Scotland

An Evening Without Kate Bush – Assembly Checkpoint

Set within an L-Shaped church hall, with a cloistered balcony high above, this is a quirky performance space for an equally eccentric performer.

My second Bush forage of the Fringe, looking for the authentic, here I find Sarah-Louise Young, someone who is getting closer. Youngs voice is good, the mimicry is close. But it is not the voice that takes you places no other voice ever did, climbing really high then sweeping down really low.

The show starts well. Young enters unseen in a blackout, dressed in black with big black hair and draped in a black muslin shroud like a funeral attendee. When she turns on a mini red torch on her shoulder, it creates a nice ghostly lighting effect, which is also emphasised with some clever back lighting. She mimes trying to escape from below the black shroud, hands outstretched against the lit fabric in a very Bush homage. Meanwhile she is singing the rather stunning And Dream of Sheep. Beautiful!

Unfortunately, it is not all as beautiful. At times falling into holiday camp cringe, for example encouraging the audience to yap and howl like dogs for Hounds of Love had my wife give me the sideways eek look. Eek indeed. It did not stop there; the audience interaction is certainly a part of this show and getting people up on stage to dance together. Not a big fan.

However, on the plus side, when Young surveys the audience asking for our favourites to sing, I am lucky enough to be picked. I choose the chilling and melodic The Man With The Child In His Eyes, my personal favourite. Kate’s first song which caught her the big break deal with EMI when she was just 19. Writing as a teenage girl and as a very sensual and sexual person, the place where most of Kate’s power flowed from. Young’s rendition of the song is stunning and sensitive and beautifully choreographed.

There are other good bits too. Army Dreamers is beautifully sung and mimed with giant headlamp eyes. Babooshka, likewise, sung in Russian, the word for Grandmother, correctly pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable BA – boo-shka, not the middle one we are used to.

Young’s funniest moment comes in her school talent contest rendition of James and the Cold Gun, in stretch leotard and mop hair. It is also a stunning rendition of a fun song.

However, for all the larking about, It strikes me that this approach is the opposite of what Bush would want to try to achieve herself. Surely, she would aim for a highly technical, dramatic and visually expressive show, a piece of live art and seriously experimental, not funny. Bush’s later period exploring Aboriginal Dreamtime wanderings, and how far electronic synth music could be taken are not touched on here. Bush was always moving forward, and any true tribute act should be reflective of that, not simply stuck in the past.

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 19th August 2024

North West End UK Rating: