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Fringe 2008 Reviews (58)
Scaramouche Jones
By Justin Butcher
Guy Masterson-TTI in association with Passion Pit Theatre UK
Assembly Rooms.
*****
Justin Butcher gives what is almost certain to be the finest performance
on the Fringe this year as his own creation, a centenarian clown. He
is helped by playing in a more compact space than Pete Postlethwate
used in London some years ago for the same role.
Scaramouche Jones is both the inheritor of the Commedia dell'Arte mantle
of his namesake and an unofficial chronicler of the first half of the
Twentieth Century, from a proud, English perspective.
Starting with his character's birth in Trinidad as the century dawned,
Butcher is magical, revealing the seven white masks that together symbolise
this sensitive man's colourful life.
The highlights include growing up with a gypsy prostitute mother, apprenticeship
to an educated, Anglophile snake charmer from Somalia and, movingly,
a job in a concentration camp which leads to an appearance at the Nuremburg
trials.
Scaramouche Jones is a masterpiece of solo Magic Realism, impeccably
written, perfectly performed and well directed by Guy Masterson. It
should be seen here, if possible, and is bound to tour.
Philip Fisher
Just Out Of Reach
Theatre of Music
Rocket @ Demarco Roxy Art House
**
In a show about the Ancient Greek Underworld, using lines such as 'We've
got one purgatory of a show for you tonight…' are a reviewer's
dream. The Theatre of Music do not let us down on this score. On a stage
littered with instruments a black river of material runs through it.
The actors enter the stage led on by the storyteller and are presented
with an instrument and each begins to join in the slow drawn out repetition
of three notes. These are the gods in red robes who sit at the back
and interject to question the three grubbied and barefooted men in the
foreground. Sisyphus, Tantalus and Narcissus are in Hades and suffering
for their actions.
In this earnest performance the traditionally cruel and pitiless Greek
Gods are incongruously transformed into concerned psychotherapists who
want nothing more than to find out why these three individuals subject
themselves to the torture of their own desires. Narcissus sings to himself
while looking in the pond at his own reflection, Tantalus repeatedly
performs a dance of his reaches for the grapes to assuage his hunger
and the water to quench his thirst, while Sisyphus (the most comedic
of the three) builds the hill for his stone. This static production
provides pleasant music to an obscure text. This is the Theatre of Music's
first show at the Fringe, and they provide a notably low energy for
a frenetic festival.
Cecily Boys
Corryvreckan
YDance
Dance Base
***(*)
This untamed gem of a piece, inspired by the giant whirlpool that lies
off the west coast of Scotland, is presented by YDance, with the aim
of introducing the over 10s to contemporary dance.
Performed with passion and precision by Lorraine Jamieson and Jodie
Blemings, Andy Howitt’s choreography leads both dancers on a winding
journey full of imagination through mythical figures and Celtic spirit.
In between fairytale episodes are passages of lean elegant duet with
recurrent themes of being pulled and whipped through currents. There
is a wonderful sense of trust and partnership between Jamieson and Blemings,
and they match each other well for strength and agility.
Alasdair Nicolson’s score is gorgeous, alternately classical and
Celtic, lyrical and playful. Also beautiful is Robin Peoples’s
set, and fantastic Hag of Winter costume a bright waterfall of
dripping seaweed. Jamieson brings it to life with gusto and a dose of
unsettling sexuality as she lifts it to her thighs and squats wide on
her throne.
What doesn’t work so well are the off stage costume changes, which
take away an ounce or two of momentum, and don’t add anything to
the suspension of disbelief. But it’s a small flaw in a piece that
will stimulate the imagination of adults and young people alike.
Lucy Ribchester
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