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KIDS PREVIEW

Darnaby's Space Race DANCE PREVIEW

The Chicken Shed Theatre company are for the first time bringing one of their ground breaking Theatre in Inclusive Education shows to Edinburgh. Their philosophy is accessibility to everyone from the able- bodied to the. . , er, well, the main thing is that the company will not stick a label on you.

The play tells the story of a little boy called Darnaby it should be Barnaby but the wee chap has a cold. While off sick, he meets up with a load of aliens (sorry, I mean natives of an alternative planet) called Voipans (despite having presumably left their labels behind on their equally valid homeworld).

Luckily for Darnaby, they didn't leave behind their ruthless Spirit of competition, and in embarking on a space race against the Vardons they quite make up for the youngster missing his sports day.

So what is so inclusive about the production? 'I could tell you that there’s someone in the cast who has Down’s Syndrome,’ says peformer Jelena Budimir. ’But that would be against the ethics of the company which is against "labels".'

(Stephanie Noblett)

a Darnaby's Space Race (Fringe) Chicken Shed Theatre, P/easance (Venue 33) 75—37 Aug, 77am, £6.50/f550 (ES/£4.50).

do the talking.

THEATRE PREVIEW audiences. (Robin James)

Antigone

Families eh! Who’d have ’em? Antigone is the result of Oedipus' little

True Love And Other Mythologies

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Monkey Business in True Love ~ no strian attached

East meets West in Monkey And The Waterfall Theatre Company's new production, True Love And Other Mythologies. This unique theatre company began life when Yukio Shiroma, an Asian classical dancer, joined foxes with Ben Moffat, a western director/performer who trained in Asian Theatre. Their chemistry has proven to be a winner and to date they have created a number of works which combine diverse cultural traditions through dance, music. mime, masks, stilts and body puppets. 'It is the use of body puppets which reaily excites everyone,‘ Yukio says. The body puppet idea originated when they literally stumbled across someone oise's discarded life size puppets. Yukio and Ben realised they were far too interesting to iet go and decided to wear them and iet their arms and iegs

True Love And Other Mythologies is an exploration of passion, love and ,_ relationships. Loosely hung on the family structure, the narrative is interwoven with mythological stories and episodes. And the true love? If rumour is to be believed, they will soon be wooing and winning Edinburgh

a True Love And Other Mythologi‘es (Fringe), Monkey And The Waterfall Dance Theatre Company Pleasance (Venue 33) 556 6550, 7 7-24 Aug (not 22) 77am, 26-37 Aug, 4.35pm, USO/£6.50 (f6/f5).

indescretion with his mother. Her two brothers have just killed each other, and her fiance's father, the king of Thebes, has refused to let one of them have a proper funeral. She defies his orders and is buried alive in a cave as punishment. Naturally, the fiance, Haemon, is none too happy about this and goes to rescue her. Unfortunately, by the time he gets there, she has hanged herself. Dad then comes along, is attacked by Haemon, who misses and kills himself instead. The king then goes

home to find his wife has committed suicide. Bad day all round then.

Using dance, contemporary poetry and original dialogue, in English, Ancient Greek and Modern Greek, one wonders, will it be all Greek to us? 'No, it is easy to understand,’ director Maria Pamoutsou assures. ’lt's a very visual performance.’ (Kirsty Knaggs) £333 Antigone (Fringe) Tomee Theatre, The Garage Theatre (Venue 8 7) 227 9009, 76 —22 Aug, 7 7am, [7 (f5).

language barrier: the Tomee Theatre production of Antigone is performed in a combination of English. Modern Greek and Ancient Greek

THEATRE REVIEW

Waiters

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In the great smelting pots of Edinburgh's restaurants we are used to the deliCious variety that different cultures have to offer. However, in Stephen Chifuyise’s Waiters we meet an altogether different kind of cultural melange. Three guys, one black, one white and one somewhere in between, set up business together. Like most busmess partners, they are bound together by their shared enthusiasm and desire to make a go of it but when tension rises, they can only identify their thoughts and actions with their colour. Essentially a play about racism, Waiters cuts through the usual stereotyping revealing the complexity and irony of cultural difference.

(Robin James)

a Waiters (Fringe) Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, 73, 76—20 Aug, 77.40am, [8 (£7), 74, 75, 27, 22 Aug, 77.40am, £9 (£8).

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TURNING HEADS

PRESENT A COMEDY FOR CHILDREN BASED ON THE STORIES BY

Norman Hunter

_ PROFESSOR BRANESTAWIVI

August 6th—23rd 1 1am Pleasance Over

The Road

PLEASANCE

OI3| 556 6550

In association with Random House

Children’s Books

13—20 Aug 1998 THE usr 39