Kubrick 3

An actor and three actresses all play the part of the dead Mr Conway, with an additional actor playing the part of his son, come to his dead father in search of answers and some kind of closure on the disappearance of his mother. What he gets in return is all you can expect from a congenital liar and egomaniac. This is all illustrated very creatively by the various performers taking on different aspects of his psyche and the ingenious set which largely consists of a sliding panel behind which various locations made of a couple of chairs and a blackboard are created. All in all the whole piece has kind of a Samuel Becket feel. Which is no bad thing.

Where the play is let down a touch however is on how unsympathetic the lead four actors are. Alan Conway had few redeeming features and even the kind of rock and roll aspect of his devil may care attitude came across more as sleazy than anti-heroic. Although maybe that’s the point. But the potential saving grace of his sons character was not fleshed out adequately enough to make him the sympathetic protagonist either. So, all in all, I was left somewhat cold by the whole experience. Never the less this is an interesting story creatively told, just don’t expect anything life-affirming or certainly any new insights into one of the world’s all time great directors. THREE STARS

Review by Steven Vickers

Mercy Killers
1 -26 August
Assembly Hall, Baillie Room
14:45
£10

With great pride in our NHS, the pain of the unequal American healthcare system always breaks my heart and the pain expressed in Mercy Killers certainly struck a chord.  I was moved when I read about this play, yet it is an odd feeling to want to go to a performance that is sure to make you uncomfortable.  I choose to use it to remind me of the strength of my values.

Poignant from the start, you can tell the story begins at the end, but the narrative remains unpredictable and captivating throughout.  The play evokes a true need for a humanist approach to health, all the more moving as told through the experience of a Republican tea-party faithful, right-wing in his ideals.  In the face of adversity, following his wife’s cancer diagnosis with initial treatment bills of $14,000 rising to $500,000 in total, Joe is forced to compromise himself. He is forced to rethink his honest work-ethic.  A man who has understood his responsibilities in society, a man who desired love, life and chose a family for his future; all for it to be stolen by a broken system.  Quietly demonstrating the impersonal and inhuman nature of politics.  Values and beliefs all too easily extreme until you feel them personally.

As a health advocacy piece it emotively illustrates the loss of control when faced with a poor health diagnosis, desperately seeking access to appropriate care and treatment. Part of Harold Clurman Lab Theater group, Michael Milligan certainly does his subject matter justice.  His performance is inspired, quite literally. He excellently embodies that desperate need to save a loved one, to save their health, something in the end that simply has no price.

Billed as a solo performance this is more than a one man show, more than a narrative, it’s a dialogue.  You feel part of the experience, you empathise and feel you are there to offer comfort to this story, to share the heartbreak and share in the condemnation of this faulty healthcare system.  This is sadly no doubt, not just one man’s story, but the story of countless others.  The story of a system that abandons its purpose, the story that reminds you that for so many there is no care in their healthcare. A drama to be believed. Four Stars.

 Reviewer – Elinor Dickie

Fight Night

Traverse Theatre

Times Vary Aug 1-25, not 5, 12, 19

£17–£19 

This new show from multiple fringe First-winning company Belgium’s Ontroerend Goed and Australia’s The Border Project put the power in the hands of the audience to vote for your favourite candidate amongst five actors. ‘Five performers, five rounds, your vote, one survivor’. Fight Night makes elections a theatrical game and comes across between ‘Big Brother’ and an Italian general election.

 As the audience member you are handed a voting pad whilst entering the auditorium. Once seated you are greeted by a tubby bespectacled host in a checked suit who conducts the voting in a flat voice, and is monitored by two boffins behind the screen. We test the technology with some warm-up questions to determine the average age, relationship status, sex and finances of the audience. Following this little exercise, five “candidates” march out into the ring, cloaked in black boxing robes. At the start you vote for your favourite, purely on appearance. A winner is then declared and we hear their voice for the first time, a single one-line that introduces them to the audience.

 Throughout the rounds of voting, the various candidates make coalitions to strengthen their positions and elimate other candidates. So will our desired candidate make it through to the next round? And if not, who do we align ourselves to the most? Each actor appears to take a different stance on subjects that we vote upon, be it racism, religion, the type of voter they naturally appeal to, and answers to situations such as what they’d do in a hostage takeover. With each round we learn more about the candidates, and we vote for the one that appeals. As the voting narrows and more candidates leave the stage, it becomes apparent that the system in which we’re voting is mimicking that of the real democratic voting system we have here. At one point, the host “resigns” his position to become a candidate espousing “change”, ironically finding himself voted out in the very next round. And yet, considering that not a single candidate ever really proffers an idea, an opinion on government or issues or policy. With this in mind, one of the final candidates on the performance attempts to break the system, to rebel from it and force the system to collapse.In Fight Night the choice is eventually removed as the voting becomes narrow to the point of only two choices: vote for one candidate or leave the auditorium in protest.

See a trailer of the show here…

 It may not sound particularly theatrical, and it may not appeal to those driven to narrative-type theatre, but Fight Night challenges you to move from being a spectator to being an activist, to stand up for the right, or to continue to feed a system. Not every theatre company can ignite political passion in me, and it seems in a number of others too. One audience member became frustrated with the system at play and questioned why she had to vote at all, whilst other more conservative individuals happily voted upon each round with little consequence. Fight Night, like all Ontroerend Goed’s productions leaves many divided, but it can’t be denied that it is a company which continually pushes the ways in which it interacts with with audience, and with this produces challenging work that questions and provokes.

Reviewer – Robert Kerr

Clean

Traverse

16/18/21/23/24 Aug

9.00

£14 (inc. b’fast)

Throughout the Festival, the Traverse is offering on alternate mornings, two plays directed by in-houise artistic director, Orla O’Loughlin. Alongside ‘A Respectable Woman Takes to Vulgarity,’ this new play by the young & highly talented Sabrina Mahfouz is a compelling start to the flow of inspiration that the crowds are said to recieve in Edinburgh during August. I first encountered the abilities of ms. Mahfouz two years ago, when she wrote & starred in a one-woman show.  Roll on two years & she has divided her voice into three, played with great spirit by Nadia Clifford, Chloe Massey and Rosie Wyatt.

They play three classy female criminals, who are ‘clean’ in the fact that they leave behind no blood, guts & corpses. After various monologues introduce the characters, they are brought together & plunged into a Lock-Stock style caper which is brought to life in our imagination through the poetic wordplay & relentless engergy of Mahfouz’s writing.  As I watched I felt I was in the audience of Pesistratan Athens, watching the Rhapsodes unfold the lays of Homer, that timeless  blend of narrative & theatre that has been reborn in this very modern, & yet very classical play. FOUR STARS

Reviewer – Damo Bullen

Economy of Thought

Assembly George Square

1^st to 26^th August (excl. 12^th and 19^th)

14.40pm

£8-£14

With the Global Financial Crisis still affecting many people’s daily lives, there is still a visible wedge between those who work in the public or voluntary sectors and the private financial sector. Many feel outrage at the fact that some financial workers seem to be unpunished for reckless behaviour, yet often little is known about the actual daily working life of investment professionals outside of those who work in the industry. “Economy of Thought”, by Patrick McFadden, takes a real-life event, (when City bankers were seen waving notes at G20 protesters), and imagines the reactions of four investment bankers as they try to cover up the disastrous consequences of their actions, when a protester ends up in hospital as a result of them dropping cash out of the window of their office floor.

This play avoids taking the obvious route of simply berating the bankers for having behaved outrageously, by adding depth to the character’s backgrounds, showing us their professional and emotional motivations. Although there are some who behave recklessly, others do try to maintain a moral conscience. The comedy highlights are actually mostly thanks to the two most dislikeable characters in the play, (Reece played by Jonny McPherson and Rich played by Oliver Stoney), which in turn makes you think about whether if in the same position would you actually act morally, or find the situation just as hilarious as they do. An amusing and enjoyable look at a topic which many have an opinion on, but few have attempted to put onto the stage. An exciting and upbeat performance. THREE STARS

 Reviewer – Antionette Thirgood

In the Kingdom of the Blind

Venue 13

Aug 3-11, 13-24

18.45pm

£7–£9

With a focus on theatre, physical theatre and contemporary dance, established in 1996, Venue 13 was a first visit for me this year.  I stepped off the bustling Royal Mile into the quaint but very well run venue to check out this new play. “In the Kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” – (Desiderius Erasmus), or, to put it another way, someone of limited ability is at a great advantage in the company of those less able. Setting out on a voyage into the wilderness, the three characters leave the trappings of modern society behind them and using what survival skills they have between them, the story develops into a test of emotional endurance.

Kit Spink, Charlie Howitt and Brian McMahon who star as Nik, Krissy and Davis also wrote this new play.  They have manifested strong individual characters into the play and it’s interesting to see where their story is going to lead.  They certainly have great ability at performing and writing, with all six eyes wide open! This is Reverend Productions, an Oxfordshire theatre company’s 10^th production and has been nominated for the NSDF – emerging artists award this year.  I wish them the very best of luck. THREE STARS

Reviewer – Christine Morgan

Sex Lives of Others

Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance This

13-26 Aug

2.15pm

£10 – £12

This tiny venue is packed to the gunnels and its adds an intimacy that is appropriate for the subject matter here: we all want to know what other people get up to in the bedroom.  This successfully attempts to show that while we may think that other people sex lives are more boring or exciting than our own that we never really know…

This punchy, witty comedy from writer Keeley Winstone and award winning director Hannah Eidinow (winner of five Fringe Firsts) (hits the mark with sharp dialogue and well judged observations judging by the audiences laughter signalling that they related to what was being acted on on the tiny stage by the 4 strong cast of Joanna Bending and Martin Miller, and Jessica Biglow and Matt Green.

The story follows the bedroom antics of 2 couples; one young and one old living next door to each other.  The older couple (Hilary and James) think the antics going on next door are a young couple Kerry and Sonny are  “going at it like rabbits” but the truth is anything but, whereas the oldies are looking to rekindle their youthful lust.  The well-written script ensures laughter right the way through and the hour flies by.  Highly enjoyable, don’t expect gratuitous sex scenes (like the mainly male crowd were probably expecting) just a very good, well thought out and produced succulent piece of theatre. 5 STARS

Reviewer David McMenemy

Kafka’s A Report to an Academy 

Reviewer – Steven Vickers