Fringe theatre reviews: ALONE | Blackbox | Hadid | BASIC BALD B*TCH | Live From The Afterlife + more

ALONE ★★★★

The Box at Assembly George Square (Venue 8) until 30 August

The Box lends itself well to Luke Thornborough’s sci-fi thriller ALONE, where the dark means something is very, very wrong.

As a third-time Fringe returner by New Zealand-based Alchemy Theatre and Jewel Box Productions, the show is properly broken-in to offer a human story amidst technological spectacle. As a pilot and scientist cruise the dark skies of outer space, their mission to protect biological samples that might save Earth is compromised by a life-threatening incident.

We are instantly endeared to Courtney Bassett as pilot Holland, who speaks with a projected yet relaxed tone refreshing in the Fringe milieu of theatricised diction. Bassett seems most at home leaning back in her pilot’s seat with a bowl of noodles, acting as a perfect foil to Anthea Freya Hill’s more uncompromising Dr. Taylor.

The show revolves around several hefty themes, with the struggles of women in STEM a constant undertone. As the action kicks off, questions of faith, legacy and morality escalate alongside it.

The lighting design is of worthy mention here – and a lingering scene at the end emphasises just how much of the show’s tone is dictated by light and shadow. The small touches on set, from an empty bottle of ketchup to a small plant tucked away amidst the machinery, bring us further into the unique world Dr. Taylor and Holland have created for themselves in the vast beyond.

While the play can be appreciated for its highly immersive qualities, its impressive performances and thorough world-building, there are some tonal shifts – especially relating to the central relationship – that feel underbaked.

That said, Fringe-goers this year are witnessing an hour-long cut of what also exists as a 90-minute show. While perfectly riveting, there exists a gnawing sense that there’s just a bit more to the story. Mika Morava

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Blackbox ★★★★

Underbelly Cowgate (Venue 61) until 30 August

In 1849, an enslaved man in Richmond, Virginia, mailed himself to freedom in a wooden crate just three feet long.

There is something innately magical about making yourself vanish in a wooden box, and Henry “Box” Brown went on to become an anti-slavery campaigner and a stage magician. The magic show is the framing device for this retelling of his story.

Written and directed by pioneer of hip-hop theatre, Rickerby Hinds, it includes gospel song, spoken-word poetry, a handful of illusions, and a superb movement sequence detailing his 27-hour journey inside the box.

Josiah Alpher as Brown and Jada Evelyn Ramsey, playing all the other parts, give strong performances. The play is adapted from Brown’s memoir, which accounts for the sometimes archaic language, but this does not diminish the pace and energy.

Covering his story, from birth to his escape at the age of 33, there’s a lot of material. Brown gives account of his different masters: some treat him well, others cruelly. After seeking permission, he is allowed to marry and have children, but is never allowed to forget that his family’s future depend on another’s whims.

It is their separation, when his wife and children sold to another master, that finally prompts him to make his daring escape.

This show is many things, one of which is a deep-dive into the experience of enslavement, the racist attitudes which underpinned it, and in particular the complicity of the various churches in reinforcing it: at one point Brown was beaten with a Bible by a sadistic overseer.

One thing it is not is a magic show. Apart from a handful of rope tricks and the grand finale with the box, it’s fairly magic-light. We don’t miss it much, though: the story is magic enough. Susan Mansfield

Hadid ★★★

Greenside @ Riddles Court (Venue 16) until 29 August

Meet Helena, the other Hadid sister. The one who isn’t supermodel Bella, or supermodel Gigi but is condescendingly informed she is “pretty in her own way”.

The one who pretends to be an only child rather than live in the chic shadow of her siblings and her reality TV star mother. The one who is reluctant to participate in the family brand. The one who aspires to become independently successful as a writer. The one who people want to hang out with… so they can get the gossip on her sisters.

Writer/performer Michelle Cohn’s gentle satire on celebrity culture would make a serviceable set-up for your typical atypical family sitcom, if only the Kardashians weren’t already living a real-life version. None of the characters, all played by Cohn, are too hideously or hyperbolically drawn, though there are hints about a black sheep brother somewhere out there on the fringes.

Helena initially appears to be the sorted sibling, if sardonically exasperated by her family, but she has ambitions of her own and when they are thwarted, good old sibling rivalry kicks in and she uses both her invisibility and her proximity to their stardust to take covert action. Fiona Shepherd

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BASIC BALD B*TCH ★★★

Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61) until 30 August

Writer/performer Emily Glaze appears before us as an imperious barrister, poised to officiate. It transpires she’s wearing wig on wig, one a mark of office, the other to blend in. A crime has been committed and the victim’s hair has been the casualty.

She introduces us to Amy, two-time winner of the Best Hair Award at her school, who works in a hairdressing salon and considers her long locks to be a badge of attraction. Until it starts to fall out in clumps, leaving her as a self-conscious version of the show title. And so we meet her apologetically shopping for wigs, trying to find the one which looks the most realistic. No statement rug here, she wants to melt into the crowd.

For the next hour, Amy guides us practically through the vagaries of alopecia and the art of hair caps, hairpieces and the four finger forehead, all with her court date looming.

Only once she faces up to the incident which triggered her hair loss can she find a fulfilling - and unexpected - way of being and the show soundtrack of hair tossing pop songs comes into celebratory, escapist focus as she embraces the joy of faking it. Fiona Shepherd

Live From The Afterlife ★★★

Assembly Roxy (Venue 139) until 31 August

Live From The Afterlife is Charlie Kilgore’s solo piece, blending storytelling with psychedelic folk-rock to explore cystic fibrosis and the unexpected consequences of survival. Kilgore opens at a point of acceptance, before recounting his diagnosis, with limited treatment and poor prognosis. The first song was written when he believed it would be his last.

The minimalist aesthetic and understated delivery create intimacy, while the songs, and the stories behind them, provide a reflective, lyrical quality. But this restraint leaves little room for tonal variation, and Kilgore’s humour can sit uneasily alongside his subject’s vulnerability, undercutting the discomfort the show’s structure is built on.

A treatment that turns cystic fibrosis from terminal to survivable transforms his life’s trajectory, but not his relationship with dying: he still pauses for breath after songs, his shadow against the backdrop suggesting his ongoing negotiation with mortality.

Rejecting the diagnosis-treatment-recovery arc, Kilgore dwells in the uncertainty of a life that no longer follows its expected course. The final track may or may not be a love song; he frames love not as a cure but an “obligation to the world”. Here, in the fragile possibilities that survival creates, the piece finds its most affecting moments. Josephine Balfour-Oatts

The 40-Year-Old Ballerino ★★★

Venue 13 (Venue 13) until 29 August

The title is only slightly inaccurate. Philadelphia performer Chris Davis is now 44, but four years ago he turned to ballet classes as a substitute for his other addictions — from drink and drugs to the TV show Modern Family.

He clutches the barre for support the way many comedians cling to the mic stand. It reassures him, steadies him the way drugs and sitcoms used to. It also provides a useful structure for this one-man show, since ballet — as well his other less admirable habits — was a passion he shared with his ex-girlfriend.

It works as a neat metaphor, Davis fears leaving the support of the barre and taking the centre of the floor alone but it’s something he’s forced to do when they split up. Why they do is never clear and his ex remains a frustratingly vague presence in this show for all the importance she holds. We know she’s better at ballet and also shared Davis’s addictions but although she remains an obscure object of desire.

While Davis can be a very engaging and funny performer, his introspection begins to feel a bit suffocating as the show draws on. He’s a perceptive writer but it might benefit him to cast his gaze outward more often. Rory Ford

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