Night Afore International

Published on Monday 3 January 2005 01:54

Night Afore International ****

George Street, Edinburgh

FRANKLY, I’m still not quite convinced that an Edinburgh street on a wet and windy night in December is the ideal place for one of Britain’s premier festivals of street theatre; particularly when it’s flanked by a ceilidh stage surrounded by revellers trying to break the world Strip The Willow record.

Nevertheless, Edinburgh’s Night Afore Fiesta has emerged as one of the most popular features of the city’s big Hogmanay celebration; and despite steady rain, this year’s show was among the finest yet.

What’s interesting about French street theatre is that in an effort to meet the demands of the art form, it seems increasingly drawn towards images of simpler pre-industrial societies and times. This year’s shows in George Street included, for example, a wonderful celebration of the great French dairy cow by Thatre de la Toupine from Evian, featuring a superb, balefully mooing animatronic cow at least 10ft long. Bouldegom Theatre from Aix-en-Provence appeared in the shape of four giant puppets like small woodland cottages on the move, fairytale grandad and grandmother figures playing with the crowd.

And the show’s finale - a spectacular new version of a beautiful piece by Les Quidams, Aeroplume and Inko’Nito, first seen in Edinburgh four years ago - sees ten performers dressed like heavily swathed bedouin gradually unfold into glowing white figures who unleash new life in the shape of two soaring, moon-like balloons, watched over by a fabulous angelic airship soaring 100ft above George Street.

The exception to the simplifying mood came in the shape of Friche Theatre Urban from Paris and their thrilling anti-war street version of Macbeth. It was presented under tough conditions for a show which involves substantial chunks of new and original dialogue. This Macbeth comes straight to the point of Shakespeare’s story of tyranny and atrocity, in brilliant swathes of red tartan and scarlet military helmets, beasts’ heads, skewered babies and bloody, ensnaring nightmares.

By the end - 70 minutes on - the company were being cheered to the echo.