STARS. To 27 August.

Edinburgh

STARS
by Anja Hilling in a version by Sarah Colvin

Traverse 3 To 27 August 2006
Tue-Sun various times
Runs 1hr 10min No interval

TICKETS: 0131 228 1404
www.traverse.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 15 August

Would-be poetic mythic piece stays resolutely flat.
Nutshell is a young Scottish theatre company that’s gathered good opinions and has now graduated to the top level of the Fringe, gaining a place in the Traverse programme. They have cast this production with young, very capable actors but I found the whole piece inert.

Four friends meet by a tree. There’s no context for who they are, but it seems one brings a mind-altering drug to the meeting which, in innocence, they take. It causes one of their number to climb, then fall from, a tree. For a long time afterwards they all feel sorry about her death, and start questioning whether she fell or jumped.

Actually, what she did was climb down the 2 or 3 steps she’d gone up and walk visibly across the stage to leave the tight area that’s temporarily become Traverse 3. At least the actor did. But there was no reality to the incident itself, leaving you looking for clues – and this departure was all there was.

It doesn’t help that the tree itself has an assertive flat-top, denying the idea of height and danger (except from electrification as it looks to be made of wire rather than wood and leaves). Magic and fantasy are plentifully used to explore and resonate with experiences children have to come to terms with; the Traverse is annually home to several such pieces in the early summer bank of Scotland Children’s International Theatre Festival.

It may be Hilling’s script does work in such a way (at the best, the question of whether such a piece is for children or adults barely arises). But this production left the piece in a hazy limbo.

Cast (roles unspecified): Lorna Craig, Jordan McCurrach, Elaine Gracie, Gary Lamont

Director: Kate Nelson
Design Associates: Lucinda Meredith, Lisa Cochrane
Lighting: Neil E Hobbs
Composer: Pippa Murphy

2006-08-23 12:53:03