THE PSYCHIC DETECTIVE. To 23 September.
Edinburgh 2007 Fringe/Tour.
PSYCHIC DETECTIVE (AND THOSE DISAPPEARED).
created by the company.
Udderbelly in stagetruck, nr Bristo Square. To 27 August 2007. then tour to 23 September 2007.
Wed-Mon. 2.30pm and 5pm.
Runs 1hr. No interval.
TICKETS. 0870 745 3083 or Fringe BO 0131 226 0000.
www.benchtours.com
Review Thelma Good 11 August 2007.
Transporting theatre.
You’re ushered into a tiny theatre space created in a truck and seated on green velvet chairs like those in 1950s cinemas where smoking was allowed on and off the screen. When private detectives waited in their offices for the phone to ring.
There’s one now in front of us, his outline changing from on-screen black and white, (projected on an aluminium Venetian blind) to a muted colour flesh and blood man, Patrick Bett, (Pete Clerke), his surname and initial on the window in time-honoured fashion. He’s making an arrangement to meet someone by the docks when a woman, Vivien Fortune (Catherine Gillard), appears in his office. She wants him to investigate a woman who has disappeared.
The stagetruck, production and clipped dialogue are all redolent of the shady precincts of the crime novels Bett loves to read. Bett isn’t an American, his cases are in a small town in Scotland where mist rolls in, but nasty villains and missing people happen here too.
Using projection, lighting and sound, the production immerses the audience in the mind of the detective as he tries to survive his immersion in the docks. Trying to help are Vivien and Angel, (David Walshe), Chandleresque in their enigmatic roles.
Half-drowning, we’re inside Bett’s imaginary world and like most semi-conscious states it doesn’t all make sense. But as it ends on the closed blind we read “to be continued…” and leave hoping Benchtours’ stagetruck will soon reappear with another episode of The Psychic Detective.
This inaugural production in this wee mobile venue, from a well-established Scottish theatre company, is transporting theatre, which will tour to remote and small places which presently can’t experience modern, technically-complex productions.
Performed by Peter Clerke, Catherine Gillard and David Walshe.
Director: Pete Brooks.
Designe/Costume : Laura Hopkins.
Lighting: Jeanine Davies.
Sound:: Tim Brinkhurst.
2007-08-14 01:28:58