Review: One Thousand and One Nights - Parts 1 and 2

Photo: Eoin Carey

By Órla Murray
 
Tim Supple’s One Thousand and One Nights (Alf Layla wa-Layla), a two-part saga through layer upon layer of stories from across the Arab world, was a marvel to behold. With over five hours of skilfully interwoven stories creating a labyrinthine web, the performance was a feat of skill and endurance by the stunningly effective cast.
 
I saw both parts in the same day in an effort (however pathetic) to understand how demanding such a long and intricate performance might be for the nineteen strong cast and six-piece musical ensemble. Time and exertion seemed inconsequential to both the actors and myself as they eagerly jumped between characters and costumes, finding depth and emotion wherever they landed and effortlessly mesmerising the audience.
 
The hypnotic nature of the narrative helps make more believable the central plot. King Shahrayar’s obsessive quest to bed a different virgin every night and kill her the next day is overcome by the enthralling character of Shahrazad, who tells him such compelling stories with nightly cliff-hangers, that he cannot help but postpone her death sentence. This complex switching between stories and characters pleasantly cascaded over the audience, ensuring we were as enthralled by the storytelling as the King, and thus the lengthy performance managed both to retain my attention and to entertain.
 
The narrative and acting were matched with complex staging that managed to seamlessly transform between scenes and locations. The cast's graceful and often erotic movement sequences were supported by clever props and versatile and inventive costume changes. The direction had a beautiful mix of tongue-in-cheek humour and self-awareness, eroticism, and powerful emotional undercurrents, as the stories moved from horrific back-stabbings and tearful monologues to hilarious slapstick comedy routines and sensual dances.
 
The use of sumptuous fabrics and heavy wooden doors as a backdrop, lit with a rich red and blue lighting scheme, ensured the performance transported the audience out of their seats in the Lyceum and into the streets, bazaars and palaces of the Middle East and Asia. The stories and feelings they evoked in both the actors and audience were timeless, and this was sustained by the agelessness of the performance. Intermingling Arabic, French and English, puns and innuendos, traditional and modern costumes, one was never quite sure if this was set in a modern day Egyptian bazaar or a long-forgotten Ottoman harem.
 
Watching Parts 1 and 2 on the same day ensured I enjoyed Alf Layla wa-Layla in all its theatrical glory, with my attention held through the entire performance. I eagerly awaited the next instalment through each 15 minutes interval and the two hour break between parts and at the end felt profoundly sad that the performance was over.
 
Supple’s two-year long casting process was entirely justified by his beguiling ensemble of actors, who were a delight and an honour to watch, This performance truly captured the feel of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival by showcasing not only the best stories but also the best talents from the Arabic speaking world with an immersive and entrancing experience that was my personal highlight of this year’s festival season.
 
One Thousand and One Nights closes at the Royal Lyceum Theatre on Saturday 3 September. Part 1 will be performed at 2pm, followed by Part 2 at 7pm.
 
Book now at eif.co.uk/1001
 
The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.

Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize 2011: The TEAM

Photo: Rachel Chavkin

By Emma Caldwell

The Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize is awarded each year to a Fringe artist, or company, who has the potential to develop their work and transfer it to the International Festival’s stage. The prize promotes excellence in the arts and provides an opportunity for up-and-coming artists to develop and devise new ideas. It also helps strengthen links between the Festival and the Fringe, recognising the wealth of talent performing in Edinburgh every year. The winner is selected by Festival Director Jonathan Mills on the recommendations of a panel of expert judges, all of whom work in the arts.

This year the prize has been awarded to The TEAM (Theatre of the Emerging American Moment) for their production Mission Drift. The New York-based company first decided to come to Edinburgh in 2005 after attending the Edinburgh Fringe Road Show in New York City which convinced Artistic Director Rachel Chavkin Edinburgh was a great place to showcase work and get reviews. They took a gamble and brought over Give Up! Start Over!  a solo performance about reality television, Richard Nixon and the search for authenticity in America. Luckily the gamble paid off - the company had an incredibly successful run at C Venues and won a Scotsman Fringe First Award.

Following the success of their Fringe debut, The TEAM returned in 2006 with Particularly in the Heartland, another work exploring and celebrating the experience of living in America. This piece was set in Kansas, America’s heartland, and featured a series of bizarre and inventive characters - an alien in possession of the body of a dead pregnant teenage girl, a business woman named Dorothy whose plane has crashed in the cornfields, and the ghost of 1968 democratic presidential hopeful and liberal icon Robert F. Kennedy. In another year of critical acclaim, the company was awarded its second Fringe First.

Returning in 2008 with Architecting, the company told the story of the American South, taking the audience on a multi-media road trip through civil war, and questioning whether the country would ever recover from slavery. Playing to sell-out audiences at the Traverse Theatre and receiving numerous five star reviews, it was no surprise when this production won the TEAM their third Fringe First award.

Mission Drift is the company’s most ambitious project to date. The production held its world premiere at the Traverse Theatre earlier this month following development work at the Almeida in London. The piece is an exploration of capitalism, told through atomic blasts, lizard ballet and music that fuses Vegas glitz with Western ballads and Southern Blues. It follows the story of an immortal Dutch couple setting out west from Amsterdam to New Amsterdam to financially devastated modern-day Las Vegas. Focusing on the meaning and shape of American Capitalism, it takes the audience on a picaresque and avant-garde journey through the quest for the American dream.

The production was well received by both audiences and critics. The Guardian’s Lyn Gardner praised the way the company “playfully dissected” the economics of modern America while The Telegraph declared it the best show they had seen at the Fringe. The Independent summed up the experience thus: “The TEAM specialise in total theatre... they also specialise in total entertainment”.

The TEAM were thrilled to be recognised by the International Festival with the Fringe Prize, and are delighted with the opportunities it provides to develop their work for new audiences. They will use the Prize to create a new project and are already brimming with ideas of what to do next. Look out for the TEAM at Festival 2012.

For more information about the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe prize visit eif.co.uk.

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.

Review: King Lear

Photo: Dirk Bleicker

By Órla Murray

Royal Lyceum Theatre
Monday 15 August

Wu Hsing-kuo’s one man performance of King Lear is a profoundly different retelling of Shakespeare’s tragic play, proving that a simple, minimal set juxtaposed with a vivid soundscape is all that is needed to create an engaging and moving backdrop to a solo performance of epic proportions.

This distinctive production of Lear places the classic male eponymous role front and centre, illustrating how challenging the character of Lear is both physically and emotionally for the actor, whilst simultaneously playing up the egoism required to properly command the position.

Act One plays out the internal monologue and mental anguish suffered during Lear’s descent into madness, whilst mixing in the music, sounds and song of traditional Peking Opera style theatre that Wu himself is best known for. There are echoes of postmodernist literature sprinkled sparingly throughout the retelling whereby Wu allows himself - the actor - to speak and remark on his interaction with Lear. These moments between the audience and actor are brief and seem incidental, ensuring it does not feel heavy handed.

Wu manages to pull off an astonishing medley of character transformations in Act Two, when the performance appears to become an abstract extrapolation of Lear’s use of the royal “we” - all the characters are played by this unstoppable force of an actor. The intense emphasis on the eponymous Lear puts a new spin on the old tale, allowing us to feel the difference between Lear’s own tragedy and that of other characters in the story.

Wu is astonishingly nimble when leaping between characters as he tip-toes, stomps and prances about the stage, which allows him to both metaphorically and literally slip between roles. He moves effortlessly into physically demanding sequences of movement accompanied by haunting and atmospheric music. He contrasts almost farcical interpretations of the daughters Goneril and Regan and endearingly funny playings of the Fool and Edgar, with his serious, and unfortunately, brief moments as Edmund, Gloucester and Cordelia. Regardless of the characters though, the action is always either directed to Lear or is Lear.

Light and sound were effectively used to fill the stage, dwarfing the actor and emphasising his aloneness. This is particularly striking in the third and final act when Wu plays out the deaths of Cordelia and Lear with an emotional intensity that takes the audience by surprise. The last haunting visual we see is Lear carrying clothing in a pieta style representing dead Cordelia, just before he himself is lifted high off the stage with a single spotlight fading over his face.

Whilst the production was incredibly striking and deeply touching in parts, there was a distinct inaccessibility hanging over the reinterpretation. For those who are unacquainted with the twists and turns of Shakespeare’s King Lear, this production might not provide sufficient context or explanation to sufficiently engage and enthral as it does for those familiar with the original story. Regardless of this, however, the cultural and aesthetic elements are incredibly beautiful and absorbing, giving ample opportunity for even the most unenthused theatre-goer to find delight and wonder in this blend of Shakespeare and Peking Opera.

 If, indeed one is already a fan of such classical productions, then this is a challenging and ultimately rewarding addition to theatrical interpretations of Lear’s struggles, told in a way which allows the audience to feel the actor’s challenges and thus better understand the character’s profound loneliness. A visually pleasing and aurally distinct piece which showcases both the brilliance of Wu as an actor/writer/director and the distinct traditions of Far East Asia in all their theatrical glory.

King Lear
Contemporary Legend Theatre

13 – 16 August
Royal Lyceum Theatre

eif.co.uk/lear

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.

Review: The Tempest

Photo: 2DOHEE 2010

By Mateusz Jazdzewski

King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
Saturday 13 August

For those of us unfamiliar with Asian theatre it may have come as a surprise that two of the four productions at this year’s Festival are based on Shakespeare. The Mokwha Repertory Company’s The Tempest interprets Shakespeare’s plot in the context of Korean history and culture.

Mokwha’s production has a visually coherent and attractive structure, with ritual choreography, mask theatre, beautiful live music and dancers of great physical skill. Every element is perfectly synchronised and the strength of the lighting design allows the sequence of colourful images to run as smoothly as a pulsing rollercoaster.

Sceptics could be disappointed that the visual elements of the performance take precedence and that none of the serious matters or relationships between the characters are deepened. But perhaps we should not expect a Korean company to read The Tempest in the same context and manner as it is often read in Europe. This production proves that impressive choreography and intriguing music can do the work of a thousand words.

Since the 1960s when dramas by Shakespeare, Ibsen and Shaw began to appear on the Korean stage they have been intertwined with the country’s own stories and styles of drama. The Tempest is realised in just this fashion as director Tae-Suk Oh transport’s Shakespeare’s characters into the frame of similar history from 5^th-century Korea. At that time, two brothers were competing for the throne; one was forced to leave the country and they met and were reconciled many year’s later – just as in Shakespeare’s comedy.

And the director has clearly emphasised the comedy of the piece. Both the physicality of the acting and the delivery of particularly frivolous lines produce an enthusiastic reaction from the audience. Notable is the sequence parodying Swan Lake when the stage is crossed by a row of actors dressed as giant Korean ducks as well as the physical skill extremely entertaining performances of the two actors portraying the double-headed monster, Caliban.

The Tempest clearly fits with the Festival’s aim of showcasing work from the east that offers a unique perspective on western culture, bringing east and west together in visual, physical comedy.

The Tempest

Mokwha Repertory Company

13-16 August, 7.30pm

King's Theatre, Edinburgh

eif.co.uk/tempest

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.