l
i that those people can achieve
3'76"“
V THEATRE
ry
“viii
“flu.
i
Actress Eleanor Bron was looking around a German theatre ’during the interval oi a dreary play’, when she noticed a set oi photographs irom another production. Her curiosity piqued by the last that all were oi women, she sought out (and later translated) the script, a collection oi imagined speeches by a well-known German author, Christine Bruckner. Entitled Desdemona - it You Had Only Spoken! the pieces gave voice to eleven women neglected by history, ranging irom a courtesan who doesn’t appear in Aristophanes Lysistrata, to the 20th century terrorist Gudrun Ensslin, enabling them to present their
l i i l
‘ mix oi humour and lury, Bron
FESTIVAL
own, ‘unauthorised’ version oi events. Won over by the speeches’ vigorous
developed three oi them into a one-woman show, ieaturing Katherina i Luther, wile oi Martin, Christiane von Goethe, the philosopher’s humble-born ‘other-iatter—hali', and Donna Laura, the inspiration tor some oi Renaissance man Petrarch’s best-known love poetry.
it might seem a considerable
challenge, creating ileshed-out characters based on women who have been virtually erased irom the record, but Bron says most oi the work had already been done ior her. ‘What’s marvellous is how well the pieces work . on the level at simple presentation. They’re very clearly written, so that the characters emerge, quite oi themselves, as tremendous individuals, whose ways oi making their voices heard are all very diiierent.’
Although she sees this project as born essentially oi necessity— the dearth oi ‘protein-packed’ parts ior women - Bron relishes the concentration involved in solo work. ‘I suppose it’s one oi those ill winds,’ she says. ‘It is wonderiul to create an audience so that the solo voice can be heard, in this case Christine Bruckner’s, and through hers the voices of all these other women.’ (Sue Wilson)
Desdemona - It You Had Only Spoken! ' (Fringe) Eleanor Bron, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, 13 Aug—5 Sept (not 16, 23, 1), 4.45pm, £6.50 (£5.50). 5 Published underthe same title by Virago at £5.99.
V THEATRE
Fat chance
When, a couple oi years ago,
circus-trained Jenny Reznek was asked by lrlends iorming a circus it she could learn to be a trapeze artist in just two months, her ilrst reaction was that she
couldn’t do it. But in spite oi her
doubts, she did.
The experience prompted her to develop a set at images she had in
mind about an overweight lady,
Belinda, gorging herseli to satlsiy her emotional and spiritual uniuillment. She and her partner, Mark Fleishman, workshopped the idea in Johannesburg using techniques she learned during a two year stint in Paris with Jacques Le Coq. ‘I wanted to create an image ol the i impossible made possible. i wanted to put a lat woman on a trapeze, because I i suppose most people when they see
3 people who are overweight, or who
1 have certain diiiiculties, don’t imagine
} wonderiul things,’ says Reznek.
Reznek is, in tact, not overweight
; herseli(‘l'mtiny!'), but thought the images were strong and suited her
training as a clown. Encased in a lat
; suit, wearing a red nose, she uses an ; array oi vaudeville and circus skills
l
32 The List l-l —~ 20 August 1992
(£3.50).
(including a ‘web act’ —aerial ballet using a single rope), to relate the story oi how Belinda learns to ily.
it is an optimistic piece, and one which Reznek believes was stimulated by the prospect at a peaceiul solution to South Airica’s problems. ’I don’t think that we could have made the same show ten years ago. lthink it came in response to the hope that a lot oi people were ieeling in the country at the time.‘ (Robert Alstead)
I The Show’s Not Over ’Til the Fat Lady Sings (Fringe) Magnet Theatre, Oemarco Gallery (Venue 22), 557 0707,17—29 Aug (not Sun), 4.45pm, £5
A 7m EATRE
SHIP OF FOOLS
Last year. Bertchtours theatre company shocked many traditionalist theatre-goers with Splitting of Lat/tum. The grotesquerie and bufi’ooncry of that show seemed unique in the Fringe but. in fact. the style predates virtually all other theatrical forms. liouffon theatre developed in medieval France among the outcasts of society — lcpers. and the mentally
and physically disabled »-
who were forced to live outside the city walls. Michael Duke. writer of this year‘s Benchtours show, Ship of Fools. explains further.
‘Once a year they were allowed inside the city to
do a show. But the performers wanted to do something which would expose the hypocrisy and the foibles of the society
which had excluded them. At the same time.they needed to deliver the heaviest of messages with the lightest oftouch because if they were seen as going over the top. they were dead. literally — it wasn‘t just no grant next year.
"l‘hc great strength of liorifrknt is that the story
I progresses byemotional rather than logical leaps.
Because it's progressing
like that. we can move
very. very quickly. The
speed at which the links happen is beautiful to watch and it‘s lovely to see a play and actually be drawing your breath at the speed at which something
‘ moves.ratherthan being = way ahead and watching
them padding it out.‘ (Philip Parr)
I Ship oi FOO|S(Fringe) Benchtours. Theatre Workshop (\"enue 20) 226 5425. l7—429 Aug. 3.30pm. £5 (£3).
THE END OF TH TUNNEL
For the first time in seven years. Philippe Gaulier is riding into town. Billed as the ‘guru ofEuropean performance theatre'. he brings with him some heavy baggage. In Britain and France. he runs schools where actors play children's games to melt away the tensions and inhibitions of adulthood. He calls it complicite: ’The games help you to open up. Once you have that openness of a child. that simplicity. you can start to build the tragedy on it. Simple is magic.‘
The [ind ofthe Tunnel will be a fluid and lively brew. Four men are invited by a woman to play ping-pongin a room. When the ball goes missing. the hunt begins. With their bizarre costumes. sparse dialogue and loose limbs. the actors play out an extravagant story. Reluctant totalk themes and plot. (jaulier says. mysteriously. that ‘it could be about the tunnel between Calais and Dover.‘
An erstwhile guru of clowning and mime. (iaulier is always fullof surprises. ’My actors are so beautiful and talented that they will change things as we go along.‘ If histrack record is any
; barometer. whatever they i come up with will be
V THEATRE '
breathtaking. (Carl
Honoré)
I The End oi the Tunnel
' (Fringe) Compagnie Philippe Gaulier. Assembly (Venue 3) 226
I 2428.16—30Aug.5.40pm.
‘ ;£3(£2).
I YELTSIN, s reorsxv AND
1 3 THE BETTING
e SHOP
We all know that comedy shows on the Fringe with Leon Trotsky‘s History of the Russian Revolution as a set text are ten a penny. But how many cast the former leader ofthe Red Army as a Shakespeare- quoting swordsman, and his pal Lenin as a Yorkshire carpenter? Mark Steel‘s first venture into the realm ofthe one-man play does. ‘History, especially the Russian Revolution. is taught like it was this 3 peculiarthing which I happened many years ago I and had no relevance.‘ i says Steel. ‘But. in fact. i the people involved were a more or less the same 5 people you meet every 1 day.‘ g Steel has included all of ' the prime movers in the Russian Revolution - making the Tsar a cricket-loving Etonian. I Kerensky a Welsh ? windbag and Stalin a local i bureaucrat. ‘l wasjust seeing what would happen ifyou got the local neighbourhood watch man, whose only hit of power is that he runsthis committee ofthe Residents‘ Association, and put him in charge of Russia.‘ Interesting concept. but hardly the stuffon which ‘A' Level passes are made. ’lt's not supposed to be a lesson.‘ admits Steel. ’People who come along thinking they‘ll enhance their knowledge of history get a bit unstuek.‘ (Philip Parr) I Yeltsin, Trotsky and the Betting Shop (Fringe) : Mark Steel, Gilded Balloon (Venue 38)226 ' 2151.14 Aug—5 Sept.
l5pm.£5(£4).