Michael Cox reviews A Walk at the Edge of the World, Siddhartha the Musical and Minetti.
Sometimes, an unintended theme presents itself on a day at the Fringe. Coincidence? Perhaps. Today, all three productions feature an older man reflecting on his past.
There is a rather beautiful idea at the heart of Magnetic North’s A Walk at the Edge of the World (***), a production of two halves. After a quick orientation, the audience is taken on a 30-minute walk, which is then followed by a 45-minute talk.
The idea of having the audience physically experience something is an excellent idea, and the walk the audience are guided on is (after the first five minutes) a rather beautiful, mostly relaxed walk that ends with some steep steps. We are encouraged to move silently and take in the passing environment, which leads the audience to perhaps notice things they wouldn’t have considered. It’s a strong idea that is well-handled.
Which makes the second half all the weaker, for the talk that follows lacks much dramatic flair and the walk that was undertaken is barely mentioned. It is a quiet piece of writing that is performed well by Ian Cameron. It has interesting ties to the speaker’s life and also gives interesting titbits of information and history. However, it all seems just too subdued, sometimes even scattered, to feel relevant. To hardly reference the walk that had preceded the talk also feels like both a cheat and a missed opportunity to tie everything together, resulting in a production that is in conflict with itself.
After leaving the theatre section, I unfortunately felt a bit tired. However, I knew there was something I could do that would allow me to clear my head and continue on with the day: a nice brisk walk.
Sometimes, a production doesn’t seem like it should work. Case in point: Siddhartha the Musical (***). Herman Hesse’s influential novel is a quiet contemplation on life’s purpose. It’s a reflective piece that’s allegorical and heartfelt, religious and wise.
This musical, however, is anything but quiet. Siddhartha’s journey is blasted about with ambitious staging that doesn’t pause for breath. With whiz-bang technical flourishes, loud crashing music and staging right out of Bollywood, this is a production that doesn’t want to trickle into the mind but thump into the bloodstream, thrashing its way about the stage. Its message isn’t discovered but is literally flashed before the audience’s eyes while being pounded into the eardrums.
And yet I connected with it. It’s hard to resist a show with grandiose staging when most Fringe shows are small and restricted. Siddhartha’s charms are in its staging and catchy tunes. It has an engaging cast, with Giorgio Adamo impressing with his singing, dancing and acting (and good looks) as the young prince while Michael Nouri comes across as sage, almost melodic with his narrative monologues as the older version of Siddhartha.
It might be easy to pick this spectacle apart, and finding one thread to pull will surely unravel the production. But take it for what it is, and Siddhartha the Musical is a terrific experience. As a side note, as there are subtitles, I’d advise sitting a few rows back to give yourself a chance to take in both the spectacle and the subtitle screens.
Over at the Royal Lyceum for the Edinburgh International Festival, Minetti (***) is a bit of an odd egg. An old actor walks into a posh-looking hotel lobby on New Year’s Eve. He’s under the impression that he has a meeting with a famed artistic director to play King Lear and, like Forrest Gump on his park bench, begins to prattle on about his life to those in the lobby.
There’s nothing wrong with the production. It has an excellent central performance by Peter Eyre, and the overall production values are all very good. However, it’s not quite clear what’s actually happening, and the ambiguity allows one to think that deeper things are afoot, so when the end comes it’s hard not to leave the theatre thinking ‘Was that it?’
Not quite a let-down, Minetti feels too slight and anticlimactic to have any significance, especially to those not in the theatre community.
A Walk at the Edge of the World is produced through the Summerhall programme but is performed at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art at 1700 (not 18). Siddhartha the Musical performs at 1810 at the Assembly Rooms on George St. Minetti performs at the Royal Lyceum Theatre until August 18 and is part of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.
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