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Fringe 2007 Reviews (78)
Choon-Hyang - True Love
Theatre Seoul
C Chambers Street
*****
If you've been around about the Royal Mile during the last couple of
weeks you will have seen charming wee munchkins in gorgeous Korean national
costumes posing very politely for the click of cameras. Perhaps, you've
also wished you could put a couple in your pocket and take them home
to arrange on the mantelpiece. Instead, you should go and see their
show. However much these delicate and very beautiful children might
resemble porcelain dolls to the casual eye, when the house lights go
down and the spotlights go up they transform into accomplished performers,
brimming with energy and bursting with talent.
These enchanting and elegant performers herald from Seoul Theatre,
a children's company which has operated in English since 1995 with ages
ranging from 4 to 19. The company focuses as much on education as entertainment,
and it is easy to see that these performers have worked very hard to
make their work seem effortless. Their timing is perfection, their gestures
graceful and assured. Even the youngest sing and move like angels.
The story is simple and familiar: a tale of true love almost thwarted
by social conventions and circumstances. The loving young couple are
separated when the boy's father sends him to the emperor's court to
better himself. A local potentate, greedy and evil, falls for the young
bride and when she rejects his advances, she is incarcerated and all
the people suffer as the villain imposes extortionate taxes on the people.
Happily, your young hero's virtues have caught the emperor's eye, and
he is sent to investigate the disruptions taking place in this remote
province.
The production values are excellent: the costumes in particular are
a feast for the eye. Scenery is replaced with projections onto a back-cloth,
which is a flexible as well as aesthetically pleasing. This is a show
which will inspire our own children. So, mums and dads and grandmas
and granddads throughout Edinburgh have until the 27th to take their
own wee darlings for a real treat.
Jackie Fletcher
Legend of the Sword
Chanbara
Pleasance
****(*)
The samurai sword is more than just a very lethal weapon. In Japan
and elsewhere it has an iconic status being symbolic of the old Japan,
the virtues of the samurai class and an almost religious dedication
to purity and honour. According to legend, the first samurai sword was
made around AD 700 by the great master Amakuni in Yamato, but it was
in the war torn years between 900 and 1450 that the sword was adapted
to meet the changing face of battle. Master craftsmen perfected the
blade, utilising the finest materials and honing the process that evolved
into a tempered steel curved blade 2ft long of remarkable sharpness
known as the katana. The secret lies in the tempering. The metal
is heated and turned about 20 times, each time being plunged into cold
water. The exact temperatures, the exact moment, are crucial. The katana,
lovingly polished and engraved, with individualised features is an object
both beautiful and lethal. It is hard enough to sustain a remarkably
sharp edge, but flexible enough so that it will not bend or break.
The katana is an icon with a significant history. Embodying
the aesthetic, social and military ideology of the warrior caste, it
was banned by the national government of Japan in 1876, adding to its
iconic status. Only the police force was allowed to carry it, but the
necessary skills were transposed into a sport known as kendo
which is practised using sticks. There is even a martial art form dedicated
to drawing and sheathing the katana - aïdo. The cinema has
popularised the myth of the samurai warrior caste and the iconic status
of the katana has spread across the globe. It is no wonder that
so many legends exist concerning master craftsman and swords of exceptional
power.
Chanbara's new show centres on the legend of one such sword: a katana
that transforms the one possessing it, imbuing him with super-human
powers. In the hands of evil men, the sword would wreak havoc, and the
struggle to possess the sword is the occasion for a magnificent display
of skills as the forces of good and evil clash.
Accompanied by wadaiko drumming and some hilarious comic relief,
this simple tale of a sword lost in the mists of time and rediscovered
by a couple of unwitting innocents in the 21st century is as spectacular
as they come. If, like myself, you are a fan of martial arts movies,
then these stunning performers are the stuntmen who provide you with
your celluloid excitement, but here they are live and unedited. Their
acrobatic skills, wire-work and martial arts techniques merge into a
seamless sequence of breathtaking movement as elegant as it is dynamic.
But this is not simply a show for adherents of the martial arts. It
is a spectacle for all ages, centred on an object of great beauty and
considerable cultural significance. It is a tale that should engage
the hearts of us all, as the drums pound in our blood and the athleticism
inspires us to get out there and move.
Jackie Fletcher
Mary Rose
By JM Barrie
Theatre Alba
Scottish Storytelling Centre
***
If Film Four could programme old black and white theatre for their
matinees, this play would certainly be a firm favourite. Fitting perfectly
into its 3pm slot, the traditionally staged production slowly unfolds
its winding and intriguing plot of supernatural goings on with the gentle
pace of a well-thumbed classic.
JM Barrie's ghostly tale shifts between turn of the twentieth century
and the 1940s, unveiling the fate of young Mary Rose as her spooky past
on a deserted Scottish island makes an eerie resurfacing once she is
happily married. The plot is carefully teased out, and much of the supernatural
elements are left unresolved and unexplained, adding to the mystery.
The capable cast convincingly deliver the story, and Romana Abercromby
in the title role bubbles with the effervescence of an Enid Blyton heroine.
Theatre Alba will not win any prizes for originality with this production
but it makes for a lovely and gently thrilling afternoon.
Lucy Ribchester
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