Fringe theatre
Blizzard
Summerhall
FOUR STARS
Thoughts, we all think them. They even come in avalanches, apparently. Full Monty star Emily Woof makes a long-awaited return to the Fringe with a delectable dissection of how our thoughts create a different world for each of us.
I’ll admit I’m not excellently versed in philosophy or neuroscience. But Woof’s creation is poignant and familiar. She talks to the audience with such warmth in tone so fluid – she has a voice like hot tea and honey. She’s chaotic, outlandish, but she’s soothing. I was hanging onto every word, my eyes and ears following her incessantly as she flitted around her small stage.
Her bountiful story follows Dotty (she’s Dotty) and her husband (also Dotty). He’s known to the wider world as David Chiltern: a renowned neuroscientist who’s been drafting his life’s work ahead of a lecture he’s delivering in Switzerland. They’re a pair consisting of opposites, the methodical and ever-logical David and then the sporadic and romantic Dotty. But they love and excite each other. Their relationship seems to be one of observance, both analysing the little quirks which make them different. David uses his wife’s brain as the model for his work, so his analysis goes quite deep. It begs the question: is she his project?
Woof embeds this nuanced realisation into her piece, as her character travels to Switzerland to deliver David’s lecture as he is ‘indisposed’, which is emotionally-stunted-man-speak for ill in bed with bad leg pain. It’s in Switzerland that we watch Woof unravel, just like the spools of yarn she threads around the space. She finds her absurdist agency and, overwhelmed by her abundant excitement for life, gives the lecture as she sees fit and then embarks upon adventure. This leads to David’s demise. It’s as though the pair can’t coexist, as one must excel but not the other.
It’s a symbolic look into compatibility and personality, with elevated intelligence and dramaturgy. It embraces abstract thinking and rational analysis, acknowledging that both bring their own sets of joy. The yarn not only shows her course of unravelling, but her sense of connection too: she feels affinity with Nietzsche’s house and escapes to dance there, just like he did, and reflect on what life means to her.
Blizzard is beautifully baffling with moments of small wonder and extraordinary achievement. It scurries between the meta, micro and macro issues of modern life. Such genius is prompted from the idea of giving an expert lecture you can’t understand. Even if you are the subject.
Until August 27
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here