Arts:Blog

Festival Review: Wind Resistance ****

Michael Cox reviews a production filled with 'beautiful harmony'.

Wind Resistance is all but impossible to pigeonhole: a theatrical poem that mixes music, stories and design to celebrate landscape. Karine Polwart serves as writer, musical director and performer, and her two-hour production makes for a wonderfully introspective piece on life and the environment.

This isn't a piece that is ‘about’ any one thing. Polwart tells stories about people in her life and looks at how the land she lives on connects to her, her family and friends and animals, particularly giving focus to birds.

There isn't one aspect of this that stands out: everything here works in beautiful harmony to create a sensory experience that is as much of a love letter to the environment of Scotland as it is a potent statement on the important sense of community Polwart enjoys: to people, plants, creatures, history and to Scotland.

Wind Resistance is part of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival and performs at the Royal Lyceum’s rehearsal space until August 21. Check website or programme for further details.