Lorna Irvine reviews the Summerhall production.
Alexandra Kazazou's piece straddles film, physical theatre and dance, and is performed in Polish, English and Greek.
Based on heroines of Greek tragedy (Charmloypi means 'bittersweet' in Greek) she portrays a woman, capricious in nature and governed by dreams and music—notably Billie Holiday's disturbing song Strange Fruit, for which she dons a red evening gown to dance in, red of course representing the blood of the lynchings which inspired the lyrics.
Her ever-changing moods are erratic and hard to second-guess; one minute questioning her sanity and motivations, the next, dissolving into drunken giggles as she slugs from a vodka bottle.
She is a fascinating performer, and the piece interesting, particularly the simplicity of the set: just a screen and white sofa, which she sensously moves around and smears with red lipstick. Unfortunately, the room within Summerhall is too small a space, and it is hard to watch Kazazou's movement at times, making the already fragmentary narrative even harder to focus on.
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