Revelations of Rab McVie – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Every now and again you review a show which really stands out. Here is one. The Revelations of Rab McVie is advertised as an immersive journey through a psychedelic dreamscape of live painting, live music and theatre and the real buzz in the packed theatre bar before this show was ready evidence of the unique event to come.  

Experimental, raw, flawed, real. The irony of this five-star show is that with more performances, it can be even better. Barely rehearsed and on only the second night of its world premiere, this experimental ground-breaking show has been and gone, and it was my undoubted privilege to have witnessed its brief existence.

Five strong band, The Filthy Tongues, from Edinburgh were at the top of their game, showcasing works from their new album, In These Dark Places. Music and lyrics which evoke the vibe of an almost bygone era, of Blondie, The Ramones, The New York Dolls, all of whom members of the Tongues have previously worked with.

The music’s dark, gothic undertones are interpreted in sweeping sure strokes by talented artist Maria Rud, black, red, blue, green and yellow paint slips and slides onto a glass plate and the altered, fluid, image is continuously projected onto the huge illuminated rear stage. Between songs and sometimes over songs, actor Tam Dean Burn voices Rab McVie, an earlier invention of The Filthy Tongues, as he wanders through an alternative nightmarish reality, ‘The earth was black with blood, and when night fell the moon was red’. Suddenly, before our eyes, Rud creates the red moon and silhouetted before it a hundred sabre waving dark horsemen. The shapes and colours are primal, neolithic, visceral.

Meanwhile, Burn screams at us through a loudhailer, words of pain and displacement. This is the voice of death and war and invasion, and of natural disaster; unfortunate, painful and somewhere else and someone else’s problem. Except tonight it is in our faces, tonight we must face it.

By the end of a very quick hour there is a long and loud appreciation for all of the performers on stage. The question on everyone’s lips is, when is the next chapter of Rab’s extraordinary dreaming.

Running time – 1hrs

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 25th February 2023

North West End Rating: ★★★★★