Scotsman
Hot
Show *
* * *
The Fall of Man
by Sally Stott
Published: 24/8/2009
A tale of infidelity and lust, The Fall of Man is full of beautifully
detailed observations. A brooding intensity is prevalent throughout
this tale of infidelity and lust. From the actors' compellingly
urgent performances to the intimate space the play is staged in,
there's a sense of pressure and tension from all corners. Loosely
based on Milton's Paradise Lost, the play follows the demise of
an affair between Peter, and the family's young Lolita-esque nanny.
Peter's failure to remain faithful to his wife is mirrored by
his inability to fully participate in his new relationship. Simultaneously,
our flirtatious home help sacrifices her integrity for more material
concerns. Both briefly experience the joy of true fulfilment,
but it is swiftly gone.
The poetic imagery of Milton's classic is dynamically juxtaposed
against the work of contemporary writer Jonathan Holloway, who
captures his two characters through beautifully observed and stylistically
distinctive dialogue. As the charmingly irreverence of youth is
contrasted against disillusionment in old age, we're asked to
examine our own thoughts towards everlasting love and underlying
desire. While the story is a familiar one, Holloway's perspective
is original and the play is filled with beautifully detailed observations.
He cleverly shifts the piece from being purely about physical
attraction to also deal with the mundane everyday occurrences
that are part of life more generally - from the differing moods
that the characters experience to the arbitrary things that pop
into their heads. Consequently, what we learn about Peter and
his nymph-like lover resonates far beyond the fact that they are
simply having an affair.
Graeme Rose and Stephanie Day give warm, passionate and engaging
performances as the couple who are both enthralled yet simultaneously
appalled by one another. The chemistry between them is at times
electrifying, with repressed sexual tension building up to an
explosive conclusion. Red Shift are a terrific company who have
been creating innovative theatre at the Fringe for many years
(their last piece was the acclaimed Get Carter in 2006). Once
again, they have created another provocative piece - on the surface
a small story of a briefly lived-out relationship, but more fundamentally,
a tribute to the kind of fleeting passions that make life worth
living.
The Guardian
Lyn Gardner
"The banality of the scenario and the sexual stereotypes
are deliberate here. It is not the way that the tale pans out
to its eventual and inevitable sordid end that matters, so much
as the way the story is told. Working with only a bed, three simple
lights and Sarah Llewellyn's insistent soundscape, the production
creates an intense intimacy that implicates its audience; you
feel slightly soiled watching it. It also boasts two assured and
brave performances, from co-director Graeme Rose as Peter and
Stephanie Day as the nanny".
The Scotsman:
* * * * (featured Hot Show) "they have created another
provocative piece - on the surface a small story of a briefly
lived-out relationship, but more fundamentally, a tribute to the
kind of fleeting passions that make life worth living." Three Weeks: * * * * "A
bold, impressively performed production that endows a difficult
literary work with graphic contemporary resonance." One4review.com: * * * * "In the intimate space, barely lit by
small domestic light bulbs, good performances are drawn from both
performers in this strong hard hitting performance" Metro: * * * * "Casting
the audience as culpable voyeurs by having us cluster round their
bed, this is a branding iron of sex and guilt." EdinburghGuide.com: * * * * "This is a superbly inventive and beautifully
adapted piece that grips the audience in a vice and refuses to
let them escape." The
List: * * *, Fringe Review.co.uk: * * *, The Guardian: * * *
, Broadway Baby: *
* *, What's on
Stage.com: *
* *, British
Theatre Guide: *
* *, Fest/The
Skinny: * * *, Edinburgh Insider: * * *
[ratings
explained (The List): *
* * * "highly recommended", * * *
"recommended"]
WhatsOnStage.com
" 2009 highlights include... Red Shift Theatre['s] new piece
The Fall of Man"
edfringe.com official website of the Edinburgh Fringe
"The Edinburgh Fringe's reputation for presenting the most
innovative work anywhere is maintained this year with shows including…
Red Shift Theatre['s] return with The Fall of Man"
METRO
Newspapers
Paradise
lost in The Fall Of ManTheatre, Review: The Fall Of Man
By NADINE MCBAY
- Sunday,
August 16, 2009
*
* * *
Last seen in
Edinburgh in 2006 with their gritty, bleak Get Carter, Fringe
veterans Red Shift return with The Fall Of Man, a modern reworking
of Milton's Paradise Lost as a poem about a pair of doomed lovers.
Interspersing
original dialogue by Red Shift founder Jonathan Holloway with
excerpts from the poem, it's set in the chilly bedsit of Slovenian
nanny Veronica (Stephanie Day). She's visited by Peter (Graeme
Rose, who also co-directs), the man whose marriage bed she dutifully
makes. As the bells toll in Sarah Llewellyn's creeping, sensual
score, it's clear from Peter's first carnal look at Veronica that
whatever relationship they have will unravel like a puppy bouncing
after a toilet roll.
Accenting
Veronica as an object of carnal desire, there are a couple of
moments when Rose's expression wears everything you need to know
about this piece emotionally: the giddy desire, the hope of a
new beginning, the shame of deceit and what Veronica refers to
as his 'dirty old man' sleaze.
Casting the audience as culpable voyeurs by having us cluster
round their bed, this is a branding iron of sex and guilt.
EdinburghGuide.com
The Fall of Man Review 9th Aug 2009
*
* * *
…
the action alternates between dialogue and monologue excerpts
from Milton's original to great affect, using the language to
reflect the scene that's passed and evoke the next. This is a
superbly inventive and beautifully adapted piece that grips the
audience in a vice and refuses to let them escape. It brilliantly
highlights the temptation of Milton's piece, with the flesh of
the fatal apple in the Garden of Eden compared to the flesh of
the actors on display in coarse, guttural theatre not for the
faint-hearted. Effectively delivered by Rose and Day, they play
their characters with outstanding conviction, starting with uncontrollable
lust but developing into violent assassins for each others hearts
as jealousy and selfishness become unbearable; scenes flickering
between humorous conversations, poetic reflection and raging,
invidious outbursts. Summed up best in Veronica's line to Peter,
'Everything is a deal', Holloway keeps it moving at such a beat
that emotional outlines are starkly surfaced; highlighting that
humanity is inherently selfish in this skillfully reflective,
dark and brooding piece.
Audience
Reviews: Edinburgh Fringe.com
"Very intimate and
beautiful, the honest writing triggered laughs of recognition,
and the intense mood is impossible to escape. Yes this show told
a story that has been told before, but from a perspective not
seen before. I really recommend seeing this show."
"Intense and claustrophobic, this is how fringe theatre should
make you feel (if you ARE claustrophobic this is a tiny, hot venue.)
The two actors are convincing, maintain an electric tension and
the modern day narrative drives the play along at some pace. The
fastest 50 minutes of the festival so far. Excellent, absorbing
stuff."
"MUST
SEE!!! 09 Aug 2009. Full of energy, this first class show is well
written, performed and has visual impact. The and director should
win the nobel prize for literature… …drama, full energy
that grips the audience throughout… If you like meaningful
Drama and see nothing else this festival - go and see this."
The List : 10th
Aug 2009
An
affair between middle-aged, middle-class Peter and his children's
Slavic nanny is told with contemporary dialogue and passages from
Paradise Lost recited as private thoughts. Milton's long lines
feel rushed and therefore unlike real-life musings, but powerful
body language, unnerving music, and the clash of native and non-native
idioms and priorities create loaded moments.
Fringe
Review.co.uk
The Fall of Man
Low Down
This
is a play of juxtaposition: high poetry and carnal nudity, myth
and modernity, coarseness and sweetness. Paradise Lost is quoted
and a simple and effective story is delivered, and these two mingle
and align as the intertwining bodies on the single piece of staging:
a creaky bed. While small technical faults jar, the piece and
its performance are sexy and gratuitous, combining a fun romp
with the sometimes fraught politics of sexual relationships, and
make this piece delightfully watchable despite the sometimes heavy
emotional content.
Review
The
Fall of Man asks a lot from its audience. We are squeezed into
Pleasance Beside, almost sitting at the foot of the bed where
the action takes place. The story is simple indeed: a husband
and an au-pair start an affair, which ends with the shattered
dream that their love can conquer the inevitable politics and
boundaries of their situation. This is coupled with the story
of Paradise Lost, narrated by either character as their situation
emulates a moment from Milton's classic. The husband is likened
to Satan, falling from grace as he falls in love with another,
while the au pair becomes Eve, realising her shame as she and
the husband start to realise how little life their flawed relationship
has. This back and forth is punctuated by overt sexuality and
nudity, with both actors being nearly completed naked for most
of their time on stage and the Apple of Knowledge being likened
to a blowjob. As crass as that sounds, the interplay between sex,
myth, and real-life is a sumptuous concoction, and enhances rather
than overshadows each aspect of the production.
The
sex and nudity is touchingly simple, and, when juxtaposed with
the poetry directly, as during the actual blowjob scene, surprisingly
effective. However, this overt gratuity is played in strangely
staccato fashion. Both actors may be nude or nigh on, but when
the scene is not of a particularly sexual nature, they are making
a constant nature to cover themselves with the ever-present duvet
and pillows. It is not clear whether this is embarrassment or
part of the staging, but it doesn't invite audience involvement.
This is further compounded by the jumpy technical cues, similarly
staccato, which seemed more like errors and less like a polished
and professional cues.
The
acting is, in contrast, beautifully slick. Stephanie Day and Graeme
Rose slide gracefully in and out of Milton's poetry, and their
own story is played touchingly and effectively. Their writhing,
at times, suffers from the above-mentioned staging, but more often
than not is pleasantly natural. Rose, in particular, transitions
well between repressed husband and demonic story-teller, and enlivens
the tale beautifully. It is disappointing that this watchability
does not translate to the production, but not a major fault: this
is a gutsy and well-performed piece, and a shockingly carnal physicalisation
of the Adam and Eve mythos; with so many pieces about the Garden
of Eden at this Festival, this is certainly one of the highlights.
Reviewed by Chris Hislop 12/08/09
Fest/
The Skinny
The
Fall of Man
Posted by Lyle Brennan, Fri 21 Aug 2009
Since the early 1980s, Red Shift has gained a reputation for innovative
theatre and this latest piece comes as no exception. Initially,
the premise seems straightforward - Peter (Graeme Rose), a middle-class,
married professional becomes entangled in an affair with Veronica
(Stephanie Day), the Slovenian nanny who cares for his children
- but the moment Rose lapses into a monologue lifted from John
Milton's Paradise Lost, this domestic drama assumes a whole new
tone. What begins in sin inevitably descends into misery and the
way in which declarations of love slide so rapidly into conflict
is made all the more compelling by solid performances from both
actors.
Rose is particularly impressive, spitting out Milton's lines with
suitably apocalyptic gravity one minute, before snapping back
to smarmy, desperate love rat the next. Jonathan Holloway's script
demands a considerable degree of physicality throughout and, naked
for much of the play, Rose and Day are unfalteringly bold in simulating
sex and violence.
Performed in the round against an intimate set comprising just
a single bed, this is never gratuitous, simply visceral.
Broadwaybaby.com
Review
Excellent Performances In A Gripping Play
The Fall Of Man is a reinvention of Milton's Paradise Lost, set
in a bedsit in 2006. It tells the story of an Eastern European
woman who has come to England to work for a couple, primarily
assisting the wife and looking after the children. She and the
husband embark upon an affair which develops throughout the play.
Initially, it appears to be a standard story of a man taking advantage
of a naïve, vulnerable woman but as it unfolds we learn more
about their motives and desires and it becomes less clear who
is taking advantage of whom.
Most
of the action takes place in or on the bed in the bedsit, with
strong language, nudity and sexual situations. The audience surrounds
the stage on three sides and is very close, giving a strong sense
of immediacy and reality to the performances. It feels like we're
eavesdropping on something very private and intense.
Both
actors are extremely good, giving strong, realistic performances.
There is no sense of playing to the audience; they could almost
be alone in a claustrophobic bedsit.
Interspersed
with the story are short readings from Paradise Lost. For me,
this does not work so well, probably because I've never read it,
and I'm not sure that it adds a great deal to the performances.
Even so, the play is worth seeing for its strong storyline and
excellent acting.