Festival Theatre

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THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR’S BELLY DANCER

Shaking things up 000

Belly dancing. spanking. stripping and politics are the intriguing ingredients of this rags-to-riches tale in which object of media notoriety Nadira Aleiva (who was mistress to the controversial former ambassador in Uzbekistan. Craig Murray) tells her story through the medium of song and dance.

Nadira‘s monologue charts her personal history. from poverty in Uzbekistan with an abusive father and limited options, to a life of luxury in the ambassadors house. and a descent into pennilessness in Britain. Her version is intercut with voiceovers in which Murray tells his side of the story as well as salacious details of their relationship (apparently he likes a bit of slap and tickle).

Her story highlights the ongoing injustices women face under Oppressive regimes. where rape and beatings are commonplace. She condemns the male abuse of power and sexual exploitation and rejoices at the fact that. as a woman ‘sold into freedom’. she is finally free to express herself through her words and her dancing. The rather unirnaginative staging aside. it's a tale worth telling. (Greer Ogston)

I Gilded Balloon Teviot, 668 7633. until 24 Aug (not 7 1), 7.30pm. 29—270 (E8—E9).

GLOBAL WARMING IS GAY Heggie raises the temperature on saving the planet .0.

Lifestyle choice? Ethical dilemma? Or is going green just a bit gay? These are the questions posed by playwright lain Heggie as he gently satirises our responses to the new eco-orthodoxy.

A

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For opportunistic Green MSP

Graham Orbison, the drive to save the

planet is a chance to seize political power. For his wide-eyed brother

3 Andy. it means a fundamentalist quest to be greener than thou. Girlfriend

Kirsty sees it as a splendid excuse to buy some really cool home furnishings,

while salesman Russell charges a

fortune to the gullible carbon-neutral market.

Piggybacking on the plot of Ostrovsky's The Handsome Man (is

this what they mean by recycling?)

Heggie sends up our pathetic attempts to reconcile individual desire with planetary health. In this. it’s all very zeitgeisty and. written with the playwrights customary zeal. full of

i ribald energy.

actors of Off Message Theatre

But. despite being directed by Heggie himself. the production suffers from an uncertainty of tone. The young

place rather than funny and. although there is an air of comic mayhem. the enjoyable production generates

relatively few laughs. (Mark Fisher)

I C Chambers Street, 0845 260 7272, until 25 Aug, 7.35pm. $760—$950 (26.5028. 50).

ECSTACY MDMA-fuelled love story “0

Based on ‘The Undefeated‘, one of three stories from Irvine Welsh's 1996 novel Ecstasy, this piece centres around Lloyd (Jack McGowan). an ageing clubber who wants more out of life than living for the weekend. In the meantime. though. he's content to drown his sorrows in psychotropic oblivion. downing acid. ecstasy and Temazepam. and bumbling through various blackly comic incidents. Meanwhile. Heather (Maddy Lewis) realises suburban life is destroying her soul. and takes her first tentative steps towards rave culture.

Despite some very dodgy attempts

of the truths that informed a time when rave was a vibrant new movement in

! music and society. There are highs l and lows (both chemically-induced

and in Lloyd‘s psyche) that propel the story. and. while not for the faint-

hearted. the production succeeds in I encapsulating the club/drug : experience with vivid realism.

Purposely dated (the story being set in the mid 90s). Ecstasy captures a

Company perform with considerable energy. but pull towards a sitcom realism when the writing calls for cartoonish hyperbole. It means their more explosive outbursts seem out of

FOOTSBARN’S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S . DREAM Action-packed Big Top Shakespeare

Making their first ever appearance at the Fringe, the travelling company that started life in a Cornish barn succeeds in proving that there’s no such thing as too much when it comes to Shakespeare. Firmly entrenching the view of the Bard’s comedies as packed

i full of convivial refreshment, this carnival production

pushes its jolly tone to the limit with a visual vibrancy to rival even Peter Brook’s circus spectacle.

The masked multicultural cast breathe new life into this familar tale, chasing the partner-swapping lovers into the forest where they encounter the feuding King and Queen of the Fairies, the mischievous Puck and the ever-lovable mechanicals and their guffawing mishaps.

This magical, weird, oft-revived work feels crafted especially for the big top atmosphere, the international cast infusing the production with a vivacious commedia dell’arte flavour as stock characters appear and

64 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE /' 14 Aug 7008

at broad Leith accents. the cast.

particularly leads McGowan and

Lewis. drive the piece forward apace

in their multiple roles. The show

immerses itself in the world of clubbing ~ beyond the clichés and grasps some

period and a mood that will powerfully resonate with clubbers of all ages. (Henry Northmore)

I Underbel/y’s Baby Bel/y. 0844 545 8252, until 72 Aug. 1.05pm. $850—$950 (£7.50—E8.50).

disappear around the enchanting set. Resembling a flattened green foot punctured by a rusty nail, a gnarled old oak sprouts from the centre of the pedestal stage, transforming the circus arena into an lndo/Mongolian wonderland, aided by blue-lit musicians, who transport thoughts with sitars, mandolins and impish oboes.

The mechanicals - never more grotesque - almost steal the show with an honest humour that draws well- deserved laughter, though the forest comes to life most powerfully when inhabited by the fairies, who bring to mind a dark nightmare as imagined by Jim Henson.

As they occasionally struggle with the verse, the multi-lingual cast turn this affliction to their advantage, inserting non-English language passages. With no interval the show is perhaps a little long, with the pace noticeably dipping towards the finish, but there’s enough colour and vibrant action here to keep even the most restless audience member focused on the action onstage. (David Laing)

I Footsbarn's Big Top at Ca/ton Hill. 623 3030. until 25 Aug (not 12. 79), 7. 30pm, 2 15—220 (E IO—E72).