MOUSEWNGS till 25 August

Edinburgh 2007 Fringe.

Mousewings.
By Rachel Lynn Brody.

Bedlam Theatre, 11b Bristo Place.
To 25 August 2007.
Mon - Sat. 12:50.
Runs 50mins. No interval.

TICKETS. 0131 225 9893 or Fringe BO 0131 226 0000.
www.myspace.com/stolenstories
Review Thelma Good 22 August 2007.

Doesn’t release the power of grim fairy tales.

Billed as a post-apocalyptic urban fairytale Mousewings opens with Bird’s prologue. He’s a character who invades people’s heads and comments on what we the audience see. He’s not as eternal a character as the Corbie in Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, but there’s an atmosphere in Rob Flett’s playing that suggests one that stands alongside human history.

The humans in this tale exist in a changed world. The Rot starting inside them has killed many. Kyle and Rin, part of the scum of the earth, were enslaved in a workcamp and escaped infection. Trying to get to the ferries they break in to a house, for shelter and hopefully some food. Researcher Sylvie returns from visiting her old lab to find them there. Rin’s in quite a mess, the fear and the sights they’ve seen have left her struggling to keep it together.

Bird appears again, unseen by Kyle but Sylvie speaks to him, she thinks he’s the spirit of her dead boyfriend. Bird also invades Rin’s disturbed dreams and then she sees him. There are ambitions in this play to fuse warnings of the dangers of biological research and the way humans warp and change under pressure. The device of the Bird is interesting but doesn’t release the power of grim fairy tales or lift this post-apocalyptic play from being like so many others on these themes.

Company: Stolen Stories ( Scotland ).

Bird : Rob Flett.
Kyle : Alastair Gillies.
Rin : Catriona Grozier.
Sylvie : Rachel O’Connor.

Director : Emma Taylor.
Designer : Gemma Fieller.

2007-08-23 14:18:42