Edinburgh Previews 2010: Night Heron, Wait Until Dark, Sparkleshark

St Cross College, 26th July 2010 Oxford students seem to have the ambition to try pretty much anything. From these previews of Night Heron (by Jez Butterworth), Wait Until Dark (Frederick Knott) and Sparkleshark (Philip Ridley) staged at St Cross College last night, it's clear there's a remarkable diversity in the shows on offer. The actors conjure up an isolated shack on the Cambridgeshire Fens, a Notting Hill basement flat and even tell children’s fairytales with the junk scattered on the roof of an East End tower block – and these are just three of the incredible sixteen shows being performed as part the Bookstacks programme at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Furthermore, all these three have the potential to offer truly compelling and inventive theatre.

Night Heron (18th-28th August*) is one of Jez Butterworth’s lesser known plays, but given his recent rise to the forefront of new British writing it seems an inspired choice. Living in isolation and poverty, Griffin and Whatmore are tied to each other with a bond drawn from mutual dependence and fear – although, cleverly, it’s not exactly clear what they are afraid of. This unstable situation is made all the more volatile as, out of fiscal necessity, they take on a lodger - Bolla - whose background and manner is nearly as unsettling as their own. The two scenes which I was privy to were real masterclasses in establishing tension and I’ve rarely seen three actors (Jacob Lloyd, Rob Hoare Naire and Kate Lewing) able to maintain such presence, even within a rehearsal space.

Wait Until Dark (7th – 28th August*) is a thriller of the highest pedigree, running on Broadway for nearly two years and adapted into an Oscar nominated film. A blind woman living in a basement flat in Notting Hill is the intended victim of three conmen. However, with other senses heightened, she becomes aware of the danger and attempts to turn the tables. It’s a situation that spirals dangerously out of her (or anybody’s) control. It is apparent that this production intends to deliver a really intense and emotionally engaging experience for the audience. Although this is clearly a difficult and complex play, with clever directing and wholly committed acting I wouldn’t bet against them pulling off something spectacular.

Finally, Sparkleshark (14th-28th August*) is a Philip Ridley play aimed at children although there is plenty in there to make it relevant to an adult audience too. It centres on a shy boy, Jake, who retreats to the junkyard on top of a London towerblock. Here he creates stories, initially for himself, and then for some girls who decide to befriend him. However, the arrival of the pretty-boy school bully, Russell, results in Jake being dangled from the roof and his new friends desperately creating a fairy story to try and save him. This promises to be a really inventive piece of theatre with the intention being that interactive story-telling workshops for children will run alongside the production. In addition, the scene I saw was extremely well-directed, providing a central space for the characters to weave their tales and hold the audience.

*All productions take place at Theatre One, The Royal College of Surgeons (Venue 53) between the dates shown above. If you’re heading to the Festival this summer, Bookstacks will surely be worth a look.

Andrew Johnson (Unverified), 27/07/10

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