Edinburgh Fringe 2010

Flor de Muerto

Gomito Productions/The Junction/Escalator East To Edinburgh

Genre: Physical Theatre

Venue: Bedlam

Festival: Edinburgh Fringe

Low Down

Review

It’s the Mexican Day of the Dead and a young man who hides in the world of comic book superheroes still grieves for a lost parent. Yet it is Fiesta day where the notion of death id confronted directly through colour and dance, and the dead are brought to life with the help of meringue powder! 

Gomito’s style of story theatre trips in and out of dialogue, music, physicality and image. This is a group always brimming with a spirit of experimentation, especially with colour and cloth! Translucent, coloured curtains allow of image to be layered upon image. The puppetry is as accessible and atmospheric as ever. I particularly liked the ethereal quality which always emerges from Gomito work – softer pastel shades, music which ripens the mood, a sense of lushness which helps to evoke this fiesta day. We are transported.

But not completely. There was an unevenness to the production which felt accidental. Not all of the actors deliver at the same standard (accent skills vary) and some of the scenes are clearer and more helpful to the narrative than others. It all looks as if it needs to go to one further draft to truly draw us into this world and mood landscape. Also some of the puppetry felt a bit clumsy and, if it wasn’t, it certainly lacked precision in places. The central sorry sometimes floated too highly above the atmosphere of the piece (which is its major strength) – narrative and mood need more coherence here.

So, a piece with more work ahead of it to make it truly impress. Nevertheless, it has plenty of virtues and is worth seeing.

Published August 7, 2010 by PL