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Show: From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Society: Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33)
Credits: Written and directed by Adrian Berry. Theatre (music, pop)
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 08/08/2017
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Chris Abbott | 08 Aug 2017 17:27pm
One-person shows require a great deal of performer, writer and director, and From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads saw writer Adrian Berry also directing. This story of a fatherless young man with a fixation on David Bowie and an eating disorder could have been a bleak experience, but the light and shade introduced to the piece and the skills of the actor, Alex Walton, meant that this was instead both engrossing and heartfelt.
The staging was not quite as simple as it appeared, with items of clothing associated with Bowie appearing through translucent screens when his words were heard (voiced by Rob Newman) and two rostra and some wooden boxes serving to suggest a variety of Bowie-related locales in Croydon, Soho and beyond. Sound design from Alan Boyd also played a major role, not just to set mood but to provide dialogue with the actor or to suggest a shift of time or place.
Expertly directed as the piece undoubtedly was, the focus during performance is on Alex Walton as Martin and the narrator – and many other characters that feature in this unhappy life. Walton is a skilled mime and actor and can suggest a character through bodily rearrangement as much as through voice; and it was remarkable to see how quickly characters such as the local shopkeeper became believable, as did the toyshop owner or the occupant of a house once lived in by Martin’s hero.
By interacting with the simple stage setting, Walton also suggested a whole range of locales, including a school, several shops and houses and finally the shore of the Thames, at which point video and lighting greatly added to the effect. The whole performance gripped the audience and it was fitting to see the silence with which the ending was greeted before the mood broke and the applause began. An object lesson in the skills of directing and appearing in a one-person play.
- : admin
- : 08/08/2017