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Fringe 2007 Reviews (92)
Tomas Pape
Aireborn Theatre Company
Baby Belly
****
In terms of standard narrative, this play was very strange: the tale
of a boy, shunned from the circus and ending up lost and alone, is familiar,
and at the same time bizarre. The story is only a small piece of the
performance, as the five strong cast run around the stage, interacting
with the audience as they ply music, sing, juggle and laugh their way
through the oddness that makes up the play.
The story revolves around a circus-boy called Tomas Pape, whose reticence
leads the dictatorial and abusive Ringmaster to use him as part of the
act. When Tomas refuses to let his life be conjured into a fable he
is unceremoniously cast out, and left to wander the forests in a pinocchian
fashion, meeting strange figures along the way.
There were even several instances where the fourth wall was broken
and the actors addressed each other by their own names for comic effect.
Bizarrely, none of this detracted from the deranged atmosphere as the
piece is far more of a visceral experience than a simple play. Much
of this has to come down to martin Bonger's fine direction and the likeable,
funny and energetic cast. With a pedigree such as this, Aireborn will
be a company to keep an eye on in years to come.
Graeme Strachan
Apocryphal Tales Told In The
Dark
Cambridge University ADC
C Cubed
**(*)
Showing a cross-section of society, this play peers into the troubles,
insecurities and fears which plague people regardless of their upbringing,
wealth or social situation.
Thus we are shown insights into the lives of a homeless girl who dreams
of being re-united with her estranged father, an over-enthusiastic religious
man, a pair of drug-dealing thugs and a post-natally depressed wife
of a businessman.
There are occasional attempts to link these stories either thematically
or having the characters interact with each other but the overall effect
is clumsy and stilted with the various tales going nowhere and having
no obvious moral or meaning to the events. Despite the decent acting
and the occasionally insightful script, the play simply doesn't go anywhere
either petering out or reaching pat or unconvincing ends, meaning that
all we can take from the piece is a fairly naïve expression of
life being occasionally bleak and depressing no matter who you are.
Graeme Strachan
Yellow Moon
By David Grieg
TAG Theatre Company
Traverse
****
Yellow Moon is another affirmation of David Grieg's extraordinary
strength as a story maker.
Teenager 'Stag' Lee has earned his nickname from the Stag emblem on
the baseball cap which has never left his head since the day his father
walked out of his life twelve years ago.
Leila is a young Scottish Muslim girl, so overwhelmed by the world
that she has opted out of it, remaining mute and carving a razor into
the flesh of her arms every Friday night so that the pain will reassure
her of her continued existence. But when Lee stabs his Mother's boyfriend
the two escape to the Highlands to a very uncertain future.
The story is part narrated and part performed by an impressive cast
of four. It is an uncluttered, stripped bare production, and so vivid
is the world they create that the audience grimace at mimed scenes of
the butchering of a culled deer.
Grieg's text is edgy and poetic, and his story compelling, making this
an engrossing, memorable production.
Allison Vale
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