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BEAT How to find yourself through drumming ●●●●● BURGERZ Flipping brilliant meditation on othering and surviving ●●●●●
Young Alfie loves to play the drums. To the point of obsession. To the extent, in fact, that he has room in his mind for little else – school work, friends, family. So when he finds himself propelled into a rock band, he makes a naive decision that has devastating consequences for those around him. Cédric Chapuis’ poignant solo play is at once a coming-of-age drama and a study of music as a crucial outlet for a fractured mind, with the true extent of Alfie’s condition only emerging through his encounters with irritated head teachers, school bullies and unexpected girlfriends. There’s a lot going on here, but Chapuis spins his threads together elegantly – also drawing in Alfie’s beloved drumming itself.
Somewhere between performance art, tone poem and cookery show, lies Burgerz. In 2016, when Travis Alabanza was attacked in a busy London street, catcalled and had a burger thrown at them, nobody intervened. So in an act of resistance, redressing the balance and achieving some kind of catharsis, they created this wise and witty show.
Trans identity and black ethnicity is, as Alabanza explains, double the fuel for abuse. They ruminate on the constant need for being moulded into something. Burger boxes represent limitations and the shaping of a burger patty is akin to an unfinished body, something shaped and yet not quite ready.
POPS A family struggle to find common ground ●●●●●
‘People are not kind anymore’ agree the duo in Pops, a new play by Charlotte Josephine that explores the darker side of a father-daughter relationship. Pops (Nigel Barrett) sits in his chair, watching TV, firmly stuck in a past that no longer exists other than in his mind; the return of his daughter (Sophie Melville) challenges that drab status-quo.
The two are on a collision course, with the daughter's unsuccesful job searches and failing relationships elements that Pops finds hard to deal with. After his daughter is let down on a proposed date, he tries to comfort her. ‘There’s plenty more fish in the sea,’ says Pops. ‘I hate the sea, I’m drowning,’ caustically replies his daughter.
Daniel Bellus performs a remarkable feat as both Alabanza is a sweet, quick-witted presence
It’s one of the best lines in a play that doesn’t
actor and expert drummer, delivering licks and rhythms with all the devotion Alfie clearly feels, while bringing to vivid life the boy’s wide-eyed naivety and obliviousness to the problems he’s causing. Beat might benefit from a little tightening, and
its conclusion – though subtly set up – feels unexpectedly shocking. But it’s a beautifully crafted show, delivered with panache and searing conviction, packing a powerful emotional punch. (David Kettle) n Pleasance Dome, until 26 Aug (not 14), 2.30pm, £10.50–£13.50 (£9.50–£12.50).
throughout. But this is not simply a pop culture literate show; history is woven into the fabric of the performance, with reference to the gods that were beyond gender two thousand years ago – non- gendered bodies are not a recent phenomenon. Burgerz is a beautiful, poignant piece. It’s a stark reminder of how labels are unhelpful, and how far British society has to go to become more tolerant with those who refuse to be boxed-in. (Lorna Irvine) n Traverse, until 25 Aug (not 12, 19), times vary, £21 (£15.50)
have enough articulation; repeating dialogue is a tiresome feature, and an extended, near wordless sequence doesn’t add much. The lack of kindness the characters complain about isn’t pinned down to anything more than an encounter with a snooty receptionist, and dramatic flourishes in staging are at the expense of key character information. Yet Barrett and Melville work wonders to make their relationship convincing. (Eddie Harrison) n Assembly Roxy, until 25 Aug (not 12), 6.35pm, £11–£12 (£10–£11).
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M.E.H Intellectual and hilarious feminist histories ●●●●●
The Outbound Project are a beautiful example of how the Fringe allows space for dynamic dramaturgies and forceful philosophies. Rapidly introducing a meta-theatrical commentary on both the show’s retelling of the work of Jean-Martin Charcot and their own process, the ensemble cast sprint through the history of mass epidemic hysteria while commenting wryly on the conventions of contemporary performance. Between magic tricks, audience interaction, and comic episodes
from the lives of Charcot and the ‘hysterics’ who were both the subjects of his research and the stars of his ‘performance lectures’ in the 1800s, M.E.H makes serious points about agency, the manipulation of women by patriarchal science and the way that theatre itself models an excluding hierarchy of power. A lone dancer is caged in the corner, enacting wild choreography that either comments on the episodes or seeks to distract from the words of the ensemble. The magician commands the stage as the director, challenging the performers to get in line and reflect on their process – and the failures of those others. Interruptions of scenes by the magician, or the self-consciously
rudimentary beards that transform a performer from female to male, offer an advance on the kind of fourth wall breaking that comes from Brecht but is now an over-familiar trope. Yet these weaknesses are exaggerated, without descending into farce, conjuring an atmosphere that is bracing, antagonistic and familiar.
While there is a heritage of similar feminist theatre that is self- aware, witty, broad in its populism but precise in its critiques, The Outbound Project bring a new perspective to Charcot’s psychological invetsigations and the way that theatre can both illuminate and obscure. (Gareth K Vile) n Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug (not 12), 12.10pm, £9.50–£10.50 (£8.50–£9.50).
7–14 Aug 2019 THE LIST FESTIVAL 87