Transgressing borders, ethnicity and culture, MOVE is an epic tale of women across the world and how their stories intertwine. Taking place on the sand and rocks of Silverknowes Beach, the show has strong Gaelic undertones and is inspired by ancient keening rituals.
a truly unique Fringe experience
A production from new theatre company Disaster Plan – led by Julia Taudevin and Kieran Hurley – MOVE is performed by five women from diverse backgrounds including Taudevin herself. They tell the stories of different women – an elderly Colombian woman living in Glasgow, a humanitarian worker in Myanmar, Scottish emigrants to Australia, and refugees in the Mediterranean. Each performer takes on a different story to tell, which is generally stuck to throughout the show, making it easy to understand who represents who.
With views of Cramond Island and Fife, the unique beach setting of the performance added to the impact of the story. The audience were sat on rocks on the beach (with accessible seating for disabled audience members), and we were provided with headsets so we could hear the performance better. Each performer was miked up and the audio we heard was a mix of pre-recorded monologues amongst the live speech and song. As each performer spoke, the others sang in harmony in the background to add to the atmosphere of that particular monologue, creating a fantastic effect in the absence of a traditional sound system.
I was especially struck by Helen Katamba’s performance and how she told the story of trauma, in particular PTSD and self-harm, as well as conveying the show’s wider themes of grief and healing. MOVE is rife with symbolism and Gaelic references, with a strong Scottish link regardless of what part of the world we were being taken to.
Everything seems to link back to the sea in MOVE, which made the location and setting of the show even more fitting. It is a truly unique Fringe experience, evoking a plethora of emotions as you hear these stories unravel and intertwine on the shore.
