Dance review: A Strange Wild Song, Bedlam Theatre (Venue 49), Edinburgh

By KELLY APTER
Published on 20/08/2012 13:04

INSPIRED by a real-life event during the First World War, this new show from Rhum and Clay Theatre Company blows their 2011 Fringe offering, Shutterland, out of the water.

A Strange Wild Song

Bedlam Theatre

(Venue 49)

Star rating: * * * *

Whereas last year, it was all about showing what their Lecoq training could do, this year the focus is on engaging the audience in a tale of childhood, innocence and the futility of war.

Three sets of eyes peer out from behind the rubble, cautious and inquisitive. Having already had their home crumble around their ears, these boys aren’t taking any chances. Slowly they appear, giving rise to some well-played physical comedy, as they negotiate their ever-changing landscape – and a carrot lunch – without saying a word.

The source material comes from 1915, when a Belgian photographer befriended a group of Parisian children who built their own “armoury” out of scraps. But Rhum and Clay has moved the action on a few years, to small-town France during the Second World War. Here, an American soldier encounters the boys, slowly gains their trust, then photographs their war-inspired play.

Fast-forward 60 years, and the soldier’s descendant receives a phone call out of the blue, informing him that photographs taken by his late relative have been discovered. So begins a theatrical back-and-forth between past and present, as more and more information about the young boys is discovered via the photographs.

It’s an interesting enough story, but what matters most here is the way Rhum and Clay tells it. Without a common language, the communication between the French boys and the American soldier is almost exclusively physical, giving rise to some sharp humour and touching pathos. Meanwhile, in modern-day Britain, the wit comes via characterisation and text.

But it is during those war-time moments that the true potential of this company is revealed, when the boundless imagination of children comes alive in the hands of skilled performers.

• Until 25 August. Today 9pm.