Theatre
Once A Catholic Bahia/(e At Diverse Attractions. DiverseAttractions. 13—18 Aug. 3.15pm. ('onvent girls feel the corrupting influence of Elvis in Mary ()‘Malley's comic drama.
Once On This island American High School Theatre I'estival. Church Hill Theatre. until I!) Aug. times vary Broadway show about the power of love over death.
Once On This Mattress American Higlt School Theatre Festival. Church Hill Theatre. ioitil It) Aug. times vary. Rodgers and IIariiriierstein's musical take on classic fairytale The Princess and the I’ea. One Night In Laugharne Dot/n Modern Poets. (ii'¢'_\j/ri(ir‘.s' Kirk House.
[4— [9' Aug. 3.50pm. ()riginal performance poetry featuring Aeron Thomas. daughter of Dylan Thomas.
One Night Stand krement X. Hill Street Theatre. roitil 27 Aug. I 0.25pm. Think Norway. Think fjords. I’eer (iynt. and inflatable dolls. Following successful worldwide tours. Norwegian company Krement X brings its One Night Standfor a three-week stand in Edinburgh. Lifting the lid on the most fleeting of personal encounters. it incorporates ambient techno music into a physical and dynamic production.
Only As Multiple Demureo Rocket Prmluctions. Rocket (0‘ St John 's Hall.
l.i’-- [8 Aug. 4.30pm. Trident Theatre's new play set in I92lls Lisbon.
Opera Galactica 0000 Opera (ialactica. Gateway Theatre. until 27Aug. 7pm. To parody and celebrate opera effectively is no easy task. We all know the plots are absurd. the singers generally can't act. the tra—la-la attempts at dialogue verge on the ridiculous and the inevitable final death scenes sung at full voice go on forever. Btit what makes this witty and inventive spoof of the Star Wars trilogy succeed so well is that the power of the mUsic that lies at the heart of opera is retained. The epic inter-galactic adventures provide rich pickings for subtle and comic satire with the camp hero Duke setting out to rescue the pririia donna Princess Slayer from the clutches of the bass Dark Invader. The clever 3- piece orchestration is matched by singing rarely found on the Fringe (especially the impressive Judith Plint). Although you have to know your arias from your elbow to appreciate all the jokes. the favourites are there as Mozart. Verdi. Puccini and Wagner's greatest works are ransacked shamelessly. This production may not enthrall those kids hoping for riiore cosmic excitement but it is great musical entertainment and opera buffs will love it. (Robin Hodge)
Opposites Attract North London Performing Arts Centre. C helle angele. 12—18 Aug. ll..i’()am. A return showing of the 7()s-set musical.
Orgasmo Aduito British Russian Theatre Project. Rocket (0‘ Royal College ol'Sutgeons. until [8 Aug. times vary. For reasons far too elaborate to go into here
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Tiny Dynamite oooo Traverse Theatre. until 25 Aug. times vary. The question in advance was whether this collaboration between Paines Plough. Frantic Assembly and sundry luminaries from the British theatre scene would be more or less than the sum of its parts. As it turns out. that's not the question at all.
The contribution of each pan is right and balanced. The Frantic Asseriibly actors deliver well-drilled physical expression - but not too much of it. The direction of Paines Plough‘s Vicky Featherstone is true to the language - but fluid enough to let go of it. The music of Suspect Culture's Nick Powell is commanding - but not dominating. And the same is true of the design of Improbable's Julian Crouch.
But what does give the illusion of being more than the sum of its very meagre parts is Abi Morgan‘s script. It‘s about two young men who have loved a girl literally to death. The experience has left them somewhere between unsettled and dysfunctional. locked in a netherworld of guilt and helplessness.
Not a bad premise for a play. but this sliver of an idea is not so much developed as padded out. Morgan and the team creating an elegant. sometimes dazzling hall of mirrors that reflects something rather too fragile tojustify the effort. (Mark Fisher)
()rgasmo Adultois now called I)ol/yarid no longer goes under the banner of British Russian Tlicatrc Project btit Vitriol. It's the new ‘disturbing and weird' piece of physical theatre from Swedish/Japanese actress Maria Bergman ~ ‘it's about a woman who has been locked up iii a Victorian asylum all her life. locked tip by her father like a dog so she is completely alienated from the rest of the world.‘ Othello New I’ltoetti.t Theatre. ()ld Assembly Close. until [0 Aug. 7pm. Four actors tise eight-foot puppets and percussion to explore the theme of manipulation in Shakespeare's tragedy. OUO - Maan Theatre IVor/(s‘hop and l’leasance. Theatre ll'in'ks/top. (#18 Aug. 9.30pm. Like Cliaka Khan. Whitney Houston and karaoke queens the world over. actress Deborah A. Williams is a multi-faceted being. thouin for a lazy. label-obsessed society she is often neatly packaged as a black. disabled female. She’s also a successful writer and a performer. Iler new show. 'o(,'o'-
maant woman) addresses precisely this issue of identity in the face of socic‘ty"s love of pigeon boling. 'oUo'-nraan is the latest outing from Reality Productions. set tip ten years ago by Williams with director Alison Sinclair. "The company was conceived in response to the lack of imagination. the irrelevance and blandness of London theatre.‘ she says. ‘We‘ve collaborated with a lot of London-based artists and we‘ve got a more recognised output now. so it's great to bring a show to Edinburgh and a wider audience.’ (Allan Radcliffe)
Our Bad Magnet Assettihly Rooms. 13-27 Aug. l..i’()pm. The prolific young Scots writer Douglas Maxwell Iias the unusual pleasure of having two plays produced on this year‘s Fringe. While Decky Does a Broncocari be seen at Scotland Yard Playground. the Tron teams up with Borderline to present a slightly trimmed version of ()ur Bad .ltagnet. Set in Maxwell’s home town of (iirvan. it's a magical dark comedy that revolves around four young boys moving from apparent childhood innocence into the complex world of adult life. 'People were surprised by how popular it was last year.' says Maxwell. ‘Lots of people came to see it a couple of times. and it mainly spread
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64 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 9-15 Aug 2001
An elegant hall of mirrors that
something rather too
through word of mouth. I'm really glad that there is a new production because I didn't expect to see it on.‘ (Davie Archibald)
Outsllence-2 Modern Social Technologies Centre ofArmenia ~ l'erevan Theatre. Rocket (0 Kirk ()'l"ield. until ll Aug. 9.15pm. lixploring masks in theatre. The Overcoat Diverse Attractions. until ll Aug. 7.30pm. A Scottish adaptation of (iogol's play from Moving Parts. Pandora’s Box 0000 Mamiin I’ostgrad/A'nith Theatre Company. Cafe Royal Fringe Theatre. until [8 Aug. .i’pm. Well. Iiip hip hu/zah for this bawdy caper from Melbourne's Monash Graduate Players. If the title provokes a tittcr. then feel free to titter at leisure for. in true Augustan style. Sally Faraday's 17th century pastiche boils down to finding as many elaborate euphemisriis for getting one's end away as can be squeezed into two hours.
All the familiar archetypes are represented here. from rakish rogues and lords ‘n' ladies to the brilliantly limp Lord Fartingdcn. with the cast uniformly enjoying themselves in lustrous wigs and voluminoUs costumes. But the main highlight is Faraday"s spot-on script. which fully succeeds in retaining the spirit of Restoration Comedy without ever spilling into irreverent parody. Aphra Behn would have been proud. (Allan Radcliffe).
The Part of Bob Kingdom will be Played by an Actor Assemth Rooms. until 27Aug. [1.45am One man show written and performed by Fringe veteran Bob Kingdom.
Party to the Divorce lxmterne Theatre Company. Rocket (0 St John 's Hall. until [8 Aug. times vary. Bad manners and dirty tricks emerge among party guests in this new comedy.
Passengers Rocket (0 Soutlt Bridge Resource Centre. until I I Aug. 8pm. New comic drama about the dangers of speaking to strangers on public transport.
The Passers-By Project 2' Theatre Company. The Garage. until I 7 Aug. [.45pm. Devised theatre about everyone from artists to joggcrs to zoo keepers. Passion Play Rocket QT Royal College of Surgeons. until IXAug. 3.40pm. Adultery and passion are the themes in Peter Nichols' play.
Peace at Last . . . Diverse Attractions. until [5’ Aug. 3.30pm. Workshops and talks focusing on meditation. Raja yoga and spiritual skills. A Peasant Of El Salvador Dolphin Theatre. C o2. until 26 Aug. 4.15pm. Political theatre set in [El Salvador. where a family is destroyed by starvation and death squads. Periect U Spindle Theatre. Old St Paul's Church & Hall. until 1/ Aug. 2..i‘()pm. Violent poetry meets physical dynamism in this fairytale of the grotesque. Perpetuum Mobile Dentarco Roi-kw Productions. Rocket (0 Royal College of Surgeons. l3~l8 Aug. 8pm. ()nce regarded as daring and off-tlie-wall. avarit-garde has sadly become the label associated with anything remotely experimental. That said. j.l.s. avarit-garde theatre's production of P'rpetuum Mohilelias all the hallmarks of the genuine article. The company asks Us to enter a theatre without script. mise- en-scene. costuriies or lights. ‘Lifc is theatre.‘ says artistic director Samir Mehanovich. 'As in life. in this theatre performance things will be unpredictable. undirected but nonetheless it will happen.‘ Bold and iconoclastic. this Bosnian theatre company attempts to break down walls of perception and explore the coriiplexities of modern life. while offering a new way of viewing it. Approach it on its own terms. Put your standard responses aside and it might just be a liberation. (Anna Millar) Petrified Skin Komedia St Step/tens. 15—27 Aug. times vary. ‘It will push Us to our physical limits.‘ says director Wolfgang Hoffmann of Fabric's Fringe offering. Petrified Skin. l99‘) saw the German company walk away with the Scotsman's Fringe First for Hopeless Gamesand Hoffmann is well aware that expectations for the performance will be higher than ever. Made shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall. P'trrfied Skinis the tale of man‘s struggle to regain a sense of dignity and free will in the shadow of apartheid. Through dance and music (Shostakovich) the piece depicts two men fighting through the political. ideological and psychological walls. which constrain them. This is sure to be a sombre but sincere piece that offers ample food for thought. (Anna Millar)
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Listings Supplement.