Charles Pipe, Author at North West End UK

The Gummy Bears’ Great War – ZOO Playground

17Aug

By Charles PipeNo Comments

Scotland

The Gummy Bears’ Great War – ZOO Playground

Told using actual gummy bears, The Gummy Bears’ Great War makes for an intriguing diversion with a bite-sized runtime. Told over seven distinct chapters and spanning a single day – from sunrise to sunset – the branching plots follows three Gummy Bears as their nation decides to spontaneously declare a futile war against the neighbouring Dinosaurs. The action plays out on a table, with the two performers – Valentina Fadda and Leonardo Tomasi – puppeteering the tiny, brightly-coloured protagonists and hundreds of other characters, as well as lighting each scene with a variety of lamps, torches, and LEDs. Italian narration is provided by Fadda, Leonarda, and a pre-recorded voiceover, with English captions projected onto the back wall of the intimate space. The piece moves at a slow,...

16Aug

By Charles PipeNo Comments

Scotland

Go West! – theSpace @ Niddry Street

An entertaining and stimulating piece of absurdist theatre, steeped in Americana and dripping with atmosphere. This skilfully performed and expertly directed two-hander oozes professionalism and confidence from the very start. As the audience enter, the sound design – “white-noise” radio static – and performer Amy Scollard’s onstage presence, tapping a foot impatiently, force the audience to quieten down and settle into the ambience. A handful of props adorn the stage – crates, maps, notebooks, etc – alongside a single cactus. Every element of visual design – props, costumes, set, lighting – share a uniform, monochrome, muted beige palette. This aesthetic mirrors the desolate setting of the play, while also acting as a blank canvas upon which the performers and script paint a vivid ...

Cody and Beau: A Wild West Story – theSpace @ Niddry Street

12Aug

By Charles PipeNo Comments

Scotland

Cody and Beau: A Wild West Story – theSpace @ Niddry Street

“I think God looks like a horse: big and beautiful.” With their imaginations ignited by dime novels and magazines about “Wild West” legends, two young boys in Gonzales, Texas, in 1889 decide to escape their quaint, unexceptional lives to pursue the excitement of life in the “Wild West” as cowboys. Theorising that legendary outlaw Billy the Kid is still alive and out there somewhere – either literally, or as a metaphorical symbol of the West – they head towards New Mexico to find him. They soon learn that adventuring in the West isn’t as glamourous as the stories would have you believe. Cody and Beau: A Wild West Story wears its influences proudly on its sleeve. It includes a diverse array of references, from Cormac McCarthy’s grim Western epic novel Blood Meridian, via John Ford ...

Bluffstone is Starvin’ – TheSpace on the Mile

5Aug

By Charles PipeNo Comments

Scotland

Bluffstone is Starvin’ – TheSpace on the Mile

With its large ensemble of eight performers, including three musicians, Bluffstone is Starvin’ is a compelling but imperfect tragedy set against the familiar backdrop of the Wild West. Each actor brings something unique to the table and every performance is distinct and effective. The standout for me was Zachary Hodges, who plays the unhinged bartender Jim (and who also doubles as an instrumentalist, and who composed the original music for the show). Hodges brings a wide-eyed, frenetic energy to the performance that makes the character instantly loveable and memorable. It would have been great to learn more about this character, but with five other characters demanding attention in this 60-minute play, not all of them can be equally fleshed out. Many of the performances do seem a li...