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A Sonatina.
(Demmark) - Scottish Premiere.
Part of the 2004 Bank Of Scotland Children's International Theatre Festival
organised by Imaginate.
Idea - Bodil Alling & Zenia Hansen
Director - Bodil Alling and Ole Sørensen.
Designer - Claus Helbo.
Composer - Søren Sønberg.
Company - Gruppe 38 (Denmark) Company
Website.
Edinburgh Venue - Traverse Theatre Edinburgh. 0131 228 1404
Tour Times and Days - Here.
Seen to review on 29 May 2004 at Traverse Theatre Edinburgh.
Run Time - 40 mins.
Suggested Age - 6+ years.
Reviewer - Thelma Good.
Great way to tell an old tale..
In the second of two shows they have brought to the Children's International
Theatre Festival Gruppe 38 tell the tale of Little Red Riding Hood sparing
none of the grisly bits and with a very ferocious wolf. It's also exceedingly
funny and the beast who eats Granny and granddaughter is a potato ricer!
Nor does this very eccentrically cast story stop there. The mother is
a hen and the man who comes to the rescue is played by a woman in a hunting
hat with a feather and very enticing smile. It all starts when the woman
and her son and husband are waiting for us in the theatre. She's pacing
the floor, as she places the audience. The two blokes, the accordion playing
son, Søren Sønberg, and the lanky father, Christian
Glahn, both wonderfully droll performances, are in the cab of small
three wheeler van. On its flat platform back, which later transforms into
a minature stage, is the hen - a live one. The wife and mother played
by Bodil Alling is a commanding performance, played with a deft
touch. Alling is varied - part mother, part whacky aunt, part woman possessed
by the fearsome drives of a wolf.
The whole production is full of inventive moments, with the tension between
the one female and her pretty useless male relations entertaining young
and old alike. It's a very fine example of excellent theatre, crafted
so the world of the play is coherent despite being zany. Top notch stuff
and I'm hoping it will inspire our local companies to supply performances
that have this feel of effortless ease, of fun, of appearing to be in
freefall. In A Sonatina, if the hen decides it likes the limelight or
a child says a utensil is clean when it's not up to the son's mother's
standards, the performance is free to include and use these live and one
off occurrences. It's heady and very, very satisfying, this one.
© Thelma Good 29 May 2004, - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
More
info and reviews on the annual Bank of Scotland Children's International
Theatre Festival.
Cast and Company in Edinburgh - A Sonatina cast: Bodil Alling,
Søren Sønberg & Christian Glahn and one of three Scottish
chickens supplied by Eddie Jackson. Technicians - Sven Orno and
Jakob Kirkegaard
Note on Gruppe 38 (Denmark) - Gruppe 38 was established in 1972 in
Aarhus, the second largest city of Denmark, where they have found their
headquarters in an old auction house. Apart from regular performances
in their resident theatre building, they tour all over the country and
abroad including Norway, Croatia, Estonia, the USA, Canada, and Japan.
Their repertoire includes Hansel and Gretel (EdinburghGuide
review), The Little Matchgirl, A Sonatina and The
Ballad of Marian and Rob.
Tour Times and Days - At Traverse Theatre.
Family Perfomances 29 May at 7:30pm.
30 May at 1pm & 2.30pm.
Tours to Shetland Islesburgh Community Centre 01595 692114.
Family Perfomances 3 - 5 June times to be confirmed.
Tours to Inverness Florians Theatre 01463 234234.
Family Perfomances 8 June at 1:30pm & 7pm and 9 June
at 1:30pm..
Theatre Editor, Thelma Good's e-mail is
thelma@edinburghguide.com
Although every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the
information presented in these pages, no responsibility can be accepted
for any errors or omissions.
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