— I L I A theatre - dance 0 comedy - kids
THEATRE REVIEW
The Water Juggler at: 2% 35‘: 15! Water. Too much kills you. Too little kills you. Yet it's part of our essence. It makes up 70% of our bodies, and 70% of our 'earth’.
In an entirely fault-free piece of theatre, Andrew Buckland plays around with multifarious ideas to do with water, in a tale touching on issues of land rites, ecology, profit and the nature of reality. Not in the slightest po-faced, Buckland uses humour and mime to transport his audience along a conduit of inventive ingenuity. Not so much a juggler as an illusionist, he conjures up a rich tapestry of characters and a moral
Robocop with a hose-connector fixation? Or just the Water Juggler?
fable of virtually-real mythic proportions: the quest to protect the Well Being from the Profit Queen.
As a practitioner of his art, Buckland is a masterful all- rounder: physically adept at clowning and mime; vocally a virtuoso at human characterisation and inanimate noises (think Bubba Smith’s clicks and whirrs of machinery from Police Academy).
There is something for everyone in this piece. Multi- layered and seriously funny, I defy anybody to come out of it and not feel touched or enriched. Directed by Janet Buckland, the couple deserve plenty of plaudits. If The Water Juggler doesn’t win a Fringe First or a Perrier Pick of the Fringe I'll drown my sorrows in a tub of fizzy water. (Gabe Stewart)
% See Hit list, right, for details.
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Guy Masterson's para normal instincts in A Soldier's Song.
mus usr 20—27 Aug 1998
THEATRE REVIEW
A Soldier's Song
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Sixteen years ago 252 Brits and 649 Argentinians 'fell' in The Falklands. Or were 'blown to bits’ or ’torn to shreds’ to be more accurate, says paratrooper Ken Lukowiak, writer of A Soldier’s Song. After his Falklands War experiences were published in The Guardian newspaper, Edinburgh Fringe veteran Guy Masterson determined to adapt the piece as his next one-man Show.
Masterson has said he was attracted to the piece’s lyricism. Yet the language seems curiously stilted, almost formal at times. LukOWiak's voice takes us through his memories of the war, from its horrors to its grisly humour. There’s a naive honesty about the writing, an apologetic amateur
quality that seems to cut through artifice. The tenuous nature of ’life’ in a war zone throws up questions concerning God, gurlt and the nature of goodness.
Masterson looks every inch the para, whose 'bravado is a cover for fear'. But compared to the rich characterisation and strong narratives of Masterson’s prevrous hits, such as Animal Farm or Under Milk Wood, he seems strangely stifled by A Soldier’s Song. Masterson excels at the extremes of the spectrum, impish humour, yearning loneliness and despair.
At 100 minutes it seems a tad overlong, pruning some of the apologetic explanations for the excesses of war would pack even more of a punch. Havmg said that, it is still a magnificently and powerfully haunting tour-de-force. Don’t storm the box office - wait patiently in line. After all, the meek shall inherit the earth.
(Gabe Stewart) 3 See Hit list, right, for details.
on this full Scottish breakfast. . .
'Lakeboat David Mamet’s first ever play gets its first ever Edinburgh airing, and is reaping five star reViews. Lakeboat (Fringe) Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 5 Sep, noon, f 70/f 9 (f 9/f8).
A Soldier's Song See reView, left. A Soldier’s Song (Fringe) Guy Masterson Productions, Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, until 5 Sep (not 26 Aug), 77.30am, f9/f8 (£8/f7).
Mr Puntila And His Man Matti Brecht’s comedy of drunken manners gets the Right Size treatment in CONJUDCIIOH with the Almeida. See review on followmg pages. Mr Punti/a And His Man Matti (Fringe) The Right Size with The Almeida Theatre, Traverse (Venue 75) 228 7404, until 3 Sep (not Mons), various times, [72 (£7. 50).
The Wild Party Wild gomgs on at a party set in the twenties Are you up to seeing a show that was banned for seventy years for being too lewd and laCivious? Share a cold shower With an extremely close friend . The Wild Party (Fringe) The Mouse People, Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 37 Aug (not 24), 72.45pm, £7 50/f6 50
(£6.50/f5. 50).
The Last Man In Europe Surprisingly enlightening and engaging piece about the life and loves of George Orwell. See reView on followmg pages. The Last Man in Europe (Fringe) Portrait Productions, Diverse Attractions (Venue 7 7) 225 8967, until 22 Aug, 7 0.40am, 24-29 Aug, 77.35am, £7 (£5).
The Water Juggler Our most preCIous requrrement re-examined in a hostile enwronment. See review left. The Water Juggler (Fringe) Mouthpiece (South Africa), Traverse (Venue 75) 228 7404, until 23 Aug, various times, I 9 (f 6).