list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL THEATRE
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MAKING MONSTERS Entertaining take on Frankenstein's birth ●●●●● DARKTALES Thrills and chills from Corrie stars ●●●●●
HEADS UP Apocalyptic one-man epic ●●●●●
The story of how Mary Shelley imagined her most famous story, Frankenstein, has become legendary. And while the Golden Fire Theatre Company’s re- enactment of the meeting between Shelley, Byron and company is light on chills, it springs enough laughs and intrigue to warrant a revisit of the novel. On vacation in Geneva, Mary Shelley and a
company of struggling artists decide to have a competition to see who can write the best horror story. She awakes from a horrific dream of a scientist who created life, and the rest is literary history. While the character of Byron, perhaps inevitably,
tends to hog the limelight in a camp and occasionally frustrating performance, the rest of the cast hold their own and maintain the focus on the real centre of importance. It swerves into the ridiculous from time to time, but in general the humour does not undermine the overall tone of mystery and intrigue. Languishing in alcohol and other indulgences, it can
be difficult to like the characters, but Shelley attracts sympathy for her struggle and intellectual curiosity. Even at 50 minutes, it feels a little stretched, but there's enough here for those familiar and unfamiliar with the great novel. (Alex Eades) ■ theSpace at Surgeons Hall, 510 2384, until 27 Aug (not 14, 21), 5.05pm, £10 (£8).
Tim Arthur’s Darktales immediately evokes a chilling atmosphere as Andrew Paul takes to the stage as a successful writer, telling a classic tale by Saki with immaculate timing. He’s soon joined by Sean Ward as an aspiring interviewer, who visits the writer’s home to discuss his latest book, but has a sinister motive that relates to a shared lover and a fate that may or may not have befallen her.
Darktales works as an old-school horror anthology, capturing several anecdotal stories which keep the scares coming. There’s also an aside dealing with dead children’s photographs that’s genuinely unnerving and creepy, even if it doesn’t immediately connect with the rest of the story.
Ward and Paul might be more familiar to audiences
from Coronation Street, but there’s nothing ordinary about their meaty performances here. There is blood spilled, and a little unexpected gore to be splashed around too, but Darktales is a patient and professionally produced piece of drama that could well be expanded for a full length West End play. Evoking Saki and Edgar Allan Poe might set a high bar; Darktales delivers the thrills and chills that make for a good night of horror. (Eddie Harrison) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6500, until 29 Aug (not 16, 23), 5.50pm, £13–£14 (£12–£13).
Across a city just like this one, people rush towards the apocalypse they have no idea is coming. A teenage girl deals with the anxiety of having a compromising photograph of herself passed around school by a boy she used to like. A coked-up rock star is about to become a father, and he can’t remember to which girlfriend. A man grimaces out every desperate smile as he serves up coffee over the counter, because he needs this job and he needs to be a people person to keep it. Only Mercy sees what’s on its way. She works in futures, and the numbers tell her all of this is coming to an end.
This sprawling, Short Cuts-esque series of vignettes is told in expansive, poignant style by one man sitting at a desk, his face uplit by lamps bolted to it as he marshals an orchestral series of musical cues (looped riffs here and there from PJ Harvey, Parquet Courts, David Bowie and more). Those familiar with Kieran Hurley’s previous one-man-and-a-DJ hit show Beats will be aware of his ability to fuse musical backing with rhythmic, lyrical textual content, and this treatise (co-created by Alex Swift and AJ Taudevin) on recognising and adapting to change is a similarly gripping immersive experience. (David Pollock) ■ Summerhall, 560 1581, until 28 Aug (not 15, 22), 7.05pm, £11 (£10).
TEATRO DELUSIO Flawless masks and puppetry with Familie Flöz ●●●●●
A ghostly vision of a floating puppet lady in white presides at the start and finish of Familie Flöz’s story of waking dreams and events behind the scenes. She is an eerie reminder of mortality, that we are here for a short time. As the story unfolds, the company reveal an astonishing technical prowess and an epic sweep of storytelling. What follows is a dizzying excursion through the lives of lonely stage technicians, one priapic choreographer and a snooty orchestra. Here, the drama off- stage is just as heightened as it is on. All the stage hands and wardrobe people want is their chance to shine. The boundless skills of the three performers seem like
alchemy, in creating nearly 30 characters using a simple tilt of the head or slight gesticulation with hands. Not a single word is spoken, yet still they provoke belly laughs, or squeeze hearts like sponges. At first, the play seems like a slapstick romp around silent comedy, with numerous pratfalls. However, as it develops, so too do the rich inner lives of the main characters, all of whom desire more than life has dealt them. Petty rivalry, love and caring for pets becomes hilarious, awful,
or just hilariously awful. The gorgeous scene with a romantic pas de deux is puzzling in its execution, as the lovers appear to ‘slide’ into a large wooden trunk and disappear. A birth scene is as surreal as it is surprising. Familie Flöz throw curveballs, but in the most unexpected and delightful ways imaginable, and always when the story seems to be settling into one particular direction. It is at times as though Angela Carter scripted a Marx Brothers
film homage, then adapted it for the stage as a silent opera. Unique, brilliant and extremely touching: nothing short of perfection. (Lorna Irvine) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 17), £10.50–£14.50 (£9–£13).
11–18 Aug 2016 THE LIST FESTIVAL 83
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