FESTIVAL THEATRE | Politics in Theatre
Irons A Streetcar Named Desire
article about an upcoming Disney movie about two princes who go on a quest for a princess but fall in love with each other,’ he explains. ‘We moved away from the fantasy world and grounded the show in a modern-day setting. Our main aim was to create an LGBT fairytale that is so rarely told.’
This subversion of traditional narratives represents theatre’s ability to engage with the myths that dei ne daily life and, like Irons, is a complex response to an issue that is frequently turned into an abstract, if emotive, set of arguments on social media. The witty playfulness of the musical moves the discussion beyond bland opinion into a more nuanced and thought-provoking meditation.
That isn’t to say that there isn’t a place for more direct statements. ‘I wanted to make something that was about how it feels to live in a world that is built on catastrophe,’ says Hurley. ‘I was aware of the world feeling more and more like a constant cavalcade of crisis.’ This anxiety is matched by Hurley’s DIY ethos in the production, and echoes the thoughts of director Keti Dolidze, who is adapting Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire as a clash between urban immigrants and rural romanticism.
‘The more we live in this cruel society the more dreaming becomes essential for every human being,’ Dolidze observes. ‘A Streetcar Named Desire is a story not about the lunacy of a lone woman, but of her trying to save the world from its brutality.’ This reimagining of a familiar script is not only theatrically ingenious, but it draws out the implicit politics of Williams, a writer forced to hide his desires in a more socially conservative era. This is evident even in less realistic productions: Skrimshanks appears to be a clown double act, but Flabbergast Theatre is using ‘the role of the fool to make us question how we live our lives’. And Third Angel’s Alexander Kelly hopes his show, 600 People, will make audiences ‘feel differently about their place in the galaxy’ after sharing his journey of astronomical discovery.
Between these productions – and the Fringe offers the chance to experience such diverse approaches to the big questions of human experience – political theatre can be seen as anything that challenges assumptions or looks to the wider world for inspiration, in the hope of encouraging change. Hurley concludes by recognising that this present moment is already dramatic. ‘I think it feels like we’re living in times of great change,
like the end of something big, be it this particular stage of capitalism, or old certainties around nationhood and social structures.’ If the times are unstable, theatre can suggest alternatives.
Heads Up, Summerhall, 560 1581, 6–28 Aug (not 15, 22), 7.05pm, £11 (£10). Previews 3, 5 Aug, £8. Irons, Greenside at Ini rmary Street, 618 0758, 5–27 Aug (not 14, 21), times vary, £10 (£9).
The Princes’ Quest, C cubed, 0845 260 1234, 4–20 Aug, 7.20pm, £7.50–£9.50 (£5.50–£7.50).
A Streetcar Named Desire, Assembly Roxy, 623 3030, 6–29 Aug (not 10, 15, 22), 1.55pm, £8–£10. Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £7. Skrimshanks, Assembly George Square Theatre, 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 16, 22), 10.30pm, £10–£12. Previews 3–5 Aug, £6.
600 People, Northern Stage at Summerhall, 560 1581, Aug 18–27 (not 24), 2.45pm, £11 (£9).
VILLAINOUS DEEDS Naughty children take control of the cabaret . . . of death
‘We’re traditionally untraditional,’ explains co-founder Oliver Lansley of Les Enfants Terribles, who have been i xtures on the Fringe for 15 years. ‘We rock up somewhere, a mad bunch of misi ts and tell some stories.’ In a year which has seen the company present an immersive version of Alice in Wonderland, these misi ts are attracting national attention. The Vaudevillains, appropriately hosted in Assembly’s Spiegeltent, is both a decadent murder mystery and a celebration of the vintage vaudeville spectacle. With characters including sexy Siamese twins and a magician named The Great Mephisto, the investigation into the killing of the Empire club’s owner promises to bring more than
a few dark secrets to light.
There is no typical Les Enfants
production – ‘every time we do something new it tends to be a bit unique, and a crazy terrifying challenge,’ Lansley adds. ‘The last show was an immersive Sherlock Holmes experience in Madame Tussauds, before that was an outdoor show set on a hot air balloon . . . and the next show is a dinner party with Roald Dahl’s The Twits!’ Yet The Vaudevillains conjures their belief in creating theatre that is challenging, provocative and memorable, with its bizarre cast and dynamic, spectacular theatricality. The ambition of Les Enfants is rel ected in this remounting of a show that i rst toured in 2010. Not
94 THE LIST FESTIVAL 4–11 Aug 2016
only does the only does the venue provide a cabaret atmosphere venue provide a cabaret atmosphere to the work, the company’s distinctive visual sensibility brings to life the often ignored heritage of the freakshow. ‘This time, we’re making it a bit seedier and sexier,’ says Lansley. And while his vision is to ensure that the audience experience ‘fun and a great story, to be utterly
entertained’, entertained’, the unsettling tale of subversive glamour and brutality connects The Vaudevillains to the very contemporary taste for grotesque fantasy. (Gareth K Vile) ■ Assembly George Square Gardens, 623 3030, 6–28 Aug (not 16), 10.10pm, £14–£16 (£12.50– £14.50). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £11.