Originally published in ThreeWeeks.
This is youth theatre at its best. Commissioned by Westminister Abbey, 'Flesh' brings together students from three secondary schools in London to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. Using the story of one man, music and movement, they pack dozens of perspectives on the slave trade into this short production. Clarity suffers a little in the compression - a reference to Haiti's slave rebellion seems hastily tacked on. But the mixed view of white abolitionists is especially welcome, and if the acting is not quite professional in quality, the music is as good as any you'll hear at the Fringe as there are some fantastic voices in this cast. A timely and important piece of theatre.
Flesh finished its run on 11 August.
Showing posts with label Edinburgh Fringe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edinburgh Fringe. Show all posts
13 August 2007
Corpus Christi
Originally published in ThreeWeeks.
I expected controversy from this re-imagined New Testament tale - something cynical and cutting edge. What I didn't expect, or expect to enjoy, was sincerity. The company loves this story, they tell us so straight away - and by the end, you will love it too. In this version, our saviour (Joshua) is born to rotten parents in modern-day Texas. The other twist - that Joshua, and some of his apostles, are gay - is just a background to the familiar story of love, forgiveness and betrayal, which is exceptionally well-acted and unexpectedly funny. When the setting moves from Texas to ancient Israel and back, the time travel is left unexplained, but the audience is too charmed to care. This play will make a believer out of you.
Corpus Christi is playing at Bedlam until 25 August, every night at 10pm. Buy tickets here.
I expected controversy from this re-imagined New Testament tale - something cynical and cutting edge. What I didn't expect, or expect to enjoy, was sincerity. The company loves this story, they tell us so straight away - and by the end, you will love it too. In this version, our saviour (Joshua) is born to rotten parents in modern-day Texas. The other twist - that Joshua, and some of his apostles, are gay - is just a background to the familiar story of love, forgiveness and betrayal, which is exceptionally well-acted and unexpectedly funny. When the setting moves from Texas to ancient Israel and back, the time travel is left unexplained, but the audience is too charmed to care. This play will make a believer out of you.
Corpus Christi is playing at Bedlam until 25 August, every night at 10pm. Buy tickets here.
Exits and Entrances - Athol Fugard
Originally published in ThreeWeeks.
If there is peril in writing a play about the theatre, writing yourself in as a passionate, idealistic playwright must be nearly fatal. But this is what Athol Fugard does in his latest work. 'Exits And Entrances' is based on Fugard's relationship with the Afrikaans actor Andre Huguenet - "South Africa's Olivier". Morlan Higgins fills the theatre as Andre - you can hardly tear your eyes away, which is just as well because there isn't much complexity to Fugard, and Andre has a lot of long speeches with excerpts from famous plays ('Hamlet', 'Oedipus Rex', etc). It's a performance worth the price of admission, but make sure you're in the mood for serious theatre - by the curtain call, even the actors looked a little bored.
Exits and Entrances is playing at Assembly @ George Street until 26 August, every day at 3:20pm. Buy tickets here.
If there is peril in writing a play about the theatre, writing yourself in as a passionate, idealistic playwright must be nearly fatal. But this is what Athol Fugard does in his latest work. 'Exits And Entrances' is based on Fugard's relationship with the Afrikaans actor Andre Huguenet - "South Africa's Olivier". Morlan Higgins fills the theatre as Andre - you can hardly tear your eyes away, which is just as well because there isn't much complexity to Fugard, and Andre has a lot of long speeches with excerpts from famous plays ('Hamlet', 'Oedipus Rex', etc). It's a performance worth the price of admission, but make sure you're in the mood for serious theatre - by the curtain call, even the actors looked a little bored.
Exits and Entrances is playing at Assembly @ George Street until 26 August, every day at 3:20pm. Buy tickets here.
12 August 2007
In My Father's House
Originally published in ThreeWeeks.
Part cooking demonstration, part improvisation, 'In My Father's House' is ostensibly about plums, but might have more to do with death or religion, if you're looking for deeper meaning. The performers are in character from the moment we enter the theatre - but who are these characters, exactly? If you need definite answers, this is not the production for you. With only a bare wisp of a plot, the women of Kindle Theatre use their considerable talents in voice, movement, music and audience interaction, the emotions evoked ranging from delight to discomfort. It's never boring, but a certain amount of nervous laughter from the audience seems inevitable. This is theatre that gets you up on your feet to sing, and leaves you with sticky fingers.
In My Father's House is playing at C SoCo until 26 August, every day at 5:15pm. Buy tickets here.
Part cooking demonstration, part improvisation, 'In My Father's House' is ostensibly about plums, but might have more to do with death or religion, if you're looking for deeper meaning. The performers are in character from the moment we enter the theatre - but who are these characters, exactly? If you need definite answers, this is not the production for you. With only a bare wisp of a plot, the women of Kindle Theatre use their considerable talents in voice, movement, music and audience interaction, the emotions evoked ranging from delight to discomfort. It's never boring, but a certain amount of nervous laughter from the audience seems inevitable. This is theatre that gets you up on your feet to sing, and leaves you with sticky fingers.
In My Father's House is playing at C SoCo until 26 August, every day at 5:15pm. Buy tickets here.
Little Shop of Horrrors (ExADUS)
Originally published in ThreeWeeks.
How many missed notes does it take to turn off a full house? Not many, it seems. ExADUS Theatre Company's production of the darkly comic musical 'Little Shop Of Horrors' is fast-paced and well-rehearsed, with creative staging and several good performances. Thomas Holmes is particularly effortless as Seymour, letting us both laugh at and sympathise with the tragic hero. But Holmes' talent can't save us from other cast members, whose occasional drifting pitch and jarring volume saw some audience members cringing and leaning backwards. Incorporating the 'Men In Black' into the background of the production was a creative touch, but having them yell at the audience on the way out was too much - we were already eager to leave.
Little Shop of Horrors is playing at Augustine's today at 2:30pm.
How many missed notes does it take to turn off a full house? Not many, it seems. ExADUS Theatre Company's production of the darkly comic musical 'Little Shop Of Horrors' is fast-paced and well-rehearsed, with creative staging and several good performances. Thomas Holmes is particularly effortless as Seymour, letting us both laugh at and sympathise with the tragic hero. But Holmes' talent can't save us from other cast members, whose occasional drifting pitch and jarring volume saw some audience members cringing and leaning backwards. Incorporating the 'Men In Black' into the background of the production was a creative touch, but having them yell at the audience on the way out was too much - we were already eager to leave.
Little Shop of Horrors is playing at Augustine's today at 2:30pm.
10 August 2007
Faith, Hope, and... Genocide?
Originally published in ThreeWeeks.
A play about genocide is not the first place you would look for a story of faith and forgiveness. But the tagline to Leslie Lewis Sword’s one-woman show ‘Miracle In Rwanda’ is “finding God in genocide”, and she sees no contradiction. The show, Sword’s Fringe debut, tells the true story of Immaculée Ilibagiza. Ilibagiza lost her family in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, but she escaped by hiding with seven other women for 91 days in a bathroom. While she hid, up to 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.
Read the rest of the feature here.
A play about genocide is not the first place you would look for a story of faith and forgiveness. But the tagline to Leslie Lewis Sword’s one-woman show ‘Miracle In Rwanda’ is “finding God in genocide”, and she sees no contradiction. The show, Sword’s Fringe debut, tells the true story of Immaculée Ilibagiza. Ilibagiza lost her family in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, but she escaped by hiding with seven other women for 91 days in a bathroom. While she hid, up to 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.
Read the rest of the feature here.
09 August 2007
Like Watching A Car Wreck
Originally published in ThreeWeeks.
What gives a car a “fascinating sound”? For Christian von Richthofen, the percussionist who destroys vehicles, in rhythm, each night during ‘Auto Auto’, the answer is obvious. “How it’s built, what it’s made of. And of course cheaper cars sound better, because there is not so much material inside,” he says. “Never play on Mercedes or Rolls Royce - they sound like crap.” Less material means more sound from the hammers and electric sander, all the better to perform music from Tchaikovsky to Benny Goodman, with the help of collaborators Rolf Clausen and Kristian Bader.
Read the rest of the feature here.
What gives a car a “fascinating sound”? For Christian von Richthofen, the percussionist who destroys vehicles, in rhythm, each night during ‘Auto Auto’, the answer is obvious. “How it’s built, what it’s made of. And of course cheaper cars sound better, because there is not so much material inside,” he says. “Never play on Mercedes or Rolls Royce - they sound like crap.” Less material means more sound from the hammers and electric sander, all the better to perform music from Tchaikovsky to Benny Goodman, with the help of collaborators Rolf Clausen and Kristian Bader.
Read the rest of the feature here.
Stonewall
Originally published in ThreeWeeks.
This glitter-drenched production recalls the events that led to a 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York; a raid which turned into a riot, then days of riots, and then the first Pride parade. It's no Andrew Lloyd Webber - the sixties girl group soundtrack is lip synched, and the dance sequences wouldn't hold up on Broadway. But the punchlines hit home, the costumes are fabulous, and all the queens (especially Rikki Beadle-Blair, also writer and director) just ooze charisma. Blair's script juxtaposes the integrationist gay rights groups of the time with the gutsy street kids and sex workers who actually pulled off Stonewall. But best of all, this sophistication in the script didn't keep the audience from smiling, laughing, and, by the end, standing to cheer.
Seeing Rikki Beadle-Blair reminded me of his short-lived Channel 4 series, Metrosexuality, which I love love love. We like to show this series on special occasions at the anti-homophobia peer education program I used to work with in Toronto. It wish it was as well-known as Queer as Folk, because it does everything better.
Also check out Cate's post about going to see Stonewall - we went together, and it was a bit weirder than I had room to say in the review. Several groups walked out in apparent disgust...
Stonewall is playing at the Pleasance Courtyard every night at 5:50 until 17 August. Buy tickets here.
This glitter-drenched production recalls the events that led to a 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York; a raid which turned into a riot, then days of riots, and then the first Pride parade. It's no Andrew Lloyd Webber - the sixties girl group soundtrack is lip synched, and the dance sequences wouldn't hold up on Broadway. But the punchlines hit home, the costumes are fabulous, and all the queens (especially Rikki Beadle-Blair, also writer and director) just ooze charisma. Blair's script juxtaposes the integrationist gay rights groups of the time with the gutsy street kids and sex workers who actually pulled off Stonewall. But best of all, this sophistication in the script didn't keep the audience from smiling, laughing, and, by the end, standing to cheer.
Seeing Rikki Beadle-Blair reminded me of his short-lived Channel 4 series, Metrosexuality, which I love love love. We like to show this series on special occasions at the anti-homophobia peer education program I used to work with in Toronto. It wish it was as well-known as Queer as Folk, because it does everything better.
Also check out Cate's post about going to see Stonewall - we went together, and it was a bit weirder than I had room to say in the review. Several groups walked out in apparent disgust...
Stonewall is playing at the Pleasance Courtyard every night at 5:50 until 17 August. Buy tickets here.
06 August 2007
Collywobbles
Originally published in ThreeWeeks.
Early in his show, Stan Stanley greeted some latecomers with the line: "We're having an awkward moment". Unfortunately that was too true. Stanley's Fringe solo debut, a self-deprecating stand-up routine about embarrassment and awkwardness, had solid moments rather than a solid whole. You get the sense that Stanley is charming and funny in the pub, but not yet comfortable on stage. He began counting down to the end of the show before I did, and seemed almost embarrassed by some of his own punchlines. Some were funny, yet even then we, the audience, didn't feel moved to laugh all that much. With more practice, this show might improve dramatically. As it is, I left with my face aching, but mostly from smiling encouragingly.
Collywobbles is playing at the Underbelly, 2-26 August at 2:20pm.
Early in his show, Stan Stanley greeted some latecomers with the line: "We're having an awkward moment". Unfortunately that was too true. Stanley's Fringe solo debut, a self-deprecating stand-up routine about embarrassment and awkwardness, had solid moments rather than a solid whole. You get the sense that Stanley is charming and funny in the pub, but not yet comfortable on stage. He began counting down to the end of the show before I did, and seemed almost embarrassed by some of his own punchlines. Some were funny, yet even then we, the audience, didn't feel moved to laugh all that much. With more practice, this show might improve dramatically. As it is, I left with my face aching, but mostly from smiling encouragingly.
Collywobbles is playing at the Underbelly, 2-26 August at 2:20pm.
Heaps of Reviews
Fringe Review has compiled a list of nearly all the review sites. The volume is a bit overwhelming, but do have a poke around.
My choice this morning is View from the Stalls - there is lots of intelligent content up already.
My choice this morning is View from the Stalls - there is lots of intelligent content up already.
05 August 2007
Into the Hoods
I went to see this show after catching a preview at The List's Fringe launch party. It's returning from last year, when apparently everyone loved it. I was not disappointed.
Zoonation's "narrative street dance" is the whole package - fantastic breakdancing, obviously, but also fun, subverted fairy tales, clever minimalist sets, even a sprinkling of cute local children from their hip hop empowerment work in schools. There was some solid drag. I especially appreciated seeing lots of women, and not just as backup dancers - until now, my only exposure to women breakdancing had been through Shameless favourite shebang!
Buy tickets (while you still can!) here. Bring earplugs.
Zoonation's "narrative street dance" is the whole package - fantastic breakdancing, obviously, but also fun, subverted fairy tales, clever minimalist sets, even a sprinkling of cute local children from their hip hop empowerment work in schools. There was some solid drag. I especially appreciated seeing lots of women, and not just as backup dancers - until now, my only exposure to women breakdancing had been through Shameless favourite shebang!
Buy tickets (while you still can!) here. Bring earplugs.
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