For those who did not see the Belgian theatre maker Valentijn Dhaenens’s 2012 take on verbatim theatre, BigmoutH, it seems important to mention a few things about it here first. As an actual in-depth study of oration, BigmoutH consisted of a selection of texts from the mostly western history of public speaking, from Socrates and […]

Everyday objects. Upright Hoovers, lots, dotted around the performance space. A ladies’ bike. A radiator. Electrical appliances. Extension leads. Marigold gloves. An ironing board. A flat-screen TV. The domestic environment. We hear a male voice on the soundtrack, mixed low – it’s hard to hear what’s being said. I pick up something about having to […]

If you like old-school vaudeville, masterfully delivered, then Canadian clown Jamie Adkins is the man for you. I arrive a few minutes late, and I don’t warm to him straightaway. Perhaps because I’m cold and wet and out of breathe, having run to the theatre across Edinburgh in the rain. Perhaps because publicity promises someone […]

The scene is set by playing the opening credits of X-Files with the soundtrack to Carla Lane’s Butterflies. Yes, it is funny – do try this at home. In the name of art – and aware of a need to get some matched funding – the Sh!t Theatre girls Becca and Louise (let’s just call […]

A story. A story of a little girl, playing in a garden full of flowers. The story builds – a tiny fragment is told. Then another. And another. She is four years old. She is wearing a blue cotton dress. We are in Bulgaria. The sun is a burning star. It is a green land […]