Festival Theatre
NATASHA WOOD: ROLLING WITH LAUGHTER
One woman and her wheelchair OOO
Natasha Wood likes to move. She rushes you through the story of her Irle at breakneck speed, mimicking her parents, her doctor, her lovm and her brother. Her rrronologue flows in and out of family holidays and past conversations and across continents: she'll shrlt place and time wrthout preamble, and, thanks to some excellent script editing you never gurte lose your place. Wood was born with Spinal Muscular AtrOphy; her story tells why she never allowed being wheelchair bound and dependent on (:are assistants to hold her back. So slick and honed rs her performance of her own life that when we reach the bits of her lrfe that are strll raw and recent for her — the death of her brother, the breakdown of her marriage — rt's a shock to realise that the emotion she's gorng through rs genuine.
Apart from her disabrlrty Wood's story rs not especrally unusual, and many of the events she spends trme detailing are resolutely ordinary, but some lovely. bawdy Northern humour and those bittersweet nuggets of emotroo make this a touching evenrng's entertainment. (Kirstin lnnesr I Pleasance Dome, 556 (i550, untr/ Mon 27 Aug (not 20 8 21). (S. lfiprrr, [6—419 (PS-f7).
POPSICLE’S DEPARTURE, 1 989
A day in the life of the Boston grunge scene 0000
Nineteen eighty-nrne. Seattle's rnrghh Sub-Pop label dominates the grunge scene. Dido can't get hold of her dealer, and tonrght Jeremy's band have tota/ly got a grg Supporting the Lemonheads. On film these characters WOuld be played by Matt Dillon and Winona Ryder; well-scrubbed and ultimately redeemable. The soundtrack wduld be a bestseller. Here. though.
Telephone Booking Fringe 0131 226 0000 International Festival 0131 473 2000
Film Festival 0131 623 8030 Book Festival 0845 373 5888 Art Festival 0777 169 3470
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DEAD LIVING
Global warming drama 00.
Multinational corporations: usually come under fire in clrrrrate change debates. but just last month. ()lltr such grant. Coca-Cola t nterprrses. announced plans to cut down the amount of water rt uses by srx percent and reduce energ\ used for lrghtrng b. :50 percent. Meanwhrle much of the UK population still leaves televrsrons on standby and refuses to make the simple swap to energ\. saxrng light bulbs.
So. when global warrnrng '.‘.’ll)t::; us out who should we blame'.‘ ihrs pl()\’()(‘illl‘.'tr l rrnge prece takes place rrr two separate drmensions, the land of the living, where Co(:a~Co|a sends a team of explorers to Antarctica rn search of the freshest water. and lhc Crtv a holdrng pen for the recently deceased As a new disease threatens to extermrnate Illllllétllll\. could rt be mother earth's rmenge ? Based on a noxel. the narratne alone makes for ar‘ interesting show and desprte tlie tact that the\ don't always work. be ti-(ttl. for some exerting experimental ‘. and physical technrgues (Nicola Husbandl I The Grrded Bar/ooh Terror. 86%? 7b. .
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MACBETH: WHO IS THAT BLOODIED MAN? Shakespeare spectacle full of fire and bike chases oooo
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62 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 16—33 Aug 30;"
www.|ist.co.uk/theatre
ROMEO AND JULIET A rose by any other body 0000
Having finally got over Baz Luhrmann's version, it feels like we can move on to a new approach to this popular. if flawed, old Shakespearean standby. If Peter Meineck's version for Aquila doesn‘t quite make for a new ‘standard‘, it certainly reinvigorates the play in a manner that allows for new perspectives on a text that‘s done some hard labour over the centuries.
The trick to this one, though it‘s not a mere gimmick, is that the actors move among the audience at the opening of the show, requesting that they draw lots to establish which performer plays which role. Thus, on the afternoon I saw the piece, Tony Cochrane, a stout, middle aged man, played Juliet. Of course, the temptation to ‘camp' the part when actors play across gender is strong, and a little of this went on. But less than you’d think. Indeed, in altering the expectations we‘d normally impose upon a human body when we think of, say, Paris or Romeo, we find different ways of viewing the text.
As it is, the piece, after a certain amount of nervous giggling from the audience for the first 20 minutes, proved a study of emotional misunderstanding, confusion and obsession. All of these elements are in any Romeo and Juliet, but in relocating the age and gender of characters, there’s much we realise about love. That we might associate adolescent displays of emotion with a teenage girl is one thing — but this production alerts us to the fact that a middle aged man is just as capable of such feelings. There are also some surprising lights thrown upon Old Capulet (a woman in her 305) and a rather sensual and saturnine Mercutio (from a girl you might normally expect to play Juliet). The piece is more fascinating than emotionally compelling, but more than worth its admission fee. (Steve Cramer)
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