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Michael Across the Festival '12 - Aug 05

Michael Cox reviews more Summerhall productions: Puellae, The List, How a Man Crumbled, Red Like Our Room Used to Feel, BUZZCUT and Puppet-The Book of Splendour.

Back at Summerhall today, a venue I fall more in love with the longer I stay here.

First up: Puellae--the truth about chips and other things (***), a bittersweet comedy about two childhood friends meeting up in an Edinburgh cafe for the first time in a year. They are close friends, but time sees them drift apart while their lives slowly grow more and more different. As is the usual case with these set-ups: lives are shared, vulnerabilities exploited and secrets are unearthed.

And yet, as common as the play's plot is, it has a zing of truth to it all. Both Nalini Chetty and Samara MacLaren play wonderfully off of each other, making this 'coming of middle-age' tale believable. They are able to bounce between confidence to vulnerability with ease, and they make a convincing enough crack at playing their teenaged selves as well. This production also has the added dimension of pre-recorded 'memories' that are projected above the actors, a trick that actually works rather well, mostly again thanks to its two good performers.

Anyone wanting confirmation that Stellar Quines is one of our most exciting theatre companies need only see their latest production. The List (*****) is a stunning slice of perfection. Phenomenally performed by the brilliant Maureen Beattie, the play is a one-hander about the consequences that come when a simple promise isn't kept.

The production is a triumph of writing, directing, design and performance. It is a stellar example of how the simplest of things can, if not tended to, lead to dire consequences; it is also an example of how greatness does not have to come via a large budget.

I found the entire hour-long performance riveting, and moments still haunt me. This is not just one of the best productions currently on the Fringe: it is without doubt one of the best productions of the year. Absolutely unmissable.

How a Man Crumbled (***) certainly has its heart in the right place. A semi-retelling of a classic Russian story, the production is a hodgepodge of theatrics with a very heavy influence from Eastern Europe, and it's all carried out by an energetic cast of three.

If anything, the production feels like it's an experiment from a theatre company still finding its feet. The piece is all over the place, with numerous staging forms enacted, mostly with moderate success. However, while there are moments that work well, as an overall production the whole thing does not click.

I admired it more than I liked it, and I will certainly look out for future productions from Clout Theatre. However, this particular production didn't quite work for me, though going by the smiles and laughs the piece got I might be in the minority.

How to describe Red, Like Our Room Used to Feel (****)? This intimate one-to-one piece is about discovery, so I feel that anything said by me is saying too much. All I will say is that this rather charming piece works as both installation and poetry reading, and that poet Ryan Van Winkle's 15-minute mixture of art, music, poetry and tea (or port) works wonderfully. I've taken part in many one-to-one pieces, and this is certainly one of the most pleasant and least threatening I've encountered. Short in length but deep in soul, Red is a welcome oasis from the clatter of Summerhall.

BUZZCUT (****) returned for its second and final performance at this year's Fringe, this time bringing with it two Glasgow-based artistic performers. Where yesterday's performances were complete opposites, this time (by design or coincidence?) the two were tied together by a theme of technology, and while both felt like works-in-progress still finding their feet, together they complimented each other well, thus strengthening the evening.

First was Andrew Houston: It's OK. I'm Just a Video, a clever piece that saw Houston being interviewed by a previously recorded alter ego. It worked more than it didn't, and its questioning of the use of technology, particularly the growing use of recordings in our lives and how that affects us, is pertinent and interesting. The interview/chat show format has certainly become clichéd, and the idea of people being interviewed by avatars goes back decades. However, Houston is charming, both as interviewer and interviewee, and perhaps with more work (and a bit more original thought) this could become a great piece, a mixture of serious interview and satire.

Closing out BUZZCUT's short tenure was Murray Wason: Automation. Wason's piece looked primarily at robotics, including how they are made, the history behind them and how they compare with humanity. As with the previous piece, some parts worked better than others, though in Wason’s case it’s primarily an issue of editing—bits go on far longer than needed. As a whole it was both original and playful, and in this age where we depend more and more on technology, it served as a nice reminder that behind all the speed and grandiose gadgets out there, the simple things, like kicking a football, are the true miracles of life.

In many ways, I feel like the wrong person to react to neTTheatre’s Puppet. The Book of Splendour (***). As a secular person whose working knowledge of the Bible is limited, I felt out of the loop for much of the production. References to larger concepts (God, Satan, Angels, Rabbis) were fine, but more specific points escaped me. I did admire the theatricality of it all, but I felt like someone listening in on an inside joke—I just didn’t get it. I wanted to, but I felt I spent more time trying to catch up with things by focusing on the subtitles than being able to take the production in, and as the stage is fully used with a large cast and complicated staging, I feel I missed out on a lot. Perhaps audiences with a better working knowledge of scripture will do better and be able to absorb more.

All events are on at Summerhall, though their performance dates and times greatly vary. Check the website or programme for more information.

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