Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Hunchback Variations
Tortive Theatre
Genre: Absurd Theatre, American Theater
Venue: Space@Symposium
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Chicago playwright Mickel Maher has a reputation for writing fantastical plays featuring historical artists, or infusing his works with their works and The Hunchback Variations is no exception featuring Beethoven, Checkov and Victor Hugo (via one of his creations Quasimodo). In this short two-hander Ludvig and Quasi, both deaf, are in an unlikely and uneven collaboration to recreate a sound mentioned as a stage direction twice in the Cherry Orchard.
That Beethoven meets Quasimodo collab play you never knew you wanted is at Edinburgh Fringe.
Review
It is not unusual to find yourself in a lecture theatre In August as a huge number of everyday venues throughout Edinburgh are repurposed as performance spaces, it is not often though that a piece of site-specific performance takes place and the lecture is then given. Beethoven (Martin John Mills) , a dapper gent in a business suit, welcomes us to this evening’s topic – a reflection on artistic collaboration and the pitfalls of reaching for perfection. Enter Quasimodo (Harald Djurken), as created by Hollywood for our screens. We are not talking the chirpy happy ever after Disney chappy; this is the warts and all version from earlier movies, the hut dweller on the edge of the marsh to which the fastidious Beethoven makes his way nightly – slumming it – so that the two can continue their fruitless research to recreate a sound effect from Checkov’s The Cherry Orchard.
At this point, keen student, you will note that this is not historically possible. Beethoven died in 1827, Checkov was born in 1860, and Quasimoodo was ringing bells in 1482 (not to mention a fictional creation) but historical accuracy is not the point of the play, as Beethoven points out. This is an attempt at absurdist theatre and the quirky set up is initially engaging.
In his dolefulness Quasimodo is a classic clown to Beethoven’s pompous straight man – the seeming innocent puncturing the balloon of the intellectual. There is a delightful opening sequence of upstaging which sets the tone and it is a shame that this is not pushed more; you could hear from the audience giggles this was something that could build.
Director Rachel Garron and the actors have made some interesting choices which provoke questions; Beethoven in modern day attire but Quasimodo a fancy dress caricature, Beethoven with no discernible German accent yet his adversary adopting a Parisian twang (both actors are German). And given that one of the key elements of this tricksy text is that both characters are profoundly deaf no attempt is made to portray them as so. This is a missed opportunity – a duo of deaf actors would have transported this piece into something much more substantial and profound.
The production could lean into the lecture theatre aesthetic more – perhaps Beethoven could operate the Powerpoint (an opportunity for closed captions missed) or Quasimodo’s notes be handouts.
The Hunchback Variations is a pleasant diversion charmingly performed but a different vehicle could have explored the central question- is creativity in the trying even if it leads to failure – without the irritatingly artful and ultimately meaningless device of fake history.
