Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews: RUM by Joe Mallalieu | Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes | Covenant + more

RUM by Joe Mallalieu | Leah Balmforth

RUM by Joe Mallalieu ★★★★

Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61) until 25 August

Holes puncture the walls. Plastic bags and beer cans cover the floor. The builders have left things in a mess. Dan, who’s the one in charge, is annoyed, but not phased: he can handle things, and he’s got the construction skills, no-nonsense attitude of his grandfather, and the blood on his neck to prove it.

Rarely has a character study of a working-class man filled an Edinburgh Fringe stage so fully As effortlessly as he patches up the plaster, writer and performer Joe Mallalieu delivers a dazzlingly authentic monologue based on his own experiences in the trade.

The audience today is full of his family and friends, and the script captures their voices as much as his, but also something bigger: a world ruled by working class men who might get paid by clients but who are, often thrillingly, only accountable only to themselves. 

Dan and his colleague-mates create their own rules at the intersection of luxury flats and working-class graft in north-west England that, thanks to the booming property industry, also makes them a good amount of money.

Mallalieu’s monologue romps through “liquid lunches” and sex with lasses in Weatherspoons toilets to taking a nap in clients’ beds. “Work hard and play harder”, they say.

However, Dan's one of a long line of of tough men who have created their own kind of control. Like cement he’s been moulded, like a house he’s been built, by the generations of patriarchs that have come before him – and the tough love that enables him to successfully run his own business and be “off the tools by 40” sometimes tips into violence.

It’s a cycle that he risks continuing, but through his own son, who likes poetry, there’s also the sense of a new generation doing things differently and a celebration of masculinity that can still be strong but doesn’t have to be quite so toxic.

Sally Stott

Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes ★★★

The Space on the Mile (Venue 39) until 23 August  

Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes is a smart, understated production, operating at the intersections of Celtic and Gaelic mythology, performance and protest, and story and song.

In it, six friends invite audiences to share in their passions for the land, by developing a stage performance that updates the sexual politics of traditional folkloric stories (which are often wildly heteronormative in nature). 

While the story focuses on their rehearsal process, Timeless Tales is not a behind-the-scenes narrative. Rather, its attention is on the beneath - the dark underside of arts council funding applications, and of the heritage sector itself.

Elements of live music offer a real sense of texture throughout, allowing the friends to achieve harmony whilst weathering wider networks of upset and discord. 

When their performance, which is due to be staged at a local church, garners the attention of evangelical Christian activists, the group are forced to consider the differences between subjects of mythology and religion.

An argument at the apex undoes the nuance of earlier group discussions, nevertheless, this production contains valuable lessons on the possibilities of theatre as an archeological tool to explore what has already been, and for digging into what might come. 

Josephine Balfour-Oatts 

Covenant ★★★

Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236) until 24 August

The setting may feel dystopian but for an increasing number of people, Covenant is all too real. Living in a land where abortion is illegal, and various checks are in place to ensure anyone who has one is caught in the net, three young women struggle to retain autonomy over their own bodies.

When we first meet these housemates, an air of mystery hangs over recent events. Something big has taken place but neither we the audience, nor the central character, Bonnie has any idea what. All we, and she, knows is Bonnie has woken up with the hangover of the century and an absence of bedsheets. 

It’s an interesting premise that grows steadily more intriguing as her friends attempt to stop Bonnie’s memory from returning. It’s also a suitable metaphor for the way reproductive rights are being taken out of women’s hands across the world.

The three performers of Turning Point theatre company are passionate and believable as they navigate the dilemmas forced upon them by draconian abortion laws, and the writing is well thought-out. 

A more naturalistic approach would have packed a greater punch, however, because each time the friends turn to face the audience, the spark between them loses power.

Kelly Apter

Dead Animals ★★★

theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall (Venue 53) until 24 August

“Nature is chaos,” as this unusual, immersive play says, breaking down time and space within the confines of a mysterious cottage in the woods.

Surrounded by the elements and dead animals outside, a young man Jesse, who shares his name with play’s Canadian writer Jesse Strong, has elusive but intriguing conversations with his formidable, straight-talking grandmother.

With her, the self-described “princess of the middle finger”, and him, passing commentary with a leisurely drawl, their friendship has a well-established rhythm, with the even-toned delivery of their dialogue adding to the disconcerting, eerie mood, as mysterious sounds echo in the distance. 

With visits from a racoon selling “smokes” in green glow of the forest, the creative combination of the writing, set and sound evokes an other-worldly atmosphere, grounded by the two main characters’ relationship.

Snapshots come through the conversation – she’s violent, he’s calm. There is a romantic poetry to the magical realism, peppered with disconnected everyday items.

Occupying a liminal space, between life, death and dreams, it is a series of intriguing insights into two characters and their relationship, rather than a piece that feels a need for a story more complex than the gradual reveal of its own reality, but in focusing on this it slices through the world outside. 

Sally Stott

A Life in Boxes  ★★★

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall (Venue 53) until 24 August

On the day of her mother’s funeral, Charlotte is clearing out the attic of the house where she grew up. She hasn’t spoken to her mother since an argument 18 months before when things were said about parental expectations and how she’s not fulfilling them.

Sorting through the cardboard boxes, she wonders in vain if she might find closure, some answers about her life, or even a family heirloom which could ease her financial troubles. Instead, as she digs through toy elephants and Disney princesses, she finds a revelation in an old diary which changes completely her understanding of the past.

Playwright Rhiannon Hughes, who also acts in this one-woman play, gives a good performance as the likable, distractable Charlotte, and the situation in which she finds herself is doubtless one many people will relate to.

She sets up the situation and character well, but doesn’t allow enough time to explore the revelation and how it has changed the way she sees her mother and herself. The last act of the play hurtles towards a resolution without making sure the audience is fully on board.

Susan Mansfield

Birdwatching ★★

theSpace @ Venue45 (Venue 45) until 24 August

This new play about three young women who go on a camping trip and find something sinister is lurking in the woods starts off well with some believable dialogue, a promising premise and authentic, engaging performances from the competent young cast.

Unfortunately, it struggles to create sufficient drama from playing games and doing dares, getting lost and coming back again. Light bickering, bullying and self-analysis struggles to develop into something genuinely horrifying.

Motifs of birds and eyes, which might be ours, are intriguing but underexplored. A tighter story with higher stakes is needed to increase the atmosphere of the unsettling but elusive Blair Witch lite world. 

Sally Stott