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| Edinburgh : A&E : Theatre : Reviews |
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Theatre listings > Falling. - World Premiere. Devised and created by Sandy Thomson and Brian Ferguson with support from Carmen Pieraccini. Director - Sandy Thomson. Dramaturgr - Davey Anderson. Artists -Lee Ann Cardle, Simon Conlon, Alex Cowles, Jake Stewart and David Stronach . Lighting Designer - Ali Ross and Kenna Grant. Composer/Sound Designer - Ross Ramsay. Dance Consultant - Jeni MacRae. Literary Advisor - Alex Attwood. Cast - Here. Company - Poorboy Theatre Company in NTS (National Theatre Of Scotland) Workshop co-production in association with The Arches Theatre Company. Details of Dates & Time - 14 March - 15 April at 7.55pm.Here. Run Time - 1 hrs 45 mins NO interval. Reviewer - Thelma Good. Just hasn't arrived enough yet. Looking for an angel in Queen Street Station is an unusual occupation. I'd visions of fluffy white wings but the angel you have to look for may have yellow cloth not feather wings. But some nights the angel may have black feather wings, I'd have preferred that. Before we set off there's the ticket to hang in echoes of Paddington Bear, round your neck, a quick but through safety check. Then a bloke, Brian Ferguson, surfaces out of the station's crowd and accosts us. Trust gained we follow him to the lost property office where he encounters bureaucracy and rails against the difficulty of filling in forms when stories often won't fit in boxes. He's seemingly a west coast man the type who wears a suit but still uses the f word very frequently. He's got an attractive veneer but inside, ugh, nasty things lurk for this is Lucifer, the first one of all of us to fall. He says he's lost that name and one of us gives him a replacement. Throughout the show there are moments when we are asked to say or do things, to enter into the production. We're interrupted by a beautiful young woman, Carmen Pieraccini, who's there to get her bag back - turns out her presentation involves Carrivago and fallen angels. Bag in hand she departs and he and we follow to an encounter in the car park where she shows she can stand up for her self despite his menace. Their adult power and the adult nature of the show makes the description of these characters as Boy and Girl very puzzling. As the piece unfolds there could be a through story line, the Falling Man's pursuit of the Beautiful Woman, but at times the stories escape the confining boxes we want to put them in and sometimes it becomes frustratingly confusing. There are striking props and settings, there are nine locations in all, Glasgow's a city so often on the edge of theatre. Is the couple necking part of the action, the man playing guitar in Beuchan Street Underground Station, the Goth who stumbles along the carriage, or the suited drunk trailing a broken flower bouquet. There's a perplexing mix of religious images not always comfortable to behold or be involved in. Those with faith may find some of it offensive, there's a mock communion moment and women who look part nun, part veiled Moslem woman. Lucifer is on the run and his ex-fellow archangels are scary. Part way through it feels like all of them have fallen and the vision of the play becomes twistily disturbing as all seems to spiral out of kilter and to be fuelled by considerable hatred. Apart from the fast and loose use of religious icons and images, there is a too long period where in a blacked out windows people carrier where after an overheard recording the production just grinds to a halt as the audience are driven in it to the next proper location. The best promenades are when the audience is always there involved as witnesses in the action without pronounced breaks. Poorboy's pervious work has taken time to develop. This one got the go ahead as a NTS Workshop production in November with March being the date it is seen by. For a promenade production with venues to find and premissions and safety to be checked out as well as the story to be developed this is a very tall order. As a workshop production, one possibly still in development to its final form, this production has much to excite but if this is a final production, and the NTS says this section of their productions is "to help projects realise their full potential I have to say Falling doesn't come together crisply and atmospherically enough to be of the same quality as their pervious work, despite the clear dedication and intensity of acting of all involved. It's certain that Falling is in motion it just hasn't arrived enough yet. © Thelma Good 22 March 2006 - Published on EdinburghGuide.com Cast of Falling - Boy - Brian Ferguson & Girl - Carmen Pieraccini. Others - Jamie Botherston, Edward Corrie, Lesley Docherty, Terry Flyte, Jenny Hulse, Fergus Johnston, Emma Lambie, Seonaid MacDonald, Stuart Martin, Elaine McBride, Andy Root, Ashley Smith, Jonathan West and Jayne Wisener. Musicians - Vicky Craig, Pete Phillips and Ross Ramsay. Details of dates and times - The audience will meet at Queen Street Train Station at 7.55pm.Tickets can be collected from the Arches Box Office until 7.30pm on the night of performance and then from Arches staff on the main concourse of Queen Street Station from 7.45pm. Latecomers will not be admitted. Running time - approx 90 minutes with no interval. A promenading site-specific performance through the heart of the city. The performance promenades indoors and outside over some distance. Please dress appropriately and contact Jacqui Skelton on 07793 058213 if you have any specific access requirements. Book on line at www.thearches.co.uk 0141 565 1023. Dates - 14 March - 15 April at 7.55pm. 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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