Torn. A beautiful piece of theatre from a new(ish) company called Faux Theatre.
(I'm fascinated by their name. Faux Theatre. I can't decide if I think it's very wry and witty or uncomfortably self-deprecating. I don't suppose they care too much either way.)
This is the highest possible compliment I can pay to someone outside of August but this felt like a fringe show in the best possible way. Because it was imaginative and inventive and you don't see these things on show on stage very often in Edinburgh outwith August. Or maybe you do and I just don't find them.
It's hard to say much without ruining it for you. (And it's worth the trip to Glasgow or Kirkcaldy to catch it.) But be assured the set is gorgeous, replete with lovely funny heartfelt detail. The sound, performed by the excellent Barney Strachan, is wondrous. Our lady actor performer enchantress, Francisca Morton, is excellent. She has that rare ability to convey a thing in a fractional movement of a facial muscle that I admire so much. Great costume. Excellent understated but attention to detailed lights. This is a beautifully designed production.
The story is perfectly engineered to clutch at my heart. (Assuming I read it right!) Our lady is single, lives with her cat, is looking for love. And conveys in this 45 or 50 minute piece all the wild flight of fancy optimism and the sh*t rubbishy hopeless don't want to leave the house misery of this state. To the point where you want to run up and (I wanted to run up and) hug her and say - in that wonderful quote from I think it's Sarah Kane's 4:48 Psychosis and is simultaneously a blessing and a curse: - "But you have friends. You have a lot of friends. What do you offer your friends to make them so supportive?"
I suppose most of theatre is trying to convey a state of mind. To invite empathy and understanding. To urge us to look at different people's different experiences of the world and become more kind.
This play did an exquisite job of conveying very accurately my personal experience of living on this large earth (though I never had a cat). If that is faux theatre, then I'm in.
(I'm fascinated by their name. Faux Theatre. I can't decide if I think it's very wry and witty or uncomfortably self-deprecating. I don't suppose they care too much either way.)
This is the highest possible compliment I can pay to someone outside of August but this felt like a fringe show in the best possible way. Because it was imaginative and inventive and you don't see these things on show on stage very often in Edinburgh outwith August. Or maybe you do and I just don't find them.
It's hard to say much without ruining it for you. (And it's worth the trip to Glasgow or Kirkcaldy to catch it.) But be assured the set is gorgeous, replete with lovely funny heartfelt detail. The sound, performed by the excellent Barney Strachan, is wondrous. Our lady actor performer enchantress, Francisca Morton, is excellent. She has that rare ability to convey a thing in a fractional movement of a facial muscle that I admire so much. Great costume. Excellent understated but attention to detailed lights. This is a beautifully designed production.
The story is perfectly engineered to clutch at my heart. (Assuming I read it right!) Our lady is single, lives with her cat, is looking for love. And conveys in this 45 or 50 minute piece all the wild flight of fancy optimism and the sh*t rubbishy hopeless don't want to leave the house misery of this state. To the point where you want to run up and (I wanted to run up and) hug her and say - in that wonderful quote from I think it's Sarah Kane's 4:48 Psychosis and is simultaneously a blessing and a curse: - "But you have friends. You have a lot of friends. What do you offer your friends to make them so supportive?"
I suppose most of theatre is trying to convey a state of mind. To invite empathy and understanding. To urge us to look at different people's different experiences of the world and become more kind.
This play did an exquisite job of conveying very accurately my personal experience of living on this large earth (though I never had a cat). If that is faux theatre, then I'm in.
posted by Claire at 9:39 am
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