Festival THEATRE
LIGHT Surveillance inspires new show by experimental award-winners T hough equally brilliant, Theatre Ad
of urgency or alarm. And I’m talking about myself here too: I’m still using Facebook and Skype even though I know people have the ability to get in on my conversations.’
Mann and his co-artistic directors Nir Paldi and Amy Nostbakken are Lecoq-trained, and Light will be a non-verbal show set completely in the dark, lit with LED torchlights and with live sound effects by Mann to create a dystopian, futuristic atmosphere. ‘I think dystopian futures are so powerful,’ he says. ‘Take Nineteen Eighty-Four or Fahrenheit 451: they are set in the future but they make us think about our present. And that’s what I wanted to create. I really hope it’ll generate discussion and I hope it’ll make people think.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman)
Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 2–25 Aug (not 11, 18), 5.15pm, £10–£13 (£8.50– £12). Previews 30 Jul–1 Aug, £7.50.
Infinitum’s last two Fringe shows couldn’t have been more different: 2011’s Translunar Paradise was an exquisite, romantic piece of mime, while last year’s Ballad of the Burning Star was a bold, brash cabaret act about life in Israel. ‘That’s one of our aims,’ explains co-artistic director George Mann, ‘to make sure we do something different each time.’
Commissioned by the London International Mime Festival, their new show Light will also be distinct. Ten years ago, Mann had a terrifying nightmare ‘set in the future in a surveillance, totalitarian state’, and has been trying to create a piece of theatre about it – unsuccessfully – ever since. But the surveillance revelations exposed last year by Edward Snowden have given the idea a new lease of life. ‘There seems to be this weird complacency [about surveillance],’ says Mann, ‘a lack
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HITLIST THE BEST THEATRE EVENTS
✽ The Trial of Jane Fonda The untold story of how Fonda’s anti-war antics
and tactics impacted on the geopolitics of the American state. Starring Anne Archer (pictured). See feature at list.co.uk/festival. Assembly Rooms, 0844 693 3008, 1–24 Aug (not 11), 4.05pm, £16 (£13). Previews 30 & 31 Jul, £10.
✽ Party in the USA! Wild physical
theatre from New York. See preview, page 82. Underbelly, Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, 2–25 Aug (not 11), 3pm, £11–£12 (£10–£11). Previews 30 Jul–1 Aug, £7.
✽ Light See preview, left. Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 2–25 Aug (not 11, 18), 5.15pm,
£10–£13 (£8.50–£12). Previews 30 Jul–1 Aug, £7.50.
✽ Donald Robertson Is Not a Stand- Up Comedian Glasgow theatremaker Gary McNair offers some worldly wisdom – of the comedy kind – to a young boy he meets on the bus, and learns a thing or two in the process. See feature, page 70. Traverse, 228 1404, 1–24 Aug (not 4, 11, 18), times vary, £18 (£13). Preview 31 Jul, £12 (£7).
✽ Return to the Voice Acclaimed
Polish theatre company Song of the Goat take inspiration from traditional Gaelic song for this spellbinding musical performance. See feature, page 73. Summerhall @ St Giles’ Cathedral, 0845 874 3001, 7–25 Aug (not 10–12, 17, 22–24), times vary, £15 (£13). Preview 6 Aug, 10.30pm, £12.
✽ Janis Joplin: Full Tilt A triumphant piece of musical theatre which blew
audiences away when it was first performed last year. See feature, page 66. Assembly Checkpoint, 623 3030, 2–24 Aug (not 12, 19), 8.50pm, £12–£13.50. Previews 31 Jul & 1 Aug, £10.
31 Jul–7 Aug 2014 THE LIST FESTIVAL 65