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Fringe 2008 Reviews (52)
Kunst ist Scheisse
The Caravan of Love
The Space On The Mile
***
If never quite living up to the marvellous Teutonic profanity of the
title, Kunst ist Scheisse is a fast-moving burlesque parody that
would flourish with a rowdier audience. Keeping on the right side of
the erotic and playful, it is a series of sketches - some musical, some
dance, some monologues - that don't add up to much beyond some good
humoured belly-laughs. It larks around with the format, discovers untold
pathos in old eighties' hits and stumbles around pop-culture references.
As with so much modern burlesque, craft and focus are often lost in
the general cute amateurism - perhaps to avoid eroticism, the mood is
throwaway and absurd. Yet they avoid the self-importance that bloats
evenings like Club Noir and willingly work the audience hard.
Eva Johansen, MC and chanteuse, has a strong voice, emotive and
aggressive, while Alice Palermo and Kate Sumner beautifully send up
everything from go-go dancing to romantic story-telling. Individually,
each act has a strong theme, but it does not add up to a satisfying
whole.
However, it conforms to an important Fringe directive - make it witty
and brief - and the late night slot is appropriate. A slightly rowdier
crowd, and a tighter script, would make it far more than a great title
and a passable show.
Gareth K Vile
Dance without Movement
Peshkar Productions
InvASIAN Festival
clubWEST @ Quincentenary Hall
***
A single actress tells the story of Zuleikha, a Pakistani girl who
lives in Britain but finds herself defined by everyone else - except
herself. She is an outsider at school, the eldest child at home and
duty bound to do what's right. Performing numerous other characters
in her family the actress becomes her mother, uncle, husband and family
in Pakistan. Working hard in her profession she finally returns home
one fateful night to see those people around her with new clarity.
A consummate performance from a talented actress who provides an insightful
glimpse into the life of an Asian woman bound to her family duties and
yet wanting to pursue her own passions.
Cecily Boys
Finished with Engines
By Alan McKendrick
Arches Theatre Company
Traverse 2
**
This hour-long team up between two founder members of American company,
The Riot Group and Glasgow's Arches Theatre will inevitably be compared
with Pugilist Specialist.
That play was a quirky, wordy but sparkling meditation on war and life
written for The Riot Group by its leading light Adriano Shaplin, now
working with the RSC.
Finished with Engines sees Megan and Hemingway, seemingly alone
on a US Navy vessel in the Gulf. They are in the vanguard of the War
on Terror but these are no ordinary sailors.
Judging by his hat, Drew Friedman's Hemingway is an Ordinary Seaman
but with three degrees in different subjects, he is a great philosopher
and not a bad sandwich maker.
Megan, played by Stephanie Viola, is an officer, who knows more about
a strategy that, it is more than hinted, could include the "red
button" or nuclear option.
This is a chilling, short consideration of the global strife caused
by 9/11 and its aftermath but having created a worthwhile situation,
there is too little discussion or debate on the important issues.
Philip Fisher
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