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Theatre
Throw in a free-form rhyming scheme and a taste for the supernatural and you have a production that's been an unlikely hit in Dublin and New York.
‘It's like The Terminator.‘ says O'Rowe.
‘If you think about it. it doesn't make sense. It works in the story. but it's a bit ungraspable.‘ (Mark Fisher)
I Traverse Theatre, 228 7404, 3—24 Aug (not 77 , 7 8), times vary, 2 7 6—!) 78 (E7 7—572). Previews 7 & 2 Aug. El 7 (£5).
SCARAMOUCHE JONES Quintessential English hero finally arrives north of the border
Millennium Fever took hold at the end of the last century. with some people anticipating the end of the world and others a fresh start. But after two world wars. the demise of the British Empire. and dizzying technological advances. England seemed to be
struggling to find its place in the world.
‘There had been a lot of excitement
about devolution and a kind of cultural renaissance going on in other parts of the UK.‘ says Justin Butcher. writer of Scaramouche Jones. ‘I toyed with creating a piece of quintessentially English st0rytelling and what that would feel like.’
The son of a Trinidadian gypsy and
GEORGE ORWELL’S COMING UP FOR AIR
Adaptation of overlooked novel by born again Fringe virgin
an Englishman. Butcher's eponymous hero spends his life on a guest to find his father. "There's something therapeutic about it.‘ says Butcher. 'This is an old man's confession, it's the ast hour of his life. and the century. l'ni lfiVlIll‘lg people to consider the arc of a human life. and how meaning emerges With time.‘
Over eight years of peitormances. the play has been taken across the world. but this is its first outing at the Fringe. 'Unusual theatre sprouts from every orifice at the Fringe. so it's the ultimate challenge.’ he says. ‘It feels a bit like jumping off a high diVing board." lSarah Redhead)
I Assembly Rooms. (523 3030. 2-25 Aug (not ll). 12.20pm, f‘l2—5,‘l.’3 «mo-5‘12). Prewews 3/ Jul 8. 1 Aug. 558.
PAPERWEIGHT Near-silent play explores the soul vacuum of office life
“We v-rant to create something so dense that when people watch it everyone has an immediate response. or a response that trickles down a couple of days later while they're still thinking about it.' says Sebastien Lawson of theatre company Top Of The World.
In 200:"). the company performed Homemade in people's liying rooms. and Paperweight also attempts to sidestep preconcei)tions about entering a theatre space. Lawson shudders a bit at the term ‘site- specific'. but the group has taken over
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Assembly's (BO-seater Scott Room for the duration of the run and built an office environment for this mostly silent comedy. in which two men struggle to cope with a stressful workload.
'lt's basically about how you can co- e><ist With people but not really know them.‘ he says. ‘Also. the sense yOu get in certain workplaces that there's kind of a vacuum of soul there.’
In keeping With the company's approach to live theatre. the production grew organically. ‘lt got to a point where we had 300 pieces of paper and had to whittle it down. So I guess there is a script. in that there's a stack of paper wrth ideas on them. but we know what order they come in now.‘ lAlastair Mabbottl I Assembly Rooms. (523 3030. 5—24 Aug met I I, 78/. :3pm. 5370—512 if‘8—5_‘l()). Mat/noes M a 15. 2] <3 22 Aug, 2pm. Previews 1—3 Aug, [5.
'1' ll 1-: A ‘l' R Ii presents
On the eve of its 70th anniversary, one of George Orwell’s lesser-known novels has been adapted as a one-hour monologue to be performed by veteran Fringe actor and stand-up comedian Hal Cruttenden. Set in England in 1938, Coming Up For Air dramatises the dark mood of the times - the growing dread of the imminent war in Europe, the alienating nature of modernity - through the story of a middle-aged insurance salesman named George Bowling, who, fearing for the future of the nation, abandons suburbia for the countryside of his youth, where he attempts to salvage something from his dashed hopes and dreams.
Orwell’s novel has been adapted by Dominic Cavendish, who makes his Fringe debut as a writer but who has been coming to Edinburgh every August for years as theatre and comedy critic for The Daily Telegraph. It was on the way back to London last year that Cavendish read the book, and, struck by its contemporary resonance, turned it into a monologue earlier this year for his friend Cruttenden.
‘Orwell’s book has a peculiar pertinence,’ says Cavendish. ‘He was expressing a certain dread of the modern world, when society was in industrial overdrive. Today, with the war and the economic downturn, everything is going to pot. We have the urban sprawl and the Countryside Alliance. We have constant workloads to deal with. That’s a very noughties phenomenon. Orwell’s novel, which is an elegy for a vanishing England and a story of an early mid-life crisis, is very relevant to all of that. It speaks to anyone who is harried and overworked. So I thought now was the right time to bring it to the Fringe.’
In addition to selling his show to the punters, Cavendish will be undertaking his regular critical duties for the Telegraph. ‘For the first time in years I’m an Edinburgh virgin,‘ he says. ‘People have said I must be mad.’ (Miles Fielder)
I Assembly Rooms, 623 3030. 3—25 Aug (not I l), l lam, if! l.5().—.f..‘ I250 (£370.50—E7 7.50). Previews I 8. 2 Aug, 575.
/ ..;: Lii‘t'i ~.‘. " litjliiiiii irigi h ,1 - 1 - 25 Aug [not 13 Aug?“ _ 13.15—14.15 g. Tickets from wwww.edfring Fringe Office 0131 226 0000 Venue 0131220 0143
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