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Fringe 2011 Reviews (48)
Pinocchio: A Fantasy of Pleasures
Austin McCormick’s Company XIV
New Town Theatre
*****
Company XIV are the stuff baroque dreams are made of. Dipping their
poised toes into the fairytale of Pinocchio they have come out with
something every bit as dark and dripping with seductive power as their
2008 fringe hit The Judgement of Paris.
Once again director/choreographer Austin McCormick presents us with
a bouquet of exquisite dancers, a luminous-voiced soprano and the heady
glut of Zane Pihlstrom’s fine lace, silk and leather costumes,
but, just as in Judgement, his dark vision slowly peels back
the layers of intoxicating beauty to reveal a disturbing core at the
heart of this tale of hollow pleasure seeking.
Jay Donn makes an elegantly awkward Pinocchio, knock-kneed, boundless
in energy and beautiful when duetting with the heavenly Laura Careless
as the Blue Fairy. But the courtly beauty is unsettled from the outset
by little touches – the gusto of an imposing leather-clad narrator,
the slow sad stride of streetwalkers picking up the dead Blue Fairy’s
body – even before Pinocchio hops on the cart to Pleasure Island,
a place of distinctly adult pleasures which disappear with a flourish
of violence when the money runs out.
Behind what is undeniably a feast of visual and aural treats there
seems to be a very dark and very contemporary parallel with the grooming
of the vulnerable into exploitation; the image of donkey-boy Pinocchio
cowering, too terrified to perform for the island’s ringmaster,
is truly horrible.
But Company XIV’s talent here is to give us something which isn’t
black and white, where the lines between glamour and seediness, love
and desire, gaudiness and real beauty are all a dizzy blur. It is testament
to their conjuring that on a stage full of contemporary touches –
stilettos and short skirts - when the dancers turn, slow and stretched,
their flesh picked out by Gina Scherr’s warm buttery lighting to
the pure crystal of Lauren Michelle Criddle’s voice it feels as
if a painting by one of the great Renaissance masters has come to life.
Lucy Ribchester
Last Orders
David Hughes Dance Productions
Traverse 1
*
Anyone seeing this dance theatre piece without reading anything about
it in advance will have no more idea about its subject matter at the
end than the beginning.
The story that the company fails to expound is that of a Scottish cannibal,
Sawney Bean, who lived and ate back in the 16th Century.
The 55 minutes look great at times and the dancers show great control
in following the instructions of director and choreographer, Al Seed.
What the five performers are up to after they wriggle from an artificial
womb is unclear. They wear kinky clothing and dance and writhe to various
styles of music, though the common denominator is a strong drum beat.
The show looks like a cross between an outlandish nightclub and some
kind of sex show, with odd flashes of comedy to lighten the mood.
Philip Fisher
Trainspotting
By Irvine Welsh, adapted by Harry Gibson
Spud Theatre
Gryphon at the Point Hotel
***
There can be few stage plays that are better suited to the Edinburgh
Fringe than this adaptation of Irvine Welsh's modern classic, Trainspotting.
Set in Leith, some of the events take place during the Festival, though
close to 30 years ago. This was the era of drugs and AIDS, which made
Leith almost as dangerous as Afghanistan, where a character's soldier
brother loses his life.
Laurie Toczek's production is held together by a fine central performance
from Will Fox as Mark Renton. Not only is his acting convincing but,
unlike a number of colleagues, so is his accent.
Rents is a junkie, pure and simple. He leads us through a terrifying
netherworld where drama is never far away, whether it stems from death,
new addiction, spiked food or lost suppositories. The last of these
brings about one of the funniest and most disgusting scenes in drama
of recent years.
Fox's best support comes from Kat Tanney in both good and bad times
as Alison, though Ian Sharpe ably conveys the fear that addiction and
impending death cause in the role of Tommy.
Trainspotting remains powerful and feels very much of the moment,
with drugs continuing to be an issue and war still raging in Afghanistan.
Philip Fisher
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