Saturday, 18 August 2012

99.9 Degrees - Edinburgh Fringe review

Written by: Dombo (@DomOJFryer

Where's Dom gone? 
C Venues (ECA)
Was Dom fond? 
****


As you walk into the small, dimly lit space in Edinburgh's College of Art, it is difficult to imagine anything good happening here. Anything; for instance, the air – conditioning in the room is provided by a top of the range hole in the wall accompanied by a tube leading to fresh air. But then, some things can be rather unexpected.


99.9 Degrees is a piece which combines scenes of tense drama, with wonderfully crafted, and at times beautiful, dance and physical theatre – never before have I seen dub step and an 8 foot plank of wood used to depict a stag party so accurately. The plank of wood, as a recurring character, surely deserves some credit. All too often with physical theatre, the performers struggle to carry out the movements, however each of the actors in this piece does so without incident.
            
Five people are taken hostage in a building in London, but none of them know why. The audience sits and watches as each of the five outline moments in their lives that they feel were key for them, describing to each other their loved ones and their lowest moments. The atmosphere in the small space is palpable as the play reaches its climax and a phone is thrown into the equation; one call between the five. Who gets it? The sequence that ends the play is incredibly touching – another example of the fine efforts into movement based theatre.
           
The acting ensemble is incredibly strong, with the performer playing the character Matthew being the pick of the crop. There are few flaws to be found in this bunch. Short of a few technical difficulties, which shouldn't really be there halfway through a month long run, this production is a delight. So tempted might you be to watch this a second time, you may just do a full 360 degrees, and go back in.

This production runs until 27 August 2012, 17:30 daily. 
@JackinaboxProds
For more information: http://www.jackinaboxproductions.com 

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