FESTIVAL lOm—LATE
theatre - dance 0 comedy
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THEATRE PREVIEW
The gogmagogs gigagain
The gogmagogs are gigging again, hence the title. Physicality meets musicality. Result - a Fringe feast.
Music can transport listeners but what if it also afforded musicians the chance to rise up from their seats, emerge from behind their stands, ' and really move?
This is just what the refreshingly transgressive gogmagogs do. These seven young, classically trained string instrument players appeal as much to
' the eye - and often the humerus - as _
’ the ear. Dramatic clowns of sound 7 and motion, they return to the Fringe
l
i in a welcome follow-up to their cheeky 1995 debut show.
[ The group was co-founded by theatre and opera director Lucy Bailey and violinist Neil Catchpole. The idea, the latter says, was to discover ‘a whole new way of
I expressing ourselves as performers and expressing the
' music.’ Bailey‘s task was to whip the septet into shape via
a series of workshops.
‘It was very liberating throwing actors‘ exercises at them,‘ she insists. ‘Because they were musicians, they | could move in an ensemble way almost instantly, almost } more than actors can. If I could extend that energy into 1 each of their bodies, we'd start cooking.‘
: The experimentation has paid off twice. Gigagain is ' made to order for anybody who finds concert-going a l bore, yet it does no disservice to those who like listening - , they just have to look as well. The show features a range i of original pieces, from the earthy to the ethereal, by
gAphra Behn iAnd Nell Gwyn E— 17th Century 1 Career Girls
They sure didn't know the term glass i ceiling syndrome but, for all the oranges
66 THE “51' 22—28 Aug 1997
the music.
The gogmagogs: at it again
composers from as far afield as iceland, Palestine, the US and the UK. The gimmicks of Bailey’s staging produce mostly clever, sometimes even moving, enhancements of
The gogmagogs - the combined name of two l‘iills outside the company's breeding ground of Cambridge and also the monikers of a pair of ancient Gods - are first seer. lying in a sleepy heap on the floor. They roll about. They don silly moustaches. They mug and mime during a composition for which Bailey hilariously casts them as rapt cinema-goers. All the while, they keep playing, even if it
involves hoisting their instruments on their shoulders or
in M85, I bet they had no truck Wllll men who got in their way. Aphra Behn and Nell Gwyn were 17th century career women who Juggled bedroom antics Wllll serious Jobs and would only have thurnbed through Cosmo if there was nothing better to do
In a dOuble bill from New York’s Theater Ten Ten, their lives on both sides of the bedchamber door are revealed GWyn, famed for her
expletives and for selling oranges, was
Theater Ten Ten: restoring girl power
above their heads. They also mine the meaning in a Greek Orthodox lament and find the grandeur and mystery of a folk processional from Madagascar. (Donald Hutera)
I The gogmagogs gigagain (Fringe) The gogmagogs, Traverse Theatre (Venue 75) 228 7404, 26 30 Aug, 77pm, [8 ([6)
one of the sharpest Wits on London's 77th century comedy circuit and part- timed as Charles lI's long—term, stay-
over lover 'She was a court iester who t
really entertained Charles' says Lynn Marie lsvlaty, writer and performer of A Thousand Merry Concerts, A Private Audienr 0 With Nell Gwyn
Aphra Behn was another woman of reckoning Regarded as the first professional woman playwright in England, Behn sidelined as a .spy during the Dutth wars and saw the inside of several prisons as a result of unpaid debts. She also had trouble With her man, John. 'He slept With almost everything that moved,’ according to Karen Elerowc h, performer and writer of Love Arrn’d, Aphra Behn 8 Her Pen '80 she kl( ks him out and puts a curse on him and he ends up being killed in a bar room brawl.’ Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, as they say Or perhaps it was iust girl power restoration-style.
(Susanna Beaumont)
I Aphra Behn And Nell Gwyn 77th Century Career Girls (Fringe) Theater Ten Ten, Bed/am Theatre (Venue 49) 225 9893, 25730 Aug, 70 70pm [6 ([5)
7 Hit list
A spate of specials for spending your spare spondoolicks on. After 10pm, like
The gogmagogsgigagain Choreography and chamber music par excellence. See preview, left. Rich Hall’s Louisiana Hayride Maps, tunes and laughs aplenty are the order of the night in Mr Hall’s latest assault on, well, everything. Probably the funniest man in Montana. See review, page 71. Rich Hall’s Louisiana Hayride (Fringe) Rich Hall, Gilded Balloon (Venue 38) 226 2 75 7, until 30 Aug (not 24) 70pm, [7.50
(f 6.50).
Aphra Behn and Nell Gwyn -17th Century Career Girls Two provocative pieces on the original Spice Girls from Theater Ten Ten. See preview, left.
Paul Zenon Magic and mirthdom from a man who has performed in Bosnia. See review, page 71. Paul Zenon (Fringe) Spiegeltent (Venue 87) 558 8070, until 30 Aug (not 23, 28) 70pm, £7.50 ([650).
1
Red Zone Derevo’s anti-clown clowning will frighten and fascinate in equal measure. Stark, grotesque and beautiful. See feature, page 24 and Freeloaders, pages 5 and 7. Red Zone (Fringe) Derevo, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 27 Aug, 77.30pm, £6.50/£7.50 (f5/f6).
The Johnny Vegas Show He’s a big lad is Johnny, but he is set to fly like an eagle towards the stars and gallop like a gas-fuelled gazelle to fame and fortune. He's also a hot tip to slug the fizzy water prize. The Johnny Vegas Show (Fringe) Johnny Vegas, Gilded Balloon (Venue 38) 226 2757, until 30 Aug (not 28) 70.45pm, £7.50 (£6.50).
Acrobat The dance wizards from 02 are a close-knit 'family' with non- conventional beverage tastes and a capacity for creating breathtaking art. Catch them while you can. See feature, page 24 and review, page 71 . Acrobat (Fringe) Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 25 Aug, 70pm, £9/f 70 (£7/f8).