Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Oran
Wonder Fools, Owen Sutcliffe, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Pleasance Theatre with music by VanIves.
Genre: Drama, Fringe Theatre, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
With a pulsating script which is heightened by a performance which inhabits every breath of the space we are in, we are in the hands of a taught piece of theatre. There are elements of the here and now which augment the story of an ancient time, taking it to new levels through the depths it plunges us.
Review
This is exceptional theatre. Wonder Fools, through their work with young people have managed to set themselves out as a company which can spot and plough a furrow with originality, but here they have excelled themselves.
Owen Sutcliffe’s writing is taught and poised. It manages to keep us on an edge, not always our seats, but teetering with a promise before delivering in rhythm and rhyme in ways that are magic, and simply sublime. Robbie Gordon, our performer, is vulnerable and cheeky, the kind of guy to depend upon until he’s too needy. Jack Nurse directs with an audience in mind, in a cabin like venue which plays tricks with your mind. The set and the lights dance and flicker with menace as Benny Goodman provides a backdrop to match the Hades been mentioned. And no small feat for technicians to follow, Cécile Segura deserves a mention as nothing falls mellow.
From the opening when Gordon greets us and recruits us to be part of the action is simply beautifully done to make this work. We are more than recruited. As Oran Gordon invites us to see him as the wee guy who wants to be loved and likes to be liked. He needs help and we are willing to give it. We want the wee guy to do well. We want this wee guy to be a good wee guy. What transpires is us being taken by the hand and finding that the very hand we are holding will slap us one, a real wee stoater, oan the coupon.
The pace of this drives us towards the realisation that getting Euan home, Oran’s friend that has fallen down into the depths of despair, is something that redemption in this modern telling is possible. Oran can redeem himself and we are in “his team.”
Gordon never stops. He is an exceptional actor but what is in his mouth is a brilliant piece of writing that drives this. In the wee space we are all crammed into, it makes this a performance there is no escape from. There is literally only one way out – and we grab Gordon’s hand with enthusiasm.
I absolutely loved this. There was not one element of this that made me want to do anything other than wait to see Euan emerge and host his homecoming. This made my day. Scottish theatre at its best, a co production between an emerging company, established Scottish theatre and poetic joy which sparkles from the depths of despair to the hope of a generation who have been brought up with the technology that can often be their own destruction – but which was invented by the generation before them who are now raking in the profits of their ideas.
And that is where I fell in love with it. Taking the Orpheus legend and making what is a fantastic story into a modern one is oft tried and often a tricky thing to pull off. It was the modernity of the soundscape and music by VanIves and Ben Deans that heightened it. Senses were not just being assaulted but melodiously engaged until we could escape no more. There was a beauty in the pain, a joy in the despair and this was underscored by a piece of modern genius that needed not to shout, but just simply help the other senses along to keep up with the terrible thoughts being explored. The audience interaction with the wolves was great, the shouting out kept elements of the audience alert and when the phone went off on my knee – precariously set as Gordon observed at the beginning – I jumped. Just a little. But what it left me with was more than a sense of pride at what I had seen, a determination to return as this is the combined collective will of a creative collective that when it works, smashes itself into our conscience.
