|
|
|
The
Edinburgh Fringe
|
|
|
|
Fringe 2009 Reviews (30)The Self Murder After last year's highly commended production, this young Russian company return to the Fringe with their striking show. Meeting over the Internet and making a bargain to commit suicide together, August and Julie negotiate their fragile bond with life and with each other. Absolutely immersed in their roles and beautifully creating the vivid setting of a cliff top in our minds, the two young actors are really outstanding. Using plastic sheeting, a high climbing frame and trough fulls of water, even the set is brutally and boldly conceived. Difficulties with clarity leaves means that some lines are lost and the script is a little opaque at times. However the piece shows huge promise and this company will be one to watch in the future. Sacha Voit Antonio Forcione Al Dente Italian guitarist Antonio Forcione returns once again to The Fringe, but this year he presents a solo show instead of bringing his quartet – his Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale has his own show this year elsewhere on The Fringe. After a recorded mocking introduction from his friend Boothby Graffoe, comedian and former Fringe regular, Forcione opens with Stevie Wonder's Superstition, then explains that this year he has decided to do a show of covers rather than his own material. He then presents his own versions of songs that he grew up with and that influenced him in the seventies from such artists as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson and The Police. He also slips in a couple of his own songs, including his clowning around number Acoustic Revenge in which he plays his guitar in many unusual ways to create an amazing array of sounds. Forcione's style is unusual and is best appreciated when he plays alone as he creates a whole band sound by himself with a single guitar. As great as he sounds on a recording, his live performances are also visually fascinating as his fingers whizz about the instrument, plucking, hitting, bending and doing anything else that can produce a sound. As always he has great technical support, with superb sound quality and some subtle but often quite beautiful lighting, for which he credits Matt and Katy respectively. This unique performer has to be seen live to be really appreciated, often eliciting roars of amazement as much as of appreciation for his technique and the incredible sound he creates, and there is also humour when he shows off a bit with a cheeky smile and a glint in his eye. He is a must-see for any fans of jazz guitar and for anyone who wants to see just what can be done with this simple instrument when a master craftsman is in control of it. David Chadderton The Interminable Suicide of
Gregory Church Comedian Daniel Kitson returns to the Traverse with another of his 'story shows' for a theatre audience, as well as performing his usual stand-up at The Stand. Kitson tells us that he once decided to move to the Yorkshire countryside, and, while viewing one particular house, he found boxes of thousands of letters in the loft, all written by or to the house's previous owner, Gregory Church, who killed himself in the house. He didn't buy the house, but he took the letters away and obsessed over putting together the dead man's life over the following months. Church began his correspondence with twenty-four letters in one day, all suicide notes, but before he got around to actually killing himself he started receiving replies to which he had to reply again before he could die. This went on for quite a few years. Kitson's theatre shows took a turn with last year's 66A Church Road, when instead of weaving stories around fictional characters he placed himself in the centre of the story. Gregory Church is also told from Kitson's point of view as he plays the central role in the story, and to give it more authenticity he has fewer flowery turns of phrase to make it seem more authentic, although his character Church and at least one of his regular correspondents have the same love of an elaborately-constructed sentence as Kitson himself. Told more as an extended anecdote than a theatrical tale, it works beautifully when told by the unassuming and self-deprecating but strangely charismatic figure of Kitson. He draws you into his odd tale and makes it compelling and gets you to care about his characters while still keeping the big laughs coming thick and fast, making this a thoroughly entertaining and fascinating show. David Chadderton |
|
|