FESTIVAL THEATRE | Reviews
THE TOBACCO MERCHANT’S LAWYER Return of a classic solo comedy ●●●●●
It’s five years since Enoch Dalmellington first took to the stage at his home city venue, the Òran Mór. What a joy it is to see Iain Heggie’s 18th-century Glasgow solicitor on the Fringe, and played once more by John Bett – the actor who made the role his own – in this hilarious monologue’s maiden run.
Set in the 1790s, when Glasgow’s wealth was built on the twin pillars of tobacco and slavery, The Tobacco Merchant’s Lawyer is a bold mixture of social satire and family drama. As Dalmellington faces financial disaster, he attempts to find a husband for his ‘dull, pious, humourless’ daughter Euphemia. However, her chosen suitor (who favours the abolition of the slave trade) is unlikely to endear the lawyer to his merchant clients.
There’s something wonderfully appropriate in the piece being
performed in the recently bourgeoisified Assembly Rooms, as the wry Dalmellington contemplates his ruin, following the loss of his investments at the hands of the infamous Pirates of the Caribbean. From Scottish religion and politics, to the Scotland of our own times (considered, with clever humour, via Mistress Zapata, the fortune teller to the lawyer’s housekeeper), Heggie has fashioned a play of enduring satirical wit. Mistress Zapata, although denounced as a ‘charlatan’ by the
lawyer, is a cunning device, enabling Heggie to draw some potent comparisons between the 1790s and contemporary society.
As Scotland’s referendum draws near, the play’s lovely asides on the subject of Caledonian independence seem ever-more pertinent, suggesting that Heggie, back in 2008, was something of a Mistress Zapata himself. Acted deliciously by Bett, this is simply a perfect Fringe treat. (Mark Brown) ■ Assembly Rooms, 0844 693 3008, until 25 Aug, 1.30pm, £10 (£9).
HOLES BY TOM BASDEN New comedy suffers from identity crisis ●●●●● BREAKER Spellbinding dark drama ●●●●●
PEEP An intimate setting for plays about sex ●●●●●
A plane crash, office politics and the fate of mankind are just three of the themes that litter Tom Basden’s Holes, a new comedy that maroons a bunch of misfits on a deserted island.
Performed at a secret location far from the hurlyburly of the usual festival venues, Holes has become one of the Fringe’s talking points. With a script from Basden (sometime writer for Peep Show and former Fringe First winner), it is a comedy unafraid to take on darker issues.
This intense and emotionally charged two-hander really packs a dramatic punch. Set on a remote Scottish island, it turns on an encounter between a bewildered young man named Daniel (who has made the long journey from the mainland looking for answers to the strange stories about island life told to him by his recently-deceased grandmother) and a bereaved local schoolteacher named Sunna, who is attempting to come to terms with the traumatic multiple suicides of several of the isle’s children.
Holes throws together colleagues Gus During the course of their random meeting one
(Mathew Baynton) Ian (Daniel Rigby) Marie (Katy Wix) and teenager Erin (Bebe Cave) as very different survivors of a mysterious plane crash. More used to office politics than survival of the fittest, the four battle for power, until the message comes through that the world itself has come to an end. Basden’s comic writing is superb, especially in the earlier scenes, as the characters vie for supremacy. The gradual shift to tragedy, however, is less well-handled and the sudden conclusion is unsatisfying. Holes ultimately leaves more questions than answers. (Amy Taylor) ■ Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 25 Aug (not 22), 3pm, £20 (£16).
120 THE LIST FESTIVAL 22 Aug–19 Sep 2013
dark night, Daniel and Sunna rant and rave at one another about the causes of the children’s deaths. Daniel wants a socio-economic answer while Sunna needs there to be no simple explanation; neither is prepared to believe the deaths were related to a supernatural myth of the island.
Written by Icelandic playwright Salka Gudmundsdóttir and translated and directed by Scot Graeme Maley, Breaker is spellbinding theatre that asks some interesting questions about self- belief. As Daniel and Sunna, Iain Robertson and Isabelle Joss are terrific, and their verbal sparring is absolutely electrifying. (Miles Fielder) ■ Underbelly, Cowgate, 0844 545 8252, until 25 Aug, 2pm, £12–£13 (£11–£12).
This isn’t a review of a show. It’s a review of a venue and an idea. That’s the only way to talk about PEEP, a series of performances in a dirty black box in the middle of George Square.
The space is a white room with a panel of two- way mirrors around the walls, around which there are booths. You sit, alone except for a stool and some headphones, to peep through a mirror and watch the performers, none of whom can see you. Between various cabaret and live art routines, there are short afternoon plays, diverse in style and quality.
By far the best was Kefi Chadwick’s forceful La Petite Morte, the tightly-told story of a relationship in which sex is off the cards. It exploits the claustrophobia of the peep show performance space and its false sense of privacy for some perfectly uncomfortable viewing.
The absence of visible audience members is an intriguing proposition. Watching a sex play alone, where the performers can’t see you, is close to voyeurism. The best moments here are loaded with all of that clandestine act’s questions and problems. (Charlotte Runcie) ■ Assembly George Square, 623 3030, until 26 Aug, 11am–11pm, prices vary.