BIOKHRAPHIA. To August.
Edinburgh International Festival
BIOKHRAPHIA
by Lina Saneh and Rabih Mroueh
Royal Lyceum Theatre To 19 August 2004
10.30pm
Runs (on and on but) 50min minimum No interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18 August
Is it/isn't it more or less serious theatrical prank at bed-time.This seems immensely straight-faced as Lina Saneh stands answering questions impersonally thrown at her by a tape-recorder. Anyone who'd begun reading the brief programme note could expect profundity about eternal and sacred truths' and certain social and political taboos rooted in Lebanese society'. Anyone who'd read to the end might have begun to wonder.
There is the question of who's in control as Saneh rewinds the tape and alters her answers. And you could wonder how much truth those revealing interviews ever reveal and about whom. Who sets the agenda in an interview? Then, as a transparent screen in front of her face fills with coloured liquid which eventually bears her projected features, the artist becomes more remote from the words. And, with the inevitable fascination of seeing her face appear as the liquid rises, the words frankly wash away to the edge of attention or beyond.
There's something of the same fascination as she drains the liquid and her projected face evaporates top-down. By now the liquid gives off a bouquet of aniseed and Saneh's even more removed from the operation, for she sits at the side, silent, by a table offering mini-bottles for a mere £55 each.
Mere? Look at what people pay to see stars on stage. Worse, to gawp at celebrities. And how much is superstardom a media creation, personality made available briefly then draining away, to reveal a much smaller wizardress of Oz selling her over-priced association product?
The reality can take time to hit home. People began asking was there any more? The experience seems complete yet unsatisfyingly incomplete. Even for a fiver, is there more culture to consume? The audience becomes the show, thinking for themselves rather than responding as told. Then Ms Saneh walked out on what was still, just about, her own show.
Designer: Ali Cherry
2004-09-01 09:06:47