Beckett was a writer fascinated by form. His plays and novels continually redefined literary and performance models in his attempts to ‘accommodate the mess’ of man’s place in the modern world. It is the writer’s commitment to form which has governed the Beckett Estate to guard so fiercely the staging instructions of his plays; one […]

Telling a story through parallel voices is a familiar theatrical device – witness Michael Pinchbeck, Chris Goode and others. Here, though, we have a story told by a theoretical cat (Schrödinger’s, no less), the writer/actor Pieter De Buysser, and a character called Sebastian who Pieter tells us is fictional. The main story belongs to Sebastian. […]

The impossibly awful Val opens the proceedings by ranting at Jess for taking lunch-breaks and for her pedestrian progress in her work. As she goes off to complain to the MD (again), her sweet and new-agey colleague Erin sympathises, and speaks admiringly of Jess’ relationship with her boyfriend. The scene is set for a piece […]

The initial framing device of Beowulf – A Thousand Years of Baggage is strong: three characters with a different take are our guides to the Anglo-Saxon epic poem. Each has their own intonation and style of speech; I particularly like the literary academic who speaks in that odd way that Air Cabin Crew do, emphasising certain words […]

Since 2008 Les Enfants Terribles have been wowing Edinburgh audiences with their combination of strong physical storytelling, vaudeville styling (episodic storytelling combining ‘turns’, puppetry, wild costumes and song) and new writing from one of the two directors Oliver Lansley, who also stars. The Trench comes to Brighton Fringe hot from a barnstorming Edinburgh run with a clutch […]