Afternoon:
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Evening Standard rating
A gloriously camp celebration of cheesy pop
Veronica Lee, Evening Standard 14 Aug 2007
When the Edinburgh International Festival (which has just got under way) was conceived 60 years ago, its founders aimed to provide "a platform for the flowering of the human spirit" in war-ravaged Europe.
Fast forward a few decades and its bastard offspring is the Eurovision Song Contest, which gives Brits an opportunity to feel culturally superior to other nations, if only for one evening a year.
Eurobeat - Almost Eurovision is an affectionate send-up by co-creators Craig Christie and Andrew Patterson, who make this celebration of cheesy pop as gloriously camp as the original.
We're in "sunny, safe, secure Sarajevo" and hosts Boyka and Sergei (Mel Giedroyc and Glynn Nicholas) - all fixed smiles and false bonhomie - introduce each song with crass and xenophobic stereotyping.
The songs themselves (with particularly strong entries from Estonia and Russia) are pitch-perfect parodies and if ever you thought Björk was beyond ridicule, you will think again when you see Iceland's entry.
• Until 27 August (0131 556 6550, www.pleasance.co.uk).
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