Category: Mary Woodward at the Festivals

**** (4 stars)

“Very entertaining evening”

What a fascinating way to end this day’s reviewing! 

Who knew that the afterlife is a queer thing in which we do not merely remember but relive disjointed fragments of our life on earth?  Duncan Macrae, presented on the Storytelling Centre’s stage by Michael Daviot, did just that, giving us a wonderfully mixed tapestry of scenes and anecdotes from Macrae’s public and private lives.

There’s a rhinoceros on stage – or at least, a man with a rhino horn… Ionescu’s Rhinocéros was written in 1959, and its first West End production starred Laurence Olivier and Duncan, who gives us a personal account of the chaotic directing style of Orson Welles and Olivier’s intervention to save the cast from disastrous and total confusion.

Born in 1905 in Glasgow, his strictly Presbyterian family nonetheless countenanced annual trips to the pantomime, which sparked Duncan’s passion for theatre.  He studied engineering at university  but wanted to be an actor – but to do this professionally would have meant having to go to London, as there wasn’t a professional theatre in Scotland.  He decided to train as a primary school teacher, and met voice coach Ann Mcallister, who had a profound influence on him. 

He enjoyed teaching for some years – it must have been fascinating to be in his classes, as he would interrupt lessons to do unconventional things that he found interesting…. At the same time he was making a name for himself as a great comic actor in amateur theatre in Scotland.  In 1947 he gave up teaching and turned professional.

Speaking to us from the afterlife meant we have a whirlwind, disjointed rollercoaster ride through the incredibly varied roles Duncan performed before his untimely death in 1967 from an undiagnosed and slow-growing brain tumour.  Comedy, tragedy, pantomime; stage, cinema, television; Shakespeare, JB Priestly, Joe Orton; his career included them all and more. 

Macrae began with a reputation for comic acting, but he was obviously a straight actor of considerable stature too, perennially dogged by an early TV performance of a juvenile party piece,  the wee cock sparra, which became an albatross round his neck.  We were given so many extracts from such a wide variety of plays that it’s hard to pick a favourite – but I think mine has to be from playwright James Bridie’s Gog and Magog.  Harry Magog’s lengthy speech and very slow death scene, a wonderfully absurd rendition of Shakespeare reworked by William McGonagall, moved us all to delighted, groan-filled laughter.

This very entertaining evening was both an extraordinarily display of talent on the part of Michael Daviot and a fitting tribute to a great Scottish actor who contributed hugely to the development of a distinctly Scottish theatre tradition.  Greatly appreciated by everyone in the theatre, it was a lovely way to end my day.

A Noble Clown, Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30) for more information go to

https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/a-noble-clown

***** (5 stars)

“A searingly painful show”

This show has left me speechless, struggling to find words to express the horrors I’ve just witnessed, the bleak, loveless and hopeless society George Orwell described in his novel – and which we can see in so many parts of the world today.

The novel was published in 1949. I read it in my teens, and well remember the quiver of apprehension as 1984 came nearer: would something apolcalyptic, cataclysmic, happen when we passed 31 December 1983?

As it happens, my life did change most surprisingly in 1984 – but I’m glad to say it didn’t end up grim and joyless. I’ve had many uncomfortable and unpleasant experiences on the way, but I can confidently say I’m really happy being Me, Here, Now.

This is not the case for 6079 Smith W.  Winston Smith works in the Ministry of Truth, where he rewrites historical records to reflect the current truth  promulgated by The Party under their beloved leader Big Brother.  This truth changes from day to day, hour to hour, and even minute to minute, and any evidence to the contrary is destroyed.

Winston secretly rebels against this cult of personality and gradual brain-washing into conformity with the latest political slogans.  But he knows that, constantly, incessantly, Big Brother Is Watching through the two-way screens installed everywhere, through hidden microphones, and through the constant surveillance of neighbours and co-workers.  Even children are to be feared.  They are being brought up to look forward gleefully to witnessing the public hangings of traitors to the state which take place with sickening regularity, and to be spies – prepared even to report their parents to the Thought Police if they believe there is evidence against them.

All aspects of life are strictly controlled.  A constant stream of announcements and commands order everyone’s day – news, reminders, activities: even the time and duration of workers’ lunch breaks are regulated with a siren.  The daily morning exercise sessions are monitored – the leader of the exercise can see and name, shame and correct you.  A constant stream of slogans is broadcast – War is Peace: Freedom is Slavery: Ignorance is Strength.  And everything stops for Two Minutes of Hate in which all Patriots must join…

And so the horrors go on – brilliantly portrayed by Noel and Antonia of Box Tale Soup, who are joined this year by Mark.  Mark pays Winston Smith, and Noel and Antonia are everyone else, swiftly switching from one character to another while also manipulating the set. 

The set is a joy to see.  It’s in essence very simple, but lends itself to a multiplicity of arrangements and requires a mesmerisingly complex choreography which must have entailed hours of rehearsal to facilitate the show’s constant, seamless and seemingly effortless transformations.  As ever, it’s made from recycled materials, and the design is ingenious.  One of my favourite small touches, that comes out of one of their signature on-stage trunks, is the simple but incredibly effective lampshade that denotes one particularly room.  The transformation of the set to the stark Room 101 is utterly simple and horrifyingly brilliant.

The words are all Orwell’s – so chilling, and how terrifyingly prescient.  Throughout the show I kept thinking of current world leaders who want to control, to dominate, to crush all thoughts of resistance, to prevent anyone from even thinking that there is an alternative way of living, and who cheerfully rewrite history to fit their idea of how things are, were, and should be.  Seventy-six years on from the publication of the novel, Orwell’s vision seems on the verge of coming true unless humanity keeps finding ways to resist.

1984 is a searingly painful show that simply mustn’t be missed.  Today’s show was just about sold out.   Go get your tickets NOW!!!1984, Above at Pleasance courtyard (Venue 33) for more Information go to: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/1984

***** (5 stars)

“Mesmerizing”

Oh my goodness.  I’m speechless…

And yet I have somehow to find words to describe the experience of the last hour, watching Mark Hannah’s mesmerizing performance.

I have to confess that I booked the show some time ago, and sat in the Netherbow theatre wondering what I was going to see, as I couldn’t remember anything about it.  So when Mark strolled on stage, holding his half-empty beer glass, and gave us a poem in clear classical English beginning Stony spires and scenery speak to us before launching into a monologue in broad Edinburgh accent which crackled with energy and suppressed anger, I was, shall we say, a tad confused.

By the end of the show I was in awe – I’d attended a masterclass in a very different style of storytelling from the one I’d seen an hour before, and oh heavens it was a shattering experience.  I’m very glad it was the final show of my day – anything else would have been a terrible anticlimax.

Mark pours out a constant stream of words – a positive maelstrom of emotions tumbling and surging, desperate to express the churning, incessant stream of his characters’ innermost thoughts and feelings.  What slowly emerges from this is a very clear picture of three totally different individuals.  Each has their own very distinctive voice, the richness of their language and their choice of words and expressions unique and very revealing.

Their lives are completely separate.  Allan is a delivery driver in Edinburgh, desperate to get to his young daughter’s concert in St Giles’ cathedral; Liam, a student meteorologist, has fallen in love with Edinburgh resident Chloe, whom he met on an impulse-bought holiday on a Greek island; Maureen, whose grip on the present is not very strong, just wants to get out of the place her son’s put her in and go back to her home in Leith.  Each is wrapped in their own story, but their lives cross fleetingly in the course of one day in ‘the Athens of the North’.

For those of us who live locally, there’s an added depth of richness in recognising, in knowing well, the streets, junctions, buildings and areas Allan, Liam and Maureen pass through.  The city, its history, its buildings, and its effect on visitors, are an integral part of the narrative.  Allan knows it well as he struggles to get his van to where it needs to be.  Liam sees it for the first time, but knows he will have to come back.  Maureen sees it as it is now, but also as it was fifty years ago – and possibly further back in time, too.

Mark Hannah’s writing is brilliant – rich, intense, multi-layered and immensely satisfying.  His acutely observed, utterly believable characters are brought to life through their individual use of words and phrases, while his acting uses an extraordinary, constant outpouring of energy to present them to us on stage.  We are caught up in their stories: it’s impossible not to be engaged with and moved by Allan, Liam and Maureen’s lives.  We are brought full circle as we hear once again the ode to Edinburgh, Edina, the Athens of the North.

Mark’s performance on stage is simply incredible – it’s exhausting watching him; heaven only knows how he drained he feels at the final curtain.  He’s greeted with a positive storm of applause, richly deserved. 

This is a show you must not miss!

Athens of the north, Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30) for more information go to: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/athens-of-the-north

**** (4 stars)

“What a show!”

Oh my goodness. 

Janis Mackay, author and storyteller, joins Nada Shawa, a Palestinian poet, dancer, and wheelchair user from Gaza to present an unforgettable hour of poetry, dance and storytelling.

As we enter the theatre, the two women are dancing joyfully to lively folk songs.  The music changes to the celestial chorus in paradisum from Fauré’s Requiem: their movements become slow, gentle and meditative.

Nada’s poems are hard to hear.  Quiet laments for her homeland and the atrocities being committed there, all the more poignant because understated, underline the incomprehensibility of the senseless slaughter.  Her graceful and sensitive movements and her beautifully expressive hands weave patterns of emotion that strike to our very core.  She can say blatantly in front of the world you want to eliminate me – yet refrain from calling out for vengeance or retaliation.  How can she be so free from hatred?  How can such atrocities be allowed to continue?

Janis is a very talented storyteller: her contribution is a story she was gifted by a friend of hers, the Palestinian storyteller Sally Shalabi.  It’s a variation on one that can be found in the Arabian Nights collection, and like so many of the tales therein, contains stories within stories. 

A poor fisherman is failing to catch anything at all, and his wife and son Omar are going hungry.  Perhaps, suggests his wife, Omar should go to the shore with his father and throw out the net: he might bring luck.  Omar goes with his father, they both cast out the net, and almost instantly they catch and bring to shore an enormous fish, more beautiful and much bigger than any the fisherman has ever seen.  He will have to go and fetch a cart, it’s far too big for them to carry home by themselves.

Omar is left to watch over the fish, which is still quivering and gently panting for breath.  The boy hears a small voice calling ‘help!’ – where can it be coming from?  There’s no-one nearby.  He realises it’s the fish, who pleads to be put back in the sea, where her children are waiting for her.  He’s torn between his desire to help and his fear of his father’s reaction to the loss of the fish – but chooses to help the fish and brave his father’s anger.

Omar’s father is indeed furious, and casts his son out to wander the countryside, wondering where to go and what to do.  Omar comes across another young boy, in floods of tears because his merchant father has also cast him out for making too many mistakes in his father’s business.  Omar is overjoyed: he has found a friend – no, he’s found a brother in Noah, and the two boys set off together to see what adventures life will bring them.

The boys’ many adventures hold us enthralled.  Janis has a wonderful gift for describing the action and its surroundings with face, body, hands and voice, till it feels as though we are there, alongside the two boys and the people they meet.  Nada’s expressive dancing portrays the many emotions of the situations Omar and Noah encounter: together with Janis she dances to celebrate the satisfying conclusion to the story.

The show ends with the two women dancing separately and together to a moving rendition of Auld lang syne.  The friendship between the two is clear to see.  They reach for each other, hold and release each others’ hands.  At one point Janis does an arabesque on Nada’s chair, and the two wheel across the stage together – one person with two bodies.  

Friendships are woven across boundaries in the sharing of stories, dances and poetry.  We can mend broken nets and create something new and hopeful – if we are willing to try.

Mending Nets, Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30) for more information go to: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/mending-nets