Festival Theatre
Telephone Booking Fringe 0131 226 0000 International Festival 0131 473 2000 Book Festival 0845 373 5888 Art Festival 07500 461 332 FLESH AND BLOOD AND FISH AND FOWL Look busy, it’s the end of the world ●●●●●
with controversy, rule bending and boundary pushing. Here Diaghilev recounts his legacy from beyond the grave, no doubt spicing things up a bit for the sake of flair. A lone chair on an otherwise pitch black stage is a setting suited to only the most formidable of actors, but Tony Tanner makes the throne his own, coming alive in his camp, bitchy, wise-cracking portrayal of the Ballet Russes’ founding father.
This is a stream of consciousness moulded to follow an approximate storyline as Tanner’s charming Diaghilev chucks in his two cents- worth on his own intriguing life. Loquacious and eloquent, no holds are barred as he charts his journey from law student to ballet impresario via respected art critic, peppering his tale with anecdotes about the lovers along the way, most notably ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and his sad
■ Assembly Hall, 623 3030, until 29 Aug (not 16, 23), 5.30pm, £12 (£11).
A CORNER OF THE OCEAN Vibrant physical theatre that’s set to make waves ●●●●● This dynamic production by Jammy Voo ricochets between the lives of four different women struggling to establish their sense of self and find stability in a turbulent world. Each is touched by the news of a man’s disappearance during a diving accident and their individual stories are simultaneously separate yet connected, weaving round each other as they share both
Online Booking Fringe www.edfringe.com International Festival www.eif.co.uk Book Festival www.edbookfest.co.uk Art Festival www.edinburghartfestival.org
descent into schizophrenia. Witty and interesting, Tanner is completely engaging and practically perfect for a role such as this. (Kirstyn Smith)
When the human race has all but died out, when the Earth has erased almost all evidence of our existence, the last redoubt of our once great civilisation will be . . . the back office of a microwave meal manufacturer. As a premise, it sounds half-baked; but like Flesh and Blood and Fish and Fowl itself, the more you stew on it, the more sense it makes. Jerry (Geoff Sobelle) and Rhoda (Charlotte Ford) are the logical conclusion of the typical office environment, where a trip to the watercooler has more to do with marking time than with thirst: they cling to office etiquette even as creepers and critters encroach inexorably on their cubicles.
Sobelle’s considerable clowning skills get a thorough workout, parodying displacement activities from photocopying to fly-swatting. But it’s the bizarre work of the clearly unhinged Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko – puppeteering and remote- controlling stuffed woodland creatures that peek from drawers or erupt from boxes of printer paper – that eventually leaves the audience as hysterical as the characters, laughing uncontrollably with next to no idea why. (Matt Boothman) ■ Traverse @ St Stephen’s, 228 1404, until 28 Aug (not 23), 7pm, £17–£19 (£12–£13).
TONY TANNER’S CHARLATAN Russian Ballet’s controversial founding father brought to life ●●●●●
The life and times of Russian ballet’s undisputed godfather, Sergei Diaghilev, is a fascinating story, riddled
NEXT ISSUE OUT WEDNESDAY 18 AUGUST 70 THE LIST 12–19 Aug 2010
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BEAUTIFUL BURNOUT Raging bulls come to the Fringe ●●●●●
The new play about aspiring young boxers by Bryony Lavery (author of last year’s Kursk and Tony award nominee for Frozen) is a heavy-hitter in more ways than one. It’s a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly that could well be a contender to repeat the success those companies had with, respectively, Black Watch and Stockholm. Part physical theatre, part dance and part gritty drama, it’s also an impressively designed spectacle that employs a revolving stage-cum-boxing ring, strobe lighting and a backdrop wall-papered with plasma screens and a typically pumping techno soundtrack by Underworld. At the centre of all this smartly executed mayhem, however, is a compelling drama that’s by turns funny and very moving. It revolves around four young lads and one lass from the west of Scotland who are training hard to become professional boxers under the guidance of their seasoned trainer and the view from
the sidelines of one of their mothers. For one reason or another the hopefuls fall by the wayside one by one until just two of the amateur pugilists are left to literally fight it out in the ring. It makes for a spectacular climax and the choreography of the fight, which features Matrix-like 360-degree slowed-down motion, is astonishing. And what comes after the main event is an enormously poignant ending that challenges preconceived opinions about one of the greatest and most controversial sports of our time. Lavery has really got to grips with the brutal yet
disciplined and inspirational nature of boxing. Choreographers-turned-directors Scott Graham and Steve Hoggett take Lavery’s cracking script and run with it, creating a show that’s at once grounded in reality and full of flights of fantasy. And the super-fit cast are roundly excellent, particularly the young actors who meet the challenge of acting, boxing and dancing, often all at once. A knockout. (Miles Fielder) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 29 Aug (not 16, 23), 7.30pm, £11.50–£14 (£10–£12.50).