STIXX AND STONES
A celebrity-obsessed anti-hero takes centre stage in Philip Ridley’s latest play. Elliot Roberts fi nds out more
Philip Ridley —children’s author, visual artist, i lmmaker and the playwright behind some of the most shocking scripts of the past decade—returns to the Fringe after his success with Dark Vanilla Jungle. Yet while that play told a tale of female exploitation, his new work highlights a chaotic, celebrity-obsessed and violent masculine crisis. Tonight with Donny Stixx features an anti-hero who believes that his monstrous behaviour is no barrier to a career as a host on his own TV show.
‘It’s a companion piece,’ Ridley says. ‘It shares certain scenes and for those people that know Dark Vanilla Jungle, I think it will be an interesting story to sit through because there are certain connections and parallels.’ But he is quick to warn that it’s not a ‘male version of a female play . . . it’s a very different thing.’ The production, mounted by director David Mercatali with Sean Michael Verey (star of BBC3’s Pramface) as Donny Stixx, is enacted in Ridley’s intense stripped-back style: ‘one person on stage, but on a bare stage; no props, no lighting changes, no sound cues. Everything is created by the use of language, everything is created by words.’
It is no surprise that Ridley’s intensely theatrical stagecraft would i nd a home at the Fringe, for practical (it is the right length and easily staged) and aesthetic reasons (his plays rel ecting the mania of the festival experience). As he says: ‘I’m more interested in smaller spaces with audiences that feel part of the action, involved, that can see the sweat on an actor’s brow. To see an actor go through an overwhelming emotion in front of you is still the most thrilling and life- changing experience that you can have.’ Ridley says that Tonight with Donny Stixx ‘deals with a terrible act of violence and it deals with this new phenomenon we have of public shaming. So the protagonist is a boy who has ambitions in show business but the way that pans out is actually . . .’ Ridley pauses coquettishly. ‘Well . . . I think you’ll have to come and see the play.’ ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 8–31 Aug (not 18, 25), 2.45pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11). Previews 5–7 Aug, £7.
FESTIVAL THEATRE | Religion
Charlie and the Philosorappers
with demons in a contemporary society. In a production supported by the Wellcome Trust, Bailey exposes the thin line between what is now understood as a challenging mental health condition but what was once understood in more mystical terms. Yet even among the more rational approaches to religious belief – Gresham Knight, McCarthy and Morgan all challenge the subject – the usefulness of its language and characters is evident. As Jo Clifford concludes, theatre is ideal for the discussion of matters spiritual, ‘because to create good theatre around these themes they have to stop being theological abstractions and become clothed in l esh and blood.’
And Christopher Haydon, who is directing The Christians (including a full choir on stage) at the Traverse, recognises how its themes remain pertinent. ‘Although the play is set within an American evangelical church – which is quite different from the kind of Christianity we have in the UK – the underlying issues about faith, community and leadership will ring true for everyone, even hardcore atheists!’ The diversity of religious imagery and traditions on display at the Fringe are a reminder of how these ancient systems are symbolic ways of examining common human experience, and the theatricality of theology can lend an intensity to what might otherwise be a dull discussion of Big Ideas. Religion may be controversial, but it suggests a smooth strategy for summoning powerful performances.
Satan Speaks: ‘Why I Don’t Exist’ – A TED-ish Talk, Gilded Balloon, 622 6552, 8–23 Aug, 10.30pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10). Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £5.
Blake Remixed, Underbelly Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, 8–29 Aug (not 19), 10.15pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9). Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £6. The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven, Summerhall, 560 1581, 8–30 Aug (not 10 & 11, 17 & 18, 24 & 25), 10.45pm (except 23, 9pm in Summerhall @ Artspace at St Mark’s), £10–£12 (£12–£15). Previews 5–7 Aug, £7.
Paradise Bride, Just the Tonic at The Community Project, 0330 220 1212, 19–30 Aug, 12.05pm, £5. Morgana Le Fay, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 556 9579, 20–31 Aug, 5pm, £10 (£7.50).
Building God, Banshee Labyrinth, 226 0000, 7–31 Aug, 5.10pm, free. Charlie and the Philosorappers, Just the Tonic at The Mash House, 226 0000, 8–29 Aug, 8.20pm, £8–£10. Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £6.
The Temptation of St Anthony, Summerhall, 560 1581, 16–30 Aug (not 24), 9.15pm, £12 (£9). Previews 13–15 Aug, £7. The Christians, Traverse, 228 1404, 9–30 Aug, times vary, £20 (£8–£15). Previews 3, 8 Aug, £8.
86 THE LIST FESTIVAL 6–13 Aug 2015