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A Little Fantasy -
World Premiere tour
Devised by The company
Director - Paul Hunter
Design - Naomi Wilkinson
Music - Iain Johnstone
Choreographer - Frank McConnell
Artistic Adviser - John Wright
Dialect Coach - Gill MacCulloch
Company - Told by an Idiot email
Cast - here
Venue - Traverse Theatre
Edinburgh 10 Cambridge Street BO 0131 228 1404
Dates - 20 - 23 November at 8pm also workshop
Further Tour Dates and Times - to follow
Seen to review at Traverse Theatre Edinburgh
Run Time - 1 hours 30 mins without an interval
Reviewer - Ksenija Horvat
A chance to become children again.
While a single spotlight focuses on a young legless man reading a book
in the top right corner of a curious wooden staircase - that stands as
a metaphor for a hierarchy, a power-struggle, the life itself - one must
acknowledge that A Little Fantasy will not be an ordinary show.
Rightly so, because, after all, it has been devised by Told by an Idiot,
a company that can hardly be seen as an ordinary theatre company.
Ever since John Wright, a prominent proponent of mask theatre, joined
forces with his former students from Middlesex Polytechnic, Hayley Carmichael
and Paul Hunter, to produce On the Verge of Exploding (Edinburgh
Festival, 1993) Told by an Idiot has become known as one of the most challenging
devised physical theatre companies in the United Kingdom.
A Little Fantasy, their newest production, is no exception to the
well-established rule. Visually stunning in its simplicity (Naomi Wilkinsons
set design is probably the best to be seen in Traverse's main theatre
in recent times), and backed by spot-on use of lighting and sound (including
the fine original score by Iain Johnstone), it is a delightful theatrical
spread to titillate all of your senses.
Inspired by Flannery O'Connor's stories of dysfunctional families, the
power struggles, the egos and the ties, her fertile imagination lets five
exceptional actors explore. They bring the whole range of human emotions
and bonds in their purest and most poignant forms. All through movement,
rhythm, and juxtaposition of different performative styles, including
subtle allusions to early gangster movies (Jimmy Cagney) and B/W romances
(Bette Davis's Now, Voyager from 1942).
Hayley Carmichael shines as mysterious Carol, Lisa Hammond
is superb as her sidekick Lana Wilson, Ged Simmons is utterly disarming
as a charming cad Enoch Baxter, while Jane Guernier
and Rachel Donovan give fine performances as Enoch's long-suffering
wife Eloise and mistress Bonny respectively.
True, half way through the production you will be wondering what on earth
does all this mean. And yes, you will leave the theatre feeling slightly
bemused at the lack of a definitive story line but not all things in life
make sense. One does not necessarily need to understand everything that
is thrown ones way. This production will make you giggle, it will make
you dip deeply into your own emotions and recognise situations from your
own life. Engaging on different levels, you leave the theatre feeling
as if an invisible burden has been lifted off your shoulders.
Elizabeth Taylor once said, "Everybody should have a chance at a
breathtaking piece of folly at least once in his life". Prehaps Told
by an Idiot are trying to tell us is that it is all right to allow ourselves
that chance, and become children once again. Whatever their aspirations,
one thing is certain. A Little Fantasy utterly entertains.
© Ksenija Horvat 20 November 2002. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
Cast:
Carol - Hayley Carmichael
Lucy May, Child 1 and Bonny Warren - Rachel Donovan
Mrs Hopewell, Child 2 and Eloise Baxter - Jane Guernier
Lana Wilson - Lisa Hammond,
Jeff Hopewell, Gonga and Enoch Baxter - Ged Simmons
Told
By An Idiot's Playwriting Workshop at Traverse
Exploding The Feeling - Public Playwriting Workshop with company members
from Told By An Idiot. To book contact Neil on 0131 228 3223 (£6/£4)
23 Nov 11am to 4pm
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