Revelations of Rab McVie Traverse Theatre Edinburgh February 25th 2023 Review
Artwork image © Maria Rud
Revelations of Rab McVie was at the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh for two nights only, Friday 24th and Saturday 25th February, so sorry folks, but by the time you read this review you will, if you have not made it to either of these shows, missed one of the most unique and thought provoking theatrical events of recent years.
What would you do if you were granted revelation, either by divine or some other source? Would you gain enlightenment, or would your visions, your revelations take you to the brink of your sanity, and maybe beyond it. This is the dilemma that Rab McVie finds himself in as each window that he looks out of offers up a different vision, and other truth to somehow be deciphered from the imagery and often writings and symbols that he is now witness to. If Rab McVie can somehow hold onto his sanity, a door to enlightenment may hold the key and the path to his salvation, and maybe ours too.
Bringing the multi-coloured and often disturbing visions of Rab McVie to life on stage is a multi-talented collaboration between Maria Rud (live art and script), Tam Dean Burn (Rab McVie) and The Filthy Tongues (music). The first thing that you notice when entering Traverse Theatre 1 is Maria Rud’s artwork for the title of this show projected on a giant screen whilst to the right Maria herself is standing to one side with an array of paints and the current artwork displayed in front of her on a glass sheet. It is this continually changing artwork on glass that will give us all the images of Rab’s revelations for the next hour or so as Maria quickly creates new artwork over old, or adapts an image already projected to the screen.
To the other side, The Filthy Tongues and the dark clad and at times ominous figure of frontman (and creative director with Maria on this project) Martin Metcalfe. With the opening song, “The Ghost of Rab McVie” our setting is clear, a man standing where a jukebox used to be, everybody around drinking like fishes, and “the Water of Leith”.
The on screen images are now changing as a projected silhouette figure is cast upon a white doorway which soon changes to yellow and for the first time we meet the man in black – Rab McVie aka Tam Dean Burn, and our story of revelations begin. This is a powerful performance by Tam Dean Burn of a man struggling to come to terms with the imagery and sounds that he is witnessing and at times this Rab McVie can be a disturbing presence on stage. Oddly, something about this performance, particularly when the black cloak and hat are eventually removed, reminds me of watching old performances of Alex Harvey.
Watching the large screen change as Maria constantly creates new artwork is an experience itself and with a blood moon, horsemen of terrors to come, floods and much more, there is a biblical “Book of Revelation” feel to Rab’s visions. This “aniMotion” performance by Maria explores many different styles of art over its creative hour with artwork reminding me of ancient cave painting, Greek and Roman animal art on pottery and at times even Russian religious icon art, but all somehow fusing into a very unique style that is Maria Rud’s artwork. The constant changing of this artwork, the fact that it is so transitory, is also like we, the audience, are sharing Rab’s visions, his revelations with him.
So much of the atmosphere of this performance event is also down to the music of The Filthy Tongues and its at times darkness is always in contrast to the bright and strong colours that Maria is so often using for her artwork. With songs (from their albums) like “Gas Mask Blues” and “Long Time Dead”, The Filthy Tongues’ music is just perfect for this descent into darkness with Rab McVie.
Any production like this of course has many people behind the scenes to bring everything to the stage, and Maria Pattinson (director), Pete Searle (lighting design), Craig Gaskin (sound engineer), Derek Kelly (sound design), Dave Robertson (technical director) and Morag Neil (project manager) all need their credits here too.
Here’s hoping that this multi-discipline performance art work will get the bigger touring schedule that it so rightly deserves so that many more people can experience “Revelations of Rab McVie”.
To find out more about Maria Rud and her artwork visit
https://www.mariarudart.com/paintings
To find out more about The Filthy Tongues and their music visit
http://www.filthytongues.com/
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
What would you do if you were granted revelation, either by divine or some other source? Would you gain enlightenment, or would your visions, your revelations take you to the brink of your sanity, and maybe beyond it. This is the dilemma that Rab McVie finds himself in as each window that he looks out of offers up a different vision, and other truth to somehow be deciphered from the imagery and often writings and symbols that he is now witness to. If Rab McVie can somehow hold onto his sanity, a door to enlightenment may hold the key and the path to his salvation, and maybe ours too.
Bringing the multi-coloured and often disturbing visions of Rab McVie to life on stage is a multi-talented collaboration between Maria Rud (live art and script), Tam Dean Burn (Rab McVie) and The Filthy Tongues (music). The first thing that you notice when entering Traverse Theatre 1 is Maria Rud’s artwork for the title of this show projected on a giant screen whilst to the right Maria herself is standing to one side with an array of paints and the current artwork displayed in front of her on a glass sheet. It is this continually changing artwork on glass that will give us all the images of Rab’s revelations for the next hour or so as Maria quickly creates new artwork over old, or adapts an image already projected to the screen.
To the other side, The Filthy Tongues and the dark clad and at times ominous figure of frontman (and creative director with Maria on this project) Martin Metcalfe. With the opening song, “The Ghost of Rab McVie” our setting is clear, a man standing where a jukebox used to be, everybody around drinking like fishes, and “the Water of Leith”.
The on screen images are now changing as a projected silhouette figure is cast upon a white doorway which soon changes to yellow and for the first time we meet the man in black – Rab McVie aka Tam Dean Burn, and our story of revelations begin. This is a powerful performance by Tam Dean Burn of a man struggling to come to terms with the imagery and sounds that he is witnessing and at times this Rab McVie can be a disturbing presence on stage. Oddly, something about this performance, particularly when the black cloak and hat are eventually removed, reminds me of watching old performances of Alex Harvey.
Watching the large screen change as Maria constantly creates new artwork is an experience itself and with a blood moon, horsemen of terrors to come, floods and much more, there is a biblical “Book of Revelation” feel to Rab’s visions. This “aniMotion” performance by Maria explores many different styles of art over its creative hour with artwork reminding me of ancient cave painting, Greek and Roman animal art on pottery and at times even Russian religious icon art, but all somehow fusing into a very unique style that is Maria Rud’s artwork. The constant changing of this artwork, the fact that it is so transitory, is also like we, the audience, are sharing Rab’s visions, his revelations with him.
So much of the atmosphere of this performance event is also down to the music of The Filthy Tongues and its at times darkness is always in contrast to the bright and strong colours that Maria is so often using for her artwork. With songs (from their albums) like “Gas Mask Blues” and “Long Time Dead”, The Filthy Tongues’ music is just perfect for this descent into darkness with Rab McVie.
Any production like this of course has many people behind the scenes to bring everything to the stage, and Maria Pattinson (director), Pete Searle (lighting design), Craig Gaskin (sound engineer), Derek Kelly (sound design), Dave Robertson (technical director) and Morag Neil (project manager) all need their credits here too.
Here’s hoping that this multi-discipline performance art work will get the bigger touring schedule that it so rightly deserves so that many more people can experience “Revelations of Rab McVie”.
To find out more about Maria Rud and her artwork visit
https://www.mariarudart.com/paintings
To find out more about The Filthy Tongues and their music visit
http://www.filthytongues.com/
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com