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Fringe 2007 Reviews (74)
Lacrimosa
Song of the Goat/Teatr Piesn Kozla (Poland)
Assembly Aurora Nova
*****
The Song of the Goat Theatre hails from Wroclaw in Poland and the members
continue in the footsteps on Jerzey Grotowski by directing all their
creative energies into an ongoing research into the actors' craft. The
results are stupendous. The potential for vocal and physical expression
transcends anything witnessed in most theatres across the globe.
Lacrimosa is the third in a trilogy of performances exploring
the most ancient of sacrificial myths. This particular exploration centres
on an occurrence in Arras, France, at a time of plague in 1485 and the
subsequent pogroms. It is an apt expression of human frailty revealed
in vicissitude and driven by incomprehension to peaks of emotion and
irrational behaviour. The emotional scope of these actors is quite staggering.
They carry one along on an emotional journey that embraces sweet lamentation,
brutal violence, sensual arousal, fervent supplication and spiritual
enlightenment. This is the absolute and sublime embodiment of the 'holy
actor' whose technique has reached such perfection that it can be transformed
effortlessly into art. They sing like angels, groan like tormented demons,
scream like banshees and move with effortless grace, even in extremes
of pain and violence.
Their previous show, Chronicles - A Lamentation, cleaned up
on awards at the Festival in 2004 and in many respects I prefer it to
Lacrimosa. It had a rough energy, an edginess that I missed this
afternoon. While Lacrimosa touched me deeply, particularly certain
moments embodied by the two actresses, ultimately, I felt more in awe
of the polished perfection of the performance and the skills of the
performers than a deep engagement with the material itself. Nonetheless,
I can recommend this show to anyone who appreciates physical theatre.
Within their genre, The Song of the Goat are peerless.
Jackie Fletcher
Ravenhill for Breakfast -
War of the Worlds
By Mark Ravenhill
Traverse 1
*****
In Edinburgh this year, it appears that Small is Beautiful. This is
the third production running for under 45 minutes to receive a Fringe
First and, just to show that critics sometimes agree, five stars from
BTG.
The concept is simple. Mark Ravenhill has contracted to write seventeen
twenty-minute plays for performance at the unheard of time of 9.30 in
the morning. They have a range of directors and utilise actors already
in town. They are all loosely linked, with terrorism the overriding
theme.
The eleventh play might have been heavily influenced by American playwright
Wallace Shawn. It features three actresses, Nicola Harrison, Kananu
Kirimi and Wendy Nottingham (all from Traverse 3 plays) playing Everywomen
in a civilised society such as our own.
Under Jemima Levick's direction, they show up our reactions to genocide
on the other side of the world. The initial sympathy, fuelled by politicians
and pop stars, soon gives way to acceptance and more surprisingly, hostility
towards those who trouble our lives with their problems and must surely
be to blame for their own fates.
At the tenth anniversary of the death of the Princess of Wales, with
its concomitant media-hyped mass grief, this is a timely play that investigates
that effect and puts it into a contemporary context.
Ravenhill writes wittily on this dark subject and is well-supported
by the talented creative team, who only get a single day to rehearse
but deliver an emotional and thoughtful twenty minutes.
Philip Fisher
Basic Training
By Khalil Ashanti
Assembly Rooms
***
For the second time in one day, a show begged the question as to whether
its categorisation was correct. On this occasion, the solo theatre performance
might easily have been classified as comedy with Khalil Ashanti having
all the talents of the better stand up comedians.
He really knows how to work and involve an audience and gets laughs
with both his words and his actions.
Ashanti claims that the whole of his story is true. That may be stretching
the definition a wee bit or alternatively, he is the kind of person
for whom coincidence is the closest of friends.
It doesn't really matter since the point of this tale is to shock us
with the horrors of US military life and to warm the heart with a feelgood
family tale.
It is only as Khalil Ashanti is about to join the US Air Force that
his cowering mother reveals that her bully of a husband is not his father.
The training sergeant that the innocent young recruits meet is hilariously
portrayed and could easily be the subject of a whole show. He would
be a wonderful creation, had he been created!
Having got through the horrors of training, our man finds his forte
in the USAF entertainment group known as TOPS. This allows him to run
through a kind of talent show demonstration that serves little purpose
in advancing the plot. It does demonstrate that Ashanti is a genius
of a dancer and can't sing.
The happy ending is a real heart warmer as Dad appears and turns out
to be a real sweetie. Who needs fiction when life is like this?
Philip Fisher
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