FALESA. To 21 August.

Edinburgh

FALESA
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Theatre du Maquis at St Stephens (Aurora Nova) To 21 August
10.30pm Runs 1hr 20min No interval

TICKETS: 08452 262721
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 August

Charmingly and ingeniously presented, but hampered by the accent barrier.Of all the words used about the international physical theatre and dance Aurora Nova programme hosted in the austerely grand St Stephens, 'quaint' is among the least likely. But it suits this coals-to-Newcastle production, from France's Theatre du Maquis.

For a start, the audience is greeted by a fit-up proscenium stage in what's usually the bare space where bodies spin and swing. At either side is a lectern from which Stevenson's story of a copra trader arriving at the title Pacific island and coming up against ingrigue plus love. Deaths and a wedding are brought into the narrative trail.

Quaintest of all, in the age of the Powerpoint, is the use of visible overhead projectors for some of the imagery.

Actors narrate the tale when not diving behind the proscenium. This turns out to be a screen, the action played in shadow against a changing variety of set pieces. There's a boat gently rocking, the multi-coloured forest, and the otherwise difficult trick of a full-size saw seeming to be swallowed.

Shadowplay also allows exaggeration - of an exuberant woman islander, of status differences reflected in image size as performers stand closer or further from the light source - a dimension wiped out by the 2D screen.

The only anachronistic element is the jazz-inflected music, often understatedly supporting the action. In a generally serious piece, there's a comic moment when the entire cast run off stage leaving a naked flame which erupts into a silent image of an exploding bomb.

The cast work bravely and skilfully with a mix of English, French and Pidgin, but where words are so important, where the narrative swaps between different voices, and where so much narration is intermixed with dialogue by actors who can gesticulate with props but are denied facial expression, there is a crucial lack of clarity at key points.

2004-08-17 11:51:01