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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2008 Reviews (32)Lie of the Land One of the signs of a good writier is the ability to take a cliché and make it seem fresh and newly-minted. In The Lie of the Land Torben Betts takes one such, the city couple who relocate to the country and spout all the expected clichés and then find it is not what they imagined (also a cliché), but his characterisation, his language and the play's structure give us a new viewpoint. Darkly comic and poetic, the play sweeps the audience in directions which are inevitable and yet still feel unexpected. He is helped in no small measure by Adam Barnard's direction and the performances of Neal Barry and Nia Gwynne as the couple in question. Barnard gives us a production which is far from realistic, using taped lines on the floor to represent furniture and, at the beginning, to indicate how truly separate these two are from each other so that even intimate moments are played across the full width of the stage. Their movements, too, are almost choreography rather than natural, and yet each actor inhabits his/her character to such an extent that their speech, which both poetic and very carefully structured, feels perfectly natural. The alienation is emphasised by the fact that each scene is introduced by projected silent film-like captions. The piece grips throughout: beautifully written and performed, Lie of the Land really is a must-see. Peter Lathan Charlie Victor Romeo
One of the major themes of Edinburgh 2008 is Verbatim Theatre. After Deep Cut and The Caravan comes Charlie Victor Romeo, an American production that proves to be a quite startling way to spend an evening. On the basis that over half the members of its audiences will be leaving Edinburgh on planes within a couple of weeks of attending, those of a nervous disposition might be better staying away. Charlie Victor Romeo, first seen in New York almost ten years ago, is like the crucial moments of six disaster movies watched end to end. Each is re-created from the black box voice recorders that are recovered after every air crash. The words of the cockpit crews and those in air traffic control are then presented in real-time from the initial concern to final crash. The reasons for the problems are various and include maintenance crew and mechanical error, ice and birds. The results are the same, although some disasters prove fatal, while after others at least some of those on board survive. Strangely, a pattern develops starting with relative dullness while all goes well then intense drama as the pilots try desperately to rescue an impossible situation. It really is like watching a disaster movie but with added authenticity and you come away stunned, in part thanks to very impressive production qualities enhanced by actors who have all been touring this production for years. If, like this reviewer, you have a plane to catch in a week or so, Charlie Victor Romeo will prove quite chastening. It will probably be advisable to study the statistics before heading to the airport and remember that flying is much safer than getting into a car. Philip Fisher |
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