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Michael Cox reviews The Litvinenko Project, Fable and Smash It Up.
It may not be the secret to be discovered anymore, but Summerhall probably remains the Fringe’s finest venue. It's the type of place one can go just for the atmosphere. It's mainly a calm environment, unlike most places in August, and if you have 30 minutes to kill between shows you can have a relaxed drink in the square, check out one of the impressive art exhibits or grab a coffee and a cake in the café.
However, the café doesn't keep late hours due to it being the performance venue for The Litvinenko Project (***). 2 Magpie Theatre’s production sees two performers, Tom Barnes and Matt Wilks, re-enact Russian asylum seeker Alexander Litvinenko’s last day before being poisoned: breakfast with the family is had and meetings are attended, all with Litvinenko drinking green tea—a favourite of his and the believed surrogate of poison from his still unknown killer.
The production does a good job creating an intriguing environment. Barnes and Wilks greet audience members, take them to tables and serve pots of tea while discussing the case. It's a quiet, mostly reflective performance that is well executed.
However, as the case is currently still pending (we are told an investigation has just been concluded but its findings will be released later), there is irony in the fact that the production, like the case it chronicles, is in search of a conclusion. It presents ideas and solid staging, and it certainly encourages audiences to study up on a case that has been floating in the news for years and deserves a just conclusion. However, as a production it’s a few cups short of a full tea set.
Fable (***) is a charming production that wears its heart on its sleeve. In many ways it's awash in clichés—girl meets boy and discovers they’re polar opposites. She is addicted to technology and is literate in pop culture; he is a tree surgeon who loves the great outdoors and has no time for the Internet.
What could have been mind-numbingly dull is brought to joyful life, mostly down to its two game performers. Bringing a sparky energy, both cast members create two individuals who are enjoyable enough to spend an hour with. The characters work far better when they are alone and monologuing to the audience than when they are speaking together, and though the ending is as obvious as the moon on a clear night it's still a fun journey to take.
Not nearly as fun but as passionately performed is Smash It Up (***), a production that defies being placed in a category: agitprop, performance art, multimedia extravaganza, even social satire.
At its core, the production looks at the upheaval of destroying public art in order to make space for other artistic endeavours, endeavours meant for a higher class of clientele. Moments are also performed that illustrate how sometimes art can bring about violent reactions within communities.
What the production lacks in coherence or a through-line is more than made up in energy and righteous anger. There are excellent ideas peppered throughout, and there are plenty of moments to be enjoyed and admired. However, its scattered approach makes it a hodgepodge that desperately throws everything at the audience. Perhaps more contemplation and less bombast would have made more of an impression, because while the passion and drive of the production is admirable it's all but impossible to remember more than fleeting moments. However, what does stick manages to ring long after the curtain falls.
All three productions perform at Summerhall until August 30, 2015.
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