festival
theatre - dance - comedy
THEATRE PREVIEW Misterman
Don't get trapped in a lift with Enda Walsh. The man who wrote Disco Pigs, a Fringe First winner in 1997 is, he tells us, ’tremendously claustrophobic'. One might observe this in his plays, which have taken his native Ireland by storm over the last few years. But whereas Disco Pigs located itself in a nihilistic urban wasteland, his new play shifts its setting to a small Irish village. 'lt’s still about feeling trapped though,’ comments Walsh. ’This is the kind of place with a soft underbelly, where you can have pleasant conversations with people about the weather, but there's this other side as dark as fucking bejeesus.’
Choice words, but the play doesn't pull its punches, dealing with a religious fanatic whose delusionary lifestyle leads to acts of violence. Walsh, who also plays the central character, comments on the ambivalence that is created in his audience. 'For the first twenty minutes the audience is
Village psycho: Misterman
uncomfortable with Thomas, but after a while they start to say “yeah, go on Thomas", so we’re kind of implicated'. Given that the action of the play culminates in an assualt on a young girl, one can see the same kind of queasy, uneasy but nevertheless enthralled effect that Disco Pigs created -
expect nothing less. (Steve Cramer)
a Misterman (Fringe) Corcadorca, Traverse Theatre (Venue 75) 228 7404, 70-22 Aug, various times, f 9/1” 6 ([6/f4). See Festival Free/oaders.
we had to run wrth the wood. It was: "Oh no, thrs blt doesn‘t work, every nrght " ' Sounds Irke times are a changin'. (fvliles Fielder)
Hudson And Pepperdine (Fringe) Pleasance (Venue 33) 55 6 6550, until 30 Aug (not 9, 23) 6.40pm,
[8.50/[7 50 ([7 50/[6.50).
THEATRE PREVIEW Wolfsong
Inspri‘ed by the krnd of magical realism rndrcatrve of Angela Carter, Second Nature’s Vt/(,)lfsong is a powerful little curro Indeed. Essentially a frnely wrought rrtes of passage tale tracking one grrl's (Rebecca Lingalelter) flight Into adulthood, the prece us a lusciously paced sumptuous treat, whose mesmerrsing blend of leftfield style and preose narrative flow has the capacity to delight and unsettle wrth every seductive turn.
'The sum we confront,’ stresses director Jonathan Holmes, ’are met head on but no a very fairytale-like manner; what‘s also qurte unique is the female perspectrve of It all, given that the bqu of rites of passage drama is usually very male-centred.’
Althouin fairly cerebral in its scope, Wollsong is nonetheless an accessible, wonderfully porsed prece of work: soulful, lyrical and Informed With a haunting, beautrful strangeness.
If you're choosmg your shows with care this Festrval, get thrs near the top of the hit list. (Barry Mcpherson)
I Wo/fsong (Fringe) Second Nature,
Roman Eagle Lodge (Venue 27) 226
7207, 9—75 Aug, 7. 10pm & 7.45pm, £5.50 (£4.50). Previews 6—8 Aug, 5 ([4).
PHYSICAL THEATRE PREVIEW 6.0.4.: A Technodram
Isn't it always the way? You're stuck out on a remote trading post, selling metals, communicating in your computerised shorthand and minding your own dystopic futunstic business, when your water supply dwmdles and your omnipotent controller (3.0.4. goes AWOL. What is this? Theatre? Computer game? Club night? Is it, grven the involvement of Richard O'Brien, a thinly verled episode of The Crystal Maze?
The shadowy forces at work behind 6.0.4. call it a 'technodram', a concept which 'defies the written word’ but heralds a new era of the switched-on, multi-media, 'rhythmic- orientated audio-visual play’! This new work by Kevin Williams, who already has a clutch of awards including a Spirit of the Fringe under hrs space-age anti-gravity utility belt, promises a real future shock. Plus you get to learn post-apocalyptic computer language, which should serve you well come the millennial crash. (Hannah McGiII)
I 6.0.4; A Technodram (Fringe) Club West (Venue I82) 337 0748, 9—28 Aug (not Sun) 7.30pm, £6 (£5).
Shiny, happy people: The Nualas
show consists of numbers about subjects as bizarre as a monkey committing suicide after being caught for tax evasion, shoes made out of chickens, and Celtic tigers'. In between songs, they like to get to know their audience. ’We feel like the show is a bit of a counselling session,‘ explains Collins. ’We like the audience to show us their scabs. It’s all very cathartic.‘ Well, they do say laughter is the best medicine. (Kirsty Knaggs)
I The Nualas - The Big Shiny Dress Tour (Fringe) The Nualas, Observer Assembly (Venue 3) 226 2428, 6- 76 Aug, 6.50pm, f9.50/£8.50 (£8.50/f7. 50).
COMEDY PREVIEW
The Nualas - The Big Shiny
Dress Tour 'Sophistrcation is the key word for our new show,‘ says Sue Collins, one third of the all-singing, all-dancrng Nualas. 'There'll be glitter, glamour and colourdy lights.’ Not forgetting blg shiny dresses of course. 'Big being the operative word there,’ emphasises Collins. 'I think the secret of our success rs that we eat all day, do the show, eat all day, do the show . . . It really works.’
For those who aren't yet familrar with the sensational Irish songstresses, their
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GILDEO BALLOON PRODUCTIORS PRESENT
- Geraldine
‘McNuliy’s characterisation an ferocioust funny" um am “Don't miss her brilliant one-woman show” GUARDIAN
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5—12 Ann 1999 THE UST 47