Fires Our Shoes Have Made

HHH

VENUE: C venues – C aquila

TIME: 12pm – 1pm, 1–26 Aug, not 13

TICKETS: £8.50 – £10.50

Gig theatre is becoming a crowded field at the Fringe, making it hard to stand out. Oscar Sadler’s new addition to this genre, with original music by Mollie Tucker, is slight but promising, showcasing the energy and potential of young company Pound of Flesh. Taking place over just one

Deer Woman

HHH

VENUE: CanadaHub @ King’s Hall in association with Summerhall

TIME: 2:30pm – 4pm, 31 Jul – 24 Aug, not 5, 12, 19

TICKETS: £11

The Canadian national discussion around the recently-published National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has unearthed deep feelings of anger and shame about the disproportionate lack of safety experienced by the group the report concerns. This one-woman show, performed by actor Cherish Violet Blood, fictionalises the story of just one girl who lost her life through what is perceived to be a toxic brew of male violence, colonial violence and institutionally racist disregard.

Blood’s performance of Tara Beagan’s play creates a powerful glimpse into life amid Canada’s underprivileged, working-class indigenous communities, with day, Fires Our Shoes Have Made follows 13-year-old Jay and his little sister Saskia—Sassy to him—on their quest for escape. Six months ago, Jay and Sassy’s mum died and they moved in with their estranged father. Now Jay wants the two of them to make a break for it, striking out on their own.

There’s a mythic dimension to the show, as legend becomes entwined with reality. The knife with which Jay arms himself for the journey is Excalibur—Scally for short—and those who stand in his and Sassy’s way are goblins and trolls. For the two siblings, fantasy is an escape from grief and a suit of armour in which to face the world. But as the play goes on, reality hits them hard. The storytelling combines spoken word, sound, music and song, all performed under mesmerising coloured lights. The show looks and sounds beautiful, but its plot needs some serious work. Sense is often sacrificed to lyricism; the story gets lost in a dense web of startling images and inventive rhymes. The conclusion, meanwhile, feels rushed and underdeveloped. There’s lots to like here—not least the lively performances—but it could do with some honing.

✏︎ Catherine Love

the central character, Blackfoot woman Tara, balanced on a knifeedge between tenderness and fury. She remembers her childhood – a dysfunctional one, with a mother who barely registered the abuse of her daughters by her new partner. Yet also a fond one when she recalls that sister, or the rare bonding she felt with her father when he took her hunting, a precursor to her joining the Army and being sent to the Middle East.

Tara’s revenge for the murder of her sister is bloody and winceinducing, and envelops the play in sheer anger. The piece is delivered in hard-edged but often amusingly contemporary Canadian, and through words, performance and Andy Moro’s direction, Tara comes vividly to life before us; yet the basis of the monologue is that it’s being delivered as a piece of video testimony after something almost unspeakable has happened, and the choice to live-stream Blood’s face onto two screens behind her distracts from her performance, despite the mood created by occasional video effects. ✏︎ David Pollock