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Making Faces - one man show, Edinburgh Festival 1989

A nerve wracking first attempt at solo performing, in the Assembly Rooms, George Street, Edinburgh. One week at 8.15 pm - half in character and half as myself and simply "making faces" as various characters. A particularly vicious male hairdresser from Edinburgh called "Maurice" proved to be a firm favourite with audiences !

THE LIST MAGAZINE

MAKING FACES

Euan Mclver sweeps across the stage, and all doubts go out the window. This is a brilliant performer.

To miss seeing him live is to miss an experience that's unique and delightful.

The thing about Mclver is not so much that he is a female impersonator as

he is a performer who happens to do his second half performing in a series of sparkling

gowns. This is worth mentioning because there are plenty of people out there who

aren't all that interested in female impersonation, yet who would love Euan Mclver.

This isn't a gay show, a straight show, a gay show toned down for a straight

audience, or a straight show with a certain gay sensibility. This is a wonderful show.

For everybody. Let Maurice his no holds barred hairdresser loose on the room and not a dry eye remains.

As Tallulah Bankhead he enters from the audience in a fur coat, thinking that she is walking

into an A.A. meeting. "You mean it's not? Then give me a drink, dahling,"he says in her slack-

jawed mumble. A few times, Mclver told us to "wait for it," as the audience gradually caught the

more obscure double entendres. "They didn't let me in heaven," Mclver says as Mae West. "They were afraid

I'd eat all the prophets"

Despite the force of his satire, there's something unmistakably loving about a Mclver performance. His

generosity extends not only to his audience but to the women he satirizes, including a wonderful Bette Davis, Carol Channing

and Doyens of the British stage, La Rue and the most strikingly accurate Bracket and Everage.

What's best about this last minute Fringe appearance is - Mclver leaves you with a warm feeling and a desire to sit through the whole

thing again.

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