Sunday, September 21, 2008

"Amada" - September 2008

"Amada" at Cumbernauld Theatre was a late addition to our autumn plans, largely driven by me realising it was directed by Cora Bissett and featured Itxaso Moreno(Roam, Yarn). Even with this I couldn't convince Statler to come along. He couldn't get past the international aspects of this Arches Theatre Company production and the blurb on the promotional materials involving "emotional landscapes". And it's a pity he didn't, because it was one of the best productions I've seen all year.

Moreno, Alia Alzougbi (who we'd also seen in Yarn) and Richard Pyros perform marvelously in a beautifully constructed tale of the tragic events of a young girl's life,from her childhood through her marriage and eventual death. For a story that has sadness at its heart it's filled with humour and joy. You come out warmed by the tale, and its telling.

Bissett has brought together a variety of techniques, that could have overwhelmed if not done so artfully. Beautiful use of backlit silhouettes, puppetry and on-stage sound effects are woven together masterfully, with Nerea Bello and Galvarino Ceron-Carrasco providing wonderful colour and atmosphere through voice and guitar respectively.

Even an overly sensitive smoke alarm, triggered by an on stage candle, causing an unexpected interval and audience and performers a mid show trip to the car park (thankfully it was dry) couldn't spoil what was a truly memorable evening.

My only regret is we saw this so late in its run - it has one performance remaining on Tuesday 23 September at MacRobert Arts Centre in Stirling.