UK Theatre Network

SHOW: A BRITISH SUBJECT, Pleasance Theatre
12 August 2009 - £9.50

Mirza Tahir Hussain, a British subject, travels to Pakistan where he kills a taxi driver in self-defence. The young man is sentenced to death by hanging. He spends eighteen years on death row before a British journalist visits him to tell his story.

Nichola MacAuliffe’s play is the true account of this case and a scathing critique of the criminal justice system in Pakistan, the British authorities who would not save their own subject because their efforts might jeopardise British-Pakistani relations and the inhumanity of the death penalty. This poignant drama is extremely well acted and the relationship between MacAuliffe – who plays herself – and the condemned man is very touching. Both are deeply religious and although MacAuliffe is a Catholic and Tahir a Muslim there is a true understanding between them.

There will be a Q&A session on the production on 18 August at 2.20 pm. 

Review by Carolin Kopplin

Visit the official Edinburgh Fringe website for more details and tickets:-
http://www.edfringe.com 

SHOW: THE SHAPE OF THINGS by SPL, C, Chambers Street
12 August 2009 - £9.50 

The Shape of Things is a comedy with a vicious twist. Neil LaBute, one of the most intriguing American playwrights today, is a moralist who indulges in polarising his audience and he often succeeds. Adam works in a museum in a small college town where he meets Evelyn, an art student, who wants to make a statement by spray painting a penis on a statue – her point being that the sculpture is already ruined because a vine leaf was plastered over the genitalia six years ago to placate the outraged town folk.

Two people could not be more different that the shy, insecure Adam and the self-confident artiste. As Adam and Evelyn become closer Adam changes in more ways than one. The dialogues are snappy and the action is fast paced – a most enjoyable production with impressive performances by the four young actors.  

Review by Carolin Kopplin

Edinburgh Fringe Website http://www.edfringe.com

SHOW: CRY FROM UNDERGROUND (TELL ME YOUR NAME)
New Town Theatre
11 Aug 09, £10.00 

Thorston Manderlay adapted Dostoevsky’s novella “Notes from the Underground” and successfully transferred it to the 21^st century. The themes of the novella – isolation, alienation and disgust with a self-obsessed society are as relevant today as in 1864.

The protagonist, an educated and intelligent man, finds himself in a culture of mediocrity where “brainless action men” suppress “clever mice”. The very people he despised at school and university have become high/flying lawyers and successful businessmen while he - who is far superior in intelligence - is rotting away in a hole, tormented by his landlord. Retired at the age of 40 because he had enough of working in a stupid, mindless job to pay the rent he has no prospects and little hope. After a particularly unpleasant evening the protagonist finds himself in a brothel where he meets the Russian prostitute Lisa. Having escaped from a miserable life in a nondescript rural town Lisa now finds herself trapped as an illegal sex worker. Will they be able to find a way out?

Thorston Manderlay gives a brilliant performance as the tormented protagonist who hides his sensitivity and capability for love behind the veneer of a sociopath. Anne Burns Walker is impressive as the young woman. 

Review by Carolin Kopplin

Visit the official Edinburgh Fringe website for more details and tickets:-
http://www.edfringe.com 

King Arthur by Siege Perilous

The Edinburgh based company Siege Perilous, well known for high quality adaptions of classical text as well as new writing, presents Lucy Nordberg's interpretation of King Arthur. The play is written in blank verse while using contemporary language, an intriguing combination.

King Arthur is an enlightened leader who decides to impose democracy on his people. Yet they will have to learn to rule themselves, and who will train them? Furthermore, a successor must be found as his marriage to Guinevere has remained childless. The Christian Arthur hopes to achieve peace with Morgan Le Fay who rules a Pagan border state by accepting his illegitimate son Mordred as heir to the throne. Mordred is trained for the role of a traditional king but in a democracy he would only be a figurehead. The confused teenager falls under the influence of power hungry factions in court who want the crown for themselves.

In this fine production the actors are present on stage all the time. The stage design is minimalist with a circular chequered floor and only few props. There are outstanding performances throughout, especially Jim Byars as Arthur, Paul Crommie as his antagonist Kay, Anne Kane Howie as Morgan Le Fay, and Allan Scott-Douglas as the scheming Breunor.

 
(Carolin Kopplin)


For tickets visit the official Edinburgh Fringe website  http://www.edfringe.com

Almost 10 is a darkly comic monologue about being a child.  Rachel is celebrating her ninth birthday but nobody comes to her party except for her best friend Hortense. So Rachel decides to call up the mothers of all fourteen girls who did not show pretending to be her own mother. She soon finds out that they all went to Eugenia's birthday party - a party to which she was not invited!

Clearly Rachel is not the most popular girl in school her mother calls her "Little Mowgli" because of her unruly hair and her art teacher won't let her draw her own picture for Mother's Day, she has to give somebody else's work to her mother who promptly adds it to the growing collection of paintings in the toilet. In this outrageously funny and touching show Rachel talks about her life and the poeple in it, aptly impersonating every single character to great comic effect - her vicious teachers, her obnoxious Bulgarian nanny, her overbearing mother, even He-Man!


(Carolin Kopplin)


For tickets visit the official Edinburgh Fringe website  http://www.edfringe.com