which indicates a serious sense of professionalism in an extremely unserious setting. Welcome to Scissors Palace, ran by the deep-tann’d, bling-jangling, Vogue wannabe Pamela Jones (Donna Gray). Its Salon Of the Year awards time, & she’s pulling out all the stops with an ubersassy Classical Greece theme.

Also working at the Salon are Tiffany (Katie Grace Cooper) & Bronwen (Ayesha Tansey), one gregarious, one demure; both top actresses & all together the complete trio, when not pulling off proper bangin’ Beyonce-level dance routines, positively bounce off each other & the classy script & roleplays created by the funny-bone knocking Katie Grace Cooper. 

We’re working with an all female cast (even directed by a lady) and we’re looking at topics that are affecting women today – age, beauty, the pressures of being a woman, strength, weakness, vulnerability. It’s just about being human in an unforgiving world but it definitely brushes cheeks with feminism. It’s also so much fun!
Read the full interview…

Your reviewer completely fascinated with the absolute mayhem that erupts towards this brilliant show’s conclusion

Interactive Theatre International are the guys behind the ever-brilliant Fawlty Towers & the Wedding Reception. The one drawback is that with those shows being food-inclusive, a few folk are priced out of the superslick comedy acting of the ITI contingent. On the other hand, Pamela’s Palace is a much more doable £15 – there’s a glass of bubbly & some nibbles thrown in too – which is a price well worth paying to see the same actresses in action who pull off so well the ladies in the Wedding Reception, & Sibyl in Fawlty Towers. Indeed, Pamela is quite simply the Sibyl of this millennium, & lets hope the dangerous drama that is her Palace runs & runs like the others. As for this Fringe, the volcano has only just exploded, & the lava has not yet set. One expects as the ladies find their feet & the full measure of their personal & audience interactions, the show will just get better & smoother &… well… I’ve just seen it & its wonderful stuff!

Damo