Lowland Hall, Royal Highland Centre 4 stars Don’t be fooled by the first half of the title of Christoph Marthaler’s musical and physical romp for Theatre Basel. Marthaler’s audacious production may give a nod to Lerner and Loewe’s showbiz reinvention of Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, but it too is a Frankenstein’s monster of a mash-up, with sources as diverse as Ravel, George Michael and Bryan Adams to give its characters voice. One shouldn’t look too hard for plot either among the 1970s retro geek-chic attired adult pupils of a language lab overseen by a dapper if increasingly drunk Henry Higgins type who oversees his charges with flamboyant disdain. As the shopping channel plays out on a flat-screen TV in the corner above a row of booths, words become increasingly meaningless as each pupil’s inner life blossoms through the international language of song. At times this resembles the sort of old-time Christmas variety shows that the likes of Glee have lampooned so well. At others it’s as verbally dextrous as a Two Ronnies sketch, with Graham F Valentine’s Higgins figure and his aging Eliza trapped in endless exchanges from years ago which are now the only words keeping them together. Meanwhile, the rest of the group take time out from a religious therapy session to sing solitary arias to invisible audiences. Such shenanigans are accompanied on Anna Viebrock’s ingeniously bright set that’s fit for a farce by a virtuoso pianist and an organist actually dressed as Frankenstein’s monster. Out of all of this, Marthaler has created a terribly witty melange that speaks volumes about how we communicate beyond words in the most playful manner imaginable. The Herald, August 15th 2012 ends
Myra McFadyen – Actress Born January 12th 1956; died October 18th 2024 Myra McFadyen, who has died aged 68, was an actress who brought a mercurial mix of lightness and depth to her work on stage and screen. Playwright and artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, David Greig, called McFadyen “an utterly transformative, shamanic actor who could change a room and command an audience with a blink”. Citizens’ Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill described McFadyen’s portrayal of Puck in his 2019 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London as “funny, mischievous and ultimately heartbreaking.” For many, McFadyen will be most recognisable from Mamma Mia!, the smash hit musical based around ABBA songs. McFadyen spent two years on the West End in Phyllida Lloyd’s original 1999 stage production, and was in both film offshoots. Other big screen turns included Rob Roy (1995) and Our Ladies (2019), both directed by Mi...
Comments