C Venues’ ‘open-door’ programming policy occasionally makes it one of the most exciting places to be at the Fringe: exciting because of the lack of quality-control; exciting because of the density of enthusiastic young companies; exciting because once in a blue moon, you will find something utterly exceptional at C. Most of the time, though, it’s all pretty underwhelming, and that seems to be the case this year, as out trot the same old line of gothic reinterpretations, a cappella troupes, and greasepainted young’uns.
A few diamonds stand out from the rough, though. The most eye-catching include Inconvenient Spoof’s Naive Dance Masterclass, which has been garnering praise on tour, and The One Man Show, an unexpected and freaky-looking addition from Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari, two members of London-based performance collective SHUNT. ‘Lovingly created for drunks and freaks’ – we like. Immersive video-goggles piece And The Birds Fell From The Sky should be worth a peep (and maybe a tweet), and Mechanimal are presenting an intriguing site-sensitive version of Howard Barker’s lacerating Und – although a bit like masala chai, it’s unlikely to be everyone’s cup of tea.
In Short Productions impressed at last year’s Fringe with the polished Edges, and they return with American musical Homemade Fusion, while charming young company Dumbshow make a surprise resurgence. Their 2008 show Clockheart Boy was marvellously bittersweet, and it joins two new pieces (Oedipus: A Love Story and Roar) to form an interesting line-up. Whether their three year absence works in their favour remains to be seen.
Hartshorn & Hook’s crowd-pleasing ‘Live’ shows will, as ever, have a good hack at getting you up on your feet, and consistent sell-outs Belt Up consolidate to bring a mere three shows to C this year (Outland, The Boy James, and Twenty Minutes to Nine) – a good sign, as their Herculean output in previous years left their work feeling stretched and tired.
There’s also a good deal of promising international dance this year, and they have got put some good work into their affordable children’s shows, but if C Venues are to live up to their credo of ‘vibrant, vivacious variety’ they’ll have to improve – because from where we’re standing, it’s all beginning to look like old hat.
