F E S T I VA L T H E AT R E | Reviews at a Glance R E V I E W S AT A G L A N C E
For full length versions of these reviews, see list.co.uk/festival
THE AFFLICTED ●●●●● Four girls are on-stage when the lights come up; dressed in uniforms, they start to twitch and jerk rhythmically. They evoke the girls of Hope River, a stand-in for the real-life town of Le Roy, and The Afflicted worries away at some big questions. A first work from a new Scottish company, this is an auspicious, confident debut. (Eddie Harrison) Summerhall, until Aug 25, 7.30pm, £14 (£10). BABY REINDEER BY RICHARD GADD ●●●●● A chilling, claustrophobic but thoroughly gripping hour of theatre. Expertly structured and paced by director Jon Brittain, it slowly reveals the ever-more horrifying extremes of a stalker’s obsessions, yet points the finger, too, at Gadd’s own culpability and involvement – there’s no self-pity here. (David Kettle) Roundabout @ Summerhall, until 25 August (not 20), 6.25pm, £14–£16 (£12–£13).
BLIND DATE ●●●●● Intimate and light-hearted merging of theatre and comedy explores how we allow ourselves to be vulnerable when making new connections. Consent is a huge part of the show, with Mimi the clown taking great care to ensure the experience is genuinely enjoyable for everyone involved. (Arusa Qureshi) CanadaHub @ King’s Hall, until 25 Aug (not 19), 9pm, £11 (£9). THE CANARY AND THE CROW ●●●●● In this staggering new piece of gig theatre from Middle Child, Daniel Ward answers the question of what it is like to be a black kid in a white world. Comedic and uplifting, while deeply critical of societal racial assumptions, this is an astute and emotive comment on contemporary racism. (Rachel Baker) Roundabout @ Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 20), 7.50pm, £14–£15 (£12–£13).
CHURN ●●●●● This solo performance has an unfaltering energy: using minimal props and staging, and a playful delivery, the tone jars with the overriding theme of gun violence. This rollercoaster of emotions fails to become emotive: what was perhaps meant to be a child- like narrative comes over as lacking in conviction and emotion. (Clare McVay) Greenside @ Nicholson Square, until 24 Aug (not 18), 2pm, £10 (£7).
DAUGHTERHOOD ●●●●● Daughterhood is a simple show with ferocious emotional depth, that leaves nowhere to hide from the intensity of 92 THE LIST FESTIVAL 14–26 Aug 2019
the relationship at its core. (Rachel Baker) Roundabout @ Summerhall, until 25 Aug (not 18, 20, 24), times vary, £15–£17 (£10–£12).
LAST LIFE: A SHAKESPEARE PLAY ●●●●● The performers in this show do very little with the imaginative setting, and the opportunity for interesting physical theatre is lost, with many of their movements simply acting out the words rather than attempting to twist or bring new meaning to them. The assemblage nature of the work means that some of the rhythm of Shakespeare’s language is lost. (Sean Greenhorn) Greenside @ Infirmary Street, until 17 Aug, 6.30pm, £8 (£5). LEAVE A MESSAGE ●●●●● Leave A Message details an afternoon in the life of Ed – a self-professed millennial who is dealing with the death of his alcoholic father whom he has not seen in many years. The play triumphantly opens up a window into the lives of others with a storyline that straddles the alien and the familiar. (Becki Crossley) Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, until 25 Aug, 2pm, £9 (£8).
LIFE IS NO LAUGHING MATTER ●●●●● Based on writer Demi Nandhra’s experiences with depression, Life Is No Laughing Matter is a personal exploration of the struggles and stigmas associated with this mental health issue: creative and sensitive in its exploration of this universal feeling, making it an enjoyable and impactful hour. (Becki Crossley) Summerhall, until 18 Aug, 1pm, £10 (£8). MY MOTHER’S SHOES ●●●●● Although her mum died seven years ago, Karola Gajda still loves her, and that’s the biggest take-away from My Mother’s Shoes. There’s plenty of reasons to recommend it; for sincerity, warmth and relevance, this small but carefully formed free show is far better value than many of the Fringe’s pricier enterprises. (Eddie Harrison) Laughing Horse @ Bar 50, until 25 Aug (not 19), 12.15pm, free.
THE PATIENT GLORIA ●●●●● Moxley’s play aims to be a feminist rallying call, but the material doesn’t crack up in the manner required. She throws in a line where Gloria suggests that ‘way in the future, during the third wave of feminism, someone will write a play about me’ but it’s hard to imagine that the Californian housewife would have been wowed by this depiction; it’s notable that Gloria somehow gets side-lined in her own play. (Eddie Harrison) Traverse, until 25 Aug (not 19), times vary, £22 (£15–£16.50).
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The Canary and The Crow
THE PRESENTED ●●●●● Jaded with the Fringe? Tired of the same old comics, gauche student productions, the usual publicly funded tent-poles? Chris Davis is here to shake all that up. While offering a deliberately insubstantial quality, Davis’s show is an invigorating alternative to the usual fare, based as it is on the kind of innovative spirit that the fringe was originally created to showcase. (Eddie Harrison) Laughing Horse @ The Place, until 25 Aug, 1.45pm, free. A ROCK’N’ROLL SUICIDE! ●●●●● Lee Mark Jones is an aged punk who found moderate fleeting success in various bands throughout the decades. Now he is recounting his life as an also-ran to a handful of bemused audience members in this fairly ramshackle show. Jones makes for a charmingly eccentric presence in his ill-fitting Ziggy Stardust get up. (Sean Greenhorn) ZOO Southside, until 26 Aug, 9pm, £10 (£8).
10.15pm, £10.50–£11.50 (£9.50– £10.50).
SUFFERING FROM SCOTTISHNESS ●●●●● The strength of the show lies in the spoken word vignettes that poetically illustrate the struggle of getting to grips with Scotland’s identity problem. However, there’s a lot of black and white thinking going on here and this distinct lack of nuance, ultimately, makes it feel pretty bleak. (Katharine Gemmell) Assembly Roxy, until 26 Aug, 5.10pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11). TOKYO ROSE ●●●●● In 1941, a young American woman named Iva Toguri set sail from California to Japan, sent by her mother to care for her ailing aunt. Burnt Lemon does an immensely admirable job of condensing the tangled web of Iva’s story into an hour-long musical. (Deborah Chu) Underbelly Cowgate, until 25 Aug, 6.55pm, £11–£12 (£10–£11).
SCOTTEE: CLASS ●●●●● This is an unabashed lecture show with autobiographical dirt under its fingernails. Lulling the crowd into a false sense of security with some working-class shout-outs, Scottee insists that his audience are made aware of growing up with the certainty of uncertainty that comes from poverty. (Lorna Irvine) Assembly Roxy, until 25 Aug (not 19 & 20), 4.05pm, £12–£14 (£11–£13). TYPICAL ●●●●● Typical’s innovative script makes Richard Blackwood’s character sympathetic and engaging, so that the climax is all the more heart-wrenching. Blackwood’s effective performance draws audiences back in for the tragic conclusion, which packs an even stronger punch with real footage from the event which inspired the script. (Rachel Baker) Pleasance Courtyard, until 25 Aug, 4.30pm, £10–£12 (£9–£11).
SEARCHERS ●●●●● A vaguely impressionistic tale of a young woman searching across America, it seems to want to question what it means to be a young woman in America. However, it does so in an unfocused way, obsessed with certain iconography and allusions to a point that brings the flow of the story to a halt. (Sean Greenhorn) Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre, until 25 Aug (not 19), THE WAR OF THE WORLDS ●●●●● In their previous work, Rhum and Clay have proven themselves to be masterful individual and ensemble performers. There’s no weak link in the cast here and they’re such a well-oiled machine that this technical whirlwind of a show flies by. (Liam Rees) Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 14), 3.20pm, £13–£15 (£12–£14).