Pl-lYSICAl. 'r rrmr nr', FERMENTATION
Reviewed at Briggait Market, Glasgow; playing at The Underbelly, Edinburgh, until Sat 16 Feb
Just when you feel Edinburgh’s Grid Iron company can have no surprises left, the rich creative energy of this young company astonishes you again. This adaptation of an obscure French novel by Angelica Jacob combines heady sensuality with a cogent mythic subtext, using the wide open spaces of Glasgow’s Briggait Market to create an entirely alternative world. Director and adaptor Ben Harrison leads his audience through a dream landscape, the promenade performance using the alleyways, vacant shops and open spaces of the ramshackle building to create scene after
scene of wonder.
Fermentation tells the story of Odissa (Cait Davis) who finds herself pregnant with the child of her lover, the fire eater Serge (Charlie Folorunsho), a free spirit whose sense of risk extends to scarring the face of Odissa’s rival in
shelves. Odissa’s story explores extreme states of subjectivity, with her own voice intermingling with those of the characters in her life and in her head. Sexuality is explored through a somnambulant world of brothels and beds, while appetite is recreated through her cravings for many cheeses. At times, it feels like the world of Genet made gentler and more feminine.
Cait Davis’ performance is stunning. Through subtly exaggerated movement and skilled use of her distinctive features, she seduces us into Odissa’s dreamscape. But the entire cast performs to perfection, each going with the magic realist context to create the crucial, madly adventurous illusions on which the show rests. Percussionist Guy Nicholson drives us through the many spaces of the market, bringing Philip Pinsky’s powerful score to the forefront. George Tarbuck’s lighting design uses the gorgeous primary colours of Catherine Lindow’s sets to create shape and distance with real elegance. It’s a damn near perfect night out, and if the piece is just a smidgen longer than it should be, you won’t mind, because you won’t want it to
love Justine (ltxaso Moreno) in a fire eating end.
contretemps. Serge wanders off, and Odissa fends for herself with the help of an old cheesemonger (Chris Craig) whose mythic shopkeeper status conceals both angelic and satanic proclivities. As the baby matures in her body, so does the cheese on the old man’s
()0 'li MP DiliAiW [).»'\r\'(li NEW TERRITORIES Tramway, Glasgow, Sat 16 Feb—Sat 16 Mar
The revarnoeo Nex'.’ lvloxes; gets; into fuzl S3'.'.’Ill§} this; fortnight. ‘.'.’lll‘» ‘.lf§|lf; from tiiree rnterr‘alonal (:o'noarwes; '.'.‘e’- ‘.'.'ort'n (:l‘.e<:r<rng oat. The key
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to come up x'xrtl‘. their on". 'near‘rngs; for all il‘.(} amorous action, out it aurorks; rxirer‘,’ as; aer: :s;s;rl)le sspeelaeie. Booming beneatir t are (:ornoos,er Dorne'rreo Me//ates;ta's; ripplingl‘,‘ (ll'l‘iOfSDlKEl'lC1(E(lllllf}l‘()(ll<“£l// tracks. Man/ortr nas; a background 1'] eonlernrxgrar‘, (no ;;r// navee. but n4; real interest lies; rn the interface net‘s/em? the human iron; and maenrnery. Ir‘ler‘\.“(;-‘.'.'e<l .n
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All this has been achieved in the shadow of the tragic death of Phil McCall on the day intended for the play’s opening. McCall will be remembered fondly in the Scottish theatre, and one wishes that we might have seen him a final performance like this. (Steve Cramer)
Theatre
Odissa performs fire eatio on Serge
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OBSERVE THE SONS OF ULSTER MARCHING TOWARDS THE SOMME
Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 23 Feb 0...
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THE LIST 57