Festival THEATRE
For more For more info go to info go to LIST.CO.UK LIST.CO.UK /FESTIVAL /FESTIVAL
HITLIST THE BEST THEATRE & DANCE
✽ The Various Lives Of Infinite Nullity More French-style physical theatre, this
time pulling together the dark poetry of Flann O’Brien and Clout’s bleak clowning. See review online. Summerhall, 0845 874 3001, until 25 Aug (not 19), £10 (£8).
✽ Red Bastard Expect audience participation
and existential terror as the New York performance artist pushes you to fulfill your deepest desires. Not for the nervous though. See review, page 75. Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 26 Aug, 4.40pm (not 14), £11–£13 (£10–£12).
✽ The Bunker Trilogy: Morgana Updated medieval tale of love and war,
set in the confines of a WWI bunker, and part of a vigorous project to examine the conflict in familiar myths and tragedies. See review online. C nova, 0845 260 1234, until 26 Aug, 5.45pm, £11.50–£13.50 (£7.50–£11.50).
✽ Blam! Physical theatre gets a touch of Jackie Chan-style panache and reinvents
the office as a play and battleground. See review page 72. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 26 Aug (not 20), 5.55pm, £10–£15 (£8.50–£13.50).
✽ We Will Be Free The mummers’ play
is the perfect medium for the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who kicked off the British Trade Union movement. See review page 73. Assembly Rooms, 220 4348, until 25 Aug, 12.30pm, £15 (£5–£12).
✽ HeLa An uncompromising study of medical ethics that uncovers the ambiguity
behind the improvements in cancer care, while also considering the racism of the past. Summerhall, 0845 874 3001, until 25 Aug (not 20), 6.45pm, £9 (£7).
LEAVING PLANET EARTH The future is fi lled with promise, but its delivery throws up some awkward truths
G rid Iron has previously demonstrated itself as a master of the site-specific play, winning 27 awards over 18 years. Working on a massive scale for the International Festival, their latest show Leaving Planet Earth is a dystopian science fiction that raises the question of whether, in an era of disposability, it becomes possible to dispose of an entire planet.
Unfortunately, Grid Iron fail to transform the venue, Ratho Climbing Centre, into a convincing new world. The uneven match between the gimmick – the audience are part of a final migration into space – and the fragmented scenes of personal and political anxiety on the New Earth overwhelms the sensitive writing and deft characterisation from playwrights Lewis Hetherington and Catrin Evans. While Old Earth is pictured in the final stages of collapse, the dystopia of
New Earth is never convincingly evoked as an alternative: the description of its relationship to the past is not consistent and the new society is ill-described. Most disappointingly, the various strands of the plot – the leader’s anxiety about her recalcitrant sister, the decision to destroy Old Earth – are not convincingly weaved into a satisfying resolution. The final light show, which would have been impressive in the Bongo Club, falls short in the grandeur of the space. Contained within this three-hour presentation is a strong short, intimate play about the hidden dangers within the chase for happiness, but in this form it fails to find a consistent tone or match the scale of its ambitions. (Gareth K Vile)
Edinburgh International Conference Centre, 473 2000, until 24 Aug, 8pm. ●●●●●
I
J U S T N B E R N H A U T
I I
K R A G W N T E R B O T T O M
- T O W N S E N D
15–22 Aug 2013 THE LIST FESTIVAL 71