The cavernous quad of Old College Edinburgh is pooled in floodlights. Two figures in white and red stand stark and distant on cordoned-off, gravelled ground. Others in protective white clothing mill around the edges, busy, fruitlessly trying to mitigate the damage caused by the end of the world. A figure standing on a balustrade tips petrol over himself, lights it, and falls into the arena. Another in a tattered suit with a briefcase staggers out in green light. Grotesque figures, half-animal, half-clown, cavort on a nuclear wasteland.

A white sheet is hung across a rig and a suspended figure writhes in front of it. A battered BMW careers across the set. The survivors - or the rebirths? - of this nuclear devastation don ice-skates and helmets, and precariously perform acrobatics. Another reads from the Bible 'and God created man in His own image'.

These episodes, seamlessly performed yet disparate in content, construct the hell that man has the capacity to create, and explore what the rebirth of the human race could look like. The end of civilisation is embodied in the tearing of pages from a book; and the American Dream is powerfully satirised. The value of human connection in a world bereft of humanity is explored, as the characters make their first, tentative physical connections. The movement of the performers is at once elegant, sinister and alarming; satirising balletic grace. The atmosphere is unrelenting and unsettling.

The music and light scheme have extraordinarily evocative power. Skilful pyrotechnics have great emotional impact. Sound effects are equally potent: birdsong in the background over heavy industrial noise suggests the innocence of an age gone forever. The piece is accomplished in its differing elements, but bewildering. Beyond being frightening, what does it say? The finale has pictures of human suffering projected documentary-like onto a back sheet. This makes a striking connection with the real world: an evocation of hell and anarchy, a parody of hope.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): (no credits received)

Company Credits: (no credits received) Company - Teatr Novogo Fronta. Website - www.tnf.cz

END

(c) Ruth Stanley 2008

reviewed Thursday 14 August 08 / 22:00 performance / George Square Theatre @ Old College Quad, Edinburgh

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com