The Edinburgh Fringe? But half a year later when the opportunity to cover, what I now understand as the biggest arts festival in the world, slipped into my inbox I jumped at the chance. The prospect of a healthy helping of the arts alongside a hearty side dish of Haggis was simply too mouth watering to turn down. With a good enough reason to brave the Scottish weather, I took the plunge. An unforgettable immersion into the performing arts with a little something for everyone.
Edinburgh in August is the only place on earth you can listen to a solemn talk by the Rev. Jesse Jackson before heading straight out of the door and down a cobbled street to go and watch half-naked men covered in body paint devouring flames. Amongst the masses of productions, there was one bright spot incredibly close to my heart. That of course was the success of shows linked to The University of Warwick- brought to the nations attention in a glowing piece by The Guardian.
The best kind of hysteria? Medieval era witch hunt fuelled hysteria of course. The plot starts a little sluggishly before jerking into life once the flashbacks begin. It revolves around Leah Lucy Cooper , a teenage witch eager to learn about her dark ancestry. So eager she takes part in a painful looking blood letting incantation in order to conjure up visions of the past. The score put together by Chris Poon and Tom Slade helps take us seamlessly from scene to scene, happier moments of village revelry, segue into the dark scenes of death, sorrow and horror, all accompanied by songs wonderfully delivered by a cast who proved more than vocally competent.
The trio of maids Louise Kenny, Jess Abrahams and Emma Jelly combined for some ghoulish harmonies sharp enough to send chills down ones the spine, whilst elsewhere the shows most stellar performance was produced by Beckie Barkham.
As the evil Agnes Payne she provided the show with the sort of vicious, self indulgent villain every witch story needs. Subtle yet so obviously brilliant, Lemons is one of this years must see productions at The Fringe. At one level the drama is a heart-warming rom-com, tracing the lives of two lovers; Bernadette a headstrong divorce lawyer Beth Holmes and Oliver Euan Kitson a sometimes pretentious political activist who first meet amidst the slightly less than romantic backdrop of a cat cemetery.
