RUDE rollicking fun, Chaucerian ribaldry, stinging satire, pathetic
pathos, touching tragedy; all this and a serious message pertinent both
then (sixteenth century) and now, this revival of Allan Sharpe's
commedia dell'arte pastiche should be a sell-out for the Edinburgh Old
Town Festival.
If you're sensitive to noise, bring earplugs to this rumbustious
comedy. The actors are at hand, performing for the throng, when in comes
The Burgher, full of Calvinist fury signifying large ego, wanting to
stop the play. He succeeds, but receives a kick in the wherewithals for
his pains. Along comes Lord Sack (his name an obscure reference to his
sexual appetite?) who wishes to get The Burgher and indulge his fantasy
as Patron of the Arts, proposing that the players enact a tragedie
depicting The Burgher in unflattering terms. All are eager.
The first production of this play, optimistically strung together in
1988 by Theatre Co-op, simply had not the resources to wring all the fun
and games out of it. This Fifth Estate production does, provoking a mood
of exuberant madness as the forces of art confront the corrupt power of
money and influence. (That's the serious bit.)
Steve Owen is a Holy Willie of a burgher, spitting spite, raging like
an Ajax tornado (his ego isn't the only thing that's large). Owen and
Alastair McCrone (a suave but treacherous Lord Sack) are the central
double-act. Lorna Irvine as Columbine is eloquent despite her
character's restricted repertoire of gestures, and suffers many rude
indignities. Joe Gallagher is the noxious notary; our musician, Cameron
Gaskill, has wit and melody in his fiddle, and Shonagh Price as Lucy
shows great poise. Joss Carlin, however, has not yet grown into the part
of the Playwright, and must create a larger presence around herself.
Various things fly, from insults to half-plucked chickens, and centre
stage is a bonking basket which doubles as many other things during its
eventful career. Don't miss this, whatever you do.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article