Edinburgh Fringe Theatre reviews: 1984 | I’m Almost There | Little Deaths | Mutant Olive 2.0 | Ritual: Red

THEATRE

1984 ★★★★

Summerhall (Venue 26) until 11 August

George Orwell’s classic indictment of totalitarianism has rarely packed more of a punch than it does in this staging by withintheatre, a group of Slavic actors based in London. The novel was banned in Belarus as recently as 2022, and remains banned in Russia. With no way to stage it in either country, Belarusian director Sofia Barysevich decided to bring the company’s debut production to Edinburgh.

This intensely physical version based on Nick Hern’s text, which uses mostly dialogue taken directly from Orwell, has a raw, driving energy. The “deconstruction” of prisoner Winston Smith, a minor official in the Ministry of Truth who joins a rebel organisation opposed to Big Brother, takes place with the audience as witnesses, while the other prisoners re-enact scenes from his “thought crimes”.

The adaptation pulls into the centre Smith’s love affair with Julia, with whom he joins The Brotherhood, only to be betrayed by its leader, a spy and now his interrogator. As Smith is invited to betray Julia, and assured that she has betrayed him, he is filmed on a CCTV camera, his agonies relayed to the audience on a big screen.

A second screen shows a range of graphics, often the ubiquitous eye, but occasionally information drawing parallels between Orwell’s vision and contemporary life in Belarus: the tapping of domestic phone lines, the doctoring of high school history text books, the arrest of a person whose socks were allegedly in rebel colours.

The skilled use of movement captures undercurrents of anger and frustration among the prisoners, in contrast to the interrogator’s chilling calm. But much of the production’s power lies in the fact that, for this company, Orwell is not simply a classic text, it’s a living, breathing description of life in a place not too far away.

Susan Mansfield

THEATRE

I’m Almost There ★★★★

Summerhall (Venue 26) until 26 August

Perhaps less well known on this side of the Atlantic, Todd Almond has an illustrious career in US as a writer, musician and performer, and an actor on stage and screen (Girl From The North Country, Gossip Girl). His Fringe debut is a chamber musical which he has written and performs, directed by multi-award winner David Cromer and co-produced by Audible, Francesca Moody and DryWhite.

It’s a strange little show, splicing together gay romance in contemporary Manhattan with Homer’s Odyssey and a heavy dash of the surreal, but it’s so skilfully realised within its own odd perameters that one is inclined to go along for the ride.

The protagonist, a version of Almond himself, reluctantly accepts an invitation to Easter brunch at a triplex penthouse in Tribeca and there meets Guy, the love of his life. But he must triumph over a series of entrapments and obstacles before they can even go on a first date. And all this without leaving his apartment building.

Enter the lonely woman from upstairs who has lost her cat, the old man whom everyone believes is a vampire and the “sexy beast” siren from across the hall. Time distorts, minutes become hours become days, and the basement laundry room becomes the Underworld, presided over by the aforesaid cat which can talk in the voice of Almond’s mother.

It’s all flawlessly performed by Almond, who delivers its complex lyrics with dexterity and self-deprecating wit while also playing the piano, supported by Erin Hill on harp and vocals and Lucas McCrosson on bass. And somewhere behind the cranks, vampires and talking cats are some perceptive thoughts about how easy it is to sabotage one’s own chances at happiness in love.

Susan Mansfield

THEATRE

Little Deaths ★★★

Summerhall (Venue 26) until 26 August

Female friendship is under represented in the theatre, so Amy Powell Yeates’ first full-length play, which follows two friends over 25 years, is particularly welcome. When we first meet Debs and Charlie, they’re lamenting the break-up of the Spice Girls. Year follows year, through puberty, boyfriends, break-ups, jobs, babies, all the stuff of ordinary life.

At the centre of Claire O’Reilly’s production are exuberant performances from Rosa Robson and Olivia Forrest, adeptly keeping pace with the changing ages and stages of their characters. Anyone of a similar age will love the references to mixtapes, Walkmans, MSN and the evolving soundtrack, from the Spice Girls to Coldplay.

The play’s chronological year-by-year structure gives it a strong backbone, but it also means it’s harder to work with any kind of narrative arc. Powell Yeates charts ordinary lives in a way which is entirely relatable, but the emphasis on structure is at the expense of story.

That said, she has created a realistic portrait of a female friendship, strong as steel but one argument away from destruction. More insidiously, as Debs and Charlie discover, as family life and careers take over, maintaining a friendship can be much harder than you think.

Susan Mansfield

THEATRE

Mutant Olive 2.0 ★★★

Gilded Balloon Patter House (Venue 24) until 25 August

It is a great pleasure and privilege to watch a talented performer throw everything at his stage for his audience. Mitch Hara is pretty much an irresistible force as, right from the start, we are all part of his character Adam’s audition for Hamilton Unplugged. Also, from the start, Adam's hitman father is everywhere on stage with him – on the phone, in his memory, in the irreparable damage he has done to Adam and, most of all, in the bubbling, corrosive rage and hurt that powers this show. Hara is the angriest person I have ever seen on a stage, and somehow that anger is so much more powerful when delivered with a crispy coating of funny, a sprinkle of clever characters and enough campery for an entire chorus line. When the rage builds up palpably, only for Hara to grasp it, crush it and throw it away with a, “anyway ...” or “but that's another story ...” the tension in the room reacts.

There is so much here to admire: the stagecraft, the discipline and, in the midst of it all, the genuine emotion. This is a powerhouse performance. Even if he did forget the pizza box.

Kate Copstick

THEATRE

Ritual: Red ★★

Greenside @ George Street - Ivy Studio (Venue 236) until 24 August

Ritual: Red is one of those shows that’s vibe first, everything else later. This one-woman monologue succeeds in conjuring a sense of mystic feminism but there’s little to get your teeth into beyond the aura.

Performer Valeriya Pushkareva presents a hastily assembled collage of a woman’s life: a stern rural upbringing by parents, flickers of violence, and eventual escape. But the diffuse images are too haphazardly strung together to form a clear picture. The Kate Bush-esque dance interludes don’t help to clarify things.

The mysticism is suggested to be a metaphor for female rage against patriarchy. But it’s too fragmented to tell for certain.

Alexander Cohen