When Four Tribes go to war

Polyphonic and polylingual. Re-creation of First World War explores horror and common humanity

5/5

The polyphonic production of Front, by Hamburg's Thalia Theater and the Nederlands Toneel Gent at the Royal Lyceum - directed by Fleming Luk Perceval - is a truly impressive and moving performance. Lasting two hours without an interval, and performed in Flemish, German, French and English (English sur-titles allow us linguistically-challenged to appreciate it) it doesn't sound like something that is immediately accessible. But the pared-back set, the use of a backdrop of monochromatic images from the front, the noise of the collected thunder sheets hanging on stage all combine to evoke the horror.

Taken from a selection of scenes from both Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, and Henri Barbusse's Under Fire, the narrative circles the opposing front lines - represented by the lines of cast members along the front of the stage. It gives us the full perspective of the sufferings both in opposing trenches and on the home front. While actors spin like dervishes in an assault, the noise rises to a crescendo. Incongruously, yet entirely believably, a moment of romance between a nurse and a wounded soldier counter poses a spark of life amongst the destruction (although the future of that life is shadowed by the fate of the soldier). Above all, the characters of the young friends condemned by their fates to land in the hell of the First World War highlight the reality of this 'war for fatherland and freedom'. As one says, they are not soldiers, just civilians imported to the front.

I've seldom seen a production that evokes the trauma of killing. The horror of the impact of weaponry on bodies, both human and animal, is somehow more effectively portrayed by the flat, emotionless delivery. If you've a chance in Edinburgh today or Tuesday, go. You'll be gripped for the full two hours.

Front, 7.00pm until 26 August, Royal Lyceum Theatre,

The humour of deceit - Cuckooed, by Mark Thomas

4/5

An absolutely fascinating tale, told by an expert in telling tales. And it is all the more effective for being true!

Mark Thomas has dramatised a period of his life when he was active in the Campaign Against the Arms Trade. A period where one of their foremost activists, their most charismatic campaigners and someone who became a close friend to Mark and many others was exposed as a spy. A spy planted in the organisation by an agency on behalf of BAE Systems who reported to them on the CAAT's activities. 

Thomas uses a theatrical setting for his performance. Although it is a one-man show, he has gone back and interviewed the people involved at the time. Not only that he has filmed them, and they appear like an administrative Beckett play, on screens set in filing cabinets. All except one.

While the story and the situation is tailor-made for Thomas and one of his political diatribes - and he doesn't miss the political targets - the personal imbues the political with a tinge of sadness. Our spy isn't living the high life in Monte Carlo but in a two-up  two-down somewhere in the Medway area (I am surmising as Thomas makes it clear he is not going to be identified or targeted).

There is humour, there is pathos, there is political campaigning. It isn't the huge belly laugh that Thomas can generate, but maybe that's part of the personal journey that he has taken. 

Traverse Theatre, until the 24 August. various times. It will then be on tour across England (with a gig in Northern Ireland) during October and November, finishing with a season in London in December. Dates here

MacBraveheart – an alternative vision of our land (and a Very Important Play)

-->In addition to the piece below I've now written a review for the Morning Star. You can find it under their headline - Confronting Scottish Demons - mine would have been Burying the Hatchback! - Anyway it's here.

In all the furore of political debate and discussion in the theatre world over the independence referendum, and the nature of Scottishness, one play on Edinburgh’s Fringe takes a very different look at our future.

Philip Differ

Writer and director Philip Differ’s, short play, MacBraveheart (a FairPley production at the Assembly Rooms, 31July - 24 August), is a wry look at what we might become in the future. It is a post-indy dystopia, if you will – and a very funny – take on what indy-Scotland could become

Unlike FairPley’s other major production - David Hayman's pro-Indy, The Pitiless Storm - also on at the Assembly Rooms, this play is a black comedy, set in a past post-Indy Scotland of bleakness and infighting. William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and Rabbie Burns wrestle with the issues of what happens next? Be careful what you wish for, because it's the early bird that takes the biscuit! It’s a very important play. It is also very funny!

Differ himself says,

"I have long wondered who we would fight with, if all other targets of our wrath were removed! So I tried to take iconic Scottish figures and set them in an extreme post-Indy landscape to answer that question!"

MacBraveheart stars Gerry McLaughlin, James McAnerney, and Scarlet Mack and is a sharp and witty unusual slant on the independence debate. It plays throughout the Fringe (until the 24 Aug - not the 11) at 13.15 in Studio 1 of the Assembly Rooms. Tickets £10 from http://www.arfringe.com/show/5/macbraveheart_the_other_scottish_play or tel:0844 693 3008.

Promo videos at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SNxYESxvUc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MBbTKGMe1E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HvrepzwafM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ms0PBDskXg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFmyId2427A