Summerhall Main Hall Archives - North West End UK

18Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Show Pony – Summerhall Main Hall

What happens to a show pony when it gets old? Yep, bang!! Three ‘middle-aged’ ladies pull back the curtain for a behind the scenes view on what it’s like to be a circus performer your whole life, with your body slowly giving up, facing the existential question, what next? An entertaining hour, of high quality tricks and stunts, but also much humour and insight, which suggests this talented trio are not done yet, and are more than one-trick-ponies. Along the way, we get to delve into the earliest memories of the strong woman, the aerialist and the contortionist. It’s a fascinating and beautifully choreographed introduction, with old photos, flickering videos and tricks aplenty, which has all the charm and otherness of a Wes Anderson flick. They explain that the rules of circus ...

Through The Mud – Summerhall Main Hall

Opening to screened news footage of the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a mixed race student (Tinashe Warikandwa) is moved to join the protests and become a fierce advocate in the Black Lives Matter movement. 42 years earlier Assata Shakur, as a member of the Black Panther Party is violently involved with the civil rights movement, leading to a conviction for the killing of a State Trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike. Shakur (played by Apphia Campbell) later escaped prison and fled to Cuba, where she still lives and remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. The two women share the stage with Shakur as a sort of ghost mentor, reliving her own fight, as the student becomes ever more embroiled in the 2014 escalating violence, following one of the main prot...

Lynn Faces – Summerhall Main Hall

It’s odd. Very odd! Following on from Laura Horton’s 2022 near perfect, sensitively written award-winning Breathless which focussed on mental illness and hoarding and which transferred successfully to off-Broadway, we have something of a hand-brake turn into her latest vehicle, Lynn Faces. The story follows almost-40 Leah, wannabe lead singer of newly assembled punk band Lynn Faces. We join them as they are about to play their opening gig.They wear masks of Lynn, the eponymous long-suffering, snazzy-cardigan-wearing assistant to fictional comedian Alan Partridge. Problems are racking up: firstly, none of them can really play any musical instruments (with the exception of an excellent grade 3 recorder solo!), oh, and the drummer hasn’t turned up. But, who cares, the show must g...