The Iliad (Lyceum: 20 April – 14 May ’16)

Posted in 3*, Rated: Nae Bad, The Lyceum, Theatre by Alan Brown

Ben Turner, downstage; Melody Grove, centre; & Emmanuella Cole, upstage.

“This Iliad is forcefully staged and has the vehemence and colour of its core story.”

Mark Thomson’s last production as Artistic Director of the Lyceum for the past 13 years.

It is unsurprising that there’s plague about. There are no zips on the body bags on this beachhead and the Scamander River is full to overflowing with the dead. There’s Achilles’ refusal to dispose of Patroclus’s corpse until after he has killed Hector and then there’s the desecration of Hector’s body by lashing it to a chariot and dragging it through the dirt for twelve days, face down. No wonder – actually, yes, a lot of wonder is required – that Apollo took pity and ‘round him … wrapped the golden shield of storm so his skin would never rip’. Some say it was rose oil.

As epic tales go The Iliad is still the catchy, highly contagious one. It has tragic, raging action, love and sex, heroes and honour. There are no villains to speak of, just the ‘terrible beauty’ of Helen and the ‘smooth, full breasts’ of Aphrodite to sing of. Communicable? Certainly. Containable? Hardly.

Emmanuella Cole, left; Ben Dilloway centre; & Rueben Johnson, right, as Diomede.

Fearless Mark Thomson takes writer Chris Hannan’s evocative script and directs an intrepid cast of twelve. Karen Tennent’s imposing set has broken columns and half pediments left and right with plenty of space and height for gods to take it easy in and for the Trojan women to look out anxiously over the ramparts. A massive wall of corrugated ‘bronze’ curves around them and the dust sometimes hangs in the air around a leather cuirass and plumed, hollow eyed helmet. The lighting design by Simon Wilkinson is as careful and as atmospheric as his work in Bondagers.

But there are 15,693 hexameter lines in Homer’s Iliad and probably as many ‘brazen spear points’ and slamming shields. What to do with them all? Thomson – to make an attractive prosaic point – starts his theatrical shebang with a baby’s cry and a cobbler hitting nails into a boot. (Think the traditional 3 knocks that alert a French audience to the start of a performance). More formally, several scenes begin and end as characters are dressed for their part, accompanied by near liturgical chant. No need though for Zeus (Richard Conlan) to dress up. His boxers and loose robe are as much Mustique as Olympus. Hephaestus (Daniel Poyser) has his iPad on the beach. ‘White-armed’ Hera (Emmanuella Cole) drifts in straight off Ebony magazine’s style pages and tells all. This is one all-mighty queen god who seems to owe her name to having had it up-to-here with her philandering husband (and brother BTW). We’re with you there, sister.

I worship Thetis, because of passionate playing from Melody Grove, but otherwise these gods are the diverting side-show and narrative markers to the centre stage profiling of Achilles (Ben Turner). He stands, blood streaked, against all-comers, starting with ‘wine-mouth’ Agamemnon (Ron Donachie). There is pathos in the fine scene between the moping and vengeful Achilles and the shade of his beloved Patroclus (Mark Holgate) and the song at his companion’s funeral of his ‘head like a poppy drooping’ is an unlikely hit, but it’s Thetis’s son vs. Hector (Benjamin Dilloway) that exercises fight director Raymond Short to his utmost. As well it might when he’s up against Brad Pitt and CGI – and a younger audience. Perhaps pounding Hector’s brains out is beyond even a screenplay.

Amiera Darwish, left, as Briseis; Ben Turner, centre; & Mark Holgate, right, as Patroclus.

This Iliad is forcefully staged and has the vehemence and colour of its core story. It is fiercely directed and there is a heart and soul to every performance, mortal or immortal, but it is so down to earth that it puts gods into deckchairs on a flyblown lido and so the topless towers of Ilium are levelled. I think it’s Hecuba (Jennifer Black) who says, ‘You clutch at emotions like clutching at straws’. That’s the problem when you go head-to-head with Homer.

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 26 April)

Go to The Iliad at the Lyceum.

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21Apr2016

Right Now (Traverse: 19 April – 7 May ’16)

Posted in 4*, Rated: Unrated, Theatre, Traverse by Alan Brown

Photos: Helen Murray

“Funny and clever, disturbing and salacious”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars

A Traverse Theatre Company, Theatre Royal Bath Ustinov Studio and Bush Theatre co-production.

Ben is a junior doctor. He and Alice have been together for seven years and their work/life balance is screwed. As it happens, so far so familiar. Right now they’ve been in their new flat for six months, have just got the baby’s room to do, and things will get better. Only they don’t. Instead neighbours Juliette and Gilles and their son François come right on in from across the hall ….. Meet the Fockers from Quebec, everyone: with a ‘u’, inappropriate, out of order and way, way, out of bounds.

You watch your step in this pressing and uncomfortable comedy. You’re never too sure what’s underfoot or where it’s going. There’s a godawful squeaky toy behind the sofa and half a glass of red on the floor. ‘Beware’ should travel around the set like LED advertising at a sports ground. Beware Juliette with her penchant for flashing her knickers; beware Gilles’ prurient touch and tongue; beware François’s lacerating commentary. “They’re a bit odd” is Alice’s bang on estimate. “I like them” is Ben’s disastrous opinion. It’s funny and clever, disturbing and salacious, and very well performed.

Michael Boyd directs this production, which is a cracking compliment to French-Canadian writer Catherine-Anne Toupin. It looks clean, like a Farrow and Ball paint job by designer Madeleine Girling where the quality of the finish should never be in question. All the more effective, then, when a kind of moral distemper takes hold and it all gets corrupted, goes off-colour and becomes dubious. Guy Williams as Gilles is absolutely loathsome because his seduction of Alice is like a pet research project. He also, incidentally, proves that a black roll neck jumper and brown jacket are about as louche as it gets. Maureen Beattie, ever the mistress of the bewitching voice, is Juliette the mother temptress, against whom all resistance is futile. Just sticking a plaster on Dr. Ben’s hand makes him go weak at the knees. François – jittery and wacky by Dyfan Dwfor – may be appalled by his parents’ behaviour but is just as complicit.

Lindsey Campbell as Alice

If Toupin isolates a character, it’s Alice. The plot would push her under but she won’t go. Listen up in scene 5 for the psycho pairing of Ben (Sean Biggerstaff) and ‘Benny’ (that would be Biggerstaff too) but Alice stays there, screaming for help really. Lindsey Campbell has to do grieving and dirty dancing and horribly vulnerable all at once, which is why the sex is so desperate. It’s a class act and I think is what the show’s flier describes as traumatic, ‘teasing and thrilling’.

Right Now is as billed. It’s edgy, imminent, and contemporary, which makes it kind of Shakespearean: François as Feste maybe, Alice as the abused and distraught Ophelia; Juliette becomes Lady Macbeth, who has given suck, etc. Weird.

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 19 April)

See Right Now at the Traverse

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13Apr2016

Ring Road (Traverse: 12 – 16 April ’16)

Posted in 4*, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre, Traverse by Alan Brown

Martin Donaghy as Mark and Angela Darcy as Lisa.
Photo. Traverse theatre.

“Both actors perform brilliantly in a small space (and on a narrow bed)”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars Outstanding

Fifth and last in this Spring season of A Play, A Pie and a Pint.

It was the prickly cactus that did it, that brought to mind Love’s Labour’s Lost and fun puns on pricks, butts and horns. Mark notices it by the Reception desk of the hotel that’s just off the ring road. He reckons he’s there for sex (oh, not the archery then) and he’s right. Lisa does want him but it’s more his sperm than his good self that she’s targeting. She desires a baby while Mark just fancies the pants off his teacher sister-in-law. Ouch!

Anita Vettesse has written a painfully entertaining comedy and director Johnny McKnight does indeed make the pants fly off the bed. Ring Road is frisky, certainly, but it is also sensitive to what Lisa is feeling. She is 40 years old, has ‘grown to love’ her husband, but is still without a child. The pressure is on big time.

A late afternoon’s delight via Dayuse.com might be all very well but Lisa (Angela Darcy) sees Mark (Martin Donaghy) more as a ‘facilitator’, which he’s not best pleased about. He is even less keen on the idea when brother Paul (a wry, downcast voice-over from Robbie Jack), Lisa’s husband, joins them by being put ‘on speaker’. The two brothers are plumbers, sharing the same van, rather than the same women but it’s still odds-on that the dismissive reference to Screwfix is deliberate.

Mark’s spattered overalls and rigger boots look strange in the tidy, unexciting hotel room and he knows that the whole situation is just not right. Twin beds are bad enough – and that ‘art’ on the wall!- but the twitchy tension is the real passion killer. Lisa, in particular and unsurprisingly, is a bundle of nerves. At worst Mark is confused, but she is probably more conflicted at the end than at the beginning, which is touching and sadly credible.

Both actors perform brilliantly in a small space (and on a narrow bed). Donaghy does “For fuck’s sake” as baffled, happy, hurt and kind all at once, while Darcy is no less expressive, just more couth and desperate. The fact that Ring Road is also very funny is down to the quality of Vettesse’s writing.

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 12 April)

Go to Ring Road at the Traverse.

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9Apr2016

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Ain Anger & Olari Elts

Posted in 3*, Music, Queen's Hall, Rated: Nae Bad by charlesstokes

“No musician could fail to admire, and secretly envy, the sheer bravura and chutzpah of this performance…

Editorial Rating: 3 Stars Nae Bad

Thursday’s Scottish Chamber Orchestra concert at the Queen’s Hall was a fascinating melange of the contemporary, romantic and classical. As a result we experienced a variety of different musical experiences in an exciting evening’s musical entertainment.

I suspect the main draw must have been the evergreen Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, but more of this later. The gig kicked off with Brett Dean’s “Testament”, a work some years in evolution that, to quote the composer “in some way related to Beethoven’s life and music”. I personally found it hard to trace this link back to the great man, notwithstanding the composer’s consultation with the string section of the Berlin Philharmonic and studying of the Heiligenstadt Testament. There were strong influences of Honegger, Adams and even Lutoslawski, as well as some clear 19^th century style melodic lines in what was a mosaic of musical styles. It made for an entertaining and lively start to the evening and the orchestra dispatched it with enthusiasm and considerable skill.

By way of a contrast followed Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death. Mussorgsky had planned to set eight songs by the poet Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, with whom he shared rooms. In the event he set only four of them and died before he got around to orchestrate them, which his eminent fans Rimsky-Korsakov and Shostakovich were happy to do, as has contemporary Australian composer James Ledger. This latter was the version chosen for us. Perhaps an unconventional choice in view of his illustrious forebears, the orchestration undoubtedly worked in an atmospheric and almost mysterious way, including an extraordinary clarinet glissando in the third song Trepak (described as “death dances with a drunk in the forest at night). Leading contemporary Wagnerian and Estonian born Bass Ain Anger gave a deep, clear and resonant account of this very Russian work in the folk idiom. The power of the magnificent, but I repeat pleasingly clear bass voice was enthusiastically supported, especially by the brass, as it drew to its sombre, striking conclusion.

And so on to the popular, oft played, recorded and interpreted Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in C minor. One almost wonders what the point of performing this work is; how can one possibly bring anything new? Everyone, from Von Karajan, the wonderful Carlos Kleiber, and even the Bee Gees in Saturday Night Fever, has had a crack at this gloriously barmy work, and the only person who hasn’t heard it properly in the civilised world is probably Beethoven himself.

To their credit the SCO did pull a rabbit out of a hat. They went off at a cracking pace like the crews in the Boat Race, taut, together, on the money with every new passage and actually managed to convey the excitement of hearing the piece for the first time. A confident opening by the cellos in the Andante con moto made the most of the crescendo in the initial cadence and there were good dynamics and clarity even in the small supporting parts, in particular woodwind and pizzicato strings, and the more so of this latter in the subsequent Allegro. The final, fourth movement Allegro brought the work, and the evening, to a resounding conclusion.

So what to make of this interpretation of the well-known work? Full marks for enthusiasm as caution was thrown to the winds, not afraid of turning up the volume, raw, earthy, almost ‘street’, spirited and raucous. I am sure my school director of music would think that conductor Olari Elts was being a bit naughty with the work, and there were a number of bum notes and other flaws, particularly in the often exposed brass. However, no musician could fail to admire, and secretly envy, the sheer bravura and chutzpah of this performance. Roll over Beethoven!

Reviewer: Charles Stokes (Seen 7 April)

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6Apr2016

Neither God Nor Angel (Traverse 5 – 9 April ’16)

Posted in 4*, Rated: Unrated, Theatre, Traverse by Alan Brown

Jimmy Chisholm as James VI and Gavin Wright as William.
Photo: Leslie Black

“To an eloquent vocabulary!”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars

4th in this Spring’s season of a Play, a Pie and a Pint.

Union (2014), Tim Barrow’s second play, was full of the joys of the Referendum campaign – vigorous, disputatious, even romantic. Neither God Nor Angel, his third, is not ‘Union the prequel’ (by a century), but more of a light amuse-bouche to that earlier rich and hearty fare. This is a waggish two-hander, chummier, a pawky chamber piece.

It is an entertaining fact that James VI, King of Scotland, must have spent some part of the night of April 4th 1603 in Holyrood wondering what it was going to be like to be James I of England (& Ireland) to boot. He was away to London the following morning. Did he blow hot and cold about the whole enterprise? The Incarnation probably sprang to the mind of this godly, seriously literate and absolute monarch who, in 1598 and blessedly free of irony, wrote of ‘the Reciprock and Mutuall Dutie betwixt a free King and his naturall Subiectes’. Let there then steal upon the scene, for the purposes of comic wrangling over glasses of good Rhenish wine, one such subject.

Levity, clearly, is heaven-sent. Enter gawky William (Gavin Wright) to cheek and cheer his King, who has been in peevish sorts. James (Jimmy Chisholm) welcomes – and would embrace in all innocence – the impertinent company of a serving man. Better William, any day, than those ‘devious bastards, the bankers, with their velvet draped bollocks’; and so the toast, raised by His Majesty, ‘To an eloquent vocabulary!’

William speaks Leith and James, crowned at thirteen months, speaks privilege with moments of dainty Morningside. “Would you ken where yon bottle is hid?” might well be an habitual question in Hermitage Gardens but the interesting parts, in amidst the humour, is the forgotten or unfamiliar history: Royal pal Esmé Stewart is pined for; recall of Gowrie and the Ruthven raid shakes the King; his wife, Anne of Denmark, is cherished; and William is sacked for spilling wine on John Ramsay’s silk doublet, which could have happened. I liked all this, almost as much as the use of quill on paper.

It’s a good title, Neither God Nor Angel, provided you can accept that the king’s a man for a’ that, which he ain’t really. Director Ryan Dewar and his two actors do very well with this pithy play of make-believe.

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 5 April )

Go to Neither God Nor Angel at the Traverse

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3Apr2016

1984 (Festival: 31 March – 2 April ’16)

Posted in 5*, Dance, Festival Theatre, Rated: Outstanding by Steve Griffin

Tobias Batley and Martha Leebolt as Winston and Julia in 1984. Photo Emma Kauldhar.

“A spine-tingling masterpiece”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars: Outstanding

To this day, Northern Ballet’s The Great Gatsby is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen on a stage, so I was excited and intrigued to see what the company would do with another classic novel, albeit a completely different genre and tone. What they’ve created is another spine-tingling masterpiece.

Jonathan Watkins’ choreography is created with all the intricacy and intelligence necessary to portray the complex ideas and changing moods within Orwell’s book. The workers’ unison sections are very crisp and powerful, with many recurring motifs of straight lines and triangles, both in individual movements and formation, which cleverly reflect the “all seeing eye”. Canon variations are used throughout for interest, which work very well to create production line style sequences, again very relevant to the era. In contrast, the Proles’ movements are easily identified through curves, contact improvisation and individuality of style. The lovers’ duet captures all the breath-taking beauty one might expect from a traditional ballet, while the fight scene towards the end is both graceful and gutting, as we see Winston fall and give in to the higher power.

Alex Baronowski’s score is full of accented beats and staccato rhythms which perfectly translate to the repeated motifs of the workers under the control of Big Brother, while the more romantic elements are brought out with strings and flowing, rousing melodies. Much like experimental music of the time, the orchestra uses an assortment of non-traditional instruments to create clashing tinny sounds and altogether this results in an authentic, haunting and sympathetic accompaniment to the action on stage.

Northern Ballet dancers in 1984. Photo Emma Kauldhar.

While the relationship between music and movement are clearly intertwined, the design of this production seems equally balanced with the other elements. Chris Davey’s lighting is stark and structural, creating yet more triangles and straight lines for the dancers to follow and stay within, and Simon Daw’s set of moving walls and simple blank spaces adds to the feeling of isolation and hopelessness. Use of colour is also very powerful, from the traditional blue of the workers uniforms, to the bright yellow of hate to the oranges and browns of the Proles, this is clearly a production that pays high regard to many details, making it a joy to watch.

As can be expected in such an interpretation, not every nuance of the book is covered on stage, and sacrifices have to be made to adapt the work for this new form. It’s a shame that some sections aren’t made more of – the final quarter in particular seems a little rushed – but overall the piece strikes a fine balance between narrative progression and beauty of form. For those unfamiliar with the story this production may be somewhat difficult to follow, but even then, the artistry on display is of such high quality that it almost doesn’t matter.

Reviewer: Steve Griffin (Seen 1 April)

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1Apr2016

Uncanny Valley (Summerhall: 29 – 31 March) – part of Edinburgh International Science Festival

Posted in 3*, Rated: Nae Bad, Summerhall, Theatre by Steve Griffin

Photo:.Borderline Theatre

“Educational and entertaining, well-worth taking the kids to”

Editorial Rating: 3 Stars: Nae Bad

As a child I was never particularly into science. At school the lessons were boring and didn’t challenge me to think creatively or engage with it in real life situations. Uncanny Valley, however, does both, placing today’s children at the heart of a situation we may well find ourselves in 30 years’ time.

Essentially it’s a show about humans and robots, and the difference between the two. With the world becoming ever more robotic, the subject matter is engaging for audiences of all ages and I certainly learned a thing or two about artificial intelligence and the Turing Test during the performance. While I imagine 9-year-old me might have struggled with some of the concepts and sitting still through some of the longer “lesson” parts, many of the younger audience members seemed to grasp it fairly well and engage in the interactive elements.

As a children’s piece, one can forgive a certain amount of ridiculousness and be able to suspend disbelief to still be able to enjoy the action. Credit goes to the actors for keeping the performance engaging, with boundless energy creating big, bold characters that are instantly relatable. Kirsty Stuart in particular shines as the cut-throat Mayor who’ll stop at nothing to eliminate robots in her town.

I would have liked closer attention paid to the narrative to keep it seamless all the way through: there were quite a few unexplained jumps in time and location in the story, and I never quite believed Ada’s relationship with her adopted parents. In saying that, some of the theatrical elements are very well done: the Turing Test at the end of the show is funny and gripping; the open moral discussion about whether to swerve a car off road and kill a group of chickens to save yourself is very thought-provoking, and I was even able to feel emotional connection with the robot characters of OKAY and SARA, which adds a really nice dimension.

The beginning is a little confusing – I feel that Rob Drummond as facilitator perhaps tries too hard to convey a lot of factual information early on and doesn’t seem as comfortable in parts of audience interaction as I would expect from an experienced TIE professional. These are only small moments throughout the piece though, as on the whole it’s quite slick and professional.

Overall, Uncanny Valley is educational and entertaining, and well-worth taking the kids to, as long as you’re ready for a bit of thinking! Theatrically it is a bit rough around the edges but still full of heart.

Reviewer: Steve Griffin (Seen 31 March)

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1Apr2016

International Waters (Traverse: 30 March – 3 April ’16)

Posted in 3*, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre, Traverse by Alan Brown

Photos: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

“Almost edifying”

Editorial Rating:3 Stars Outstanding

You have to wonder. Fifty minutes into the heaving swell of International Waters when we’re all dramatically well and truly cast off, the fire alarm lights flash red and the theatre is evacuated. It has to be a Fire Exit production. And the prime minister announces that there will be no fire sale of the UK’s steel industry but it could still all go down the pan; which is pretty much where David Leddy’s new play takes us. It’s gut-churning with intent, from programme-as-origami downwards. This is theatre in the raw; its passage probably indigestible without great work by Becky Minto (Design), Nich Smith (Lighting) and Danny Krass (Sound).

For the U-bend see a cabin suite for the super-rich in the bowels of a super-tanker, complete with champagne buffet and karaoke machine. Cheaper accommodation is in assorted containers where you might be stacked next to a tiger or two. It is all rather make-do, rather urgent, for this is the last ship out of London where the banks have really, really, done their mucky worst. It’s safe to assume that the ATMs are empty and that the poor are on the streets and burning porsches. Still, if you have shedloads of ready money you can look good in white linen, enjoy the Moët, do a line of coke, and singalong to doomsday. Unfortunately it turns out that Sarah, Ben, Sophia, and Arian are in the Caliban suite for a less than delightful reason and that their ‘escape’ will end wretchedly. There’s no mage on the bridge to save them or to get them away from each other’s throats … or crotches.

International Waters 2

Down below, gripped by burning cabin fever and flushing itself out, is the fabled 1%: powerful and greedy, vulnerable and unhappy. Sarah (Claire Dargo), Ben (Robin Laing), Sophia (Selina Boyack), and Arian (Lesley Hart) go at it with astonishing abandon, pulling each other’s chains – just to stay with the scatological – and soiling themselves and their values in the process. It’s abject, messy, and ridiculous and yet the acutely angled and allusive content is almost edifying.

Leddy unships a bulk load of issues: rogue algorithms, flagrant wealth, economic migrants, drowned refugees; the paranoid survivalist versus the self-obsessed, #Blessed; Twitter storms, Old Testament retribution and the gospel strains of New Testament promise. This is one crowded ark of a stage, freighted with ideas, that spills more than it holds, deliberately upset by intemperate behaviour, bad language, and scary discordant sound. If the play is dead in the water at its conclusion, it’s not rudderless or overblown, but simply exhausted.

FYI. The show continued after the fire alarm, which says a lot about the quality of the performance and the unlikely integrity of the piece. It is preposterous and explicitly farcical, yet Leddy goes in behind the theatrical facade. He says (see programme note) that he’s also after the romantic sublime. Well, here’s Adele on a comparable course from Rolling in the Deep: “Go ‘head and sell me out and I’ll lay your shit bare.” Nice!

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 30 March)

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26Mar2016

I Am Thomas (Lyceum: 23 March – 9 April ’16)

Posted in 4*, Musical Theatre, Rated: Unrated, The Lyceum by Alan Brown

‘Our God above is a God of Love’ with Dominic Marsh, Hannah McPake (back), Amanda Hadingue, Charlie Folorunsho (back), Myra McFadyen, John Cobb, Iain Johnstone (back).

“Fiercely well executed”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars

I suppose that it is justifiable that Edinburgh’s Gallow Lee was half a mile down Leith Walk and not on East(er) Road. You don’t want too much of the promise of the resurrection to hang about the gibbet. And what do atheists care anyway? Let the foul mouthed blasphemer swing. Or maybe not. It depends on the law, on the Kirk, on freedom of expression, on private conscience, on your reception of I Am Thomas.

Here’s an examination in popular, not judicial, terms of ‘Extreme Justice’ in its unholy alliance with the Scottish Presbytery of 1696. Did Thomas Aikenhead, a gobby twenty year old student at Edinburgh Uni., deserve to be put to death for railing and cursing against his God? Well, no, not in the opinion of this fiercely well executed (Ha!) piece of musical theatre.

There was just the one Thomas A. but there are several red T shirts with his name on it; one in French with ‘Je suis Thomas’ delivering its contemporary message of defiance in the face of intolerance, inhumanity and murder. Thomas might be Everyman but there is an Archie Gemmill shirt too and Match of the Day, for there’s the entertaining conceit – if you like football – of Thomas as a player who is beginning to make a name for himself. Archie Macpherson analyses his game while Thomas sets about committing offences. A short story by author James Robertson is credited as providing inspiration for this ‘brutal comedy with songs’; just possibly his ‘Portugal 5, Scotland 0’.

The songs are intense, all the more so when set against wicked ensemble work and vivid backcloths. Consequential lyrics, expertly crafted, are by Oxford Professor of Poetry Simon Armitage and musical direction is by composer Iain Johnstone, who is also on stage and does his ‘turn’ as Thomas and as penitent John Fraser, who picks up a yellow. There are eight performers and there is a lot of music making, if it’s only a moaning wind from a piano accordion. Listen up for Thomas’ ‘Rhapsody of Nonsense’ sung by Hannah McPake that really puts the boot into the Divinity – and gets him red-carded. As for Charlie Folorunsho’s ‘Our God above is a God of Love’, that is a LOL belter to grimace at.

Charlie Folorunsho and Dominic Marsh.
Photos. Manuel Harlan

The referee plays a blinding, prosecuting role that shouldn’t be his to play, of course; but then Thomas is monumentally unlucky with officialdom. It is bad enough that the chief witness against him is his friend Mungo Craig but to have the Lord Advocate James Stewart (Dominic Marsh) in charge is one hell of a sad joke. Stewart, himself indicted and condemned for treason and author of ‘The People’s Right to Defend Themselves’, characterises himself as the ‘rat catcher’ and is a problem for writers Told by an Idiot. The company excels in creating theatre that is larger than life but wily Jamie has an outsize history all of his own and it is his story, rather than poor young Thomas’s, that often starts to claim the audience’s attention. Still, the result of chronicling the two lives is an inventive, fluid and colourful montage that – you could say – is nearly always on the ball. Only in the second ‘half’, when Aikenhead moves onto exalted ground, with Messiah status and personal glitterball, does it get stuck in an heroic, almost self-regarding mode. There’s a call to freedom in there in an African strain that director Paul Hunter is obviously keen to liberate but I found it more distracting than helpful.

And there you have it: in I Am Thomas the lauded Scottish Enlightenment (not Harry Lauder) stays in the dressing room. What’s on stage is uglier, funnier and shockingly legitimate.

Reviewer: Alan Brown (Seen 24 March)

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24Mar2016

Endgame (Bedlam: 22-26 March ’16)

Posted in 4*, Bedlam, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre by Steve Griffin

Thomas Noble as Hamm

“The best student production I’ve seen in quite some time”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars: Outstanding

One certainly cannot fault the courage of the students at Edinburgh University this year for taking on so many challenging productions, and to even attempt Beckett – whose works so often have age and world-weariness as themes – is admirable. I was lucky enough to spend an entire term studying Beckett at university, under the tutorship of a renowned expert on his works, but even then I worried that my final performance would be a tragic, naïve offering compared to what had gone before.

Beckett certainly isn’t for everyone, and Endgame is a one-act play with a running time of close to 90 minutes that has very little narrative development or real “action”. What is most satisfying about this production is the group’s sensitivity to Beckett’s text. The great man is notoriously particular about how his work should be performed, and Edinburgh University Theatre Company don’t try any tricks or fancy interpretations to make it new or innovative, but instead use subtlety to let the text speak for itself. Finlay McAfee’s masterful direction teases out various interesting repetitions in the dialogue and hints at some of the political undertones, but never makes bold statements or suggestions.

In saying that, this production also doesn’t take itself too seriously – it’s littered with comedic moments, just as Beckett intended, and is a very well-rounded and watchable show. Sarah Brown’s set is simple yet effective, using black and white as a nod to the “game” element, while all other creative elements are in sync to present a cohesive and professional mise-en-scene.

Thomas Noble as Hamm is the centrepiece of the actors – always on stage, centre stage, he commands attention with charisma and gusto. His moments of anger when flinging props aside are powerful, while he shows great contrast in more intimate conversations with Clov. In turn Clov (Michael Hajiantonis) is excellent as the down-trodden servant, whose development in confidence towards the end, extreme physicality and impressive Irish accent all contribute to a commendable performance.

Jennifer Jones is compelling to watch as Nag, with fantastic control over the small movements and expressions she makes inside the bin. Her physicality is exquisite, and her delivery of the tailor story is achingly on point. Antonia Weir is equally captivating and convincing as long-suffering wife Nell.

To me the only thing lacking from this production is a deeper sense of age and timelessness. The action all seemed a little too fresh and perhaps a touch too “performed” for it to be believable as a snapshot of continual drudgery. In saying that, I’d much rather a slight tip in this direction to keep it energetic and engaging rather than veering down the road of self-indulgent dawdling. In all other respects this show is hard to fault, it’s certainly the best student production I’ve seen in quite some time.

Reviewer: Steve Griffin (Seen 23 March)

Go to Endgame at Bedlam Theatre

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Category Archives: *Ratings

The Iliad (Lyceum: 20 April – 14 May ’16)

“This Iliad is forcefully staged and has the vehemence and colour of its core story.”

Right Now (Traverse: 19 April – 7 May ’16)

“Funny and clever, disturbing and salacious”

Ring Road (Traverse: 12 – 16 April ’16)

“Both actors perform brilliantly in a small space (and on a narrow bed)”

Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Ain Anger & Olari Elts

Neither God Nor Angel (Traverse 5 – 9 April ’16)

“To an eloquent vocabulary!”

1984 (Festival: 31 March – 2 April ’16)

“A spine-tingling masterpiece”

Uncanny Valley (Summerhall: 29 – 31 March) – part of Edinburgh International Science Festival

“Educational and entertaining, well-worth taking the kids to”

International Waters (Traverse: 30 March – 3 April ’16)

“Almost edifying”

I Am Thomas (Lyceum: 23 March – 9 April ’16)

“Fiercely well executed”

Endgame (Bedlam: 22-26 March ’16)

“The best student production I’ve seen in quite some time”