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Fringe 2007 Reviews (16)
As the Mother of a Brown Boy
Chickenshed
Zoo Southside
****
Physical theatre company Chickenshed have chosen the saddest subject
of all for their latest piece, the death of a son seen through the eyes
of his mother. Based on the true story of mixed-race 19-year-old Mischa
Niering (whose mother called him her “brown boy”), killed
during a police chase following a failed attempt to burgle a jewellers.
His death resulted in a policeman being discharged from the force for
dangerous driving, but was never truly resolved in the court inquest.
London-based Chickenshed, known for their egalitarian and compassionate
approach to theatre, were given the support of Mischa’s mother
Karen in developing the theme and script for the piece which succeeds
in recounting the captivating and tragic story whilst respecting its
subject matter.
This is mainly achieved through the abstract nature of the play, which
sees emotion and mood replace narrative, and a fluid series of dance
and movement episodes convey the different stages of Mischa’s life
from birth to death.
The multi-talented young cast are always in tune with one another,
and the sense of rapport and teamwork is palpable from an intimate duet
between the Boy (Loren Jacobs) and his Mother (Belinda McGuirk) to high-octane
group episodes where street-style choreography is mixed with power games,
and the Boy is yanked, accosted and tossed around the stage. Beyond
the simple issue of police injustice, the finger is pointed at society’s
treatment and (non-)categorisation of mixed-race children, and the identity
crisis facing young men of all backgrounds as they move towards their
coming of age.
Two sequences of exquisite choreography between Jacobs and the Boy’s
father (Mekbul Jemal Tahir) mark the loss experienced by the Boy through
his father’s absence, and the empty void where a male role model
could have been. While the questions Chickenshed raise are not necessarily
new, the urgency with which they present them makes this production
a truly heartfelt piece of theatre.
The set is an innovative collection of hollowed out white cubes, which
are manipulated to take on various shapes, and onto which images are
projected, from real childhood photos of Mischa, to an alienating hologram
of an imagined coroner, leading his inquest. All the while a voice-over
of fragmented speech and over-lapping sentences loosely frames the action,
backed by rich vocals from singer Natsai Gurupira and a soulful live
band,
As the Mother of a Brown Boy marks Chickenshed as a dynamic
and important company capable of creative methods of storytelling and
they certainly deserve an audience for this thought-provoking production.
Lucy Ribchester
Believe
By Matthew Hurt
LMP and Richard Jordan Productions
Traverse 2
****
Linda Marlowe really is the consummate Edinburgh performer. This year,
she has chosen a poetically biblical script that showcases the updated
tales of four feisty women.
Rehab is a chatty cockney prostitute in a modern war zone, explosively
rendered in Gavin Marshall's bare black box production. She tells of
her struggle to make ends meet and the arrival of a pair of prophet/spies
who shun her attractions but at least offer to save her life when the
inevitable invasion happens.
She is succeeded by a contemporary Bathsheba stolen from her impotent
husband Uriah by a pushy army officer, David. He squires her on his
desk then, once she is pregnant, marries the well-spoken lady. This
is not a story of happy ever after though, as the guilty adulterer is
haunted by not one ghost but two.
The drama accelerates with the arrival of one of the bible's favourite
artistic images, Judith. This flamenco dancer poetically relates the
seven steps that lead to the beheading of Holofernes.
The saddest and most moving story is that of Hannah. The pity is that
her woes have been repeated through history and could with minimal adjustment
as easily be set in biblical times, the Spain of the Inquisition or
Nazi Germany.
The Jewish minority is forced to eat pork, thus denying their heritage.
Hannah refuses, supported by her seven manly sons. She is then forced
to watch as one by one, they are cruelly dismembered under the eyes
and instruction of the King.
Linda Marlowe makes all of her heroines believable and in the final
story will bring tears to the eyes of any but the most hard-hearted
viewer.
Philip Fisher
Chaplin
Written and performed by Pip Utton
Pleasance Dome
*****
I think Pip Utton is an alien, a protean creature which can turn into
anything it desires! I've seen him as Tony Hancock, Adolf Hitler and
Francis Bacon, as well as a Roy Orbison lookalike and Joseph the father
of Jesus, and he was utterly convincing as all of them. He even managed
to look like his subjects. And this year he takes on the old Charlie
Chaplin and does it again.
He really is, as the Guardian described him, "the master of the
one man show" and the young pretenders (of whom there are many
at every Fringe) should take time out to see his show (or shows, for
he is repeating his Adolf yet again this year) to learn how it
should be done.
Fittingly for a show dealing with a star of the movies, he has gone
multimedia and created filmed sequences into which the live Chaplin
steps - and loses thirty or so years in the process.
He takes us inside Chaplin's mind, exploring his memories and feelings,
and we come away feeling that we really understand the man, tat we really
have spent an hour in his company. There can be no greater praise than
that.
Peter Lathan
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