IORIVII
FRONTLINES
Disco donkey
Subtitled A Midsummer Night’s Disco, The Donkey Show transports Shakespeare's comic fantasy from the Athenian woods to glam Studio 54-style Club Oberon. Puck has been replaced by an androgynous trickster named Rollerina, the fairies are now a quartet of dancing queens and the original text has been ditched in favour of a carefully selected string of 70s disco tracks.
Such sacrilege is enough to have purists wailing, even if it’s not quite the kitschest adaptation ever (anyone seen the 1935 film version starring James Cagney as Bottom?). Creators Diane Paulus and Randy Wiener feel the disco is the perfect metaphor for Shakey's enchanted woods. ’The 705 nightclub is a place of fantasy where you can be anything you want to be,’ says Wiener. 'There are peOple you encounter that you could never imagine living outside that nightclub. Like our Tytania and her fairies; glammed out glitter boys in hot pants, wildly dancing the night away. And Shakespeare’s themes of passion, lust and unrequited love are also a perfect match for 705 disco songs.’
An instant underground hit in its native New York, the hi-energy Donkey Show quickly graduated from playing to a capacity of 70 at its original venue to entertaining over 500 at a time. ’We’ve developed a devoted following,’ says Paulus. ’On any given night you’ll look out at the audience and find young people, old people, hipsters, scholars; peOple of all ethnicities, all sexualities.’
For the show’s Edinburgh run, participants are advised to leave their inhibitions at the door. ’The show creates an atmosphere of freedom for the audience,’ says Paulus. ’You can drink, smoke, dance, make out, and you will be contributing to that atmosphere.’
(Allan Radcliffe)
The Donkey Show (Fringe) C/ub P/easance @ Potterrow (Venue 23) 556 6550, 4—27 Aug (not Tue) £8.50/f9 (£7.50/f8).
8 THE UST FESTIVAL GUIDE 3—10 Aug 2000
{Drinking smoking
"and making out . . .
and that's just the audience