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*** (3 Stars)

“Wonderfully expressive”

The Fringe programme lists the Yehyo Dance Company (UK/China/ Taiwan) as the group performing Dragon: I’ve tried but failed to find any more information about them, which is a pity, as I’d like to know more.

Six performers, five female, one male, are joined on stage by an extraordinary device.  From a large white box on castors protrudes a construction which is multi-jointed and very flexible – as if an elephant’s trunk had been made from a variety of sections of metallic tubes, culminating in a thin nozzle-like structure which looks as though it has an eye or some other sort of aperture at its upper end.  At first this box stands at the side of the performing area, but later it is moved into and becomes a part of the action in continually changing and inventive ways.  The ‘trunk’ moves and flexes as if it’s a living Creature, silently and gracefully moving through the air that surrounds it.

The six performers are exceptionally talented dancers, acrobats and gymnasts.  Their hands and feet are extraordinarily flexible and expressive, their movements a mixture of contemporary dance, tai chi, acrobatics and freestyle gymnastics.  They dance singly, in pairs, in groups, and all together – with an impressive and at times frightening synchronicity.  Their movements are fluid, graceful, and strong, at times resembling water, growing plants or moving animals: at others they become almost robotic, mechanical, angular.  They move in three dimensions – not simply across the floor, but down on to the floor and up into the air, almost but not quite flying.

They move into and out of the light and through the smoke that billows from the wings.  Behind them is a shifting kaleidoscope of images; the sounds they move to have equally near-infinite variety.  They are both extremely technically accomplished and wonderfully expressive.   Their costumes are a wonderful assemblage of black, white and silver fabrics: their faces sparkle with glittering makeup.  The whole effect is most impressive, and the final scene where a pyramid of performers stretched up from the floor to make face-to-face contact with The Creature.

All this said, they were also afflicted with technical problems.  At times the box-creature didn’t want to play and had to have attention from a black-clad stagehand, resulting in some lengthy pauses.  The backdrop of black curtains was not stretched tight, so the projected images got lost in the folds of the fabric.  Most frustratingly, when a colourful series of pictures accompanied a narrative in [I think] Chinese, it was almost impossible to read the English subtitles which would have made the whole show make more sense. 

These things apart, it was an excellent show which the audience greatly appreciated. 

Dragon, The Fringe, C Arts Aurora, Venue 6, Run Ended, For more information go to: Dragon | Edinburgh Festival Fringe

**** (4 stars)

“Absolutely First Class!”

A standing ovation greeted the cast at the end of this eagerly anticipated production from Internationaal Theater Amsterdam.  I really wanted to be as enthusiastic but simply couldn’t.

Make no mistake, the acting was absolutely first-class: huge credit to Marieke Heebink, Hans Kesting, Minne Koole, Jesse Mensah, Eefje Paddenburg, Felix Schellekens, Krisjan Schellingerhout and Eelco Smits for creating memorable characters and believable situations, even ones taking place in another reality [possibly under the influence of medication and/or other substances].

Angels in America centres on four characters during the Reagan presidency.  

Long before The Book of Mormon, two Mormons – Joe and Harper – take centre stage.  Joe is a lawyer in New York city who’s trying to rise up the ranks: he’s taken under big-shot lawyer Roy Cohn’s wing, and is being urged to move to Washington in order to further his career.  He’s reluctant to do so because of his wife, Harper, with whom he exchanges ‘buddy kisses’.  She’s obviously not happy, both in herself and in their relationship, and is dead set against the move.  Joe keeps going out ‘for long walks in the park’ – one of the first intimations that he’s possibly not being the good heterosexual happily married Mormon boy he appears to be…

Prior and Louis are lovers.  Prior is an ex-drag queen: Lous is a Jewish boy who has an enormous chip on his shoulder about just about everything.  Prior has been diagnosed with AIDS and is convinced he is going to die.  Louis, rather than supporting him, is angry with him – even blames him – and simply cannot cope with the imminent prospect of a messily sick and dying partner.  Prior’s bestie Belize, another ex-drag queen who now works in one of the big hospitals, is a constant source of support for Prior and antagonism towards Louis.

We meet Roy Cohn at his doctor’s – he’s been sick for a while but is telling everyone it’s liver cancer.  His doctor is very blunt – it’s not.  Cohn is a high-ranking lawyer whose main preoccupation, it becomes very clear, is not, as one might expect, the pursuit of justice: rather it’s the pursuit of power by any and every means available.  He’s very comfortable with the fact that it was through his behind-the-scenes actions that Ethel Rosenberg was sent to the electric chair as a communist and a traitor despite strong evidence to the contrary. 

Cohn’s energies are now concentrated on maintaining his hold on power while concealing his illness – Americans have no use for the sick.  He finagles his way onto the experimental ward treating AIDS patients, sets up his own supply of the experimental drug AZT, and is brought into contact with Belize, who works there.  Louis and Joe meet each other and embark on a physical relationship: Prior and Harper meet in some other reality, sharing a relationship of the mind.  Ethel Rosenberg starts appearing in Cohn’s life, watching with interest the progress of an inquiry into his past dealings which may well result in his debarring as a lawyer.  A shining angel appears – is it from heaven, or from hell?  Does it come to accompany Prior to paradise, or to add to the physical and mental torments he’s already suffering?

What emerges from this drama is a picture of an America which bears little or no relation to the ‘American dream’ but has many striking parallels with today’s USA.  Greed, substance misuse, the pursuit of power, the discarding or overlooking of the poor and weak, the worship of ‘success’, whatever that is… the list is endless and deeply depressing.  It also shines a harsh light on the struggles of gay people to access proper medical care, and the lengths to which ordinary human beings would go to try to help.

It’s a very moving piece, especially for people who remember those times and the huge numbers of friends who died after immense suffering and often neglect.  The men are very believable: I wish the women had received equal treatment. – but mostly they The female rabbi who opens the show, Joe’s mother, even Esther Rosenberg, are pretty two-dimensional.  The doctor, while played by a woman, could equally well have been played by a man.  Even Harper, who is a central figure, is portrayed as mentally unstable and unable to stand on her own two feet – though it becomes increasingly clear that this stems from her addiction to Valium.  The central male characters are much more real, whole and rounded figures, even if none of them are particularly loveable.

The acting, as I’ve said, is superb, but the characters [with the exception of Prior’s bestie, Belize, who is a sweetie] failed fully to engage me.  Part of the problem is, I’m sure, that the actors were speaking Dutch.  Angels in America, even in this shortened version, is a very wordy play, full of important ideas, and the supertitles were essential to enable a grasp of them.  Alas, this meant that at least half my attention was on them rather than on the stage, so I missed some of the action and couldn’t focus fully on the emotions swirling around.  Had the dialogue been in English, I would have been able to engage more deeply… 

Even so, it was a superb performance by all concerned, rightly saluted with a standing ovation.

Angels in America, Edinburgh International Festival, King’s Theatre, Run Ended for more information go to: Angels in America | Edinburgh International Festival

***** (5 stars)

“Gorgeous!”

I’ll be honest: I asked for a ticket for this concert because I’m a great fan of Sheku Kanneh-Mason and really enjoy his visits to the International Festival.  Add to this the inducement of hearing a Schubert quintet [the one in C, D.956] and what’s not to like?  Yes, there was also a Bartók piano quintet [the one in C, Sz.23] on the programme, and I’m less keen on his music – but it’s good to be challenged aurally, yes?

Oh gosh I’m so glad I got a ticket for this recital – it was a joy from the first note to the very last.  I was familiar with the Schubert but didn’t know the Bartók at all.  I’m so very glad the Kleio Quartet approached Nicola Benedetti with the idea of putting these two works together – both are in C major, but sound quite different.  There’s less than a century between them [1828 and 1904]: the Schubert is one of his last works, the Bartók his first piano quintet, written in his early 20s.  What links them both is the passion that surges through both of them – which today’s performers gave us in full measure.

A string quartet consists of two violins, a viola and a cello – so what’s the fifth instrument here?  In this case, Yume Fujise, Katherine Yoon, Jaren Ziegler and Gerard Flotats were joined by Sheku Kanneh-Mason the engaging and charismatic young cellist who won BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016.  I was interested to see quite how this instrumental lineup would work – and fascinated by the way Schubert saw the additional cello as a soloist who could hold forth on his own, engage in dialogue with other individual instruments, blend seamlessly into the ensemble, and at times provide a wonderful rhythmical pizzicato backing to the quartet.

The quartet’s sound in the Schubert was warm, lush and Viennese – like a slice of Sachertorte covered in whipped cream.  Sheku’s cello got to sing, but never overpowered the Kleio quartet, who work seamlessly and delightfully together – small wonder they won the first prize and commission prize at the 2023 Carl Neilsen chamber music competition!  I know this Schubert piece well, and frequently listen to it at home – but it’s a totally different experience hearing it live, in the company of a Queens Hall full of intently listening music lovers.  Each individual line can be heard more clearly, and the emotions connect audience and musicians so much more deeply as we listen to a fascinating five-way conversation in which each individual gets a chance to shine, is listened to intently, and gives generous support to the others when it’s their turn in the spotlight.

There’s gorgeous tone, sensitive phrasing, wonderful dynamic contrast, impressively nuanced dynamics and some glorious pizzicato, especially in the first movement and moving into the second.  There’s strong emotion, even storms, and always the return to elegant, graceful melody.  A vibrantly exciting third movement in which a lively, galloping melody bounces between the players leads into a muted autumnal lament which is itself followed by such a lively dance in triple time that a very large portion of the audience, myself included, couldn’t help but burst into enthusiastic applause at the end of the movement. 

And that wasn’t the end of things – the fourth movement was equally full of delights, with a dance that seemed almost military in its precision alternating with a gleamingly golden waltz.  The pace picked up, the music became lighter and jollier, and faster and faster until a final flourish had the audience erupting with delight, their applause so loud and prolonged it was clear they didn’t want the five musicians ever to leave the stage.

In the second half the quartet were joined by pianist Makoto Ozone.  His jazz career, which spans over forty years, has earned him a Grammy nomination and seen him work with many prominent jazz musicians.  In more recent years he’s started playing classical concertos by Mozart, Bernstein and Prokofiev.

In her introduction to the second half of the programme, first violinist Yume Fujise commented that as classically trained musicians, she and her colleagues were always seeking perfection.   Working with Makoto reminded them that perfection should not be the first aim – conveying the emotions in the music should be paramount.  That was clearly the case in this performance of Bartók’s first piano quintet.

The quartet’s tone was still warm, but steelier than in the Schubert – maybe dark hot chocolate infused with chilli this time, and hold the cream…

The music was lush and romantic, but also spiky; infused with both fury and passion.  It’s another conversation, but with a different sort of dynamic – the strings sing, and the piano is more percussive: though it can also blend in and be an integral, rather than a separate, part of the conversation.  My notes say fiery and romantic at the same time, stormy, brooding, yearning, galloping, becoming menacing, with spiky harmonics: and this is just the first movement!

The second movement had some fascinating rhythmic oddities among a lot of lively dancing in triple time – there was almost a competition between piano and strings, as if they were trying to play nicely together but simply couldn’t quite manage it.  The third movement had some wonderfully sonorous chords with an almost subterranean, underwater piano sound.  A warm bath of sound, a singing romantic outpouring together, a piano solo floating like fireflies in the darkness while the strings surge underneath moving into some extremely lively folk dances which whirled into a riotous party – as the movement title says poco a poco più vivace – little by little more lively.  The pace got faster and faster, with a stunning finale to which the only possible reaction was a storm of applause even louder than that which greeted the end of the first piece.

What a treat!  What a joy!  Haste ye back, lovely musicians!

Kleio Quartet and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Edinburgh International Festival, Queens Hall, Run Ended for more information go to: Kleio Quartet, Makoto Ozone & Sheku Kanneh-Mason | Edinburgh International Festival

*** (3 stars)

“Very Lively”

I guess it would help if I regularly watched Big Brother – but I don’t.  This aside, Big Spirit Theatre Company present a very lively take on the familiar show, populating it with some of the Bard’s best known characters.

We meet the contestants who are each given a short soundbite to introduce themselves.  Hamlet is an unmitigated, self-centred bore, considering it a done deal that he’s going to win.  Romeo looks alarmingly like Leo de Caprio, sunglasses and all: he seems a little shy and reserved, not very sure of himself.  The three witches are very outgoing, very excited about their rapidly expanding business, and looking forward to meeting the other occupants of the House.  Macbeth’s red-covered hands might give us pause – and he certainly seems very unsettled, giving us a lengthy list of things of which he’s scared…. Ophelia is quiet and unassuming, pretty certain that she’s not involved with anyone outside the House: Juliet by contrast is loud, a bit gobby, and not over-bright.  The Housemates are completed by the intriguing Puck, aka Robin Goodfellow – yes, he’s a fairy [but mercifully no nudge nudge wink wink fairy jokes, just an acknowledgement that there is life outside magic and he has quite a lot of it].

The show follows what I assume is the usual format – interactions between pairs of housemates, summonses to the Diary room, sessions in The Chair [cleverly formed from all the other Housemates] and weekly evictions.  We get occasional glimpses of ‘behind the scenes’ and the increasingly desperate link person who is the one who talks to Housemates and announces evictions.  We are introduced to last year’s winner – Cleopatra – who talks enthusiastically about the opportunities that have come her way since her success in the House.  And we watch the relationships developing between the cast members.

It’s amusing, entertaining, and enthusiastically well done by a cast of [mostly] pretty young young people.  I don’t want to spoil the fun by revealing the ultimate winner: suffice it to say that things don’t turn out as one might expect from watching the Bard’s plays, and the unexpectedly popular public choice winner doesn’t get what they expect, but I think what they richly deserve. 

As a coda, we get to find out how all the other contestants have fared since they left the house – I think it’s fair to say that all’s well that ends well…

Shakespeare’s Big Brother, The Fringe, Paradise in Augustine’s, Venue 152 run ends 22^nd August for more information go to: Shakespeare’s Big Brother | Edinburgh Festival Fringe