list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL THEATRE
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KINGMAKER Sharp satire from Coalition writers ●●●●● CHEF The real Hell's Kitchen ●●●●●
ANTIQUITHON Creepy play in a cabinet of curiosities ●●●●●
‘Max Newman is a joke’, we're told, ‘but a joke that happens not to be funny’. Fortunately, the same cannot be said for Alan Cox who plays Newman, a thinly veiled representation of a certain London Mayor, who stands to become Prime Minister.
From the moment Cox bumbles on stage,
complaining of a small SNAFU at security involving a potentially lethal hair comb, he does the sharply satirical writing justice. From his haughty harrumphing to his bombastic blasting of his own political inefficiencies, Cox executes the character’s essence perfectly. Set to derail Newman’s ambitions is Eleanor
Hopkirk MP, (Joanna Bending) via the ambitious Dan Regan (Laurence Dobiesz). Bending’s performance is at first slightly stilted, but as her character attempts to control Regan, whose naivety and quiet ambition is well-captured by Dobiesz, she establishes herself as a strong opponent for Cox’s absurd yet endearingly cut power figure. This is a funny, enjoyable study of how politics is sometimes less about the issues than it is the larger-than-life personalities and their electable foibles. (Rebecca Monks) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 25 Aug (not 11), 3pm, £12-£14 (£11-£13).
Urban performance poet and playwright Sabrina Mahfouz's fast-talking work takes no prisoners. So it's ironic that her latest play Chef follows the journey of a former sous chef, who is now a convicted inmate running a kitchen. In the lead role, Jade Anouka stands in chef whites, huskily spitting out words like little bullets, defiant and wise, occasionally pausing to write an item on the menu (a whiteboard).
Here, soul food has new meaning – it's the ultimate release, an escape from 'a life so black it's blue'. Violence is the ever-present spectre in her life; she traces a line from her father's blows to a gangster boyfriend whose machismo both attracts and repels her. Terrible acts of abuse and cruelty are undercut by sly humour and recipes for, among other things, yellowtail sashimi and coconut curried tofu. The order and camaraderie in her kitchen is a safe haven from a chaotic life.
Chef never lets go, relentless in its searing
brutality; its energy pulses like blood. Anouka is incredible, almost spent by the end and the audience breathes in as one, exhaling only at the final word. Humane, raw and beautiful. (Lorna Irvine) ■ Underbelly, Bristo Square, 0844 545 748, until 17 Aug, 6.10pm, £9.50-£10.50 (£8.50-£9.50)
At only 30 minutes in length and £5 a pop, with up to five performances a day, Antiquithon is placed as the perfect show-between-shows. A short, sharp spook story loaded with sideshow idiosyncrasies, the tale unfolds in a cabinet de curiosité run by the genial Ourelia Cazaniescu (Aurélie de Cazanove) and her moody mute brother Vodek (Gwen Aduh).
What starts off as an eccentric display of
occult ephemera and mesmerist parlour tricks gradually develops into something sinister and claustrophobic. The audience are roped into this world as
performers: we are the gormless punters, taking a break from our civilised lives to gawp at the backward curiosities of the uncultured east. De Cazanove’s performance is accordingly tinged with a subtext of desperation and resentment: she relies on these rubes to make her living, but knows they think of themselves as superior to her own culture. Backed up by Aduh’s deadpan porter, she’s the not entirely trustworthy conductor on this rickety ghost train – and as with all good fairground rides, this one treats you to at least one big shock before it lets you off. (Niki Boyle) ■ Institut Français d’Ecosse, 225 5366, until 23 Aug (not 11, 18), various times, £5 (£3).
THE GENERATION OF Z Entertaining interative zombie show ●●●●●
‘That’s like every movie I absolutely love,’ grins one punter as he emerges, breathless and ecstatic, from immersive action-horror production The Generation of Z. He’s not wrong – all the familiar tropes from modern zombie flicks are present and correct. Creepy, disused urban spaces? Check. Hordes of gruesomely realised deadheads? Check. A cast of uber- macho grunts who swagger, shout and swear ceaselessly? Big fucking check. Yet for all its reliance on hackneyed horror standards, The Generation of Z is a massive success. Those one-dimensional character cut-outs mean you’re immediately immersed in events as they occur – you don’t need to waste time figuring out which one’s the hot-head and which one’s the terse but noble leader. Instead, you can focus all your attention on the very real fear of a zombie trying to gnaw your leg off.
The production’s only major hiccup is audience size – groups of 100 are simply too big to corral into an effective scared-shitless unit, even when they are split in two once indoors. It’s unlikely that Royale Productions will willingly halve their income by reducing audience numbers though, so for now just enjoy G of Z for the jumps, the scares, and the elated sense of community spirit you’ll feel when (if) you finally escape. (Niki Boyle) ■ Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 25 Aug (not 11, 19), 9pm (& 11.30pm Thu–Sun), £12.
7–14 Aug 2014 THE LIST FESTIVAL 81