Opera review: Dr Quimpugh’s Compendium of Peculiar Afflictions, Summerhall (Venue 26), Edinburgh

By SALLY STOTT
Published on 20/08/2012 17:08

THE serious opera crowd are here today: a group of well-dressed, predominantly older people you don’t really see en masse anywhere else in the Fringe.

Dr Quimpugh’s Compendium of Peculiar Afflictions

Summerhall (Venue 26)

Star rating: * * * *

But even if pashminas and studying programme notes isn’t really your scene – and there’s a feeling you shouldn’t be wearing trainers even though the rest of Summerhall pretty much demands them – this is a moving piece of theatre that transcends the connotations of highbrow inaccessibility the genre can get stuck with.

Librettist Phil Porter, whose work has been produced by the Royal Opera House and RSC, has created an amusing oddity of a tale, following a doctor at the end of his life, tormented by a belief that he hasn’t achieved anything. “What have I changed?” he cries. “What will they write on my grave?” Through a soaring collection of songs, composed by the supremely talented Martin Ward, we find out; each one detailing the bizarre story of a patient the doctor has helped overcome a surreal medical condition. A woman sings touchingly of her “alien hand” that keeps committing crimes, another can’t stop eating inanimate objects and delivers a jovial number on the “editable world”.

The crazy logic that underpins each story is turned into genuinely moving mini-dramas that find emotion in the unlikeliest of places. Baritone Robert Gildon, as the doctor, has a rich, powerful voice that fills the room and when accompanied by Natalie Raybould and Tasmin Dalley, who play the other characters, the sound is otherworldly. At times the words would benefit from more enunciation, as a few get lost in the acoustics – a shame when they are filled with such amusing little details.

When the doctor finally sees that his life hasn’t been wasted at all – that he’s helped numerous people – it’s a profound moment; one that portrays the kind of numerous small impacts we all make as more powerful than a few obvious grand gestures. As the cast sing “what a piece of work is man”, we are encouraged to recognise our achievements, no matter how insignificant they might seem.

• Until 26 August. Today 5pm.