Grail Project continues at Bedlam until 26 August 2018.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
This is stylised storytelling at its most refined. Incredibly detailed, well rehearsed and precise, the physicality of the show is a joy to behold. Indeed, Meyerhold, the father of physical theatre, would find a great deal to be satisfied with in the ensemble work on show.
Music is treated like an additional character adding nuance, detail and humour as appropriate. Wes Myers’ music and Richard Alger’s lyrics underscore and lead in turn the plot around the central portion of the Arthurian legends. Ranging from songs Neil Young would be proud to have written, to a raunchy version of ‘I Feel Love’, the vocal blend is excellent, expressive and engaging. The underscoring of selecting the King with music associated with The King’s Speech is rather witty.
The lighting design here merits special mention: one of the best in Edinburgh this year – congratulations to Alger and Aaron Francis.
Although the tales of old purport to be about the men in the story, this re-telling puts the women front and centre: subverting ‘Three Little Maids’ we hear how Guinevere, Valerie and Morgana are the characters truly pulling the strings and determining what will happen next.
Although this is a female-centric re-telling of the legends there are still six men in the cast with only three women. One thing is clear: in wielding true power, the numbers are irrelevant – control can be held without being named the leader. A message for our times, perhaps?
Fiona Orr
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