GISELLE: REMIX | PLEASANCE COURTYARD, EDINBURGH
★ ★ ★
“…full of heart, if over-long”
Coming of age stories, at their simplest, are origin stories. They may vary in their telling and individual detail, but ultimately most follow the same path within the world they are set. In Giselle: Remix, hope, despair, loss and redemption lead to, if not a happy ever after conclusion, a hopeful one.
Coming out tales are ten a penny these days and like all that have gone before, Jack Sears’ Giselle is a journey of self-discovery, as ‘the boy everyone loves but never falls in love with’ succumbs to his first real kiss, the beginning of his own odyssey into the dark underworld of love, broken hearts, sex and drugs scenes of the queer landscape.
Sears looks to the classical romantic ballet Giselle, the tale of a country girl who dies of a broken heart on discovering her establishment lover is already engaged, to frame his own story of growing up ‘different’. The result is a very personal, physical, hybrid mix of cabaret, drag, dance theatre, posturing and much more, a lot of which works brilliantly, but some of which fails to land.
The age-old art of mime drag might open the piece – a ‘rendition’ of Stormy Weather setting, but the mix of disciplines is jarring. From preshow to curtain, however, there is a darkness infused into this eclectic piece of theatre, much of which is lip-synched to a pre-recorded narration that is a mash-up of famous lines from movies, iconic gay songs and soundbites from a host of queer legends.
If this kaleidoscope of styles is excitingly experimental, it also makes for muddled storytelling and while the lip synching is well executed, it strips away the emotion from the performance, although it does add moments of comedy.
Consequently it’s only when dance and music align to ‘do the talking’ that the piece really flies – dancers Elle Fierce, Naia Bautista, Jasiah Marshall and Spike King deliver Hannah Grennel’s choreography with panache, while Harri James Eiffert’s ethereal presence mesmerises.
Lucy Adams’ simple but brutally effective lighting design adds purpose and a sense of threat, while Rhys Cook’s sound design, if clever, is also convoluted.
Dressing the company in everything from traditional ballet stylings to thongs and even a gimp suit, Laura Rose Moran-Morris ensures her costumes fit the mood nicely whether it be sad, sensuous or sleazy.
In the lead role of ‘Giselle’, creator Jack Sears is fully invested in a story evidently close to his heart, he also plays the lighter moments well. Like many ‘passion projects’, and this piece leaves little doubt that it is one such production, indulgence crosses into overindulgence – the use of mime outstaying its welcome and the storytelling unnecessarily drawn out to the point it occasionally loses the ability to engage.
That said, as a celebration of ‘queer culture’, Sears has thrown everything possible at Giselle: Remix to create a 70 minute mash-up that is certainly full of heart, if over-long.
Run Ended.
