“Kin” – Venue 20: Assembly Rooms – Music Hall – 3.05pm
KIN, from the Barley Methodical Troupe, comes under the genre of “dance, physical [theatre], and circus”. If you type that into the search engine of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s official listing of shows then it come up with 154 productions. It’s a crowded field.
I am a great admirer of this genre of production as I’ve never been able to touch my toes, my forward roles always end up being sideways roles, and the likelihood of being propelled to the apex of a human tower is for my dreams only. The athleticism of these performers is quite staggering, their fitness and the finesse of execution is exemplary. Bringing the three disciplines of dance, physical theatre, and circus together is difficult to pull off as they are each a separate discipline. On occasions in this production, the dance routine seemed out of kilter to the physical theatre and circus disciplines.
The standard of the competition is ferocious and to differentiate between the competing productions there must be a unique selling point. That usually takes the form of a narrative arc, enabling the blending of the disciplines seamlessly and in context. The narrative arc here seemed to be a competition to woe a game hostess, which in itself worked, but for the sinister nature of the game hostess and ultimately an even more sinister unseen person. A bit baffling and I’m not sure it worked as a narrative arc.
But if you are going to watch some outstanding, dangerous, and hair-raising circus acts then this is the show for you. There was endless “ohhing” and “ahhing” from the audience and thoroughly deserved too.
It’s an exhilarating and adrenaline filled ride.
THREE STARS
Get the full details about the show here.
Plus, read more reviews on Scottish Field’s Fringe pages.
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