Mime
Swan Lake -The Ballet of Clowns, Youth International at St Oswalds
Earlier in this Fringe I've seen two clowns cleverly spoofing Swan Lake as part of the Bolshoi circus. But this show, by the Youth Theatre of Latvia, is clowning with a distinctly wistful side to it. The story of the ballet - reluctant prince forced towards a politic marriage finds true love and hope with a strange, enchanted swan princess - is made into a dream of fantastical escape from harsh reality.
The cast of five - including the director - draw on other traditions apart from classical dance: there's a dash of commedia del arte, a hint of cartoon, and there's even a soupcon of opera with the characters singing the famous Tchaikovsky swan songs - considerately in English. At times it's gawky, and short on articulate, organised detail. But it tries hard and the ending, where Pierrot washes his face free of make-
up and the swan trappings become a scarecrow suddenly suggested a young Latvia freeing itself from Soviet cultural domination - a dream that has certainly come true.
Static, Southside.
DO not be fooled by the name: everything about this production is redolent of flux.
Waiting in line I witnessed what I thought might be an
in-foyer start to proceedings. One woman trying to dissuade another from going inside. Words too rapid and muffled
to be clearly overheard but phrases like ''she'd rather you didn't see it in this state'' seemed an entirely possible curtain-raiser to a production being staged under the experimental ''laboratory'' flag at Southside.
Little did I know that what I was about to see was an experiment in enforced improvisation. There was, apparently, no script. For all I know there might not be a script yet.
But what you will find are three women who are not lost for words, or determination. Actually I think they might have overdone it in their enthusiasm to give audiences a lively time: there's just about everything in this 50 minutes, from family dysfunction to murder and the obsessive cleaning of the kitchen sink. And, yes, there is static - peer hard, it's on the teensy TV screen in the corner.
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