Bedlam Theatre Freshers' Slots

The Daft Days: ****
Mountain Language & New World Order **
Butterflies Scream **

Bedlam Theatre's Freshers' Slots are a chance to showcase the emerging talent of Edinburgh University’s theatrical bright young things. The plays this year were The Daft Days, Mountain Language & New World Order and Butterflies Scream.

The Daft Days, written by Inga Rudzitis, tells of a famous Scottish poet, Robert. No, not that one. Robert Fergusson (Will Green) has been admitted to the Edinburgh Asylum suffering depression and delusions. Despite the concerns of Dr Duncan (David K Barnes), his anxiously doting mother (Vicki Loader) demands he come home to his care. However, despite the loving support of his sister (Heidi Goldsmith) he tragically and fatally relapses.

This short play is harrowing in its depiction of a man inevitably sliding into darkness, with the added emotional force of Loader as a woman who only wants what is best for her son, but in the end realises that her love has destroyed him.

Mountain Language & New World Order are two short plays by Harold Pinter that both deal with oppression, torture and silencing. In the first, an indigenous language is crushed and its people silenced by abusive soldiers and guards, and in the latter a prisoner is slowly intimidated in the run up to his physical torture. Neither of the plays have a definitive setting, and in fact contain universal themes seen the world over.

Both are full of tense aggression, and feature the infamous orange jumpsuits and ‘waterboarding’ images synonymous with the modern torture of Guantanamo Bay. However, the audience is for the most part left to its imagination: it is not obvious where one play ends and the other begins. The overall piece thus lacks clarity, although the two pieces taken separately are both effectively deployed.

The final play, written and directed by Justyana Mytnik, Butterflies Scream was a miniature surreal parable. Quintessential Victorian explorer, Rupert (Matthew Shipman), returns with a mythical butterfly that legends proclaim will grant eternal love. Rupert becomes engrossed in his pursuit of this love, effectively destroying the relationship with his wife (Sophie Cookson) and ignoring the desires of his cousin (Emma Biwer). Despite the warnings of his flamboyant cat (Dmitry Ser) and the sorceress Maharani (Monica Gemes), tragedy inevitably occurs.

Overall this is a confusing play that does not know whether it is surreal or moral, but it contains very amusing flashes, particularly in the contributions of Gemes and Ser to the otherwise clichéd plot. More could have been done to take it in either direction, however.

Whilst the direction and the treatment of the plays required some fine-tuning, on the whole it was a thought-provoking afternoon to be had at Bedlam Theatre.