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Gunter Summerhall – Anatomy Lecture Theatre Edinburgh Fringe 2023 1605. Two boys have been murdered. Their mum wants justice. Brian Gunter is the richest in the village in the south of England and, with that, come intimidation and favours. A tense feud starts between the Gunters and the Gregorys, and when Brian’s daughter Anne falls ill, there’s only one thing that could have happened - she must have been bewitched. Dirty Hare (UK) present “Gunter”: a chaotic reimagining of the most notorious bewitchment case you've never heard of. This retelling has blood, honey, water, animal masks, squashed fruit and a banging soundtrack. As enter the space a video projection of contemporary football violence plays. Very male. Very ugly. This mirrors the ancient village in south of England’s hysteria over the possible bewitchment. It signals that this show is about the effects of violence and the patriarchy. Historian Lydia Higman - who wrote the show and plays electric guitar and drums side of stage - introduces a harrowing tale of misogyny and fear. Higman continues to narrate the story as required alongside projected titles to set each scene. The action is played out by three women Julia Grogan, Norah Lopez-Holden, and Hannah Jarrett-Scott. All great actors playing multiple characters with impressive three-part harmony singing which infuses the piece with a charged atmosphere. It’s a multi-talented and astute company of women in the feminist fringe work. That we are an old Anatomy Lecture Theatre adds to the ambience of witchy incantation and discovery. The character of Anne writhes, disappears, and reappears nails, is opening brazen – everything you’d expect from the damned. Anne is put on trial. Gunter is put on trial. It’s an edge of the seat ride with possibly predictable outcomes and it does feel a bit worthy by the end. But that doesn’t make the production any less enjoyable. This is drama, physical theatre, music, and history fused into a haunting story telling form by this all-female company. The real-life case drew the attention of academics, doctors, and even King James I, but most documents (as well as the result of the trial) have been lost in the chaos that ensued when the Gunpowder Plot failed (more ye olde English history!). “Gunter” is energetic, genuinely amusing, and quite original in its reclaiming of Anne’s voice. Kate Gaul

(Hong) Kong Girls Summerhall – Demonstration Lab Edinburgh Fringe 2023 From China “(Hong) Kong Girls” is a triple bill of three Hong Kong female choreographer-dancers: PK Wong, Alice Ma and Justyne Li. "Kong Girl" was once a negative label for non-normative women in Hong Kong. As time has passed with different political and social changes the title has been reclaimed and, "Kong Girl" has turned from a negative label to a positive one. Three female choreographers use totally different approaches to tell their own stories and to show their identity of being a "Kong Girl" with multi-perspectives. These perspectives are diverse and all grapple with the idea of bodily control and agency. PK Wong’s “Bird- watching” explores the freedom of the body and desire. Wong uses faceless nudity to arrest us with the presence of the body and at times the movements are terrifying. The length of the piece is challenging in a good way and has the audience move from connecting with any eroticism to considering the power and presence of the female body. Justyne Li’s “Bleed-through” is inspired by the way in a body is “programmed” by external instructions and therefore, movement is dictated from elsewhere. Her movements are jagged and puppet-like. It acknowledges that individually we can see and feel the body, and yet we are not aware of it. It is an oppositional idea and through this “Bleed-through” cuts to the core of structural violence on women’s bodies. Alice Ma’s “Wu” sees the jagged disintegration of a life-sized music box dancer – a Black Swan-esque fracturing of body and psyche that builds to a genuinely unsettling final image. The work is inspired by Wu’s feelings of ugliness and the need to deal with those thoughts. This work is perhaps the most conventional from a visual point-of-view but that does not diminish in any way it’s plea for change. Each piece is stylistically very different. The hour-long contemplation on bodies, ownership and acceptance is powerful. There is not attempt to make this more palatable and we cannot look away. “(Hong) Kong Girls” is very much a call to arms to smash stereotypes, a focus on resistance and a chance to recalibrate thoughts on objectification and the body. “(Hong) Kong Girls” is at the pointy-end of contemporary dance at Edinburgh Fringe and I am pleased to have encountered it. Kate Gaul

Laura Murphy, Contra and Carré Magique present the stunning “A Spectacle of Herself” at Summerhall. Directed with assurance by the great Ursula Martinez and performed by savvy Laura Murphy herself this is an audacious sequence of scenes exploring the frontiers of mental health, queerness, rage and the 21st Century space race. All of which off an alternate vision of being a woman in the world and on stage. Laura Murphy is a genre-defying queer performance maker from Bristol, who makes text-driven and dynamic physical performance about things that she thinks needs to be talked about. Challenging, intimate and spectacular, her work is a cross-disciplinary fusion of theatre, live art, circus, and verbal explosion. Technology is both form and content and Murphy’s video project work throughout the show is both innovative, accessible, and artful. When it starts it does feel like we are in for some critical theory and that the show “may be good for us”. But fear not, autobiography collides with creative practice to create a gym for the mind and a feast for the eyes. The aerial work is stunning and the resonant images and journey from the opening images of a fully clothed body to that of the closing images of the naked body are potent. Lived experience of autism, everyday sexism, violence, and abuse pepper the content. The lone male genius gets a poke. Using direct address, lip synch and karaoke, the work navigates the personal and political, to seek out new worlds and ways to be seen. It’s reminding us to question the status quo and maintain the rage! To be honest, the karaoke scene didn’t work for me – I just didn’t get it but I do love Whitney Houston. The final message is “Fuck the Patriarchy.” This is not the kind of show you take mum and dad to on a Saturday night (maybe you should) but it goes a long way to filling the void between easily digestible mainstream feminist fare and powerful, empowering, and provocative work. It’s the kind of thing that stays with you. Mesmerising! It's a super short premiere season in Edinburgh. I predict you will catch it on the festival circuit around the world. Kate Gaul

“Insomniac's Fable” communicates its story through strong visuals and two highly skilled performers over 45 minutes. It is performed by circus artist Sakari Männistö and Scottish dancer Erin O’Toole for Agit Cirk – a multidisciplinary company based in Finland. “Insomniac’s Fable” is an intimate contemporary circus and dance piece about the realities- or unrealities - of love. Creative Sakari Männistö has said “The genesis of this project was our interest in making a narrative piece combining dance, circus, and visual art, specifically the art of print making, and the techniques involved in woodcuts. We saw the relationship between a carved wooden block and the paper upon which it impresses a mirror image as a metaphor for two people’s perception of one event. Around these ideas, we constructed a story that is somewhere between the films “Vertigo” and “Inception”, sources that toy with layers of reality and the theme of love versus obsession.” Choreographer Emma Lister adds, “I’m very interested in dreams, in the literal sense of the journeys we take when asleep and the more conscious daydream: a future, a wish, a revenge or an idealised person. Here the dream is of the ‘perfect girl’. One who will fulfil all your desires, after them life will come together.” That’s what the blurbs tells us. For me it is charmingly non-narrative immersion blending dance, superb woodcut video animations (Angela Annesley), resonant music, graphic costumes, and juggling. The stage is set with a wafting white curtain. It takes projections, creates some visual niceties when artists are on the other side of it – but the best thing about the curtain is that is moves up and down stage and doesn’t always sit parallel to the audience. This little piece of theatrical trickery warmed my heart – so simple and all manipulated by the onstage cast, and yet wholly whimsical. Especially as the wafts are sometimes aided but an eclectic fan. Magic! There is an evocative eclectic soundtrack which works its own magic on the listener in the cocoon of the theatre. The dreamlike world is one of images and emotion. A beautiful sequence with a red ribbon and the moments when the performers are working inside the animation is beyond fabulous. Striking tableau also feature. The dancer atop a stepladder was breath-taking. Each moment is created and then disappears with the logic of a dream. Bookended as the piece is with the setting and striking of a ghost light begins and ends our journey. The work is elegant, redolent with space to write our own story and meaning, and a surreal early morning show that may just convince you that you are still inside your dreams. Kate Gaul

Written and performed but the incredible Will Pickvance “First Piano on the Moon” is an all-ages show centered around his passion for piano playing and his joy at breaking the mould and inspiring – nay, insisting - others to do the same. The stage is set with a piano, some pale coloured screens which take projected pencil line drawings, and his backpack. It seems there is nothing Will cannot do with a piano – he really can play Maple Leaf Rag while upside down. He shows us how if you only have one hand you can play the piano with a roll of gaffa tape; And of course, he can play a tune when the sheet music is the wrong way around. “First Piano on the Moon” is a narrative about a young Will who doesn’t really concentrate at school but can perform marvellous tricks (his words) on the piano. He receives an invitation to play piano in Salzburg to honour Mozart’s birthday. This is such a brilliant story that moves through time and space and about how “real genius always welcomes the new” (The Scotsman). Incredibly, the young pianists are all staying in Mozart’s Gerbutzhaus and Will teaches us this German word for birthplace. Will explains how Mozart was hearing music all the time and how his era was different to ours. He beautifully captures the wonder he feels at seeing the instruments Mozart played where sounds came from Mozart’s brain into his fingers and back into his ears again. He cannot sleep and that night, as he explores the halls and salons of this special place, he meets the ghost of Mozart. This cultural clash par excellence results in a sharing of musical styles – most of which are completely new to Mozart! What is jazz, blues or swing to a man of the 1700s? Audaciously Will thinks he can teach Mozart a thing or two. And into the wee hours the two – one trickster, one genius – share tricks and skills, introducing and reworking some classic tunes as well as theme tunes from “Bluey” and “Super Mario”. Pickvance has an onstage assistant to play Mozart and any of the other important characters in the story. There’s a telling admission on Will’s website – “When I was at school, I noticed that pianos were often locked, or stowed away under some dust cover, out of bounds. Why would you lock up a piano? Why would you prevent people from making them sing (or scream). The forbidden piano I recall best was one in Salzburg. In fairness, it was Mozart’s actual piano. But to stop people playing it full stop. What? Banned so that future generations may also be banned from playing it? Forget that. I needed to connect with the great composer. I was thrown out the museum by security after a few bars of Rondo alla Turca. Growing up, piano was my thing. I just loved it. But even at a young age I felt suppressed by attitudes, snobbery, expectation. These felt like just other ways in which the piano was locked up.” This light-hearted work has such integrity. It is made with care for its young audiences and is incredibly entertaining. Will Pickvance and team share the power of music in a tangible and artful way. It will leave you breathless with excitement and I guarantee you will never hear the tune “Happy Birthday” in the same way again. Kate Gaul

“Oh I do love to be beside the Sea Side!” especially the imaginary sea side of virtuosic clown Olly Gully who is writer and performer of this comic one-act gem! The Story - Chris and Christine are a seasoned seaside mother-son double-act. But when Christine mysteriously refuses to perform, Chris' chaotic solo-effort takes both dangerously out of their depth. Directed by Sophie Mercell this camp and irreverent 60-minute romp takes a darkly-comic dive into the unfathonable deep. Olly Gully borrows from old fashioned sea-side entertainment and some of the jokes and tropes are deliberately recognisable. The former women’s locker room at Summerhall is set with a red, white, and gold trimmed curtain behind which is the “backstage” where quite a bit is going to happen. There is a blow-up child’s pool full of colourful props, a microphone, and a music stand with several laminated title slides to announce each scene. Gully stands before us in a gorgeous off-white baggy pants suit, blue shirt and red bowtie and cummerbund. From his pockets flow endless silk hankies on occasion. Olly Gully creates consciously theatrical work with a particular focus on exploring LGBTQIA+ themes and mental health. The happy face of the clown hides its opposite. In “Sea Words” our beleaguered entertainer and his relationship with Christine point to modern day mental health challenges in the modern family. How do we navigate the treatment of mental health across generations when one person needs help but doesn't know what, and the other wants to help but doesn't know how? Other socially conscious themes include the effect of plastics in the sea and sponsorship deals, in this case with a water refinery. Don’t worry – we are on the colourful high seas and character Chris never lets us become becalmed. Bouncing on the surface of the choppy seas is a three-dimensional character with energy that burns as might as magnesium. Olly Gully keeps us laughing, interacting, and joining him in the occasional blue joke. His beaming smile, elastic physicality, and excellent design choices all make this show a winner. The desert island routine with the last chocolate is so daggy and so delightful. Pure gold clowning. What a privilege to be in the room. Go see this show!! Kate Gaul

The Insider Zoo Venue – Edinburgh Fringe 2023 Denmark’s Teater Katapult’s present “The Insider”- a work that successfully turns complex accounting law into a mesmerising theatrical event. This is a play by writer Anna Skov Jensen about the Cum-Ex strategy: an illicit and intricate scheme that saw over billions robbed from European treasuries and illegally paid out to a complex network of lawyers and bankers, taking advantage of the labyrinthine bureaucracy surrounding share dividend rebates. Mmm- it took me a while to get into it. A young unnamed lawyer, played by Christoffer Hvidberg Rønje, is in a Perspex box which becomes the places in which he operates and his prison. Through projection and lighting effects, we learn how he is drawn into the scheme, helps recruit others, and how the complex crime actually takes place. From interrogation room to business meetings, nightclubs to his home and even in the shower, we eavesdrop as his life unravels. It’s an emotional, physical, and technically astute performance. Through binaural headsets for the audience, we are fed distorted versions of his voice and other voices, arguing, or conversing with him. We hear every breath, every scrape of pen on paper, every thrilling movement within the cube, and the lines of the characters he connects with. “The Insider” is like a radio-play and makes for an intensely voyeuristic immersive and nightmarish experience. The young lawyer and father draws cartoon figures and piles of cash on the walls as he is seduced into embezzling millions as he beings to believe he’s not part of society, he’s above it: an apex predator, feeding on invisible victims. Christoffer Hvidberg Rønje is compelling to watch as he tumbles into cocaine binges, rages at his children, and tries to justify himself to incredulous prosecutors. In one scene he uses golden glitter to suggest a drug binge and the incredible wealth he is attracting. It sticks to his sweat glistened skin, and he looks like a god who is falling from grace as he crawls, jumps, and dives around his prison. It is hard going to stick to all the facts and figures and it’s tricky to empathise with the guy who you know is in the wrong – this isn’t an easy work. We know these dudes didn’t get away with it – but they could have. The imagery and technical wizardry certainly dress up a Faustian pact. Anna Skov Jensen’s play is a unique reflection on greed and the cost of succumbing to temptation. Kate Gaul

Good Morning, Faggi Summer Hall – Red Lecture Theatre Edinburgh Fringe 2023 “Good morning, Faggi” comes to Edinburgh Festival Fringe from Iceland’s Perplex Theatre Company. It’s a part cabaret, part musical, part confessional, and wholeheartedly an important look at ourselves! Bjarni Snæbjörnsson is onstage – it’s his story – with pal Axel Ingi Árnason at the keyboard. Loving these Icelandic names? Bjarni teases us with names of villages, fjords, fisherman and factoids about Iceland. The text is extremely evocative and that’s important because Iceland emerges as this liberal wonderland where men live happily with partners and dogs in fabulous apartments and drive electric cars. The songs are original, and this show is slick and sophisticated. Bjarni is a man in control. Deeper, there is shame, and vulnerability. In the past, Bjarni Snæbjörnsson has found his teenage diaries, and is so taken by the content that he decides he must write a show based on his childhood ponderings and letters to his mother - and of course, it needs to be a musical! He is an incessant (obsessed?) diarist and its incredible source material. He has the precious diaries and actual letters onstage. Truth! He travels from Iceland to Canada and later to Australia. Hoping to come out in Australia’s gay capital he finds himself in Canberra in March 2000. Bummer! The Olympics and Mardi Gras are over. Canberra (still) has only one gay bar. But persistence pays off! Obviously huge laughs of recognition from the Aussie in the audience (me!). Jump to the future - as he navigates his personal history, he has a nervous breakdown. Knowing he still must write this play, with the support of dear friends, composer Axel Ingi and director Gréta Kristín Ómarsdóttir, he tries to understand what happened to cause his mental collapse. A meta-theatrical performance about its own creation, “Good Morning, Faggi” explores how internalised homophobia is learned in supposedly liberal countries. It asks the audience to consider how liberals centre themselves in coming-out narratives, and questions if tolerance is enough to end systemic oppression. A perfectly crafted show where audiences can be reduced to sobbing messes as Bjarni stops the finale number, packs up his diaries and letters, and turns to us with a plea for change and kindness. Gay people, straight people, all ages need to see this show – gather your friends. Take an imaginative tour of Iceland and spend an hour with this radiant and talented gentleman as he visits the darker chambers of the human heart. Kate Gaul

“Bloody Elle” is gig theatre at its best presented at Traverse Theatre. Written, composed, and performed by Lauryn Redding, in words and music she shares Elle’s story – working at Chips and Dips during days, and playing music in pubs at night. This is a meticulously crafted solo performance with music. Lauryn Redding’s is a magnificent performance that literally invites everyone in the theatre to embrace this intimate and sensitive story. I just didn’t want the 90 minutes to end. Directed with and eye and ear for pacing by Bryony Shanahan, the production is no-nonsense in its setting so the action can move fluidly across raised, speckly platforms of designer Amanda Stoodley’s set. It's a in a coming-of-age tale wrapped up in an odd couple/chalk-and-cheese love story. Elle is fiercely working class. Eve is a posh girl and on a break before heading to Oxford and med school. She took the Chips and Dips job to piss-off her father. Redding captures each character in Elle’s work and home life with such detail and ease. She has us rolling in the aisles many times, swaying to her tunes and just in awe of what is unfolding. But of course, there is no sweet without the sour. The attraction between Elle and Eve blooms and before they know it, they have embarked on a summer of secret love. Infatuation, joy, fear, and the sheer thrill of first love are captured. This is an ode to first love, first queer love, and its terrifying consequences. Our tears flow as we witness the choices these two young people have ahead of them. What sets this piece apart is that the songs themselves are superb, marrying lyricism with both narrative and raw emotion. They are a window to Elle’s inner self, bursting out of her, allowing her to express the emotions and feelings that she barely understands. The power of the live performance, looping riffs, and vocals with pedals to build the soundscape, adds extra depth. Redding tells us this is an autobiographical tale, and we know how things have worked out for her. And Eve? Queue for a ticket to this one! This is fierce lesbian pride onstage and a story for everyone. Kate Gaul

“Creepy Boys” is the latest offering from Canadian queer theatre company Scantily Glad Theatre. The website tells us: “Frustrated with the limited possibilities for queer and transgender folks within the rigid gender binaries of existing theatre landscapes, we create new work. Through self-creation, we can tell stories overlooked by Canadian theatre and create empowering queer theatre on our own terms. We aim to present intellectual and political ideas to an audience from a loving, empowering and, often silly place. We believe laughter is the best way to educate and create change.” “Creepy Boys” invites us to a surprise thirteenth birthday party for identical twin boys - a perverted, horny, and simply hilarious affair. On arrival the audience is instantly swept up in a cavalcade of party games, sing-alongs to half-remembered angsty 2000s hits, and stories from their colourful lives. A notable party-pooper, and omnipotent voice from above, is “Sharon”, the babysitter who occasionally intervenes to stop them having too much fun. This is their twisted fantasy and today is the day they finally get everything they've ever wanted. Real-life lovers turned identical twin boys; “Creepy Boys” is a bizarre comedy horror mashup with just a splash of the occult. The website tells us the show was created while trapped in Australia by artists Sam Kruger and Grumms. Its queer themes are dramatised through the inability for these boys to work out who they are in their pubescent state. An audience member will bare a bottom. Willem Defoe turns up, Satan is conjured; parents are absent. We play truth or dare. There is balloons, streamers, and dancing to a sexy song. Kids amusing themselves or filling a void? Loneliness and discontent beckon. It is a really hard show to describe but it’s kind of about generational existential malaise. It’s a very funny show no matter how you read it. The performers are endlessly inventive and full of beans. Further research reveals that “Creepy Boys” is created through the virtues of Canadian Pochinko clowning, which merges the pedagogy of French clown teacher Jacques Lecoq and Canadian First Nations performance practice. These two traditions came together to form the Pochinko technique. At the core of this approach is the idea that if we can face all the directions of ourselves, North, South, East, West, Up, Down, we can only laugh – at the beauty and wonder that is in us. Well, whichever way these Creepy Boys are facing is bloody thought provoking, funny and not easily forgotten. Kate Gaul

Haddangse Korea Theatre Company return to Edinburgh with this gem of a production “At that Time, Byeon” Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) was a traumatic experience for Koreans. For the first ten years Japan ruled directly through the military, and any Korean dissent was ruthlessly crushed. During that time a maid – Byeon, also known as Maria – was murdered and her killer was never bought to justice. Haddangse have created an inventive Chaplinesque black comedy that tells the story of Maria’s death. This is a story of unbridled passions, secret affairs, and Korean pop culture. The entire show is made in front of our eyes as if it is a silent film – complete with monochromatic projection and offstage foley. The sound effects are beyond charming and belie rigorous theatre making techniques and vital imaginations. Everything from tiny footsteps moving down a corridor to the filmic SFX of hand-to-hand combat are covered and much more. The sight of an actor belting a vegetable to get the appropriate sound is both entertaining and awe inspiring. Projection of light from a video projector on the floor is supported by the company who also use handheld lights to create atmospheric scenes that reflect the golden age of Korean gangsters. Backed by a roll of paper the company use this to great effect not just as a projection surface but one that can be ultimately broken through. This is an economic production where every element is used and reused to maximum effect. The entire company is impressive. No more so than Chaeyeon Kim who plays heroine Maria. She has enormous charisma and works with absolute precision. She breaks our hearts as her hours become numbered in the corrupt household where she is maid. Seungtae Kim plays a salesman, and he is also a kind of ring master who drives the story. Sura Choi plays Madam whose illicit affair with the President of the Railway Company – played by an appropriately slimy Kwangseon Park – sets the tragedy in motion. Of course, there is the (in) competent detective played with authority by Jane Kwon and Yejin Kim is hilarious as the witness. There are so many great aspects of this production – I have mentioned the live sound effects and most of the text is lip synched by the onstage actors and spoken but those at the Foley tables either side of the stage. The physicality of the performances is virtuosic at times and quite different from the more familiar European practices. We learn a little of Korea’s history too. One of the joys of attending Edinburgh Fringe is finding these unique international works. “At that Time, Byeon” is great fun. Recommended! Kate Gaul

Polko Roundabout at Summerhall – Edinburgh Fringe 2023 RJG productions present UK writer Angus Harrison’s “Polko” at the theatre-in-the-round space, Roundabout at Edinburgh Fringe. This is a play for three actors. Peter, an older gent played by John Macneil, has made let some terrible judgements cloud his interpersonal interactions in his quest for love. Emma, played by Rosie Dwyer, has just lost her job, and returned to her mum and dad’s house. Jo, played by Elliot Norman, is our protagonist and it’s in his car that the action of the play takes place. Emma and Jo are old school friends. In that way that old school friends reconnect this is a painful, playful, and perverse. It is set in the present. Jo has a dead-end job, lives with his parents out of necessity and no real ambition. Peter has made a disastrous proposal to Jo’s mother attempt and has made some terrible choices on the internet. Emma is suffering with undiagnosed health issues. There’s a guy called Polko who has disappeared. He’s been a mate of Jo’s and every time he is mentioned Jo is evasive. The brief, punchy scenes are broken by abrasive scratchy static as if amplified from the car radio. The scratchy static suggests there is a secret or something that Jo isn’t owning up to. The performances are terrific, and this is a play of great two-character scenes. Angus Harrison writes in the first scene that “the play is, among other things, about boredom. Boredom should live inside it. It should feel like nothing is going to happen, so intensely that the world would crack open any minute through the sheer force of listlessness.” I guess all of that is true. But what struck me was that this is a play about legacy. Jo and Emma grapple with tenuous futures. They return to their childhood homes because the promise of anything approaching a career or stability is undetermined. Life is lived in short grabs. Everything is temporary. Jo even prefers his car as a dwelling, on occasion. Peter – from a different generation – is adrift in a world he cannot understand. Where any provision he has made has been rudely stripped from him and now he – with his mother’s engagement ring in his pocket – grabs at any suitable lifeline. Tragic stuff. It occurred to me that this subject matter and plays like this will mark this period of our time. Hourglass and gig economies, precarious futures, poverty, loneliness, addiction. Unless radical policies are implemented by future governments, the danger is that the boredom Harrison refers to could be a dark harbinger of worse to come. Kate Gaul