What: King Arthur, by Siege Perilous
Where: New Town Theatre, Freemasons’ Hall
When: 14:45, August 5–30 (not 9, 17, 24)
How Much: £5–12

In 140 characters or less: “Densely written political intrigue combined with crises of faith, stark and moving but at times overly complex and ambitious for its length.”

The legend of King Arthur has been endlessly retold over the centuries, as successive ages find their own meaning in the timeless stories.  In this stark production writer/producer Lucy Nordberg places the famous characters in a vaguely 20th century setting, testing the relevance of Arthurian themes to our own times.

The play leaps rather abruptly into the heart of the issue, as Arthur (Jim Byars) discusses his plan to institute democracy in his kingdom as a means of ensuring the continuation of his policies for good.  However, the king quickly encounters opposition from many parties within the court who hold other ambitions.  There are also concerns about the people’s interest in and ability to rule themselves, highlighting the conflict between blind faith and reason that runs through the Arthurian myths.  The struggle is particularly strong for Arthur’s illegitimate son Mordred (Steven McMahon), who has been displaced from his own kingdom to take his place as heir at his father’s court and is immediately lost in the ever-shifting moral and political landscape.  In this sense Mordred, and many of the other characters wrestling with their own values and allegiances, are apt representations of individuals trapped in modern society:   confused and distressed by the erosion of traditional culture and values, and disoriented by the loss of their homelands through economic or political necessity.

A cast attired in slightly ill-fitted evening wear and and a spare set that hints at a oversized chessboard comfortably enhance the mood of tense plotting.  There is none of the magic and glory of the Arthurian myth in this retelling, save in the saddened reminisces of the king’s oldest followers, who feel they have hitched their wagon to a dream only to see it crash under the weight of age and change.  Instead the mood is heavy with a sense of decline and irrevocable decay, with Renaissance music and dialogue written in iambic pentameter adding a gloss of past elegance.

The script is rich and highly poetic, but unfortunately the pace at which the dialogue is spoken is often so rapid that its complexity cannot be processed in time.  Nordberg introduces some strikingly beautiful imagery, but there is no time to savour these ideas if the viewer wishes to keep apace with the development of action.  This headlong race through the story is both a strength and a weakness:  in one sense the show can be commended for covering so much intricate material in only an hour and a half, while on the other hand it is a pity that the ideas and characters are given so little time to breathe.  This is epic stuff, and while the capable cast do manage performances that are accessible and moving, the audience is left feeling a little clobbered with the weight of it all.  Perhaps this was the intention;  and for those who are not looking for a pretty spectacle of chivalry and romance, it is ultimately an interesting take on the standard legend.

Festbuzz Rating:

Words: Domenica Goduto

What: Ballad of the Skull Fairy by The Stealth Fantastic
Where: Underbelly
When: 6 — 15 August
How Much: £6 — £10

In 140 characters or less: “A rollicking phantasmagoria of murder, betrayal, good, evil, skulls, giant squids, arm-flailing, and obscene poems from the West Country!”

Part of the magic of the Fringe is the dizzyingly haphazard layout of the performances: theatre for breakfast, perhaps, with a quick dose of comedy to perk you up after work and maybe a musical as the centrepiece of an evening. Then there are the late-night performances, the type you sometimes stumble into after one drink too many, and which seem like a brilliant idea at the time. I suspect this was the case for more than a few members of the audience at the Ballad of the Skull Fairy, though the addition of a bit of alcohol would no doubt help this mishmash of silly comedy go down a little better.

The show (for the performers themselves openly admit that Ballad is not a play and was in fact mislabelled in the Fringe catalogue as theatre) loosely follows the quest of the impressionable Marc (Marc Vestey) to procure a skull for his evil lord, the Skull Fairy (Will Seaward) in order to become a skull prince. What Marc doesn’t know is that the Skull Fairy actually intends to hit him over the head with the skull, and then kill the king of China in the same manner and begin his domination of the world. Or something like that. To be honest, the plot hardly matters, as it is so vague and incidental to the bursts of surreal physical comedy and witty wordplay that are intended to be the main attraction. However, the end result is a performance that drifts somewhere between theatre and stand-up without ever capturing the best elements of either.

It’s a pity, as writer/director/performer Seaward and his sidekick Vestey possess character-acting talent and humour to spare. Seaward is the creator of the hugely popular “Bouncy Castle Experiment”, in which versions of Hamlet, Macbeth and Dracula were precariously staged on bouncy castles at festivals past. Over the last few years these irreverent offerings became highlights of the Fringe. Unfortunately, Ballad of the Skull Fairy seems unlikely to follow this trend. While the performance is very funny, in a mad, slapstick, sometimes utterly random manner, and does contain the elements advertised on the tin (skulls, tibias, gratuitous giant squids, arm-flailing and obscene poems), the viewer is ultimately left wondering what is the point of it all.

The show is akin to watching a pair of very clever drama school students goofing off in the high school cafeteria – entertaining and amusing, but aside from the odd one-liner, hardly memorable. The audience giggled and guffawed aplenty, but I suspect many eventually grew a bit weary of the outright silliness of it all. If the show had been structured and presented as stand-up or even comedic sketches, or else pinned more securely to a well-crafted plot, Seaward and Vestey’s abilities would have found a better showcase. As it stands, however, Ballad of the Skull Fairy is best left as a late-night bit of fun to finish off an evening’s merriment, without too many expectations.

Festbuzz Rating:

Words: Domenica Goduto

What: A Clockwork Orange by EatTheBaby Productions
Where: C, Chambers St
When: 10pm Wed 5 — 22 Aug
How Much: £7.50-£10.50

In 140 characters or less: “A Clockwork Orange: a tightly wound and precise (time)piece of choreography marred by a less than an organic team.”

First, a disclaimer: I haven’t seen the film A Clockwork Orange. Despite being aware of the iconography, a great fan of Kubrick’s work, and generally not averse to strong scenes of violence, after reading the novel by Anthony Burgess some ten years ago I was left suitably shocked enough never to want to see anything from it visually depicted: my imagination and Burgess’ dense text had left me bereft enough.

So it was odd that I found myself on my way to see this play of the novel. I arrived with no visual expectations and therefore EatTheBaby’s sparse but careful use of colour and mix-and-match uniforms was an intriguing take on the tone of the source material.

Now seems a timely moment to resurrect a work as much about the social anxiety growing around the perceived role of young people in society and the origin of evil, as about the political corruption of art and censorship. With the media’s current fixation on knife crime and the safety of “our children” it seems more appropriate than ever to address the moral corruption of youth and the role of the state in the upbringing and education of children.

Alex’s journey from gleeful and childish ultra-violence with his gang of droogs through his encounters with multiple possible salvations, be it church, state, family, love or science, is a series of set scenes rendered as sketches with caricatured authority figures and uniformed goons. The satirical elements of the text are brought to the fore, though with a little work on timing and delivery this black comedy could easily be played for stronger laughs.

The highlight of EatTheBaby’s production was the excellent fight scenes: tightly choreographed and truly quite shocking. The sinister silence of the thugs, be they gang members, police, scientists or prisoners, was chilling, and the distress of the victims was played with troubling sincerity.

The only thing this production lacked (but will probably increase in as the festival goes on) was efficient timing outside the fights. During spoken scenes the actors were turn-taking rather than interacting and there was no tangible chemistry between them. Jacob Taee does a good job of channelling teenage angst (it’s easy to forget Alex is just seventeen) alongside a more vitriolic hatred of authority, but there’s something lacking in the cast’s reactions to him.

However, overall this is a creatively directed and good retelling of a classic text. The production highlights the timeless nature of the debate about state and the individual and avoids invoking a simplistic moral response from the audience.

Festbuzz Rating:

Words: Elise Bramich

Photo: Adam Levy

In 140 characters or less: “Warehouse 364: Where good things happen to bad people. Like Cube meets In Bruges.”

A tale of interconnected, but seemingly disparate, strangers embroiled in dastardly goings on as a result of some farcical misunderstandings. Warehouse 364 would have all the makings of a turn-of-the-century parlour comedy were it not for the brash language and motley crew of unsavoury characters which inhabit this slightly surreal underworld.

The show is about the singular part time prostitute Eleanor, better known as simply E. Oddly starting the show with a monologue about loss of innocence, childhood, and distance, Anna Sherriff plays an aimless yet brave heroine whose fate is determined more by happenstance than any of her own failings.

The story follows E as she aspires towards a better life after a chance meeting and miscommunication with villain Tuffnell (a world weary Tom Warren), and a fleeting glimpse of the money and potential power that could be hers.

As a result, she finds herself in the gangland hangout of master drug criminals, (though slightly more eccentric and eloquent than I imagine real drug runners are), trying to escape a maze-like series of rooms, chased by her hapless roommate Sally (exasperated mother-figure Laura Wishart), and a bizarre selection of thugs desperate for blood, revenge and answers.

Will Vickers is a bit of a treat as head thug Lipson, whom he has chosen to portray as something of a Malcolm Tucker, the anti-hero spin doctor from BBC hit satire The Thick of It. A psychopath in the true sense of the word, his scathing remarks are far more chilling than the rest of his gun-toting antics, and it’s a proper delight to watch his underlings squirm under his gaze.

The only unsettling thing about Warehouse 364 is the lack of a moral centre: while I don’t believe any piece of art needs a singular purpose or ethical message to be successful, I was left doubting my sympathies for any of the characters, and feeling slightly disappointed that there wasn’t any real resolution to the plot. However, though the sudden ending left me crestfallen, I heartily enjoyed the ride.

Festbuzz Rating:

Words: Elise Bramich