The Enemy, a production by National Theatre of Scotland, is at The King’s Theatre Edinburgh for a short run (Wed 20 Oct to Sat 23 Oct), and if story-driven theatre which asks many questions, raises many issues, and has a production team and a cast capable of delivering performance theatre with real power is how you like your theatre, then try to get a ticket for this one.

This production written by Kieran Hurley and directed by Finn den Hertog is a radical re-working of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of The People from 1882 and, some 140 years on, these eternal questions of power, corruption, truth and consequences are just as powerful, and the answers as ugly to face as they were when Ibsen wrote his work. This time, however, it is set in a Scottish town that has seen decay over many decades as the opportunities, dreams, hopes and in some cases the very health of its inhabitants have all been swept away along with the employment that the town once knew.  Now though, there is hope, as the investment in the creation of a major tourist attraction/holiday destination promises to restore not only employment, but everything that goes with it to not only the town, but the people.
 
At the last moment, there is one problem, one unwanted truth to be told by Dr Kirsten Stockmann (Hannah Donaldson) that sets her on a collision course with not only her local councillor sister Vonny (Gabriel Quigley) but also many people in the town. The initial suppression of her truth and the consequences of it finally being told affect not only Kirsten, but also her daughter Petra (Eléna Redmond) and force her to re-examine not only her relationship with her family and friends, but everyone in the town as the darker sides of people’s own self-interest, their own sense of self-preservation, or their own denial of truths come to the surface. Strong performances from Billy Mack, Neil McKinven and Taqi Nazeer give this story the feel of their characters being real people that a production like this needs to maintain its on stage illusion of realism.

This production is a clever, and skilful re-working of an old story brought up into the 21st century as we also examine the way modern social media works in swiftly giving everyone access to publish their views, and the far darker side of the social media world which so swiftly can escalate thoughts into a vicious campaign of hatred, threats, fear and retribution. As much a part of the on-stage performance this production also blends video design by Lewis den Hertog into the actual fabric of the story line, and often with subtle and dramatic effects and information just as important to the story development as any words spoken on-stage.

The Enemy also highlights another question as it re-works a classic: have all the stories really been told already?  The answer to this question is probably yes, and they were probably all told thousands of years ago and all we ever do is add variations to the story or look at it from different angles, and the core questions of a truth to be told despite the consequences is a story that will never run out of variants on the original question, and perhaps this is why this production works so well as there is no definitive answer to how the story will end.

The Enemy has a performance time of 100 minutes with no interval, and that is a wise choice as this tightly woven story and skilfully performed work needs to be told as one continuous performance.  That performance does what every very good work of theatre should do – completely involve an audience in the story, leave them waiting for the next word, and for time to pass surprisingly quickly as you become absorbed into the story unfolding on-stage and start to believe that you are watching through a window into the lives of the characters, and not actors performing on a stage. Here the story and the performances are strong enough to allow this all to happen.

Review by Tom King (c) 2021
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH

Scottish Ballet Starstruck is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh this week (Thu 14 to Sat 16 Oct), and if there are any tickets still left try not to miss this one.  I have to admit that Scottish Ballet is one of the companies that I have missed most from watching on-stage throughout a far too long enforced absence of live performance, but the wait has been worth it. Starstruck is simply Scottish Ballet at its innovative and performance best.

Starstruck is Scottish Ballet’s homage to the work and memory of the legendary Gene Kelly (b 1912 – d 1996) and, in collaboration with his wife Patricia Ward Kelly, Scottish Ballet’s CEO/Artistic Director Christopher Hampson and designer Lez Brotherston have lovingly brought to life the short ballet Pas de Dieux, which was “imagined” by Gene Kelly when The Paris Opera House invited him to create a new and original work for them in 1960. With a newly created introduction, Scottish Ballet’s Starstruck re-created not only the glamour and feel of those classic Hollywood musicals in which Gene Kelly found fame, but also the sheer range of dance styles he incorporated into his work (including classical ballet and jazz) and the unique power, strength and apparently effortless grace and style which Gene Kelly brought to dance through his inspired choreography.

I have to admit that, although I know the film work of Gene Kelly well, I was until this production not fully aware of his reputation outside of film as an innovative choreographer, and Gene Kelly is without doubt one of the few dancers and choreographers that could say that they brought something absolutely unique to dance and changed it forever.

This is a wonderfully playful story about how the Gods of Mount Olympus can play with and manipulate the loves and emotions of the mortals below them whilst also experiencing all too human emotions themselves; even Gods can get bored sometimes.  Bringing this story to life were the always wonderful to watch together talents of Sophie Martin (Star Ballerina/ Aphrodite) and Christopher Harrison (Choreographer/Zeus) who as always not only bring an apparently effortless style and grace to every performance, but simply work together so well that a little bit of magic always seems to happen on-stage when they dance together,

Performing the roles of Pianist and the ever mischievous Eros, Bruno Micchiardi is so obviously having great fun with this lively and energetic role. Completing our central cast tonight were Sweetheart/Girl with the Pony Tail, Roseanna Leney;  Sweetheart/Life Guard Javier Andreu; and Stagehand Nicholas Shoesmith.

Starstruck is a meticulously choreographed work and the whole company of Scottish Ballet all play their part in this performance as wonderful little interactions between people and groups are happening everywhere on stage.  The attention to the details of mannerisms and the ability to tell both the larger story and many smaller stories through dance leave you in no doubt that this is the work of a master of his craft.

If you have ever felt that your movements are being manipulated by some unseen force, then that just might be true, and here on stage is a wonderfully choreographed explanation of just what might be happening to us all; perhaps we are still unwitting play-things of the Gods of Mount Olympus.

Perfectly complementing the dance on stage is the always evocative Gershwin’s Concerto in F interwoven with music from Chopin.  Tonight a recording of the music by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra was played, as the still ever changing rules for live performance made having a live orchestra in the theatre “problematic”.

Starstruck has been crafted with love and attention at every detail, and the sheer pleasure of performing this work shows in everyone involved, and that in turn simply adds to the pleasure of watching Starstruck as a member of the audience.

Review by Tom King (c) 2021
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH

Giles Robson, master blues harmonica player, played the first of two small and intimate shows at the Voodoo Rooms tonight (Wed 13th October) with the other show tomorrow 14th October.  If you have not yet heard of his name, the chances are that somewhere you have heard his music as Giles Robson has for the last few decades been building an enviable reputation as a musician and has worked with many of the major names in the Blues music genre. Many people, both musicians and audiences worldwide, consider him to be one of the finest exponents of blues harmonica today, and his passion for his music, his knowledge of its history, and respect for all who have gone before him is obvious and an essential part of his performance on stage.

The Blues, perhaps more than any other musical style, has over the years surrounded itself with many myths and legends, some are true, some are false, some we are best never finding out which they are.  One myth is that The Blues is the music of endless sadness and stories of woe, and whilst this is undisputedly true of many songs, the music is also full of warmth and humour, and it is this same personal warmth and humour that Giles Robson so effortlessly brings to stage with him to put his audience at ease and connect with them immediately. The music is all too often over-looked as an often valuable historical record of the times with people recording their own life experiences in words and music, but also often expressing the very landscape around them in sound, and again Giles’ deep understanding of that history and his pleasure in sharing that with his audience gives extra depth to what he chooses to play.

With Giles Robson on harmonica/vocals and the equally impressive talents of Sandy Tweedale on guitar, this was Blues music as it was meant to be heard – in a small bar setting, close to the audience, not on a huge stage where the audience are small shapes on some distant horizon.

The set opened with the appropriately named GR Blues, and soon Giles was mixing contemporary songs, music from his 2016 album “For Those Who Need The Blues”, along with classics of some of the great names from Blues history including Sonny Boy Williamson and Nine Below Zero.  Music from Memphis Slim and Junior Wells was also on the set-list.

Why is the blues-harmonica so interwoven with the history of railroads?  That is a question I have often asked myself, and tonight Giles gave us all the answer to that question, and I am not going to tell you that answer in this review.  I just hope that if you are reading this and make it to tonight’s show that Giles chooses to share that answer with you too.

Another enduring myth that has for some reason gained more popularity as the years have gone by is that the defining musical instrument of The Blues is the guitar, and somehow the harmonica has all too often been omitted from its true place in history as one of the defining sounds of The Blues, and tonight Giles Robson more than corrected that assumption with a virtuoso display of just what a range and depth of music and emotion the blues-harmonica is capable of in the right hands. Giles also is a fine blues vocalist, and for me it is always the human voice that is ultimately the defining sound of The Blues.

Revieew by Tom King (c) 2021
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH

The Woman In Black is at The King’s Theatre Edinburgh this week (Tue 12 Oct to Sat 16 Oct) and, as always, this stage adaptation of Susan Hill’s now classic 1983 gothic horror novel is filling the theatre seats with new and old fans of both the book and the play.

The Woman in Black is now the stuff of theatrical legend as it is now, at over 30 years, the second longest-running play in the history of the West End, after The Mousetrap.  Why is this so, how did playwright Stephen Mallatratt manage this elusive feat of theatrical magic?  Perhaps there is no one answer to that question, or even many reasons because if this was a formula then everyone could, and would, be doing it, yet so many others simply fail.

For me, the real reason this story works so well is that at the core there are two basic ingredients – a good story, and good theatre stripped down to what two gifted actors can do on stage to not only bring the words of that story to life but also their ability to engage the imaginations of their audience.

In this touring production, those gifted actors are Robert Goodale as Arthur Kipps and Antony Eden as The Actor, and their ability to breathe life into multiple roles by only their skills as performers and a few very basic props is a joy to watch.  Their ability by gentle suggestion to make us, the audience, imagine in our minds what not only this gothic world looks like, but also trains, pony and traps, even a dog that is not there, is amazing.

This stage production of The Woman in Black also cleverly avoids the all too often disastrous attempts to bring books to the stage by keeping the core elements of the book but looking at them from a different perspective.  This does, however, require time to build up new layers of story-telling that can at times break the suspense of the main story a little, but when it is done this well, that can be forgiven.

The two stars, Robert Goodale and Antony Eden, are not the only stars in this production though, and very clever use of both sound and stage-lighting make us all realise just how important these two often overlooked elements (by audiences) are to any production, and here they are as much a part of the story as any written word.  Another star in this production is The King’s Theatre itself and a production like this really needs an original Edwardian auditorium like this (opening in 1906) to add that extra atmosphere to everything. This production would just not be the same in a modern “utilitarian box”.

The Woman in Black is a reminder of why live theatre can provide an experience that no other media can match if the production knows how to use that space to its best advantage.  If you have a liking for classic gothic horror then give this show a visit.  If you are a student on a drama course anywhere across town and reading this review, then go to The Woman in Black simply to watch and learn how the job should be done.

Review by Tom King (c) 2021
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH

BOY’S KHAYA by UK based Tavaziva dance company at the Festival Theatre Studio tonight (Friday 8th October) was performed to an almost full capacity house, and the only two regrets I have from this show are that it was only on for one night and that it was not possible for this to be performed in a larger venue to more people, as this is a work that has real power in its story and message of hope to us all.

This work is the personal story of company founder, Bawren Tavaziva, who was born in 1976 into a world that “gave” him his formative years living in the racially segregated apartheid system of Zimbabwe.  This work in which Bawren handles artistic direction, choreography and music is the personal life experiences that some people may still not want to hear the views of (for whatever reasons), but a voice that has to be heard if we are ever going to learn lessons from our mistakes and create a better world for everyone.

A BOY’S KHAYA is a servant’s house, and it was in this single room shack with only the most basic of amenities that Bawren Tavaziva spent long periods of time in the early years of his childhood. Segregated by his colour, Bawren was unable to play with any of the white children around him and locked in this house by his parents (who were unable to leave him alone at home) while they worked for the rich white family of the house.

The fact that any child (let alone one with such obvious artistic talents) could survive this experience and grow up to not only thrive as an adult, but to stay so positive about the world, is itself a small miracle, and it is through the language of dance performed to music and voice-over narration that we get to understand a few of the reasons why this was possible at all.

BOY’S KHAYA is a interweaving of many cultural strands of dance including classical ballet, modern dance and of course African dance, and I wish that I understood more the origins and language of some of the African elements in this production, but that is a task for another day, and I am sure that Bawren Tavaziva intended this work to be one of further exploration for us all in someway.

This work is one that is obviously physically demanding on the dancers - Andre Kamienski, Asmara Cammock, Dakarayai Mashava, Freya Harris and Harriet Waghorn - but the end result is more than worth it. An interesting choice of costume design by Ben Voorhaar and Sabrina Zyla of Karisma to symbolise and reinforce the ropes and chains of bondage and servitude adds much to the overall look of this production. This is all of course set to the wonderful rhythms of African music.

There are many harsh, difficult, and sometimes uncomfortable themes presented in BOY’S KHAYA, but perhaps the most interesting is that apartheid has not stopped, it is not only still with us, but with us on a global scale, and this time the oppressors are not only old colonial powers but multi-national corporations. The message that is, to me, clear from Bawren Tavaziva’s words is that apartheid is ultimately not about segregation of people in this world by the colour of their skin, but by the opportunities in life that are made available to them. The true crime of apartheid is wherever in the world those that have the power and resources of land and food (and so much else, however they acquire them) use their advantages all too frequently to deprive others of even the most basic requirements of food, housing, clean water and education. The light of hope in this story is that one day things will be different and our humanity, our responsibilities to each other, will build a better world for all people.

Review by Tom King (c) 2021
ARTS REVIEWS EDINBURGH