Final notes

The two last shows I saw in the fringe, I also saw last year. These are Sig Other's choices, but I have no complaint about them.

Fascinating Aida were on even more sparkling form than previously. Their new material, especially the bitingly accurate new agey proclivities of certain sections of the female population. I laughed while acknowledging my own forays into that wide field.

Their glorious vulgarity had me in tears several times and laughing to the point of breathlessness. Politically, they judged the sentiments of this Edinburgh audience well. There is something uplifting in seeing and hearing mature ladies rip Blair and his ilk to shreds with a few choice phrases.

Last year, I called for Fascinating Aida to get back on TV and reach a wider audience, but I realise that TV would probably mean a dilution of their political voice. I will be content with viewing them annually at the fringe.

Paul Sinha also gained approbation in last year's write up. He again delivered his personal and political material in fine form and added that he will be more on our TV screens in a quiz programme later this year. I might just look out for that. Oh - and he is in luuuurve. I really hope that works out for him.

Drought and Rain


I thought that was the end of the whole fest experience, but no! Friend M offered a free ticket to a festival show. Not one I'd heard of, but ever eager to see as much as possible I accepted, then looked at the programme. Vietnamese grannies choir said K, another pal who already had a ticket.  I'd agreed to go, even though L yet another friend dangled the tantalising idea of deckchairs and vodka near the Castle to listen in to the Brian Ferry concert that night.

You may appreciate my dilemma.

The Vietnamese grannies won. I'm glad in many ways, but will always wonder what I missed.
 


From the programme

French Vietnamese choreographer Ea Sola celebrates historical and cultural memory and meditates on the human cost of war and imperialism in Drought and Rain (re-creation 2011). Together with a group of elderly women from the north of Vietnam, whose singing had consoled soldiers on the front line, and an ensemble of virtuoso traditional musicians, Ea Sola has re-created this moving and beautiful work. First seen in 1995 it offers deep insights into the tumultuous history and sufferings of Vietnam.


Shifting between hypnotically slow, graceful movements and urgent, almost visceral reactions, the choreography creates a spare, powerful and bittersweet account of the human legacy of war with performers who lived through it.

Good enough description, but does not convey the intensity of emotion watching this group of women move towards the audience and back again while holding photographs of relatives(?) presumably killed in the war. I'm rarely intimidated by older women, but this shook me. Sadly, I have no way to describe this extraordinary show.

A quick look through the reviews, and they are very mixed. Some people got it while other reviewers were underwhelmed. I think that is fair. I can imagine if I was in a quite different mood, it would have left me untouched.

A fitting end to my fringing leaving me with much to think about.