ED FRINGE 2023 REVIEWS: HEART, HOW TO BURY A DEAD MULE, NOMAD

HEART ★★★★★

ROUNDABOUT, SUMMERHALL

Jade Anouka bookends the Edinburgh Fringe at Roundabout this year with a limited three performances of her lyrical, punchy and powerful storytelling masterpiece, HEART. Anouka owns the stage and is natural at her stage presence, playing to everyone in the room with eye contact and humble warmth. As she weaves the story of her divorce, and battling her demons when it comes to find love again, in the height of her career, we are drawn in on every word, and when accompanied by Grace Savage tantalising beats, mixed off an ironing board, every word punches through the sound and we feel electrified by this late night performance, with takes us into a new day. As revealed, for those not familiar, in the epilogue of sorts at the end of the play, Anouka and Savage are married in real life, and the story we have just been told was one of their own. A beautiful, touching tale of finding your soulmate, in the midst of pressures from all around.

HOW TO BURY A MULE ★★★★

JACK DOME, PLEASANCE DOME

Retelling a personal story of his grandfather’s complex journey through the war, Richard Clements has a clear vision in the story he wishes to tell, and and exactly how to execute this, with masterful prop and fabric handling, constantly reinventing the item in his hand, and turning it into something poignant, such as a bedside lamp, a cardboard cutout of a postbox, and a small white infant dress. Projection too plays a huge part in the story, with old wartime clips depicting some of the horrors faced in 1940s Britain, but also in silhouettes that are pre-filmed, but well timed with Clements in the foreground. A touching story, and even more so with the final recording of the performance, How to Bury a Dead Mule will pull at the heartstrings, and may even leave you with something in your eye.

NOMAD ★★★

DEMONSTRATION ROOM, SUMMERHALL

Gözde Atalay brings performance art to the Fringe with NOMAD, a show which really begins before you enter the designated space, as she patrols the line outside as Eric, one of three characters Atalay presents during the show. Asking for authentication, mainly in the form of passports, you can already start to get an idea of what lies ahead in the show. Once entered, the space looks like a littered dump of brown paper thrown about the room, and much sooner, the performance commences. It’s a short play, and depending on audience participation, that time length can vary, as we are the ones to end the show; it’s a clever device, and in the form of Ayse, a migrant from Turkey, Atalay has the most fun with the audience in this character. Something more thought-provoking than most things at the fringe, you leave with a further understanding of the suffering immigrants face when coming into the UK, and for that reason, NOMAD excels in getting across a timely message.