list.co.uk/festival Festival Theatre
THE CAGE Gun play and fourth-wall rupturing ●●●●● OPERATION GREENFIELD Teenagers getting Christ, no kicks ●●●●●
The prison that love and obsession can become is familiar enough territory in the theatre to need little preamble, and here, if the kind of situations that might arise are predictable, they’re no less entertaining for that. Dugald Bruce-Lockhart’s new play, in which he also leads, focuses on a thirtysomething man who plots revenge against the wife who abandoned him at the altar and his best man, with whom she has absconded.
Four shining-faced teenagers, all of them white and English, three of them angelically blonde, act out the Annunciation with passion and fervency. They smile, as though they’re overflowing with the joy of it; they face us and they shout ‘FOR NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD’, and the overall effect is rather frightening. Unintentionally so. Fringe darlings Little Bulb have been deservedly acclaimed for their gentle, inventively-told stories about middle class life, and their new offering, the story of a Christian band in a small English village, seems at first to bubble along on similar lines: slick, energetically physical, with sweet, inoffensive touches of genuine wit. However, perhaps because they themselves aren’t really sure of the story they’re telling – is it about these colour-coded, hermetically sheltered middle-English teenagers, or is it a parable of faith – things get lost. The stage is perpetually busy, the cast constantly moving amid the clutter, but nothing very much happens; the more interesting stubs of narrative, particularly concerning the kids’ variously developing sexualities, eventually become subsumed into a (literal) crescendo of Christian communion. One for the faithful only. (Kirstin Innes) ■ Zoo Roxy, 662 6892, until 28 Aug (not 15, 22), 8.35pm, £9.50 (£7.50).
In a familiar bourgeois lounge room, Bruce-Lockhart’s anti-hero awaits the return of his former partner on a Christmas Eve that neither she (Penelope Rawlins) nor her lover (John Sackville) will forget. What transpires involves that old standby of the handgun and the menacing game of truth or dare. Although there’s a certain amount of rupturing of the fourth wall amongst all this, it’s a device that isn’t really needed; the piece might have benefited instead by playing as an old fashioned thriller from beginning to end. That said, the performances are all strong, with Bruce-Lockhart writing himself a part that showcases his charismatic, bravura acting style. (Steve Cramer) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6557, until 30 Aug (not 16, 22), 3.50pm, £10–£11.50 (£8.50–£10.50). Online Booking Fringe www.edfringe.com International Festival www.eif.co.uk Book Festival www.edbookfest.co.uk Art Festival www.edinburghartfestival.org
CaLARTS FESTIVAL THEATER At Sundown Aug 07 - 13 @13:20 Aug 14 - 21 @18:30
The Bacchae Aug 07 - 13 @15:30 Aug 14 - 17 @20:30 Aug 18 - 21 @22:30 Floozy Aug 07 - 13 @12:00 Aug 14 - 21 @17:00
Silken Veils Aug 07 - 13 @14:20 Aug 14 - 21 @19:30
NO PERFS AUG 16TH
For up-to-the-minute Festival news follow us on Twitter: @thelistmagazine performance. (Amy Russell) ■ C Chambers Street, 0845 260 1234, until 30 Aug (not 17, 24), 3.15pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£6.50–£8.50).
POEM WITHOUT A HERO The first stage production of a Russian masterpiece ●●●●●
Translated from the original Russian with a graceful fluidity by DM Thomas this production is a bold step towards furthering the appreciation of Russia’s highly acclaimed 20th century poet Anna Akhmatova by an English speaking audience. Brought to the stage for the first time by Inside Intelligence, and including new verses specially translated by Thomas, Poem Without a Hero is Akhmatova’s most ambitious work. Written and revised over a period of 20 years it draws on her own experiences of a Russia transformed by revolution and war, including the brutal death of two husbands and an only son sent to Stalin’s camps. Even while her poetry was banned
by the Stalinist regime Akhmatova refused to abandon her country and continued to write with haunting beauty about the suffering she witnessed happening around her. The production’s simple staging leaves the emphasis on the poetry and the challenge of this solo portrayal is undertaken with sensitive dignity by Holly Strickland, who despite replacing the originally cast Xanthe Elbrick just days before the production opened delivers an accomplished and emotive
MORE LIGHT PLEASE In search of further illumination ●●●●●
The emotional and economic reality of emigration is fertile ground for theatre, and More Light Please provides another addition to the canon with its story of young Natalia moving from Poland to Dublin in search of a better life. The scene is set in the storeroom of
a shoe shop where a young girl, be- wigged and feather boa-d requests ‘more light’ as she daydreams of becoming an actor, before the reality of her new life is quickly realised, the sea of colourful shoeboxes around her belying the alienation she feels inside. Conversations with shop customers, and touching soliloquies reveal her broken relationships with men – from her ex-boyfriends to her father.
The drama here rises and falls with
the passionate performance of the leading lady, and co-writer and performer Natalia Kostrzewa is excellent, the highs and lows of her situation recreated with touching gravitas and delivered convincingly and with passion. But with so much to say – and indeed having already been said – on the subject of emigration, this is ultimately not a particularly memorable piece of theatre. (Anna Millar) ■ New Town Theatre, 220 0143, until 29 Aug (not 17, 24), 2.45pm, £10–£12 (£8–£10).
CaLARTS festival theater
On Lochend Close Off the Royal Mile £8 Gen | £5 Con tix: 07074 20 13 13 www.venue13.com
at sundown The story of the end of our lives told in our youth. A collectively imagined autobiography about the unraveling of memory. A joyous physical theater collage about clinging to the past and letting it go.
www.atsundown.net www.allmalebacchae.com
By Amy Tofte Directed by Pacho Velez
www.silkenveils.net
Run through the MicePace Sonic Maze while you wait!
12–19 Aug 2010 THE LIST 79