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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2008 Reviews (88)The Bird and The Bee : The
Bird This may be a companion piece to The Bee, referring to the same characters and utilising the same cast, but Al Smith's play is considerably stronger. It focuses on Tom Ferguson's Jacob, the son of a Russian émigré and is close to a monologue, although his excellent performance is well supported by Sarah Sweeney as the boy's (very young) mother. Under the direction of James Yeatman, Jacob explains to the unseen Chloe (from The Bee) how he was born crippled and kept locked away by his protective mother. Breaking through a locked door he discovered that her money came from prostitution, but eventually Jacob escaped to school and proved himself a maths prodigy. Soon, however, he had to support his mother, as she fatally fell prey to a sexually transmitted disease. All of this is both tender and at times amusing, fitting a vast amount into around 50 minutes. The Bird shows once again that Al Smith is one to watch and so is his favourite monologist, Tom Ferguson. Philip Fisher Yasser What right does a Palestinian have playing a Jew in an English play? This is one of the many questions which torments Yasser Mansour in the newly translated adaptation of Abdelkader Benali's award winning Dutch play about a tormented Palestinian actor during the hour before he goes onstage to play Shylock in a small English theatre. William El Gardi instils his Yasser with manic energy and a pained passion bursting from behind his eyes at every turn as he laments to the audience over the loss of his suitcase and with it the emotional security he holds tied to it, refering constantly to having lost 'his nose', which serves as a brilliantly evocative metaphor for the fragility of Yasser's mental state. Delving into both his childhood and his recent past he explores the pains and hardships of growing up in poverty in the middle of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the problems of living in modern Britain whilst sharing both a name and a likeness to Yasser Arafat. More closely he touches on his girlfriend's failure to comprehend or even care about his passion for his homeland and contrasts this starkly with his mother's all too real disgust with her son's decision to portray a Jew. Whilst stunningly powerful and poetic, this look into the psyche of a Palestinian man living in Britain and trying to deal with his own self-guilt and the utter incomprehension he finds on all sides. Never flinching from the harsher truths, this mesmeric performance is uncompromising in its portrayal of a man, and in doing so casts a light on the truths of the world that are so often overlooked, making the audience look within themselves as they are forced to see the world through new eyes. A frankly triumphant production with one of the most promising actors of his age, who deserved every moment of the standing ovation he received. Graeme Strachan Another Kind of Silence Rachel Carson has acquired an almost legendary status in Eco-friendly circles. This New Englander is probably practically unknown to others, so Liz Rothschild's gentle solo show should be welcomed as an awareness-raising exercise. In 1962, the already sick biologist and writer published her masterwork, Silent Spring, in the New Yorker and also book form. This exposed the contamination of the earth, animals and people by supposedly safe pesticides and made her a lot of very powerful enemies in big business and Government. Miss Rothschild portrays the writer as she talks about a life largely devoted to her mission but also to an orphaned great nephew. The science can be a little heavy but the impression that big business would poison people to make money comes over loud and clear. It is a shame that the subject's passion for her subject and also, if the inferences are correct, her married neighbour Dorothy in Maine, was not explored in more depth but at least those who see Another Kind of Silence will understand the ecological agenda and its roots a little better. Philip Fisher |
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