This is our fourth year of attending the festival. Some pieces burned brighter, some exploded.
Demons of PTSD
Nobody’s Home by Theatre Temoin & Grafted Code Theatre (U.K., U.S.)
We hear so much about PTSD – could it really be as bad as painted? Granted, there must be degrees, but this 50-minute piece featuring two performers as returned-vet husband and at-home, pregnant, wife, delivers intensity of feeling with a gut punch. Click here for Amy Munice's review on Picture This Post.
Eric Davis, The Red Bastard
The Red Bastard: Lie with Me (New York)
"Body and Motion Theater" defines the buffoon, "a character living at the fringe of society, daring to say what others won’t. Many times the one to tell us a painful truth while the rest prefer to live in a lie."
Oh lord, The Red Bastard did just that. He leads the audience down his seductive path until we all admit we are liars. After all, who really has read all the verbiage in the multiple "terms and conditions" which we agree to on a computer program or website? As he licks his fingers in tasty enjoyment of our admissions, we can’t wait to see him hoist another of us on his petard.
Eric Davis's performances are sold out year after year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. No wonder, we laughed and laughed, even as he revealed our willingness to lie, lie, lie.
In the second half of the performance, Davis sheds his red garb and we lose the enchantment of theater to not-so-funny improv with several audience members. Next time, just more buffooning, please.
Drunken Half-Angel featuring Michael Montenegro of Chicago
Short vignettes feature a local genius of physical theater, Michael Montenegro. I loved the masks and puppetry, but found it disjointed. Here's Nate Hall's review from Picture This Post.
The Other by Gael Le Cornec (Brazil/France)
Hers is a story of immigration, separation, loss and insanity. The narrative is woven by shadow puppets, a doll that represents an abandoned child used as a puppet , and narration by Le Cornec. The story is powerful. If we were not reading about this every day, the performance might have more impact. For me, it was difficult to become involved when stories of children ripped from their parents are in our headlines every day. I'm jaded to this tragedy.
Shadow puppets are a difficult medium, requiring precise coordination between the lighting designer, the puppeteer and the large or small puppets. In this instance, the puppets seemed to be designed to appear childish and unfinished--like they might have been torn out of paper in a detention camp. The puppets became the medium to tell about beating and probably rapes suffered at the hands of the guards. further distancing reality. Unfortunately, the shadow puppet sequences were laced with technical problems, which distracted everyone. A talented performer, but the execution was spoiled.
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha by Little Soldier Productions (Spain/UK)
Don Quixote runs down a windmill.
Can you squeeze the whole of Don Quixote into an hour performance? Well, these three talented performers, accompanied by a Spanish guitarist (For no apparent reason, except that she plays a good classical guitar.) attempt to capture the essence of the masterpiece in silly scenes, mostly on a small platform stage. They are acrobats as well as actors, and use their bodies to become horses, houses, whores, heros. But it's likely that, like me, they never read the book.
The setup is a good excuse for lots of romping fun, including an audience-involving pillow fight. Aside from some good laughs, the magic did not happen for me. But my sister-in-law has studied Don Quixote, and she loved this much abbreviated version. I couldn't even make it through the Cliff Notes of Don Quixote. Perhaps it played better in Spain or the UK where the Don is required reading.
Onward to 2019 and more physical theater.