Herald Young Critics
Roots
Church Hill Theatre
Nicola Graham
****
THE production company 1927 did a weird but wonderful job at remaking these amazing, hilarious folk tales.
When watching Roots I felt completely mesmerised by the animations on the screen. The atmosphere immediately changed when watching one of the tales. The show started with a tale about a cute “Fat Cat” that within 10 seconds had eaten its owner.
Watching the audience reaction was very interesting. The main character in each tale was evil in some kind of way, which made every story, all completely different from each other, join together and make them all have something in common.
The performance of “Patient Oriselda” was my favourite. 1927 portrayed the tale so well with the animations and acting. The performance really felt like it was set in the 17th century and it made me want to go home and watch The Musketeers. The live music sounded like a mix between a glockenspiel and a harpsichord which really helped take the audience back in time. 1927 was able to take the funny and disturbing and combine them to make this amazing piece of work.
Roots was mesmerising and enjoyable to watch; 100 per cent recommended.
*Nicola Graham is a pupil at Craigroyston Community High School and this review was submitted as part of The Herald Young Critics project with the Edinburgh International Festival.
More Craigroyston reviews of Roots appear below:
Festival Theatre
Roots
Church Hill Theatre
Daryl Blackie
four stars
ROOTS is a strange yet captivating short series of mostly silent folk tales.
The visuals and atmosphere created an overall creepy feeling with the odd twist of humour. There is certain folk tales that will leave you slightly scarred whereas others will make you laugh out loud. The faces of the mimes will send shivers down your spine which toys with your emotions like a hungry, fat cat.
The use of the projected images and animation helped the audience follow and understand the story. While the use of music effectively went hand in hand with the tales. The instruments ranged from a flute to a saw, all of which were used in a separate way yet fitted so well together.
It wasn’t what I expected but I still enjoyed it. One of my favourite tale was definitely the ’Fat Cat’ because the person playing the cat created both a creepy and comedic vibe. Another of the folk tales that I enjoyed was ‘Two Fish’ because the music used was different and it helped add to the atmosphere. Overall, ‘Roots’ was good and very enjoyable. Definitely worth a watch.
Festival Theatre
Roots
Church Hill Theatre
Rhiannon Cummings
four stars
ROOTS is an attention grabbing collection of old folk jokes told through animation acting and music. It really sparked my interest the way that the live music was played on so many unusual instruments and each instrument fitted with each unusual character. It was also interesting to me that the animation was so in time with the live actors and they way they moves and the the plot of the characters. I felt as if on edge not knowing how every joke was going to end as each had very different endings no one was expecting. I really enjoyed that all the actors had white face paint covering their whole face like a mime and they had very expressive faces which helped develop the story line overall the play was not what I had expected.
My favourite joke was the one called Two Fish.
My favourite joke was the one called two fish which was about a family that went fishing and the parents got greedy and decided to kill of the child to get more fish this one was my favourite because it gave me the biggest shock and laugh at the all of a sudden plot change. I personally really enjoyed this style of theatre!
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