#EdFringe - Limbo: The Twelve Review
★★★★ ½
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the American Music Theatre Project have come up with everything you want in new musical theatre at a fringe scale – soaring harmonies, beautiful, emotional story telling, self contained in 55 minutes in the perfect venue. A raw gem written and devised by students, this show is perfect if you want to see the future and evolution of musical theatre. Two new musicals across two uncertain worlds – these guys have set a very high bar and I can’t wait to see Limbo: City of Dreams later this week.
Photo by Robert McFadzean/Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
From the moment Limbo: The Twelve starts, you are embraced by beautiful harmonies and a gorgeous wall of sound as the cast of 15 enter. Accompanied by a band of four, of Jacob Kerzner, Andy Manning, Sarah Jones and either Callum Cronin or Matthew McAteer, the music is a rich and full sound with only four instruments, and is well balanced in the space, not competing with the cast. Gilded Balloon’s Patter Hoose Other Yin is the perfect intimate space for this show, and their use of the space is immaculate.
The collaboration between RCS and Northwestern University has had students write, devise and perform these shows, and Jonathan Bauerfeld and Casey Kendall have written an incredibly warm, funny, painful show. Ryan Cunningham’s direction has ensured that this show is simple, but extraordinarily well performed, allowing for the beautiful material to speak for itself.
Photo by Robert McFadzean/Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
It’s 12 Angry Men but in a stunning new context that examines the illness and impact of addiction to drugs and how each person is affected by that persons actions. Tess has overdosed on heroin, and a jury of 12 of her peers, from her mother, friends, fellow addicts, her uncle, her sisters and more have come together to decide whether they intervene to save her life, or to let her go to rest. Each submit their conflicting, loving, painful memories of Tess and how they have impacted their life, and see how that changes the opinion of those who knew her.
A young woman is peeled away, layer by layer to reveal the reasons she got into drugs, how she saved her friends life when she overdosed, how many times she went to rehab, her wife, her hope, her joy. Nothing about this feels superficial, it all feels like a real woman we could all know and love before us, as all her mistakes, her good deeds and her struggles are laid bare through music, and her demons and the monsters addiction brings are tested and examined.
Photo by Robert McFadzean/Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
It has humour, pain, catchy tunes and the energy of young, talented performers. Sure, there are moments where it isn’t completely pitch perfect, and maybe the nerves of these young performers still have an impact, but there is such abundant potential in the room, in all of the performers and in the show itself.
Highly recommended, and well worth the walk up two flights of stairs at Patter Hoose.
Limbo: The Twelve is on still on the 22nd and 24th August (alternating with their other show, Limbo: City of Dreams). More info.
