Rating Guide
None = Unmissable
= Unwatchable

Bertrand's Toys
Drams None (Excellent)
Venue Rocket @ South Bridge Resource Centre (Venue 123)
Address Infirmary Street
Reviewer Richard Taylor

Bertrand's Toys is one the finest pieces of physical theatre that I have ever seen. Necessarily brought to the Edinburgh Fringe by a talented and, above all, Russian group, this work is more an initiation into a mystery tradition than an artform. It is simply extraordinary.

By fully concentrating on the physical body, this production has reached a logical conclusion of sorts - descent into a dark netherworld of senseless figures and bizarre relationships, hollow grimaces and disembodied limbs. Who knows whether this should be viewed as nihilistic, ironic, a warning, or more besides?

There is no text, simply movement, gesture, costumes and lighting, all set against a booming soundtrack which provides few direct clues. Everything points to the unconscious mind running riot. This work is simply riveting and I, for one, sat on the edge of my seat throughout the performance. Yes, this work is highly technical and one sided, as physical theatre is arguably bound to be, but there is also a sense of mastery and ease that mitigates such extremes. And above all it works.

As I left the theatre I spent the next hour struggling to get my head back together again - the blood had drained from my face, Edinburgh had changed into Gotham City, and every dark, miserable, squalid aspect of the human condition became obvious to me. Don't get me wrong, I didn't particularly relish that situation, but at the end of the day, if the acid test of any production is the effect that it has on the audience, this is close to a work of genius. Go alone.

Runs until 26th August. Starts 20:15 hrs (ends 21:30). NB: To guarantee a good seat, arrive 15 minutes early.

El Pez en el Asfalto
Dram
Venue Gateway Theatre (Venue 7)
Address Elm Row
Reviewer Colin Donati

This show is the first of DanzAbierta’s two offerings for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the Gateway. This Cuban dance company are renowned for their blending of dance with other artistic forms and making socio-political statements - what has been termed ‘contaminated dance’The ideas for this show (which translates as ‘The Fish in the Asphalt’) seem to spring from a theme of how people with nothing barter only dreams. ‘A cigar for a dress’, we hear as one of the many refrains repeated throughout. The performance is infused with semi-theatrical elements and a hint of narrative.

The first set-piece depicts bodies washed like flotsam, perhaps on a shore, perhaps at the edge of a sewer - it is up to our own imaginations to decide. The choreographic style is deliberately slack. Has one dancer just lost her hat over the edge of the stage? But it was no accident - there goes another - and another. The emotional force of loss is poignantly invoked. But there is more than mere pathos. Scenes with varying degrees of clamour and desparation suddenly breaks into street music - Latin American rhythms - Salsa - happiness. Even the desired ‘dress’ is eventually attained and the whole troupe shed their rags to don the glitzy trappings of Festival, or show business. But even with through the glamour they have empty tin plates to rattle. The ultimate lesson may be the more you have, the more you lose. Be warned. The performance has begun even before you take your seat.

Runs till the 15th (not 9th) at 19.30hrs

Hopeless Games
Drams None - I want to watch them!
Venue Komedia @ Southside (Venue 82)
Address 117 Nicolson Street
Reviewer Thelma Good

Great physical theatre this. On a stage which is very small for them, these companies of dancers from Potsdam return to the Fringe with last year's show. I didn't catch it then but even if I had I would have paid to see this again. The extraordinary agility and sense of togetherness of the dancers makes this piece an exhilarating one to watch.

Set in a derelict railway station I saw the passengers and those who wait for them as they past through. Railways have formed a lot of the history of the last century in Europe, and in this piece I saw the last hundred years pass in front of me, amusing and troubling by turn. They moved on the stage and in the auditorium often doing several interesting things all over the stage, so you missed one and caught the other, much like trains.

Jewgenij Koslov directed the dancers of superb skill - Alexander Bondarew, Irina Koslova, Jewgenij Koslov, Sven Till and Wolfgang Hoffman. I urge you to catch them now or on November 2nd to 4th, when they will be returning and I will be there to see them.

Check out Fabrik website too, www.fabrikpotsdam.de

Till 27th

Insomnia (Page 49)
Drams None
Venue C (Venue 34)
Address Chambers Street
Reviewer Thelma Good

Dance after midnight? It's a exhilarating show this, even in the wee small hours, with an astonishing pas de deux, in modern dance, and trainers! The pace changes throughout the 55 minute show with lyrically slow passages and also swift energetic sections giving a dance version of our rush, rush lives. Capturing vividly the quick, quick way we meet, argue, make love, break up and tear through our existence. The pas de deux is the best representation I have ever seen on stage of the ties that bind an abuser and his abused. It dramatically and imaginatively portrays the blindness of the emotions which can make a person stay too long. I also very much enjoyed the section on obsessive, dominating love which uses a small stick puppet and chalk with telling effect.

The dancers, Simon Day, Renaka Dias, Kate Gribble, Helena Sands and Andrew Walby are directed by Dominic Leclerc, who also designed the production. All the excellent puppets were designed by Bronia Evers. The music is a fusion of natural sounds and a haunting modern setting of the Mass, with techno music for the fast passages of modern life. Keep an eye on these names and hope they can devise together again in the future for they can really produce exciting top calibre work, they all come from Warwick University Drama Society.

This production is another in the four excellent ones which NSTC has brought to the Fringe, more power to their elbow and funds. I'm intending to go to Scarborough around Easter to catch their festival next year.

Till 27th

Ritual Dance of Scissors - Peru (Page 49 )
Drams - not relevant, it's a religious rite
Venue Rocket @ Theatre Arts Centre (Venue 16)
Address 10 Davie St
Reviewer Thelma Good

Jose Navarro, whose artistic name as dancer is Pishatco, has brought from Peru the religious dance called Atipanacuy - The Ritual Dance of The Scissors. It is a pre-Inca dance which adapted in order to survive its 500 years of prohibition. Even performed on the Fringe it is done for real with all the ceremony and ritual movements so that even in Edinburgh Mother Earth is honoured.

Seeing this is to touch both the ancient past in the high Andes and the spirit of an ancient religion which has had to adopt camouflage, including the scissors of the title, but still survives with its power. In fact the scissors symbolise the male and female and the fight between the cultures who have entered Peru. In the dance the scissors are hit together while held in the right hand of the dancer giving percussion like metal castanets, with recorded music of harp and violin. Jose hopes that in the future he will return with live music and another dancer so that the duelling aspect of the dance can be more clearly seen. If you are interested in ritual, dance, ancient cultures or seeing something out of the ordinary go and be witness.

Till 26th