Edinburgh Fringe 2017
Eurohouse
Fellswoop Theatre
Genre: Absurd Theatre, Interactive, Physical Theatre
Venue: Summerhall
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Once upon a time Bert and Nasi lived in the same house and did everything together. Bert was popular, confident and rich and Nasi was shy and poor but they really got on. Until along came a monster that scared Nasi and ruined his part of the house. Will Bert be kind and help his friend? Two performers – one Greek, one French – dance and shout, cry and sing, agree and disagree about life in the Eurohouse.
Review
Bert and Nasi (characters devised by Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas) are both Europeans but from two countries that have had very different political and economic experiences since the Second World War. Eurohouse is a subtle and clever examination of the turmoil in Greece since the crash of 2008 and of how to interpret socio-political material through performance.
Using allegory to sweeten our spoonful of medicine the audience readily take their part in this playful simple narrative under instruction from Bert, an engaging showman. What’s not to like about Bert – he’s handsome, he has a sexy French accent! Nasi is shyer, sweet, willing to play along with Bert, even when Bert gets a little bossy. The audience plays along too until we realise we have been duped by his charm into becoming co-conspirators against Nasi.
Using just everyday clothes, no set, lots of skipping, some M&Ms and a bucket these two endearing and bumbling acrobats do more to explain the human impact of the western European banks stranglehold over Greece than any number of learned opinion pieces by sophisticated journalists.
The only moment that jars is the projection of factual slides. The audience do need the information, a reminder of the geopolitical context, but is there another way they could be woven into the piece?
The venue is Summerhall’s Anatomy Lecture Theatre, an old demonstration room which has a steep rake of seats. It is an ideal setting for this transfer of knowledge and understanding. Fellswoop’s darkly comic look at the EU’s founding ideals, returned to Edinburgh Fringe in 2017 for just 4 performances, following their 2016 Fringe success and a National UK tour.
