Theatre
TINY NINJA THEATRE PRESENTS MACBETH
Mini-Cawdor steals hearts 0...
Only at the Fringe can audiences enjoy Shakespeare‘s claSSic tale of murder and intrigue performed in approximately 35 minutes by inch-high plastic ninjas on a briefcase sized stage. Ludicrous you cry — well, yes — but thanks to expert direction from Dov Weinstein these little plastic fellas give their all as do the slightly larger (say. two inches tall) figures of Mr & Mrs Smile playing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth respectively. Dressed himself in an all-black stealthy ninja Suit. Weinstein's manipulation of his plastic actors is a marvel of theatrical innovation although it will at times make you think of a small boy playing with toy soldiers. Very funny indeed. (Catherine Bromley)
I Gateway, 3! 7 3935). until 72, 75—79, 27—25 Aug. 2.30pm 4pm. £8 (£7).
BRIGHT COLOURS ONLY Death Irish-Catholic awe...
Pauline Goldsmith's overextended wake sketch may pale into insignificance against the works of those who once seemed genuiner interested in discussmg the death industry (Joyce. Waugh and Alan Ball writer of Six Feet Under) but her COIOurful rant can be occasionally moving. Goldsmith uses some remarkably clever theatrical tricks to draw her audience into her tale of a Catholic girlhood in Belfast surrounded by death and the dying. Ultimately her material is too sparse and manipulative to be really effective (she even pulls in Mike Stone's loyalist cemetery shootings and the Subsequent murder of two English corporals just to bang home her sense of political grief).
for GLASGOW THEATRE see non-festival magazine
Compelling and tedious in equal measure.
(Paul Dalei
I Assembly Rooms. 226 2428.unti/ 26 Aug. 72. l5pm, {‘8—579
lf 7 4‘8)
TABOO
Nobby knob-gags 0..
It's a fair bet that Trevor Stuart is the only performer on the Fringe doing Baudrillard jokes. He also sees panic as postmodernism. and questions audience members directly about how much sex they've had in the last week. This show is almost an hOur of intellectual knob- jokes. And juggling with brains. And getting the audience to fake a communal orgasm. That kind of thing.
Stuart's ultimate conclusions about the concept of taboo are interesting, and much of the show is stimulating and genuinely funny, but there are weak moments when you wonder if he hasn't lost the plot for real. Don't take your mother. Take your psychiatrist. (Gareth Davies)
I Gilded Balloon Tewot. until 26 Aug (not 12/. midnight, 57850—5960 l£.‘7.:3()—f,‘8.50).
OTHELLO
Classic tragedy, Thatcher style 0.0
The Falklands conflict. 1982. and jealousy and ambition are rife aboard a Fioyal Navy cruise destroyer. Beyond the ship-shaped stage. however. Love & Madness sadly makes little real use of this updated setting.
Beneath the Bard's poetry the action is gripping and well performed (under the direction of Neil Sheppeck. who also. appropriately. plays Iago). although Patrick Regis' Othello has a tendency to go curioust high-pitched at moments of high emotion.
More plain sailing than theatrically mutinous, it Shakespeare's your thing then this production might just float your boat.
(Gareth DEWIUS)
I (ii/(led Balloon lei/lot, 226 211') 1, until 26 Aug. 3.30mi), f.‘8..’)()—I‘9.5() (57.50—18.50).
THE DROWNED WORLD
Dystopian visions from Paines Plough 0000
Gary Owen’s strange, apocalyptic play is redolent, in many ways, of the vision of JG Ballard. Picturing a world, possibly of the future, but suggestive of a very recognisable contemporary context, where people who are designated ‘radiant’ are persecuted, incarcerated and finally killed, Owen speaks of the dysfunctionality of human relationships in a flawed society.
Darren (Neil McKinven) is a lonely and alienated depressive who projects sexual fantasies on passing women. When the attractive couple Julian (Theo Fraser Steele) and Tara (Josephine Butler) are pursued from their home by the police for the crime of being aesthetically appealing, they happen, in flight, to knock on Darren’s door, and he agrees to hide them. An undercover officer from an Orwellesque ministry (Eileen Kelly) seeks them out. Meanwhile, conditions force a strange and twisted series of relationships between the wounded Julian, Tara and Darren.
Vicky Featherstone’s production for Paines Plough has some slow moments, but draws strong performances from the cast, and is rich in clammy atmosphere. As Owen’s text examines its repressive characters through their carefully-guarded interiors, a vision of relationships emerges which is, in fact, based upon aesthetics to an alarming degree, working in stark contrast to Stitching at the same venue, which, appearing to be the opposite, is actually almost painfully tender in its views on love. There’s enough tension, though, in Owen’s narrative to keep us moving until a strange, surreal ending. (Steve Cramer)
I Traverse Theatre, 228 1404, until 24 Aug (not 72, 79), [lll.'- vary, £70 (£7.50).
STONE CRABS No-punch-pulled
SUCCGSS ....
In a show that lasts just 40 minutes. Brazilian actors Franko Figueiredo and Tere/a Araujo drive home the complex emotions that enable and fuel domestic Violence. First performed in their home in South East London and inspired by interViews With Victims of abuse. the show starts With a wedding procession but joy quickly turns into distrust and lizitr(2(l, I(3é1r ziii(l entrapment.
’I he overriding feeling is one of melancholy and regret. though. dramatically heightened by a live soundtrack from Bra/ilian soprano Monica Ube and classical guitarist Jonathan Preiss. They. like the audience. act as empathetic Witnesses to the power and passion of this performance. (Catherine Bromley)
I (202. 0870 /"()l 5105. until I7Aug, (i..’)’()p/ii, 515.50 (526.50).
writing
IF YOU THINK YOUR TEENAGE
CHILD IS DIFFICULT, IMAGINE WHAT),
IT WAS LIKE FOR GOD.
Ltyi u I!
8 ~15 Aug 2002 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 69