WHITE SIDE STORY. To 26 August.

Edinburgh - Fringe

WHITE SIDE STORY

Gilded Balloon Teviot Bristo Square To 26 August 2002
3.30pm
Runs 1hr 30min No interval

TICKETS 0131 226 2151
Review Timothy Ramsden 18 August

Brilliant clowning from St Petersburg: extraordinary images and comic invention.All the excitement of a really good session with son of Dungeons and Dragons plus human imagination added in spadefuls, and not an unconsidered cliche in sight.

This show's worth seeing for its visual spectacle alone, from the opening when an apparent snowy path curling up to a remote fairytale castle transforms into the huge train of a monarch, the castle atop his regal stick.

Surrounded by the royal guards, this aged ruler undergoes what might be a challenge from his own family. But power-politics take second place to the comic antics of the characters under their amazing masks, covering just nose and cheeks - thereby allowing a range of powerful eye-expressions.

You might say politics take third place for there's also the wonderful use of props such as gigantic swords with spongy blades. Or their substitutes, wood swords, the sharpening of which introduces a rhythmic symphony developing into a movement routine.

As for the plot, well there's the chance of a happy end or a sad one. Democratically, the audience is given a vote which one they want. And, in the democratic way of things, the vote has no significance whatever. Mind you, the happy ending isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Never mind - for the clown is king in this wondrous show, hilariously inventive from start to the gloriously generous choreographed curtain-call. If the Fringe didn't exist, someone would have to invent it just so we could see work of this quality.

Performers:
Natalia Fisson, Igor Sladkevich, Nikolay Kichev

Director: Vadim Fisson
Designer: T. Tarakanova

2002-08-18 22:56:05