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Theatre listings > Adventures Of The Baron. - Tour & World Premiere. Inspired by the Poems of Edwin Morgan - Tales From Baron Munchausen. Co-Devisor & Director - Martin Danziger. Co-Devisor & Actor - Benno Plassmann. Designer - Kevin Murray. Lighting Designer - Sergey Jakovsky. Sound & Music Designer - Marcus Britton. Company - The Working Party Company Email . 2005 Tour Dates and Times - here . Seen to review at The Britannia Panopticon, Trongate Glasgow on 13 October 2005. Run Time - 1 hours 25 mins no Interval . Reviewer - Thelma Good. Entertainment with elucidation.
Raspe's the first of several characters who provide a frequently humorous and yet critical commentary on the Baron and his stories. There's a slight problem here as the actor doesn't alter his physical impression enough for us to feel confident that these are different people, his feet always move the same light footed way. On the other hand, Plassmann's Baron works a treat, sporting a tri-cornered hat trimmed with fluffily feathers, despite the rather too large red and braid waistcoat. With director Martin Danziger, Plassmann co-devised this show and he charms and seduces us in his version of reality one where snows are tens of metres high, cannonballs can be ridden on and he can fly. The drive of logic and the ends tyrants (some democratically elected) can use it for are also brought out in the other characters - this is entertainment with elucidation. Edwin Morgan's poems tells the tales with pithy style enabling the Baron to tell quite a few tales, the interjections of the other characters never puncture the yarns' hot air buoyancy. The lighting and music both added to the production particularly the riding of the cannonballs to the sounds of the Russian Napoleonic campaign as evoked in the 1812 Overture. Using a hinged set and several wooden planked boxes enable the changes of scene and height and scale the piece demands. Seeing this peice elsewhere in a black box space may free the audience more quickly from the realities of gravity. Those spaces are even more liberating than the particular theatrical trappings of a traditional theatre or music hall space. Black boxes are supremely where things can go instantly back and forth across time, location and interpretations. In the Opticon the rational characters paralleled the braggart's showiness, in a neutral black space they may well provide more of a contrast. There are some stories that just keep going once someone has created them or lived them. The stories of Baron Manchausen are like the tales of Shherazade. We love the tales so much it ceases to matter how tall or strange they are or whether the original teller was recounting actual incidents somewhat embellished or making it up. For some people obeying the laws of nature, believing in that totally fugitive thing truth they'll view the other characters with understanding as a colleague trying to debunk such idiotic tales. For those of us who feel the world is far more inconstant, a strange, illogical place, the Baron will bolster our belief that moving through air on our own is just a way of motion we haven't mastered yet. Whatever you ascribe to The Working Party's production will entertain and leave you wondering whether logic saves you from mistakes or railroads you to troubling conclusions. © Thelma Good 13 October 2005 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Further Information - Tour | Edwin Morgan | The Working Party | Britannia Panopticon Music Hall. About the Poet and the Text - Edwin Morgan has been appointed as the first of Scotland's Makars (makar is the Scots for poet) the excellent official web site - here - is full of information about this much loved and well regarded poet and his poems who still lives in Glasgow. Tales From Baron Munchausen ISBN 0 946588 40 6, is published by Mariscat Press and contains poems of Edwin Morgan commissioned by Benno Plassmann in May 2004 for solo performances and events with the Glasgow arts organisation The Working Party. The Meriscat Press can be contacted via email or at 10 Bell Place Edinburgh EH3 5HT. About The Company - The Working Party has worked with Manchausen in street performance in street performance in Italy (2001) and in Brazil (2002) and for interactive performance work in care homes in 2003. Since then they have also created Travels with the Baron, a children's performance designed to encourage cultural exchange and The Baron's Ball, a popular performance party show in collaboration with the Edinburgh band Orkestra del Sol. For further information about futures dates and bookings contact The Working Party. Edinburghguide.com reviews of other Working party productions - Starting Point Zero and Chariot of Light. About The Britannia Panopticon Music Hall - The performance I reviewed took place at The Britannia Panopticon which is the oldest music hall in Scotland and has still has many original features. It closed in 1938 and is in the upper floors of an A-listed building in the Trongate. On 12 of October 2005 Adventures Of The Baron's premiere performance was the first theatre performance there for 67 years. The venue saw the debut of Stan Laurel, heard the singing of Cary Grant and the laughter at the antics of Harry Lauder, Jack Buchanan and Jack Milroy. To find out more about this historic venue and the plans to bring it back into full use contact The Britannia Panopticon Music Hall Trust, 113 - 117 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HD, Tel - 0141 553 0848, Email. 2005 Tour Details of The Working Party's production of Adventures Of The Baron. Tour begins Previews 16 & 17 Sept at Edinburgh North Edinburgh Arts 0131 315 2151. 12 & 13 Oct at 7pm Panopticon Music Hall 0141 423 4876. 15 October at 6.45pm Glasgow West End 218 / 230 Broomhill Drive 0141 423 4876. Balshagray Church Hall. This venue has full disabled access and is fitted with an induction loop. Scotland's poet laureate, Edwin Morgan, will attend this performance. 16 Oct at 6:30pm Peebles Eastgate Theatre 01721 725 777. 24 Nov at 2:30pm Mallaig Community Hall 01687 460 039. 25 Nov at 7:30pm Strontian Sunart Centre 01397 709 228. 26 Nov at 7:30 Ballachulish Village Hall 01855 811 979. Tour Ends. 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. Theatre listings >
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