Fringe Music and Cabaret

We Are, Just Festival at St John’s, four stars

Never Mind the Gap, the Space at Surgeons Hall, three stars

Rob Adams

We Are comes in two sizes. There’s the “unplugged” version, comprising three drummer-percussionist-singer-storytellers, and the full-on, big show – and if the former is anything to judge by, full-on, big and captivating all seem to be guaranteed in the latter.

In St John’s studio we’re welcomed into a world of rhythm, where kit drums, djembes and talking drum create the grooves and incidentals for stories about the three women’s inspirations. Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on the bus and Miriam Makeba’s exile from apartheid-era South Africa, while not shirking on the disgraceful treatment and horrendous attitudes they endured, become celebrations of strong characters that ultimately involve the audience in chanted, vibrant and unforced pieces of collective action.

It’s a spiritual, uplifting experience as the trio, all members of Los Angeles troupe Adaawe, introduce elements from their ancestral culture and live up to their name – Adaawe being a Ghanian tradition where women gather in the moonlight to create music and songs that reflect life’s sorrows and joys.

Never Mind the Gap contains songs and magic that, at first, seem quite separate but ultimately work together in a cunning finale. It isn’t – and doesn’t pretend to be - the slickest of productions and the promised Wheelchair Sex (a song, not a demonstration, we’re cheekily reassured) succumbs to technical difficulties. But there’s an appealing honesty involved and the mind reading element, from which you might not be able to escape, combines a roguish, throw-away, not to say casually expletive-strewn, presentation with strangely accurate results.

Both shows end August 25.