Latest news with #HeraldAngel
The Herald Scotland
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
EIF: There was so much to applaud at Orpheus and Eurydice
Edinburgh Playhouse In the final moments of this sensational production of Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice there was a palpable sense of an audience desperate to express its acclaim. That was a lot of tension, because sell-out shows at the vast Edinburgh Playhouse must make this one of the biggest box-office hits in the history of operas at the Edinburgh International Festival. Sure enough, the place erupted at the closing black-out, and the company could have taken many more curtain-calls than they chose to – there was quite simply so much to applaud. Read More: Director Yaron Lifschitz and his Circa company of acrobats and trapeze artists are familiar from their Fringe performances, where the show Wunderkammer won a Herald Angel award in 2012, and their physical theatre skills, daring and dangerous but also superbly choreographed by Bridie Cooper in partnership with the director and performers, are the unique selling point of the show. But the gasps occasioned by Eurydice's rope swing descent to the Underworld or the pyramids of bodies collapsing as an expression of Orpheus's fragmented mind are just one element of the production. Singularly, there is counter-tenor Iestyn Davies as that tortured soul, onstage throughout, often boldly part of the action, and delivering a huge vocal role with power and passion. Soprano Samantha Clarke, in the dual role of Eurydice and a mischievous Amor, is just as impressive. The rest of the singing is in the hands of the chorus of Scottish Opera, immaculately prepared by Susannah Wapshott and also integral to the movement and stage management of the show, while the company's technicians have realised Lifschitz's spare, elegant design. In the pit, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra follows its own Mozart opera-in-concert triumph on Saturday with exemplary playing under conductor and director of the Academy of Ancient Music Lawrence Cummings. Gluck's score sits at a pivotal point in the history of opera and every detail of it was crystal clear from these musicians. That precision was also present in the costuming and in the superb dissolving surtitles with which the performers interacted as often as with the sung words. In bringing all these talents together – rather than importing an entire production with its performing company – the Festival has surely created a sustainable model for the future, as well as giving those lucky enough to have a ticket the memory that will define this year's event in the years to come. For festival tickets see here
The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
The fury of Pussy Riot's Riot Days is more vital than ever
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The world has changed since Pussy Riot first bombarded their way into Edinburgh in 2018 to win a Herald Angel award. Back then, key member of the anarchic balaclava-clad Russian art collective Maria Alyokhina transformed her experiences on the frontline into an incendiary piece of multi-media punk theatre. This followed a high-profile trial after Alyokhina and two other members of the collective were imprisoned after performing an anti-Putin action in a Russian Orthodox Church. The result, adapted from Alyokhina's memoir, Riot Days, and performed by Alyokhina with a well-drilled band of actor/musicians, was an urgent piece of in-yer-face agit-prop. The Herald has teamed up with to make the purchase of tickets for the festival so much easier. Seven years on, the fifty-minute compendium of autobiographical monologues, Brechtian captions, documentary film footage, primitive martial beats and industrial sturm und drang is brought bang up to date with a new band and fresh material. The former features vocal upstarts Olga Borisova and Taso Pletner, with the latter also playing flute. While Alyokhina remains at the show's centre, Borisova and Pletner flank her in a way that gives off a guerrilla girl group vibe. This is pulsed by the martial drums and electronic beats conjured up by Eric Breitenbach of Canadian band, New Age Doom. The show's narrative has developed to draw from Alyokhina's forthcoming second book, Political Girl: Life and Fate in Russia, and includes details of Pussy Riot's disruption of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games and Alyokhina's further arrests and imprisonment. It also honours the death of anti-corruption politician, Alexey Navalny, who was almost killed after being poisoned, and later died while in prison. There is a moving moment of silence too as film footage of Russian journalist Irina Slavina is shown of her setting herself on fire. The shadow of Russia's ongoing assault on Ukraine also hangs heavy throughout the piece. Read more: In what feels like a more disciplined if just as relentless production, overseen by producer Alexander Cheparukhin and with input from composer Alina Petrova, this new version of Riot Days is about evolution as much as revolution. While acknowledging the symbolism of yore, largely this is Pussy Riot unmasked in a blitz of a show that is part history lesson, part living newspaper. At its conclusion, Alyokhina highlights how what is currently happening in Russia could easily happen anywhere. Coming a few days after more than 400 peaceful protestors were arrested, not in the old Eastern Bloc, but in twenty-first century Britain, Riot Days remains a vital call to arms. Runs at Summerhall until 23 August.
