#EdFringe: Limbo: City of Dreams – Review

★★★★ ½

Like diving into a fantastical young adult novel world, City of Dreams has the potential to be even more as a gorgeous, vivid full-length musical full of adventure, hope and energy.

Photo: Robert McFadzean/Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

A very different piece to Limbo: The Twelve, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and American Musical Theatre Project’s other collaboration at the Fringe, this show also examines an uncertain world and the feeling of being between worlds. The two shows couldn’t be more different, however it has just as much talent, energy and potential in the room.

All of the answers exist already, and they’re written down in books. There are no new questions. The steps to dances are already set. The Machine runs the city, but it’s starting to fail and run out of fuel, and no one can find the answers. But Imogen feel the hints of creativity and imagination bubbling away, and The Gift threatens to burst through and take apart her sanity, as she starts to see vivid fantasies and horrible potential accidents before her.

Waking up after being saved by the Dreamers, she begins to learn and master her gift of imagination, and learns that she may be able to save the city, and her family and friends from the impending destruction when The Machine fails by using her creativity. With twists and turns about what happened to her mother, who passed away many years ago, family truths coming to light and the reality of situation, that creativity and imagination, the forgotten skill, is actually what powers The Machine, and they’ve had the secret all along – the story line is rich and has even more potential to be fleshed out, and spend time on each moment and fully create the world we are in.

Another huge cast of 15 students light up the stage with colour, playing musical instruments throughout the performance and creating a massive sound. A cacophony of beat boxing, woo girls, clarinet, flute, piano accordion and more assault your senses as you enter the space, building an incredible energy to start the show.

It’s like diving into a beautiful young adult fantasy novel, with a complete world and vivid characters being built on stage. I have not stopped raving about how blown away I have been by these two works and the talent of the students and teams involved.