The Sculptor – Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh

A fascinating introduction to the world of ‘the anatomical Venus’, we are immediately presented in glorious projected technicolour with an 18^th-century reclining beauty complete with pearls, ecstatic expression and lift-out intestines. Not So Nice! Theatre company present The Sculptor, written by Charlotte Smith and Directed by Grace Baker. Fashioned from seven anatomically correct layers, life sized and made of wax, but with real hair, the Venus was a ready alternative (to cadavers) for the keen medical students of the day to pull apart: heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines, ending in a teeny foetus, curled in the womb.

Our short play tonight focuses on the fascination of this era, in which the study of nature was also the study of philosophy, and where a dead body created for medical purposes could also be viewed as a work of art. The two (sadly) unnamed actors who very effectively play out their roles of sculptor (Mairi) and model (Cora), put plenty of flesh on the bone and manage to play well to the strengths of this intimate stone vaulted space, rather than dwell on the downside of background noise from the bar.

As two women, existing in the male-dominated world of the Georgian era, the two have their own problems to deal with; for Mairi, a dominating father who is close to death, and for Cora a controlling older husband. However, as artist and muse get to know and trust each other a mutual understanding is teased out in Smith’s clever, if at times overly wordy script, with supernatural overtones. Rather as Freud said of the Venus, “everything that was meant to remain secret and hidden has come into the open”.

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 31st October 2024

North West End UK Rating:

Running time – 50 Mins