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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2004 Reviews (16)The True Story of Ah Q This visually spectacular adaptation of a novel by Lu Xun highlights the talents of the entire class from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. Over the course of one hour, audience members witness the life of Ah Q (Kwok Siu Lung) - a sort of village idiot, constantly finding trouble instead of achieving his goals. The characters perform entirely in Cantonese, with a single narrator (Tsang Mo Suet) translating the most critical portions of the text for those in the audience whose grasp of the language might be less than perfect. However, one doesn't actually need to understand a word of Cantonese to be able to follow the story. The actors are so physically explicit in each of their actions that the narrators words often serve more as comic highlights of the more incredible parts of the tale. At times Ah Q seems like more of a piece of dance or movement theatre than anything else. The story is uneven in places, and it is difficult to determine the exact point behind the collection of events which Ah Q goes through. But the costumes and music (including one live musical interlude) fill in the gaps which narrative fails to explain. Rachel Lynn Brody Tango Apocalypso The Shysters are a special theatre company. They specialise in working with performers who have learning disabilities. Tango Apocalypso is a piece that combines speech (17 words right at the start) with physical theatre, mime and especially dance. Its cast of eight combine well, in particular the two leads. The atmosphere, well set by Gestapo types roaming the audience and checking up on their "dance cards" is 1940s. On a set that combines station waiting room with down-at-heel dancehall, the music and dance styles are both varied. The former favouring an Eastern European influence, the latter more Latin. This allows tales of love and death to develop gently. Tango Apocalypso is both moving and funny, at times. It is also inventive with many invisible musical instruments, dance on every part of the performing space and mimed songs, à la Dennis Potter. All of this builds to a rousing finale involving the whole cast at their best. Philip Fisher A Comedy of Arias Reality TV does opera! Celebrity singers come to the Opera Cafe to sing for their supper! The louder you, the audience applaud, the more they get to eat - starter, main course, or the whole works! It could happen in reality: it does happpen in A Comedy of Arias. The cafe is run by Roger Bravado (played by Ian Bloomfield), assisted by Miranda (Sophie Jugé), to whom he is, unknown by her, going to propose during the show. He is a never-made-it, she as wannabe opera singer. Then the two celebrities arrive: on-the-way-down diva Cory Ainslee Flynn (Lorey Isley Lynn) and her husband, singer Orlando Blaize (Sani Muliaumaseali'i), who had been at college with Bravado, and had, unknown to him, stolen his chance of the big time. It's a light comedy, bordering at times on farce, with a touch of satire on the reality TV fad, which would be quite amusing were it not for the use of popular arias from wide range of operas, which are always apposite and beautifully sung, which raise it up more than one level. And we should not forget Taylor, the awful TV director (Fred Perry), who desperately wants the show to finish with Nessun Dorma sung in a football shirt! It's cleverly written and should kill forever the calumny that opera singers can't act. The virtually full house loved it. Definitely not to be missed by opera fans. Peter Lathan |
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