WoFF Life is Shrinking

CCA

Sun 4  October 2015

Attune theatre’s latest offering explores contemporary issues in ‘Life is Shrinking’. This performaance takes us on a journey through the minefield of insecurities that come with online dating. Raven haired Hannah wants a man,  but wonders how online dating will allow the organic natural process to flourish that happened pre internet with the help of chance. Several attempts on Tindr humorously show us how she negotiates her disastrous attempts to find a soul mate.

With facebook, twitter and instagram all at her fingertips she doesn’t want to miss anything and checks out potential boyfriends with a judging attitude that is all too dismissive of best intentions,  aware that she has hardened from more naive permissive experiences earlier.

A well meaning mother who is a bit too eager to be a grandmother unwittingly pushes Hannah to take the plunge and before she has time to draw breath, ‘ It’s not weird is it? ’ she is immersed in the world of , ‘ unwanted dick pics ‘ and hopefuls like Gavin, 21, 1.6 miles away. Just from his profile photo Hannah decides he is,  ‘a quinoa , kale and all that crap kind of guy.’

Online dating can be a source of great entertainment value for many but Hannah is too stressed in her search for a man she can take to a family members wedding. It is this desperation not be seated at the singles table that her mother is organizing that perhaps clouds her enjoyment of the process and reflects the very real pressure society sets to be seen as not only socially but sexually active.

Unable to block out the voice in her head that leads her to believe she has an unwanted gift…that of permanently wiping off the face of the earth any suitors that don’t measure up to her healthy expectations from a male love interest. Quickly becoming left swiping happy she deletes married men with gay abandon much too the amusement of her new schizophrenic self. Mistrusting of her new ability she seeks council and ends up on anti-depressants. Cyber stalking, blocking, and typically untrained and unsympathetic NHS 24 staff make Hannah feel incompetent and patronized when she phones to ask for help with her psychotic breakdown.The unhelpful advice to, ‘Think positive thoughts and can I help you with anything else? Ok have a good night’ is funny but resonates the point that we live in a messed up world that pretends to care. This dark modern fairy tale gem directed by Stewart Schiller is brought to life by the accomplished acting skills of Julie Martis of Strathclyde Theatre Group and actor at The Glad Cafe’s ‘Write It’ and Glaswegian/American actor Simon Devon .

Reviewer: Clare Crines

King’s Theatre
Edinburgh
29 Sept-Sat 3 Oct
19.30pm
(Wed & Sat Matinees 14:30)
£14-£29.50

Condensing a classic tale such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is a challenge, but one met with extreme professionalism by young playwright Dawn King & director, James Dacre. Premiering only two weeks ago in Northampton, its first port of call was Edinburgh’s internationally renowned King’s Theatre, a perfect test-water for such a fascinating & prophetic piece.

Penetrating the smoke of ethereality experienced by Huxley back in 1931 as he wrote his wonderful sci-fi satire on the 20th century was no easy task, but the dramaturgical combinations of sound, scenery & some highly effective line-delivery was a true wonder to watch. Its purveyors are the Touring Consortium Theatre Company, whose self-generated vision is, ‘to inspire our audiences with life-affirming, excellent theatre. To make our work accessible and diverse.’ The universality of Brave New World, then, is an excellent choice, & whether you have the read book or not, I advise a visit to whichever theatre this play finds itself.

Set in the 26th century, Huxley’s dysto-utopian masterpiece splices Shakespeare with cutting-edge 1930’s scientific endeavour & philosophical reasoning, while at the same time weaving Shakespeare quotes into a simple boy-meets-girl love story. Ahead of its time in more ways than one, it is amazing to see how we humans of 2015 still reproduce in the old-fashioned way & still believe in God – both vastly outdated notions in the 26th century.

The young & virile cast brought to life the sex-loving, soma-supping lifestyle of the godlike Alphas – a nod to the free-living hedonism of the rich & famous between the wars: at times I felt as if I was watching a well coreographised musical. The best performer of this bubbly troupe was Abigail McKern, whose powerful performance as Linda really brought her character’s desperation to life… a scruffy beacon of humanity in a land of affluent degenerates.

Fear, pleasure-seeking, detached sexual encounters – this play pokes its nose into the secret troughs of the modern psyche. A savage & emotionally interactive production that breaks the mould in a lyrical & daring fashion. FOUR STARS

Reviewer : Damo Bullen 

Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh

Until October 10^th

Tuesday – Saturday 

£15 – £29.50

With the lines ‘Nobody comes. Nobody goes. It’s awful.’ Beckett threw down the gauntlet to critics with his seminal play Waiting for Godot, first performed in English in 1955, and now kickstarting the Lyceum’s 50^th anniversary programme. In a way the above lines are a very succinct summation of the play, except it’s not awful. A stellar cast, with no one performer outclassing any other, bring out the fun and seriousness in Beckett’s sparse masterpiece. Brian Cox’s playful, optimistic and dynamic Vladimir and Bill Paterson’s quiet, lugubrious and restrained Estragon is a perfectly judged pairing and interpretation of the main protagonists. You can tell Didi and Gogo, as they call each other, enjoy their interactions, both swift and measured and both actors superbly embody their characters’ interiority in their movement and posture.

Cox’s use of his body and facial expressions – darting beady eyes, rising and falling height – is particularly good and help to show the impotence he feels in front of John Bett’s authoritarian Pozzo, who really comes across as a nasty piece of class oppressor. Another standout is the impressively static endurance performance of Benny Young as Pozzo’s workhorse Lucky, standing immobile for the best part of half an hour before launching into a superb rendition of Lucky’s ‘nonsense’ speech – surely one of the best examples of stream of consciousness in all literature.

The sparseness of the play is perfectly mirrored by Michael Taylor’s stage design, with its lone windblown tree and snowblind vanishing point effect. The design is cleverly enhanced by Mark Doubleday’s beautifully controlled lighting, which creates a cloudlike layer of shadow that creeps imperceptibly across the barren stage, subtly suggesting the passage of day into the night that Didi longs for in each act.

Lyceum director Mark Thomson and his talented team have pulled off a difficult trick, injecting something new into such a well-known, well-worn, and oft-performed play. The sense of optimism in this version, to ‘go on’ despite all, is very strong and makes the play read less pessimistically than it is sometimes accused of being. The love between Didi and Gogo, exemplified by their hug in the second act, is also very strong and more moving than other versions and demonstrates the importance, and strength, of friendship in the face of adversity. FOUR STARS

Reviewer : Nicky Melville

Festival Theatre

September 19^th and 20^th

Sat 11am and 2pm/Sunday 2pm

£13.50-£16.00

****

Dinosaur Petting Zoo, ERTH, Carriageworks

I arrived with my daughter and her friend, both aged nine, at a fairly full Festival Theatre, mingling with a mixed bunch of parents and children mainly aged six and under. The show we sat down to was introduced by our host for the next hour Shaun Morton. The journey begins with our host introducing us to the smaller dinosaurs moving gradually onto the slightly scary Tyrannosaurus Rex for the grand finale. The great thing about the show was the constant audience participation. Shaun Morton manages to engage the audience at all points – the adults with his quick wit and the children with his enthusiasm and knowledge, The show is clearly aimed to be educational as well as fun, with lots of interesting facts about how dinosaurs interacted with each other and their environment through the ages.

The children’s interaction with these extraordinary life-like puppets was hugely entertaining, Children of various ages joined the team on stage to tame and feed the huge creatures, and seemed to fully enjoy the experience. The ‘meat and greet’ after the show allowed the entire audience to get up close with the dinosaurs. Thanks to the great job the cast does, the show transports you to the dinosaur age, with screams of terror and joy throughout. The girls gave it FOUR STARS

****

Reviewer : Dolina Gorman

King’s Theatre

August 30^th

Bonkers bonkers: bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers – bonkers. Bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers.  Bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers. Bonkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers. Bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers: bonkers, bonkers bonkers. Bbonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers; bonkers bonkers bonkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers. BonkerS. BoNkerS. BONkErs. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers.

Bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers. BONKers. BONKers. bONkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers; bONkErs bonkers bonkers boNkeRs bonkers. BonkeRs bonkers, bonKers bonkers bOnkers bonkers bonkErs bonkers – bonkers bonkers bonkers… Bonkers (bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers),  bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers. BonkeRs bonkers bonkers bonkers. BoNkers bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers? Bonkers! Bonkers? ‘Bonkers, bonkers bonkers – bonkers, bonkers!’ BOnkers bOnkers bOnkers bOnkers bOnkers bOnkers bOnkers. Bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers. Bonkers: bonkerS bonkers bonkers bonkErs bonkers – bonkers bonkers bonkers, bonkers bonkers. Bonkers, bonkers bonkers bonkers—bonkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers.

BONKERS. Bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers bonkers! 5 BONKERS

Reviewer : Nicky Melville

Nicky Melville

The Pleasance

5th-30th

13:00

£9-£12

****

A Cinema in South Georgia is a dashingly spirited romp through the life & times of four South Atlantic Whalers from Scotland, who find themselves working a LONG way from home on the wave-swept island of South Georgia. Based on real-life accounts of that salty old life, & laced with thought-provoking moments concerning the slaughtering of our oceans’ whales, we are transported to christmas 1959-60, at the heart of the Claret’s last championship winning season when Harry Potts led Burnley to the title, claiming top spot on only after the very last match!

The cinema in question was created, according to the play, by a projector taken from Leith’s Alhambra cinema,& on that xmas eve was showing Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. From here we follow the four lads into home-brew fuelled sessions & a jaunty trip to Aruba, all served up with some lovely lowland Scots dialect. Throughout the play we hear catchy monologues, second-bucket sea-shanties & music-hall songs, & one is left feeling with an inimitable warm glow by the end. The four actors have a most splendid chemistry, led by the professionally outstanding, Blackadder II lookalike Euan Mciver. All the rest of the lads gave stand-out performances, & have gained themselves a very worthy FOUR STARS

****

Reviewer : Damo Bullen

Yes Hub, Liberton Dams

1-31^st August (not 25,28^th)

18.45

£12/£10

A powerful performance from award-winning playwright Andy Paterson had me enthralled. Set in Yes Hub it’s a wee bit of distance from your festival central but all- the-better for escaping the throngs of people in the centre of festival mania. Y’ill no get a flyer for this up the Royal Mile, hen.  This was a well-researched adventure into the life of the now dead/murdered Scottish activist lawyer and SNP MP Willie MacRae. You may or not have heard of this guy. He died in1985 in an apparent suicide.  The gun used was found many metres from his body. The recovery companies employed to take away the car both claim that they did.  I couldn’t have been both companies.  His house was broken into an documents removed.  Suspicious?  Yes.

Willie was a lawyer of some infamy.  He took on cases that promoted equality and which protected those fighting for the end-game of the sovereignty of the nation.  He upset the establishment and was being closely monitored by the police and secret service.   Cases that would likely have todays lawyers shitting in their breeks for fear of breaking ranks and showing some principles.  The play is a portrait of a man, who almost peerless, heckled the hacks and politicians of the day and drove his point home.  The mysterious circumstances of his untimely death – and the fact there has never been a fatal accident enquiry despite compelling evidence make this a compelling piece.

A recent 12000-strong petition to the Lord Advocate fell on deaf ears.  MacRae had a dossier which indicted the higher echelons of British society into paedophile rings and reportedly had evidence of corruption to the highest level in the UK Nuclear industry at its inception. It is well scripted and forcefully performed by Paterson who is an impressive orator.  The sory is told in monologue and song.  The Q&A after was almost as compelling as the play. Off with their fucking heads! FIVE STARS

Reviewer David McCaramba

Edinburgh Fringe, venue 127
Church of St John the Evangelist,
Princes St, Edinburgh
27^th August 2015

I think perhaps we’re getting to the stage where everything that could possibly be done with and to Shakespeare’s plays has been done, from the instantly recognisable histrionics of Laurence Olivier on film to Blackadder, from modern-dress productions to translations into Klingon. But the Bard won’t lie down, and neither will the inventiveness of his interpreters. Brite Theater’s Emily Carding has been presenting a one-woman version of Richard III for Edinburgh Fringe audiences, obliterating (according to pre-publicity) the traditional ‘fourth wall’ between audience and performer, and garnering some glowing reviews. Will this be another one? Wait and see!

To distil any play to a state where a single actor can carry it requires judicious and inspired editing. We’re blessed that Shakespeare’s protagonists soliloquise so often, to give insight into their state of mind and intentions, that we have a good base to build on. The script of the Brite version of Richard III carries things further by, inter alia, incorporating some of the lines of other characters into Richard’s by way of commentary, in this kind of construction: “You say so-and-so has done such-and-such, well then…” Other devices are used, such as the modern setting allowing Richard to hold a conversation on a mobile phone, or to read out a series of incoming texts from another character. Surprisingly these are devices which all work. The breaking of the fourth wall isn’t as total as the pre-publicity makes out. By and large we sit and watch enrapt. Various members of the audience, as they file in, are given a sign to hang round their necks, identifying them as this or that character from the play; beyond that they are required to do very little, they have no set lines or actions beyond natural reactions, or occasionally they have to stand and be spoken to by Richard. Perhaps their major contribution is to receive a sticker bearing the word ‘DEAD’ when their character is disposed of. Apart from that we, the audience, watch and listen, standing once, and proclaiming once “Long live Richard, England’s royal King”. The reluctance and self-consciousness with which we complied with that was the whole point, and was the moment in the play when the fourth wall was truly broken – we were Richard’s unwilling subjects.

So much for the mechanics of the play. What about Emily Carding’s performance? Well, it is bound up with those mechanics. We meet her Richard, as we settle in our seats in the small venue, seeing him/her – ‘him’ from this point in my review – glowering from a swivel chair, wearing a dark suit. Draco Malfoy two decades on, almost. When we are still, and have been so for several seconds, Richard gives a deep sigh and, after another pause, speaks.

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York…

A gesture to the labeled audience member, and – ah yes! – we are off, we are in familiar territory, and we are instantly attentive. The pause worked, and the delivery works. The standing, moving Richard is stereotypically deformed, not exaggeratedly so, but with a definite hunch and limp. Indeed if this punch is pulled then the meaning would go out of the words of the play. The delivery sharpens the focus on Richard, facilitates our listening to the actor’s words, those words becoming almost a sonata for voice. Sometimes this means we are not entirely sure what is soliloquy and what is not, and this points out a disadvantage in the concept of this presentation, inasmuch as an audience member must already understand the plot and structure of the full play in order to navigate the one-woman version. It would be almost pointless coming to this performance otherwise.

What else is lost, and does it matter? Well, most obviously, the play is shorn of much of its Tudor propaganda. All we know of Richmond – the future Henry VII – is the ‘vile politician’ Richard portrays him as. Yes, I know that’s a term from Henry IV Part 1, but the character to which it is applied is the type of which Richmond is the antitype, each shown as arguably justified in usurping an enthroned and anointed ‘Richard’. However, what this shearing-away of the Lancastrian apologia does is allow us to focus on Richard the man. The play à la Brite Theater, becomes The Tragedy of Richard III, with Richard as an anti-hero with whom we become intimately involved. Despite the fact that the casualty list of his ambition is plainly on show with ‘DEAD’ stickers on the victims, we begin to feel pity for this king, we see that he is no coward in his ambition. It’s not enough to make us Ricardian converts, but it makes us think, makes us check what we are feeling.

There are telling moments. Richard falls silent, remains so for a long time, his gaze tracking slowly from face to face in the audience. Suddenly we realise that he is looking, one-by-one, at every person whose death he has engineered and, if we know the play, we realise that he is seeing their ghosts on the night before the battle of Bosworth. If we know the play. Richard’s death is another telling moment. Already wounded, already dying, already wearing a ‘DEAD’ label, he pleads for a horse, pledges his kingdom for it, and dies reaching for the paper crown that has fallen from his head. The fact that it is made of paper serves to show how, ultimately, it is a meaningless object of desire and ambition. The play has to end there, Richard is dead.

Emily Carding’s performance in fact held me throughout. This can’t have been an easy performance to carry off. Allowing a small scattering of comedic moments and ad-libbing seasoned the mixture, but by far it was her delivery and characterisation that worked. It was an intensely emotional and even moving portrayal of the last Yorkist king of England. Hopefully this review will be on line in time to persuade you to go along and see the performance; as I write, the remaining performances are on 28^th, 29^th, and 31^st of August. Despite the fact that I seem to be expressing reservations throughout this review, they are fair observations, and I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it to you. FOUR STARS

****

Reviewer :  Paul Thompson

Pleasance Dome, Potterrow

Until August 31

17:40 (1h)

£10.00

Alive with six characters this is a fun ride of a show. It takes the electric street vibe atmosphere at the Fringe and fuses it into a very comprehensive all be it completely light hearted upbeat entertainment. An impressive use of various stage props including recording on an effects pedal. Dialogue is quick and rolls on in the crazy plot. The Pleasance dome venue is a large public glass dome that houses a few separate venues, Queen Dome can hold a crowd of 175. However, even at half capacity the hour was full on.

This was an unexpected show, It starts with music but with the first burst of dialogue I was transfixed till the final bow. Laugh out loud and hilarious in its exploration of the six very distinctive characters. Synchronisation at times is inventive putting the stage to use in alternative ways. Quirky and distinctive in all of its aspects the story line centres around a group of friends investigating debt solution. The incredible thing about this play is that there is no main star; everyone is equally valid. Meandering between disliking a character to then discovering a liking for them before the end is a common thread in this production keeping the audience transfixed. It’s experimental yet solid.

At a show like this we are not just the audience but participants. In the special vibe of the Festival this production has a particular edge. The performers don’t break character at any point whether they sit in the background or are actively working the floor. This dedication creates superb interactions. These interchanges reverberate between the acting crew and audience. The stand up type dialogue from start to finish was perfect for this theatre environment. Good quality, abrupt but relaxed, there is even an action quality to it. I would recommend seeing it. FOUR STARS

Reviewer:  Daniel Donnelly