{"id":315652,"date":"2025-08-03T22:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T22:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315652\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T22:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T22:38:14","slug":"fringe-2025-athens-of-the-north-%e2%ad%90%e2%ad%90%e2%ad%90%e2%ad%90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315652\/","title":{"rendered":"Fringe 2025 – Athens of the North \u2b50\u2b50\u2b50\u2b50"},"content":{"rendered":"

A delivery driver. A student. A confused elderly lady. <\/p>\n

You might not think these three would have much in common. But on a single day in Edinburgh their paths will intersect. <\/p>\n

In\u00a0Athens of the North, writer and solo performer\u00a0Mark Hannah<\/strong>\u00a0brings all three characters richly to life; their struggles, their foibles, their small, important, pleasures are laid before us in this accomplished show. <\/p>\n

First up is Alan\u00a0 He\u2019s a delivery driver for Sound Asleep, and we first meet him as he studies the menu in a curry house. He\u2019s a typical (aging) lad, full of beer and bravado. His riff on the menu\u2019s \u2018a la carte\u2019 section had the audience in fits just two minutes into the show. <\/p>\n

Hannah is a remarkably versatile actor; he not only inhabits all three of his characters, but even acts out Alan doing an impression of his annoying teetotal boss Brian. It\u2019s not the same since Brian\u2019s Dad went \u2013 back then they used to have fun. <\/p>\n

But today Alan is in a hurry. If he doesn\u2019t get to his daughter Erin\u2019s concert at St Giles\u2019 Cathedral there\u2019ll be hell to pay with his ex-partner. So he rushes off to do his last delivery, only to find it brings back childhood memories he\u2019d rather forget. As Alan floors it back to get to the cathedral by 12, the audience holds its breath, and for more reasons than one. We are holding our collective breath as we see the van charging into the crowded Old Town. What happens next? <\/p>\n

You\u2019ll need to see the show to find out, but let me tell you your emotions will be pulled in every which way as Hannah threads the past and the present together to reveal the man beneath the macho swagger. <\/p>\n

Hannah\u2019s second character isn\u2019t from Edinburgh at all. Liam\u2019s a working class London boy on a scholarship to study Meteorology at university. He\u2019s fascinated by his subject, but when he goes on a last minute holiday to Zante with his friends (cue hilarious description of their \u2018budget\u2019 hotel) he\u2019s also fascinated by the Scottish girl he meets there. \u00a0Meteorological observations, the Beaufort Scale, the humidity; Liam still has time to notice these even as he enjoys their first kiss. When his new love tells him he \u2018should see the weather in Edinburgh\u2019 he takes her at her word. <\/p>\n

Back in London he takes the train to Waverley on a whim. Hannah gives us a great sketch of a Londoner looking for\u00a0CockburnStreet and later seeing Stockbridge (\u2018like Disney!\u2019) for the first time \u2013 but although there\u2019s humour, Liam\u2019s impressions of Edinburgh are interspersed with lyrical moments too.\u00a0 He looks up at the castle and imagines his \u2018princess\u2019 waiting for him; he watches the Water of Leith,<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018it just flows, no calculation, it just is.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And on his way to meet his princess, he walks straight into a man running towards St Giles\u2019 Cathedral. <\/p>\n

Does Liam disappear into the happy ever after with his dream girl? Or does he end up sitting on the top deck of a bus with a rambling old lady? I\u2019m not saying \u2013 but again, Hannah ends the piece on a beautifully optimistic note. <\/p>\n

Cameo three isn\u2019t anything like the other two. For this one Hannah needs a handbag, as he morphs into Maureen, an old lady and long time resident of Annandale Street. We first meet Maureen having a crafty fag in her strictly non-smoking care home. She\u2019s chatting with her carer, Ross. She likes him better than her son Peter, who\u2019s sold her flat and put her \u2013 quite unnecessarily in her opinion \u2013 into West Edinburgh Residential Care.<\/p>\n

Hannah creates a convincing study of a woman slowly descending into dementia. Maureen has a mouth like a sewer (she could beat Alan hands down in a swearing match) and some sharp words to say about a lot of things. She reluctantly accepts that she\u2019s been forgetting why she went out shopping, but she still remembers all the boxes from her house sale, and she gives a priceless and instantly recognisable description of the buyer, all set to gentrify her home of sixty years. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to imagine this guy\u2019s face when Maureen, in characteristically salty terms, puts him right about his chances of staying very long in her flat. <\/p>\n

But Maureen mostly lapses into memories, weaving in and out of reality as she tells us Alec (her deceased husband) will be coming in soon. She sees him at the end of her bed, imagines he\u2019s asking her to go home with him. Soon she\u2019s taken herself to the bus stop \u2013 and when, on the top deck,\u00a0 a sad young Londoner asks her if she\u2019s ok, she\u2019s convinced he\u2019s Peter. And no, she\u2019s not pleased to see him. <\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s certainly not necessary to know Edinburgh to enjoy this show, some references will particularly hit home with locals. Maureen\u2019s thoughts on the St James\u2019s Shopping Centre raised a lot of laughs with Saturday\u2019s audience, as did Alan\u2019s opinions on a prawn curry. And again, the ending of Maureen\u2019s story is poignant rather than tragic. <\/p>\n

As she reaches the last part of her eventful life, she\u2019s happy reliving her memories with Ross. He looks after her (\u2018better than Peter\u2019!!!)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Athens of the North\u00a0is a very entertaining show, and one that\u2019s full of humanity. It\u2019s not only the rich and famous who have a story to tell; people are endlessly fascinating, and Mark Hannah brings these three vignettes of \u2018ordinary\u2019 people\u2019s lives to the stage with tremendous warmth and skill. <\/p>\n

The audience loved the show, and so did I. <\/p>\n

Athens of the North is at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street (Venue 30) at 3.15pm every day until 9 August, then on alternate days (starting with 11 August) until 23 August. \u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.edfringe.com\/tickets\/whats-on\/athens-of-the-north<\/a><\/p>\n

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