FESTIVAL THEATRE | Masked Theatre

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FAMILIE AFFAIR Lorna Irvine discovers dreams and reality blur in Familie Flöz’s beautiful comedic new show

Formed in 1994 by Hajo Schüler and Markus Michalowski, Familie Flöz are a critically acclaimed German theatre company, based in Berlin since 2001, who make bold, elegaic work that’s accessible for a family audience.

Proof that puppetry and masked

performance can often say more than spoken scripted theatre, their show Teatro Delusio is profound, hilarious and haunting. Fusing opera, physical theatre and some

cheeky slapstick, it focuses on the frustrated lives of theatre technicians and performers from a behind-the-scenes perspective. This inversion is highly effective: all of the characters are determined to make a grand entrance and bask in the spotlight, but are thwarted at every turn, either by fate, folly, or sheer misjudgement of situations. There is an undercurrent of darkness, but never to the detriment of the storyline.

Schüler explains: ‘Our play is a homage to theatre. We show what usually is invisible to audiences. Doing this, we want to tell something about what theatre is to us: a place where the power of imagination is celebrated’.

With just three actors creating 29

characters, the scope and ingenuity involved will leave the audience breathless. From the hapless gangly stagehand who just wants to read his book to the hierarchy of the orchestra, their endlessly inventive scenes will linger long in the mind.

There is sword i ghting, unique choreography and tricks involving ladders, but what really impresses is the way the storyline turns: it’s an ever-shifting narrative which toys with expectations. As for the use of masks, there is true innovation in the gestures, where a tilt of the head can be heartbreaking or hilarious. As Schüler says: ‘A mask is like a screen, where the audience project a movie in real time.’

Social stratii cation, loss and romantic illusions have rarely been so intoxicating. Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 6–29 Aug (not 17), 1.45pm, £10.50–£14.50 (£9–£13). Previews 3–5 Aug, £8.

xThe Marked

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‘Full mask is a powerful and emotive theatre genre,’ says Savage. ‘Because there are no spoken words, we i nd that the audience engages more fully with the action and thus often forms a stronger, deeper, emotional attachment to what is happening on the stage. It’s a perfect form in which to explore the social history that inspires Vamos’ work.’

The subject of homelessness might seem just as daunting as dementia; Theatre Témoin are returning to the Fringe after 2013’s hit The Fantasist, with a new production blending masks, puppets and physical theatre. After careful research of urban myths in environments as diverse as Rwanda and Miami, followed by a rigorous workshopping process, the company have created a stark, modern drama set among homeless young people on the streets of London, but one with a streak of wonder running through it. ‘There’s an epidemic in this country at the moment of more and more people i nding themselves in situations where sleeping rough seems to be the only option,’ says Theatre Témoin producer Patrick Collier. ‘What I wanted to explore was the individual stories of people who happened to be, among many other things, homeless, and crucially what was happening inside the heads of these individual people, people who had gone through traumatic experiences.’

The Marked, created with the help of the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham, depicts the story of Jack, a homeless person who lives both in the tough reality of homelessness but also in a parallel world that exists inside his head. Jack has to navigate obstacles like the effects of his mother’s alcoholism, but also the demons that his childhood traumas have freed to roam through his psyche, from evil witches to giant birds.

‘We like to create playful worlds onstage, and with The Marked we set out to create a wonderland. Jack’s life on the streets is mirrored in the fantastical world of his childhood imagination,’ says Collier. ‘There’s plenty in the story of a boy who’s homeless that is dark and brutal and honest, but we try to tell the story with a magic l air, and make it visually and emotionally enticing.’ Both productions seek to i nd a common ground with Edinburgh audiences, who recognise the artii ce of the mask itself, but are prepared to look beyond and see how the performer’s disguises might expose how individuals see themselves and the world outside. Collier’s description of the reasons Theatre Témoin chose to use masks mirrors the approach of Vamos Theatre, too.

‘Mask and puppetry can have a tendency to suck the audience in,’ says Collier. ‘It’s a space where your imagination can run wild, and we want our audience to come in with a dreaming mind. Mask also has a way of turning the invisible into visible and turning the banal into epic, so mask became the obvious material language of the piece.’

Finding Joy, Assembly Hall, 623 3030, 6–14 Aug, 4.30pm, £13–£14 (£12–£13). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £8. The Marked, Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 6–29 Aug (not 17), 1.30pm, £9–£12 (£8–£11). Previews 3–5 Aug, £7.

88 THE LIST FESTIVAL 4–11 Aug 2016