FESTIVAL 6
theatre - dance 0 comedy
pm— 8pm
DANCE PREVIEW
Kosh-cutting exercise
After almost sinking in a sea of troubles, Fringe veterans The Kosh are back, and this time they're angry.
’True cabaret is more than just entertainment,’ says Michael Merwitzer, founder of the popular English dance-theatre company The Kosh. ‘lt offers an insight into the hard edges of life.’
The Kosh's latest endeavour, Three-Point Turn (subtitled ’Jaded Songs For Fractured Dances’) is a contemporary subversion of the cabaret form. The fiercely fit Sian Williams (Merwitzer’s partner) joins forces with Fiona Creese and Tim Taylor for a driven, diverting take on such topics as desire and sex, money - or lack thereof - and the legal system.
This trio, initially donning bowler hats, pops in and out of multiple doors in Jenny Carey’s back-wall set, like disaffected, if high-energy, Charlie Chaplin rejects. Williams
hitches her usual hard-sell, acrobatic choreography to a loud, eclectic soundtrack by Jamie Hancock and Nick Merovitch. Merwitzer pegs the pair - also known as Fuel - as 'young, hungry musicians', whose mechanistic reinventions of old-time numbers contribute to the
show's obliquely anti-romantic tone.
What we see on-stage indirectly reflects the company's off-stage fortunes. The production, Merwitzer says, was ‘born out of the necessity of having to survive under a terrible injustice.’ He is referring to The Kosh's troubles
with the Arts Council of England.
In a nutshell, some four years ago the company’s grant was cut without warning, although they were successfully fulfilling all the criteria a touring troupe should. The result of the subsequent prolonged investigation of their appeal will be available shortly.
The Kosh Kabaret: high-energy Chaplin rejects
couple of years.’
’This is about workers' and artists' rights,’ Merwitzer says. 'lt’s just as well we had the wherewithal to survive. We've had to operate on a shoestring the last
Thanks to their all-ages, crossover appeal, The Kosh is
reckoned to have cumulatively garnered one of the
Sheth.
largest audiences in Britain for contemporary dance. The British Council still sends it on global tours; and next year it will bring to the UK the fruits of a large-scale collaboration with avant-garde Indian dancer Daksha
Three-Point Turn might just be the manoeuvre to put The Kosh back on the right track. (Donald Hutera) I Kosh Kabaret Present Three-Point Turn (Fringe) George Square Theatre (Venue 37) 650 2007, 20—29 Aug, 6.30pm, f 8 (f 6) See Free/oaders, pages 5 & 7.
THEATRE PREVIEW The Hanging Tree
We all know the type. The nosy bloke in number 40, who's got nothing better to do than snoop on the neighb0urs’ nocturnal acliwties, terrorise the local kids and set up a Neighbour Watch Scheme. In Nicola McCartney’s new play The Hanging Tree, a local hero takes the law into his Own hands; and the consequences are sOmewhat mOre drastic than havrng dog turd deposned on the doorstep. Using the framework of a western, McCartney explores age-old themes of law and order, and the blurring boundaries between right and wrong. 'Punishing people as a way of righting wrongs jUSI doesn't work', believes McCartney. 'We can't keep going back
to basics. It just takes us back a century.’
The Hanging Tree is set in modern- day Glasgow, home to Belfast-born McCartney and LookOut Theatre Company, which she co-lounded, She claims, though, that it could be any British town, at any pornt in time. The play employs and then undermines cliches of the western genre as a way of examining the power struggles of a close-knit community With a rismg crime rate.
McCartney says, ’lt's really about how peOple react when they're pushed to the edge, what triggers Violence, and the ways people try to get order into their own lives when they feel they are getting out of control.’
(Claire Prentice)
I The Hanging Tree (Fringe) LookOut Theatre, Traverse Theatre (Venue 75) 228 7404, 79—30 Aug (not25) times vary, [8 (£5).
Crime and punishment, Glasgow-style in The Hanging Tree
Anna Weiss Bmising newl‘i‘ = ’ psychodrama by Mike‘Cullemin which a yoirng j. her father with sex abuse. pages. Anna Weiss ' ’ Theatre Company, (Venue 15) 228 i404, until-30 Au‘gf‘; (not 18, 25) times vary, {1.0.7666}... V1 vegetal Scottish-based organic 5-, sculptor Andy Goidsiuorthy"p‘r,0vid_e's..v exciting design for this dancepiéceL‘5*?‘” by Regine Chopinot. See feature,- " ‘ page 24. Végétal (Intemational» _ V Festival) Ballet Atlantique, "Edinburgh-- Playhouse, 473 2000, 15 & 16 Aug, 7.30pm, [5—20. I V
The Hanging Tree New play exploring capital punishment, ‘ written and directed by Nicola McCartney for her own LookOut '. Theatre Company. See pi'eiiiew, left. -
~ at San Francisco Ballet Two prog- ’2 :2. rammes, each of three different pieces, from one of the world's most acclaimed classical companies, who ~ are rarely seen in the UK. Two pieces are choreographed by George Balanchine, and one by Mark Morris. San Francisco Ballet (International Festival) Edinburgh Playhouse, 19-24 Aug (not 21) 7.30pm; mats 23 & 24 _ Aug, 2pm, f5—f35. -
Greg Proops Overbearing, over- hyped and over here, the UK's favourite Yank delivers the goods. See review on following pages. Greg Proops (Fringe) Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 30 Aug (not 18, 28), 7.30pm (25 Aug, 9pm), £81£8.50
(f 7/£ 7. 50).
Measure For Measure French hotshot Stéphane Braunschweig proves you don’t have to be British to tackle the Bard in a lucid version of Shakespeare's enigmatic dark comedy. See review on following pages. Measure For Measure (International Festival) Nottingham Playhouse, Royal Lyceum Theatre, 473 2000, until 26 Aug (not 17, 24) 7.30pm; Thus, Sats and Tue 26, - 2.30pm, £6422. The Kosh Kabaret Presents Three'- Polnt Turn Veteran Fringe dance- theatre faves The Kosh return to form after troubled times..See preview, left.
lS—Zl Aug 1997 TIIE LIST 51
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