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Edinburgh Fringe 2011

Tonight Sandy Grierson will Lecture, Dance and Box.

Greyscale

Genre: Storytelling

Venue:

Assembly George Square 

Festival:


Low Down

 Upon entering the auditorium, the audience meet Sandy Grierson and are presented with a worksheet, before taking our seats in the lecture theatre in George Square, now known as Assembly Two. Sandy Grierson is an actor, he is 32 and has 12 inch biceps, these are all facts we are told, he then goes on to tell us his tale which we are assured is as true as the facts he has presented so far.  A combination of exciting physical theatre performance, multimedia presentations, boxing, dance (as the title would suggest), and origami, Sandy Grierson’s lecture is far more exciting and gripping than any lecture I’ve ever attended.

Review

 It would be unfair on potential audience to reveal anything about the story that is told as it is the unknown quantity of this tale which appeals so much. However at times Grierson could quite literally be reading out his shopping list, and, such is the quality of his performance, his audience would be equally as held and gripped. There is no fourth wall in this show, nor any attempt to create a boundary between actor and audience. Grierson not only asks questions of his audience, but fights with them, employs them as characters in the work and stagehands, as well as talking them through a simple piece Origami (which I found a little too complicated!)
 
This tale takes its audience on a journey they never thought they would go on. It is the story of a truly remarkable human being living to no boundaries. This mentality of having no boundaries is reflected in the performance. Grierson climbs across the lecturing benches reverting the performance space in its entirety, he runs up and down the stairs surrounding the auditorium, sits next to audience members and occupies any part of the auditorium his own impulse and the story may take him to. Sandy Grierson does quite literally Lecture, Dance and Box, but in doing so he creates a wonderfully personal and exciting piece of solo performance. 

Published