#17. Guardians

Guardians by Peter Morris

Premiere: Pleasance Cavern, Edinburgh Fringe (August 2005)

Published by Oberon Modern Plays

Peter Morris' Guardians was another recommendation that particularly interested me as I enjoyed The Age of Consent, another of Morris' plays. Guardians won a Fringe First award in 2005, before transferring to London and New York. 

Guardians is storytelling at its purest and simplest and yet it is a deeply complex piece. Morris interweaves two vibrant monologues from characters that on first glance couldn't seem more disparate but, as the play proves, are intricately connected even though they don't know it. 'English Boy' is a blood-thirsty Fleet Street hack of a journalist, violently ambitious, armed with an acerbic wit and all the confidence of someone born of the Oxbridge elite. 'American Girl' is a plain woman from the rural poverty of West Virginia, dressed in the uniform of an American military prisoner.

Morris' characters articulate, ultimately, that everything is either fucking or getting fucked. For them, everything can be reduced down to this primal terminology.

It is an intricate character study of both, exploring how people are products of their upbringings and surroundings. Linking the two is the snapshots from Abu Ghraib, depicting atrocities committed in Iraq 'in the name of freedom'. Similar photos emerge in the tabloids of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi prisoner, which turn out to be fakes. Somewhere beneath the spin and the lies and the official secrets lies some kind of truth. It is not an apology, but a reflection on the cause.

Katherine Moennig as the American Girl in
New York's Culture Project production

The Abu Ghraib scandal was deeply disturbing and further fueled public anger against a disastrous war started under false pretences. This play is an uncompromising response, enabling some understanding of a seemingly incomprehensible series of events. It is scathing of the systems and people that are 'behind the camera', puppeteering events from a safe distance, preferring to get other people's hands dirty than their own. Morris particularly has in his sights Tony Blair and his supporters, and George Bush. He holds them, and the systems they represent and cultures they foster, responsible for what happened at Abu Ghraib and in conflict zones across the world throughout decades of warfare.

Morris' characters articulate, ultimately, that everything is either fucking or getting fucked. For them, everything can be reduced down to this fundamental, primal terminology. For the American soldier caught up in the scandal and used as a scapegoat, she has been getting fucked physically and metaphorically by those in authority for her whole life. For the English journalist, he'd rather be fucking than being fucked, and screw those caught in the crosshairs. This is these people's understanding of power, control and manipulation, and the misuse of it. The argument seems more fully formed in the case of the naive girl soldier, and her justification seems to stand closer inspection than that of the journalist. Perhaps this is down to the fact that she is based quite closely on the true to life Private Lynndie England, pictured in the photos abusing Iraqi soldiers, whereas the English Boy is more of an invention.

It is a convincing, well-argued perspective that is scathing of Western political powers in all the right ways, without demonising the characters for what they do. The monologues are appropriately conversational and play with the contradictory urges of confessional versus self-awareness. It is at times shocking and at times surprisingly tender. Morris has found a fresh, perceptive angle to the discussion surrounding the Iraq war; unsurprisingly, it still feels urgent and timely and could be about any conflict currently being fought by western powers. 

That said, something about it feels unfinished; it comes to a very abrupt end in mid-flight. Of course, it was written for an Edinburgh Fringe slot and the time restrictions that entails, but it feels like Morris has much more left to say. This is testament, I suppose, to how gripping his characters and their stories are that you feel as though they could easily talk for twice as long. At the same time, there is strength in how succinct it is. It is not easy stuff necessarily to digest, and Morris chooses to focus on the humanity within the story and suggests the wide reaching political resonance.

Perhaps, then, Morris' Guardians is a delectable, well-crafted starter rather than a three-course meal; it certainly leaves you wanting more. This little firecracker of a play is sure to spark debate.

#16. The Beaux' Stratagem

Susannah Fielding as Mrs Sullen
Photo by Manuel Harlan

The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar
Premiere: Theatre Royal, Haymarket (now Her Majesty's - 8 March 1707)
Currently playing at the National Theatre.

George Farquhar's final play, written in the final days preceding his death, is a joyous romp by one of the great writers of the Restoration. It is currently playing at the Olivier in a strong revival directed by Simon Godwin, and led by Susannah Fielding and Samuel Barnett.

The Beaux', Mr Aimwell and Mr Archer, have lost their fortunes in the bristling city life of London, and hounded by their debts they have fled to Lichfield. Here they hatch their Stratagem; to pose as master and servant and find the richest lady possible in order to marry her for her money. Brilliantly, Aimwell and Archer meet their match in the women they set their sights on, Mrs Sullen and Dorinda. The Beaux' stratagem gets knocked off course when they end up truly in love with the women, one of whom is unhappily married to a drunk, and also manage to get mixed up with a crooked landlord and his highwayman pals, a stream of ambitious servants and a rather confused priest. Joyously, despite all of the chaos and confusion, love seems sure to win out in the end.

The difficulty in reviving this play is to rediscover the sense of shock that audiences of the time must have felt at the notion that a woman could have authority of her own.

It is a wordy, twisting plot that struggles to accelerate in the first act, but in the second act flies. Susannah Fielding as Mrs Sullen is reminiscent of Emmeline Pankhurst, although several hundred years her senior, in her rallying of the audience for support in her quest to have command of her own life. Fielding, quite rightly, has complete command of the audience, effortlessly whipping them up in her several soliloquies to the point where they cheer and applaud her sentiments. Samuel Barnett gives a fantastic performance as Aimwell, marrying faultless comedic timing with sincere hart and undying energy, paired with a light-footed Geoffrey Streatfield as Archer. Pearce Quigley's straight-faced performance is hilariously droll as the scene-stealing Scrub, the Sullen's overworked, under-appreciated servant, while Pippa Bennett-Warner holds her own as the charmingly youthful Dorinda.

Geoffrey Streatfield (Archer) & Samuel Barnett (Aimwell)
Photo by Manuel Harlan

Godwin makes impressive use of the playing space across Lizzie Clachan's three storey set, even if it is only using a fraction of the Olivier's huge stage. He finds the joy in the busy intimacy of the close downstage playing area, and relishes the opportunities to allow the cast to wink knowingly to the audience. Clachan's design is colourful and striking, and the transitions between scruffy inn and country manor as performed unaided by the cast are shrewd in their simplicity. The musical numbers, accompanied by conveniently conjured musicians, are a delight, and there is a fantastic song and dance number to round off a delightfully entertaining evening.

Farquhar's last play, when considered in context, is a testament to his fearless drive to innovate in his writing. In a radical shift to tradition, the conclusion is not with a double marriage, but with the celebration of a marriage and a divorce. After all, the notion of a woman divorcing, let alone the suggestion that she may remarry, was legally impossible at the time. The difficulty in reviving this play is to rediscover that sense of shock and surprise the audiences of the time must have felt at the notion that a woman could have authority of her own, and could leave the marriage of convenience to a powerful, wealthy man for real love. In absence of knowledge of this context as many of the audience will be (unless of course they read one of the wonderfully informative programmes the National are known for), the play loses some of its bite and gumption. Without this tension, the struggle of the women becomes quaint and nostalgic rather than admirable.

Certainly, Godwin's revival stands strongly as a witty comedy about the trials of love and respectability, and indeed is respectable for fairly presenting such a cross-section of society onstage. The energy and pace in the second act particularly whisks the audience up into the whirlwind of the strange manager of characters, and the pay off is worth the work. It is a shame, though, that the political and perhaps even revolutionary air of the play is lost in performance to an audience for whom divorce has become commonplace.

Pearce Quigley (Scrub) and Geoffrey Streatfield (Archer)
Photo by Manuel Harlan

Playing at the National Theatre until 20th September 2015. 
Tickets available here.

#15. Hope

Hope by Jack Thorne

Premiere: Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs (26 November 2014)

Published by NHB Modern Plays

Jack Thorne's optimistically titled political play Hope was recommended by a friend of mine, and it is a wonderful read. It centres around a small local Labour council and its struggling councillors fighting to survive through the crushing cuts the Conservative government have been forcing through in recent years. It is a cutting satire, which audiences of all political persuasions will be able to get a handle on. 

It has all the hallmarks of Jack Thorne's style. It is episodic, concise and economic while still having a wide-reaching resonance, and the central fight is essentially unwinnable. The council presented becomes a symbol of a country's larger struggle in the face of troubled economic times. Thorne's dialogue is quirky and tight, with a great sense of irony piercing the air throughout.

Jack Thorne's play will become seen as a wider indictment of the British two-party political system, and the ways in which several successive governments on both sides of the fence have failed.

What Thorne does so well in this play is what good journalists manage to do with huge, unwieldy subjects; he makes it personal. By focussing on a small group of counsellors and branching out to consider their personal lives alongside the professional, Thorne's play becomes touching, compassionate and human, as well as intensely political. 

It seems fair to say that Thorne has a slight leaning towards the left side of the argument, but his play not only examines the perceived damage of Tory budget cuts which disproportionally affect working class towns, it also examines the failings of the contemporary Labour Party and of the Labour/socialist movement as a whole. His taut character list spans several generations using the counsellors as the epicentre; an elderly father - a counsellor himself through the seventies - is the epitome of the post-war Labour movement, a teenage child represents the varying apathy and idealism of youth.  

In some respects, the play is already historical, as is the danger with writing an immensely timely play. It is very specifically located a few months before the last election, with comments made about "Ed's" concerns. And part of the play's power is its grounding in a set of all-too real circumstances, which for audiences at the time would have felt even more poignant. That said, I would suggest that going forward the play will find a different resonance; it will become seen as a wider indictment of the British two-party political system, and the ways in which several successive governments on both sides of the fence have failed. It shrewdly portrays the limits of our elected representatives, and their own selfish battles to achieve re-election and promotion.

Jack Thorne's writing finds power and resonance in the extraordinary moments within the everyday lives of those pushed forward to lead. Marvellously, it is not a dreary play - as the title suggests, there is optimism, humour and hope all loitering around in the age of austerity. Thorne doesn't preach or thrust forth his own solutions. Rather, his quietly profound play leaves you reconsidering many of your own political views, and questioning the political system as a whole. Truly effective, urgent satirical writing.

All photos of John Tiffany's production at the Royal Court, designed by Tom Scutt.
Photos by Johan Persson

Also by Jack Thorne: #10. Mydidae
Buy on Amazon here.

My Fringe: In Brief

MY FRINGE: IN BRIEF

My personal recommendations and top picks based on the productions I had time to catch in my short visit to this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

// Highlights //

• Gecko's Institute 
Pleasance Courtyard

• Philip Ridley's Tonight With Donny Stixx 
Pleasance Courtyard

• Le Gateau Chocolat's Black 
Assembly Hall

// New company to watch // 

Disparat Theater 
Rebounding Hail, Underbelly Cowgate @ 11.20

@disparattheater

// Returning company to watch //

Caligula's Alibi 
Idiots, Pleasance Courtyard @ 14.15

@alibitheatre

// Performers to watch //

• Sean Michael Verey @Sean_M_Verey
Donny, Tonight With Donny Stixx

• Ash Henning @AshHenning
Miss Pennywise, Urinetown: The Musical

• Samuel Skoog 
Carl, Cleansed

• Holly Kilpatrick @hollykip
Laura, Rebounding Hail

• Apphia Campbell @apphiacampbell
Nina Simone: Soul Sessions

// Creatives to watch //

• Ed Burnside, director; Black
@EdBurnside

• Will Cowell & Jonnie Bayfield, creators; Idiots
@WJCCaligula / @JonnieBayfield

• Lucas Hnath, writer; The Christians

Gecko's Institute

edfringe.com

Edinburgh Fringe Day 3

Final day, managed to squeeze in another couple of shows before (literally) running for my plane home.

#13. Urinetown: the Musical

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Assembly Hall @ 11.45

I was stunned by this incredibly ambitious production of Urinetown, which was executed expertly by a cast of graduating students from RCS. 

Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis' 2001 Broadway hit, recently seen in London in Jamie Lloyd's brilliant production, is a satirical comedy set in a dystopian future where a twenty-year drought has caused a crippling water shortage making private bathrooms unthinkable. All toilets are in the form of public amenities, run by the corrupt mega-corp Urine Good Company at extortionate fees as an attempt to control consumption. There are harsh laws forcing citizens to pay to pee, and if they don't they face being sent to the mythologised penal colony Urinetown. The oppressed masses rise up, as may be expected, led by the simplistic but big-hearted Bobby Strong, everything you'd expect in a musical hero, in an attempt to win free peeing for all! A pretty absurd concept, granted, but an effective one.

Our narrator is Officer Lockstock (strong turn from Joel Schaefer), a sadistic enforcer of the law under the thumb of UGC's CEO Caldwell B Cladwell. He is assisted by the cuttingly perceptive Little Sally, a street urchin. The show satirises politics, capitalism, bureaucracy, populism and socialism - in other words, no one is safe! It also satirises the musical as a form, in hilarious songs like 'Too Much Exposition', considering what factors might kill a show. 

The production is slickly directed by Ken Alexander and exuberantly choreographed by Paul Smethurst, with a great toilet-like set and effective lighting. But the cast take the production to another level and it is to the production teams credit that we can keep our focus solidly on their performances. This cast are quite frankly phenomenal. Sublime voices, real energy and commitment and some memorable interpretations of some of musical theatre's greatest roles. I liked how many used their own accent; Scottish and Irish voices are prevalent alongside Bobby's expressive American. It is rare to hear regional British dialects on the musical stage; it is ever so refreshing.

The performances are pant-wettingly funny, handling the rapid plot and challenging songs with ease. All those in lead roles do so to an extraordinarily high standard, showing great ability as well as technique.
The cast I saw included a charming George Arvidson as Bobby whose voice soars, the wonderful Brigid Shine as Hope, a delightful Jenny Hayley-Douglas as Little Sally, and the ravishing, hilarious Ash Henning as Miss Pennywise who owns the stage better than some with decades of experience. They are supported by a fantastically strong, characterful ensemble who make a joyful sound. Run, Freedom, Run is a highlight, as is Ash Henning's raucous rendition of It's a Priviledge to Pee. 

This production of Urinetown is a testament to the world-class training delivered by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Some of the best young musical theatre talent around.

#14. Idiots

Caligula's Alibi

Pleasance Courtyard @ 14.15

Another company founded on East 15's Acting and Contemporary Theatre course, in the last few years Caligula's Alibi have won several awards and started to make a real name for themselves. Idiots is a raucous, absurd, irreverent piece about Dostoyevski, his work, his life and his afterlife. It centres on his most autobiographical piece, The Idiot, and uses it as a lens through which to see a certain vision of a purgatory-bound Fyodor whose benefit claim is being examined by a Bureaucrat forcing confrontation of several age-old demons. 

Jonnie Bayfield's performance as the famed writer - and as his character Prince Myshkin, and also as a form of existentialistic cabaret host - is something to behold. Although that said, his Dostoyevski is rather disparaging of blogs... Ahem. Awkward. Well, as he said, these days everyone has an opinion! It is a brilliant performance subverting any notion you may have had of the fourth wall, audience anonymity and passivity, natural plot progression etc. etc. etc.! Stewart Agnew, Adam Colbourne and Jessica-Lee Hopkins are fantastically theatrical in their own gaunt-faced, hollow-eyed roles. The performance is underscored tirelessly by Jonathan Hopwood live on distorted guitar, kick drum and various other noisemakers.

It is a passionately irreverent, comedically tragic look at the life and death of this great - or bad - man. How will he be judged? That's up to you. 

Creators Will Cowell and Jonnie Bayfield have produced a wickedly funny, theatrical, unpredictable, crude, intelligent piece of theatre. Caligula's Alibi once again prove that they are a force to be reckoned with.

That's the lot! Fourteen exciting pieces of theatre from some extraordinary artists. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe should formally be appointed one of the great wonders of the world; it truly is one of the greatest catalysts of and platforms for new work. The artists who take part are often doing so at great financial, social and personal cost and all involved deserve to be applauded. I simply cannot wait until next August for another summer of risk-taking, rule-breaking, inspiring theatre. 

edfringe.com

Edinburgh Fringe Day 2

Another day, another six shows! And today was a good day of powerful new theatre... 

#7. Rebounding Hail

Disparat Theater

Underbelly Cowgate @ 11.20

Rebounding Hail is a thrillingly exciting piece, revelling in the power of storytelling. And, justly, it is a wonderful piece of storytelling itself. A strong, united ensemble led by Holly Kilpatrick are utterly gripping from the first moment to the last.

It is the story of a girl who lives in a room filled with unfinished books by some of the greatest writers to have lived - from Camus to Dickens, Bronte to Marx. Each time she opens a story it bursts into life around her. Suddenly, a new book is dropped into the room and despite the warnings of the voice in her head, the girl is determined to read the story held within its silver pages. The boundaries between what is real and what is fiction blur until the characters seem just as real and just as important - if not more so - than the people outside of the books. 

The glimpses into unfinished works by great writers are wittily selected, creating a rich mix of time periods and characters slickly handled by the able, dynamic ensemble. It is directed with confidence and panache, and the space becomes filled with all the colour and life of the greatest imaginations. 

Guaranteed to have you on the edge of your seat and sure to surprise, Rebounding Hail is an impressive statement of intent from youthful company Disparat Theater, recently graduated from East 15's Acting & Contemporary Theatre course. Young artists to watch!

#8. Institute

Gecko Theatre

Pleasance Courtyard @ 13.00

Gecko's outstanding Institute is a mindful, intricate, bold, subtle, resonant, precise masterpiece; the team behind previous Fringe hit Missing have surpassed themselves.

A study of masculine inadequacies, real or imagined, and the crippling psychological impact these can have, the piece focusses on four inter-reliant men existing in some form of institution who have been debilitated by overwhelming awareness of their own deficiencies. One has been left by his adored fiancé, one was left unable to work following bouts of suicidal depression, another was shattered by the death of his father while the leader of the pack, a paternal authority figure himself and perhaps some sort of doctor, is himself terminally ill. They all seem desperate to be cared for, and determined to care for others. But, the piece seems to ask, is the care we give always for the best? 

The ensemble work together impeccably, in terms of both the physical work and multilingual dialogue. It has a truly timeless, placeless feeling as the characters understand each other's languages effortlessly - two speak English, while the other two speak German and French. The movement and choreography is sublime; the storytelling through use of the body is second to none as the music cuts from ominous to jolly and back again. They are a resourceful group, using every inch of their joyously surprising, playful set to its maximum potential. Filing cabinets become portals, rooms, even glass cages, and double as watch towers and ladders. A floating space appears in the back wall, with a perpetually falling man plummeting through his hospital bed into a vast void, then unfeasibly swiftly reappearing only to descend once again.

It is moving, shocking and humorous in equal measure. The performance had me open-mouthed in awe, on the very edge of my seat. Institute is a thrilling piece of physical and visual theatre from a unique company destined for greatness. Do anything you can to see it.

#9. Tonight With Donny Stixx by Philip Ridley 

Supporting Wall // David Mercatali

Pleasance Courtyard @ 14.45

Philip Ridley's latest long-form monologue, Tonight With Donny Stixx, is a painfully perfect companion piece to the overwhelming Dark Vanilla Jungle. An intense hour of theatre, it tells the story of Donny who, in his lust for fame as a great magician, has done something terrible. 

In the same way as Dark Vanilla Jungle, it takes the form of direct audience address, as if it is a stand-up set or a television chat show, which quickly becomes a cruel, unforgiving trial by public opinion. 

Ridley's writing is as strong as ever. It is full of that cutting East London rhythm, searing itself into your memory, not giving you any choice but to let it in as if Ridley has hold of your very spinal cord and will not release you until you have come through the experience with his character. It demands everything of you, but if you give it the piece will reveal unforeseen treasures. This is as good as anything Ridley has written before, and belies a true economy of form that suggests a real mastercraftsman at work.

Combined with Dark Vanilla Jungle, and in the canon of Ridley's work, a consciousness emerges of the damage done to people in childhood by unforgivable parenting, damning them almost inevitably to their final, tragic fate. The people truly condemned, it seems, are not the individuals themselves, but those responsible for forming that person. The begs the crushing question; could it all have been different? If only.

Sean Michael Verey's performance is a tour-de-force. It is phenomenally well observed, as he jumps into playing all the other people in his doomed story, from compulsive mother to stern father, doting aunt to his brace-faced magician's assistant. It is a masterclass in truth, transformation and stamina. 

Director David Mercatali, now a seasoned Ridley interpreter, presents his latest with recognisable minimalism that is almost an affront. The bare space becomes full, almost stifling, in the oppressive heat of the story. Spit flies, sweat drips, tears fall. 

Brimming with aggression and fizzing with vulnerability, Tonight With Donny Stixx will haunt you. Let it. It's worth it. 

#10. Cell

Smoking Apples // Dogfish Theatre

Underbelly Cowgate @ 16.35

Smoking Apples were set up with the central aim of using their unique brand of puppetry to make difficult topics more accessible, to enable discussion and further understanding. In their collaboration with Dogfish Theatre, they created Cell, whose topic is Motor Neurone Disease. Not an easy one, presumably made even harder by the personal resonance for the creators. 

Ted is the story's unexpecting but not unwilling focus. Through his story of discovery, diagnosis and dealing with MND, the creators have made a piece with real resonance. The puppetry is expertly handled, using a great blend of styles. Ted himself is beautifully manipulated. 

This is a life affirming piece about full of love and laughter, but not shying away from the distressing truth of the disease. Inventive and playful, Cell is a joy to behold. 

#11. If I Were Me

Antler 

Underbelly Cowgate @ 18.05

Antler's latest work, If I Were Me, is a gorgeously bizarre, stupendously silly hour of theatre about feeling like you don't know who you are. A feeling, I'm sure, we all can relate to. 

Phillip works in an advertising agency, unnoticed and unappreciated. Even Phillip doesn't appreciate Phillip. In fact, Phillip doesn't really know who Phillip is. Maybe Phillip doesn't want to be Phillip. Has he ever? For all his trying, he just can't make other people want to talk to back him, the words don't come out in the right order. And then there's the person with the binoculars who is, perhaps, no one at all. What of her? 

Not easily understandable, it is absurd and ultimately jolly good fun. It makes some powerful points about the fallibility of our own closely held notions of identity. A strong ensemble, Antler are unafraid to break convention and form, playing and experimenting in all directions. The piece has a real sense of that free-falling sensation one has when one has nothing of oneself to cling onto. 

Bold as ever, Antler's If I Were Me is a bit of a tricky one, and it may just escape you in its obscurity, but it is without a doubt engaging and entertaining. Who knows what Antler will do next!

#12. The Christians by Lucas Hnath

Gate Theatre // Chris Haydon

Traverse Theatre @ 21.30

From the team that created the Fringe 2013 hit Grounded, Fringe First Award Winner The Christians is a deeply intelligent, profoundly articulate play allowing a complicated debate to rage in a safer-than-usual arena. By this I mean that Lucas Hnath's play presents a fierce theological debate, forcing questions about why we believe what we believe and how securely attached to those beliefs we are, without allowing weak-willed mockery to reduce it to squabbling as seems to so often happen in reality. 

It is a rigorous piece of writing that shows deep understanding of faith and scripture, without ever directly preaching at the audience. Despite its setting in a form of American super-church, with Pastor Paul holding court first delivering his sermon and then attempting to field criticism from all angles, it manages to maintain a real balance constantly forcing you as an audience member to re-evaluate who you agree with most, or disagree with least. 

The cast of five, supported by a full and very authentic community choir (even if they were a little bit reserved for an American super-church), give confident performances under Haydon's savvy direction. The stylised nature keeps the piece on its toes, playing with the contrasting conventions of public address and private confidence. William Gaminara as the Pastor is particularly notable; a great balance of headstrong dedication and self-doubt, while Lucy Ellinson is moving as a passionate Congregant who emerges from the choir.

Frustratingly, the show fell short by not presenting a third way. There are two sides to a debate offered, which both presume an unshakeable fundamental belief in God. But what of other angles - what of the multifarious other paths that lead to the top of the mountain? For all its smart word-play and theorising, it got my mind working intellectually but didn't leave me reeling.

That said, Hnath's well-paced script asks wider questions about leadership, fluidity of values and identity, the need for communication, and adapting to the demands of a modern world. It is a brave and robust piece that is certainly worth a visit in its final week!

More to come...

edfringe.com

Edinburgh Fringe Day 1

Yesterday was my first day of a brief visit to this year's Edinburgh Fringe, and I'm squeezing in as many shows as I can! Here's my summary of day one...

#1. Green Tea and Zen Baka

David WW Johnstone

Dance Base @ 10.15

This is the most calming, grounding start to the day. Hidden in a secret garden atop Dance Base, Johnstone's captivating, gentle blend of mime, Baka and humour is minimalistic, performative meditation. The performance belongs as much to the space as it does to Johnstone's Baka, with the wind and sun playing characters in their own way; the sun, for instance, is first aggressive but then dances through the leaves on the trees stroking Johnstone's face in his peacefulness. This performance must owe it's enchanting air to the interplay between performer and space, joining with the nature around to create the piece, and this must in turn make it wholly different each day as the weather changes. A stunning escape from the rush of the festival, proving how much can be achieved in minimalism and simplicity. 

#2. Cleansed by Sarah Kane

Fear No Colours

C Nova @ 13.00

Fear No Colour's production of Kane's challenging Cleansed is bold and fearless, with one or two strong performances standing out from a committed though not expert cast, making for an intensely engaging production despite its flaws. 

I first read Sarah Kane's Blasted five years ago. In that same night, I finished the 'Complete Works' collection I had bought only days before. I was hooked. I have revisted her plays time and time again, and was keen to see this production. 

It doesn't disappoint in terms of tackling the violence head on, not shying away from the difficult material. But the play is far more than the list of atrocities critics like to list when describing Kane's plays as if they give you any notion of what the play is about. And this young company make a valiant attempt at this very difficult play. 

Sadly, presumably due to budgetary concerns, production values are extremely low, which sacrifices some of the contextual grounding of the piece. In absence of prior knowledge, the piece may seem to exist in a complete non-place, a theatrical limbo, rather than the university grounds reappropriated as a form of concentration camp. Kane's more hopeful visual images are also missed; the sunflower bursting through the floor boards, the blinding lights, the contrasting surroundings of the various rooms. This, to me, is a real shame. These images drive home the hope underpinning the seemingly bleak play, leaving it indulging in the violence. 

What is there, though, is adequate enough on the whole. It is a mixed bag in terms of the cast, Erfan Shojanoori's Tinker is lacking in authority and strength, while Raymond Wilson's Robin risks being overwrought and strained. Callum Partridge's Rod seems misjudged and Hannah Torbitt's surprisingly chaste, reserved Woman all but fades into the background. On the other hand, Siofra Dromgoole is engaging as Grace and finds her match in Lourenço de Almeida's flexing Graham. Samuel Skoog's Carl stands head and shoulders above the rest; as Carl is progressively more and more mutilated Skoog's performance is sensitive and powerful at once. A perfectly pitched, sympathetic and detailed performance.

The piece is let down by some simplistic direction and overly choreographic (for my money) sections which seem to jar with the mood of the rest of the piece.

But Sarah Kane's work shines through, and for that the production deserves its due. The use of syringes of blood to signify the severing of limbs, as well as the very smart inclusion of a recording of Kane herself reminding us that to see the source of the violence in her plays one must only open any newspaper, are some very smart touches. Kane's genius is allowed to shine through, and the cast are incredibly committed to doing justice to her play. Commendable, though far from perfect. 

(Fear No Colours are also, bravely, staging Kane's Phaedra's Love this year).

#3. Joan, Babs & Shelagh too

Gemskii // Conscious Theatre

Zoo Southside @ 14.55

Full disclosure: I was involved in the early stages of exploration/development of a piece planned with this name, produced by Conscious Theatre, which for a variety of reasons did not come to fruition this year. Gemskii, a performer and theatre-maker who sparked the initial project, took on the central concerns of the piece - the life, work and influence of director Joan Littlewood - and has created a one-woman show. I won't say too much, as it feels wrong to plug a show that I am intertwined with, except that Gemskii's show is a fun, largely improvised look at the life of Joan and those around her. It's on for the rest of the festival, so check it out if you're interested in finding out a bit more.

#4. Black

Le Gateau Chocolat

Assembly Hall @ 16.50 

Le Gateau Chocolat's new, autobiographical piece is a stunning piece of theatre, blurring likes between drag, cabaret and storytelling. Le Gateau Chocolat gives an astounding, honest, vulnerable performance in an expertly crafted story about his own struggles through racism, homophobia and being made to feel like a 'black sheep'. 

The piece was made in collaboration with director Ed Burnside, and together Black is a tightly honed, emotionally raw but not self-indulgent piece that we all can relate to in our own experiences of feeling an outsider. There are some stunning musical choices, from Purcell to Whitney Houston, sung in his trademark deliciously tone, which help tell the story enthrallingly, all accompanied by a superb live pianist. There is delightful use of projection, a good helping of self-deprecating humour and some witty costume choices, Black deals delicately but not shyly with depression and loss. 

The highlight of my Fringe so far, I cannot recommend Le Gateau Chocolat's Black highly enough. 

#5. COSMOnauts

Ryan Good

Underbelly Cowgate @ 18.50

After a last minute change of plans, I ended up grabbing tickets for Ryan Good's latest comedy show, COSMOnauts. He is a fantastic comedian, storyteller and all-round entertainer with a unique brand of confused sex-based self-deprecation using his own life - and Cosmopolitan's top 10 list of sex tips - as a catalyst for his shows. I somehow ended up onstage as his not-so-glamorous assistant, and ended up sharing stories some of my closest friends don't know (much to the gratification of the audience) and by the end was 'married' with Haribo rings to a long-haired, bearded American I had never met before. This show is bound to delight, if you're one for somewhat risqué humour! Check it out. 

#6. Nina Simone: Soul Sessions

Apphia Campbell

Assembly Checkpoint @ 20.50

Part two of a celebration of Nina Simone by the superb Apphia Campbell, this show is a study of the influence of Simone's sublime music on Campbell's own life. A great selection of songs, performed with panache, and plenty of laughs, by Campbell in a tour-de-force performance. Accompanied by musical director Joe Louis Robinson, complete with almost finger-breaking piano solos, Soul Sessions is musical dynamite. 

More to come... 

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