Michael Cox reviews a piece that is 'compelling, beautiful and stirring.'
Dressed in a flowing white robe, performer Aakash Odedra gracefully sways along the Edinburgh Royal Lyceum stage. The design of lights, candles, planks and paper rose petals create atmospheric images that underpin Rani Khanam’s graceful choreography.
Songs of the Bulbul is a 55-minute emotional punch. It looks at a life lived, and it is a thing of pure beauty. Rushil Ranjan’s music boldly swells as Odedra twirls, wrapping his robe around his body as he flings through a lifespan. This celebration of life is sometimes joyous, sometimes sombre, but always gorgeous.
And it is always emotionally effective.
Bulbul works at every level that dance theatre thrives: it looks stunning and constantly engages. It is compelling, beautiful and stirring.
Songs of the Bulbul reminds us that it is the simple, light things that work best—one doesn’t have to be dragged through the political wringer to make moving art. Odedra gives us simple cathartic beauty—and so much more.
Songs of the Bulbul performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. Its run has completed.
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