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La Divina Commedia
Assembly Big Top
'The Solden Pavilion
-•Garage
•The Complete lost Works
1 of Samuel Beekett,
Assembly Rooms
Glided Balloon Teviot
Outlying Islands/Iron
Traverse
Mure and more, Edinburgh's
annual explosion of drama is having to compete with major London openings. The capitals are now fighting tooth and nail for theatre- loving tourists. However, the
ballsy spirit of Scotland's
Fringe Fest proves both fierce and fun. Take La Divina Commedia, performed in a circus tent by Russia's physical troupe Derevo. This is a wordless dance of death in a murky primitive/modern hell.
On one level, it is a
deliberately crowd-pleasing spectacular featuring gothic demons, a clowning angel, and snowstorms of twirling, glittery paper.
Yet Derevo are also bold
and dark. They look like prison camp ghosts with their shaven heads, and their dreamlike visions are haunting. A despairing girl in a night-dress is suspended in mid-fall, hanging by her toes from a high ledge above you. A mocking devil - squatting in another tower -
. frenetically rubs himself with
straw. Elsewhere, a tortured naked soul is pushed into the ring like a sacrificial cow, |
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with a clanging bell tied to
his tackle. He bucks in agonies which look suspiciously like erotic ecstasies. This could be dismissed as a calculated "shocker" - Derevo's Christian symbolism can be heavy-handed and the last 10 minutes are a shambles. Nonetheless, this ensemble's intensity and ragged beauty - paired with a pulsing, wailing soundtrack - grip like a vice. Over at the pioneeringly global Garage, The Golden Pavilion is experimental fare from Japan's Company East (whose Medea thrilled some critics last year). This time they dramatise Yukio Mishima's tale of an apprentice priest whose youth is marred by a stutter. |
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KateBassett
'La Divina Commedia':
Assembly Big Top (0131226 2428); 'The Golden Pavilion': Garage (01312219009); 'The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Beckett...': Assembly Rooms (01312226 2428); 'Latin!': Gilded Balloon Teviot (0131226 2151), all to 26 August. 'Outlying Islands'and 'Iron': Traverse (0131228 1404), both to 24 August |
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