Theatre
Book Festival 0131 624 5050
Fringe 0131 226 0000
hiternational Festival 0131 473 2000 Fin Festival 0131 623 arm Jazz Festival 0131 an 2000
CHILDREN OF THE SEA Children of the tsunami speak
There's no shortage of topical drama on the Fringe. but surely the most poignant and timely of all Will be Toby Gough's alfresco pageant. Children of the Sea.
Eight months after the Asian tSunamr. the director has brought together a company of teenage actors from Sn Lanka — many of whom were orphaned by the disaster — to create a spectaCLilar piece of life- affirming theatre based on Shakespeare's Pericles.
Storytelling has always been there to help us understand the darkness around and the darkness wrthrn.‘ says Gough as we drive into Colombo. the Sir Lankan capital. ‘Theatre has to come to places where there has been devastation. To give people a poetic narrative helps rebuild communities. People all over the world have suffered from the tSunami — it's a unique international event that touched even/body Bringing the show to Edinburgh is a sharrrrg of that experience and a way of showrng the indomitabrlity of the human sprrrt.'
(Mark Fisherl
I Royal Botanic Garden. 5:32 717/. until 28 Aug. 8.30pm. {370—5772 liT8—5‘IOr.
COASTLINE
Politics with pizzazz
Dynamic American theatre company Serious Play! find tackling big political iSSues entertaining. and their exploration of contemporary concerns promises to be a VISSllEtHy Vibrant theatrical treat. Artistic director Sheryl Stoodley says: "We are a yOung. adult American theatre ensemble Speaking from our point of view in a language that is new. startling.
fanciful and generally outrageous about ‘.'.rhat is not ‘.'.’f)l'kill§l ii: the USA touaj,.'
Created in collaboration .'.ith play.'.rrgh’. Alice laan. their story is about t‘.'.'o youi‘g Arirer'icairs in search for meaning in what Stoodley. describes as 'a féltllfiltr road trrr: for the soul: a journey the iltl(:f;li()l‘.il‘.tl spirit in all of as wants, to take'. \.'.':I'r an anusiia; structure. Coasfr'xr‘e includes rnoxer'renf. rap. song. gtarrt puppets and electronic ined'a incorporating lrrar‘s language «.‘xhrci‘ Stoodle‘, :lescr lies as 'raw rhythm. explicit and on the edge. lt's not for the faint of heartf rMiclrc-Je Ma(::i:t',re I Soufirsrde err/7' ."I’ 7.7}. f "1.).()/lli"(}r.’ll)f lire. :3.~i’:'>pri:. 97.5%) «(at OUT OF THE BLUE Great venue under the Big Top
.Just to prove that no turn will l.-e left unturned ll‘. the Festi'.'al's bid for total city domination. this year Out of the Dilue are (I()llll‘litl‘.(l(}(3lllltl a former tram and bus depot on l ert'n “."‘.’a:k. Opening the programmers Nol it State Circus .'.*ll()f;(} gravity defying credentials suggest ther. are a hell of a lot fitter than your average Festival punter. In their ultra modern. f;i|‘.(}l and pink big top this az'xarrl '.'.rinnrrig conteir rural: circus f:llf3(:ll‘l,ri: .-.’rlr take us on ar‘ :rrtr;rrse:, I)tl‘,f;l(;£t| anrl r;.ertl~. theatrica' exploration of the 'run‘arr ricrrtlrfirw ri‘.
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JUMP
Martial arts farce
‘Jackie Chan meets Charlie Chaplin’ is the tag-line — and for once it’s not just hype. Hong Kong Fuey could not put on a sillier lesson in martial arts. Inspector Clouseau’s Cato would struggle to keep up.
Jump’s premise couldn’t be simpler. A dysfunctional kung-fu-Ioving family - lovestruck daughter, bickering parents and drunken uncle — are put through their paces by their grandfather, before being forced to defend their home from bungling burglars. Within this potentially rickety framework, this talented group of Korean actors and gymnasts have taken each visual gag and polished it until it shines like a Shaolin master’s sword.
A few years ago, Jump’s creator Chul-Ki Choi brought the culinary comedy Cookin’ to Edinburgh, and it was a fire officer’s nightmare since it required working hobs on stage. There are no naked flames this time, though the company has put down its own foam rubber stage, required to give them lift off and cushion the (very) rare fall.
What's most impressive about this show, though, is that it doesn’t — as it could so easily — just rely on its performers’ undeniably spectacular feats. The set-pieces are there: running up vertical walls, back flips that would disgrace an Olympic floor routine, chopping boards in half with feet. But a deeper pleasure is watching this cast do slapstick with such style and timing, whether performing a tango that becomes a fight, recreating the flying scenes from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dagger, or trading bullets in a John Woo-style shoot-out. They may be daft but, unlike Cato, they’re
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THE RACE Fast-paced physical theatre
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AN OAK TREE Fantastic act of metamorphosis from acclaimed playwright/performer
As ‘.'.IIll his acclaimed 7003 sl‘ro‘.'. 37‘; Am“. plays/riglrt and performer lim ()rouchs follors,‘ .ip turns on a fantastic irretamoir>hosrs. til/hen a nail roses his daughter in a car accident. he ‘.".'l!!i; her into becoming the tree at the site of her death. Meanx'xh'le. the car's (lll‘.'t?l. a stage ri\.pnotist. finds he has iost n.s [XVI/(ll of suggestion.
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pushrng the capability of theatre to snake something fantastic out of no hing.' says Crouch. "lhat dynamic only ex'sts in theatre. It‘s a monumental act of suggestion: if I say I am this thing. the audience buys rt. It's seerng theatre as a low— leer hypnotic trance or as a tlematerrairstxl art tor’rrr: against all empirical logic. for exarnpie. a mobile phone becomes my brother. "I he audience needs orin the smallest stimulus to become entranced. lhe less you do. the more they get involved. It's a play. its a game. and fun is the ()l)(}l£ltl\.’(? \J/ord.‘
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for GLASGOW THEATRE see non-Festival magazine