Kathleen Mansfield, Author at North West End UK

24Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

After the Silence – Festival Theatre

In Brazil, the award-winning novel, Torto Arado has sold more than 800,000 copies. Spotlighting historical and contemporary slavery, injustice and inequality, this is perfect fictional material for Christiane Jatahy to blend with her journalistic techniques. The novel’s characters relate incidents from Torto Arado with the documentary history of João Pedro Teixeira, a militant peasant who was murdered in 1964 and the perpetrators never punished. Jatahy emphasises the root of fiction is in fact. Her objective always is to raise awareness and to connect the past and the present in immersive projects that include the audience. After the Silence works on several levels. The cast, Caju Bezerra, Aduni Guedes, Julaina França and Gal Pereira interact with the huge film screen, showing real ...

Assembly Hall – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

23Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Assembly Hall – Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Assembly Hall by the Kidd Pivot company is curiously absorbing. Depicting an AGM of a historical reenactment group, this piece marries quick-fire dialogue, precision dance, a great sound design (Owen Belton, Alessandro Juliani and Meg Roe), mime and terrific ensemble work. This ailing reenactment troupe in love with paying homage to chivalric romance takes us on a journey inside the minds of its members, with their dreams, fantasies and illicit affairs. The cartoonish mannerisms that illustrate the dialogue are exaggerated and aptly fit the battling excesses of a living history group. The compulsion to create long-lost hand-to-hand battle with clanking armor and heavy swords is intoxicating, indeed - almost an addiction which is hard to give up. Reenactment groups avidly research and ma...

17Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Hamlet – Royal Lyceum Theatre

An international festival ought to end in carnival fashion, and this blended version of Hamlet did just that. It was an explosion of success, rejoicing, a knees-up and warm audience participation. Teatro La Plaza from Lima, Peru, has created a feast of a show using back projection (Lucho Soldevilla), music, thoughtful lighting (Jesūs Reyes), a simple set and a fabulous cast of Downs Syndrome adults. This adaptation of Hamlet is both funny in itself and wonderful as a piece of art for showcasing the unquestionable talents of a marginalised sector of society. Written and directed by Chela De Farrari, a founder of the company, the intention is to entertain as you ask questions which help us better understand the contemporary world and, in this instance, the world of the Downs person in...

16Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Showtime! – C Venues, C Aurora

EM The Master Productions Showtime! is a tough one. Conceptually, it works, (an exploration of seeking fame at all costs) but there is so much effort that it feels desperate, which is an uncomfortable place to put your audience … which is, no doubt, deliberate. The tale is about extremes of emotion and extremes of effort and, so, it was unremitting and manic. A few moments of calm would have given the audience time to digest and would have counterbalanced the wrecking ball. It is a small venue and yet the performer wears a mic. This may be an artistic choice, as it couldn’t possibly be necessary. Was it to suggest the trappings of performance? One needs the kit to be good? We jump from piano, ego and alter ego and sound bites of angst. Costumes go on and off, hair comes dow...

16Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

The Outrun – Church Hill Theatre

Amy Liptrot's 2015 memoir of a generation lost to trivia and over-consumption certainly struck a chord. A film of the book is released this year plus this co-production between Edinburgh International Festival and Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh. The Outrun is beautifully staged. Milla Clarke works some artistic magic, along with a collection of talented creatives from Lewis den Hertog on video (superb), Lizzie Powell on lighting, Michael Henry and Kev Murray on music and sound. The piece is cleanly directed by Vicky Featherstone. Vicki Manderson’s chorus opening as waves is very atmospheric and intriguing. Set partially in Orkney, waves are relevant. Additionally, a wave can knock us off our feet and fighting a wave can prove fruitless. Metaphorically, the waves work for this pie...

16Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Sinatra: Raw – C Venues, C Aurora

Richard Shelton is marvelous in his portrayal of that ol’ crooner, Sinatra. Set in 1971, Sinatra: Raw recreates a 2 am show in Palm Springs. Here, Frank is opinionated, open, honest and enjoying Jack Daniels on ice. He is, of course, singing. Shelton is from Wolverhampton originally. He now lives in LA. Seven years ago, this particular Edinburgh Fringe show set him up for life, and he has since performed it in London, New York and Los Angeles to great acclaim. In fact, he is so well-liked that he was gifted one of Sinatra’s own dinner jackets which fits him to a tee. If you are a Sinatra fan, get yourself along to see this recreation of Ol’ Blue Eyes and hear about the Rat Pack, the love affairs, the unfairness of life with its ups and downs. Shelton has cracked Sinatra’s voice a...

Kai Humphries: Gallivanting – Just the Tonic Nucleus

15Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Kai Humphries: Gallivanting – Just the Tonic Nucleus

Isn’t it a joy, after a busy day at the Edinburgh Fringe, to be treated to effortless entertainment as a sparkling, inventive mind takes you gallivanting? That’s you, Kai Humphries. And thank you. Kai Humphries writes his own material and once got grilled by border security in a foreign land where writers (i.e. journalists) were not welcome. They didn’t understand the word “joke” and soon decided he wasn’t worth their time. He is definitely worth your time. He’s a funny writer and tells a good story. I loved his opening where he explored different cultural ways of greeting one another and his existential response to “What’s happening?” He had the audience in the palm of his hand right from the moment he introduced himself off-stage. A Geordie, Humphries exploits both his...

13Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Don Quixote – Assembly Rooms

Clowning around, Finnish-style (remember they like naked saunas), includes a tiny bit of acrobatic bum exposure and a splash of front bottom gymnastics. So, if bottoms are off the table for you, give this one a miss. However, I liked it. Not the bum cheeks (or the dangly bits) in particular. I liked the whole thing. There was certainly a lot of energy from the two performers, Timo Ruuskanen as Don Quixote and Tuukka Vasama as his side-kick Sancho Panza. Red Nose Company combines physical comedy, live music and witty gags. They create a warm welcome with their painted faces, red curtains and interactive banter. Their commitment to their audience and their story is clear to see. The duo has been on tour since 2008. They perform in four languages: English, Swedish, Spanish and Finni...

Oedipus Rex – National Museum of Scotland

13Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Oedipus Rex – National Museum of Scotland

Set in the National Museum of Scotland with the full Scottish Opera orchestra, this one-hour Stravinski/Cocteau spectacular soared to fill the great dome of the beautiful Museum Hall. Conductor, Stuart Stratford, must have gone home buzzing along with his musicians. The instrumentalists were fabulous, as were the vocals. This is the first time, to my knowledge, that an opera has been staged in the Museum. It is a great space and allowed the audience to choose whether to watch from above, along with the ornately costumed gods, or mingle with the chorus below and feel part of the production. It is theatre in the round and that brings benefits and difficulties. You feel closer to the action but then again, you might miss bits. I looked down from “the gods” but would want to go again to ...

13Aug

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Coleridge -Taylor of Freetown – C Arts

Taylor Aluko, a former Liverpool architect, is originally from Nigeria. He is an intelligent, politically and socially conscious individual. He also has a good voice. His morning show at The Quaker House, Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown, is a bid to bring to the light the recent history of Sierra Leone’s oppressive regime. He depicts the former cowardly diplomat, George Coleridge-Taylor, whose uncle was the renowned early twentieth century composer who lived in Croydon, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. In so doing, he uses some of the latter’s music, played live by Kristin Wong and he sings powerfully to the room. The pianist is part of the staging and therefore part of the visual landscape which tells the story. Because of the technical requirements of reading music, Wong’s intense concent...