The Gillis Centre, situated in the leafy Grange, is far away from the hustle and bustle of the Fringe and its blizzard of proffered leaflets. Relevancy with Kemari also felt well removed from your typical show. An examination of Chinese history through the medium of football, its initial idea was bold and fresh but the show is hampered by its confusing and unexplained execution.
The show starts with an impressively choreographed fight between demons and mankind (or so I assumed). Dressed in traditional Chinese fisherman gear with beautiful masks, the victorious men took the stomachs of their enemy; it boded well for the rest of the performance. However, the subsequent acts were baffling. The performers ran round in circles, now in courtier’s gear, then played a three-way game of football, and finished with a costume change into shiny, foil-like outfits.
Considering it as a piece of conceptual art, the show is reminiscent of the late plays of Samuel Beckett. But if that absurdist sentiment was intended it was lost on the audience who watched the spectacle with bemusement. In contrast to the precisely choreographed opening, the football section was loosely structured and subsequently messy. The short running time – only half an hour – felt dragged out by the extended football sequence, and then abruptly stopped. The show engages with interesting ideas and plenty of promise, but it needs greater explanation and direction to communicate its themes.