Out of
the Blue, Edinburgh
Three
stars
Gentrification
of major cities around the world has arguably reached crisis point, with the
rise of short term lets and developers attempting to bulldoze away local
communities at a global premium. With such moves particularly visible in Edinburgh,
writer Duncan Kidd and director Gavin Crichton’s piece of allegorical agit-prop
looks at the very real consequences of what is happening right now on their
Leith doorstep, a stone’s throw from Out of the Blue’s art space.
This
collaboration between Active Inquiry and Strange Town theatre companies
alongside the All or Nothing aerial dance company sets out its store in the
mythical town of Omawick, where the circus visits every year, keeping the local
economy afloat. When the circus attempts to buy up everything in sight for
themselves, despite initial encouragement from the mayor and her yes men and
women, the local townsfolk revolt, with the result being that the circus
departs forever.
Inspired
by Friedrich Durrenmatt’s play, The Visit, and devised with the show’s
fifteen-strong acting ensemble, five aerialists and two musicians, it’s not
hard to see parallels with real life events of late. Over sixty-five rollicking
minutes, the audience move in and about a performance space centred around a
statue of town founder Oma, here a ukulele-playing sprite played by Megan
Travers. At points they become part of the action, which shifts between various
set-pieces that focus on businesses under threat, absurdist speechifying and a
couple of prodigals’ returns from locals who haven’t always made good.
It’s
all wonderfully utopian stuff, with the good people of Omawick taking
smiley-faced and rainbow-coloured control of their own destiny. As simplistic
as it might sometimes appear, Crichton and Kidd’s construction is an expression
of localism in its purest form. In terms of collective action, it is also a
timely summing up of where we are now, and the people power required to provide
a voice that is about more than just money talking.
The Herald, June 24th 2019
ends
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