Three shows were presented with a Broadway Baby Bobby Award at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Tomato, by dancer/choreographer Chou Kuan-Jou, captured the imagination of reviewer Stephanie Green at Summerhall. With a combination of movement, physical theatre and live camera documentation she described this multimedia work as erotic, silly, surreal, (and) constantly surprising. A bold, brave piece and huge fun. Through the medium of the tomato, the work explored the sensual nature of sexuality in a manner steeped in Taiwanese culture.
Frodo Allen has spent many years reviewing and producing circus and is not easily impressed, but Circa Humans 2.0 left him in awe. “Poetic, entrancing, beautiful, and exhilarating. It is simply a triumph,” he said. The breadth of this work was quite remarkable featuring acrobalance, tumbling, throws, aerial skills, dance, gymnastics, a straps routine and some slapstick comedy. All of this was choreographed into a seamless routine, appreciation of which raised the roof at the Underbelly's Circus Hub on the Meadows.
'Stunning, imaginative, inspired, colourful, amusing, brilliantly performed and beautifully sung' is how I described the production of Trial by Jury, by Velocirapture Productions (alumni and students members of the Cambridge University G & S Society and a few friends). I played the Defendant in a production some fifty years ago and was well aware of the pitfalls the operetta presents, but this production avoided them all and through stunning direction lifted the piece into the twentieth century and presented it in an entirely new light. It was indeed 'joy unbounded' and a major triumph for theSpaceUK at their Triplex venue that made full use of the Big room and its pleasing acoustics.
It was an interesting Fringe with much controversy and many issues being confronted, but so many companies managed to prove that it’s possible to shine through despite the obstacles.
