Naomi O’Leary, one of the winners of our Edinburgh Reporter brief, reviews RashDash’s IdeasTap-funded show Scary Gorgeous, with photos by Edinburgh Photographer winner Camilla Greenwell…
At the heart of Scary Gorgeous lies a secret. An unspeakable image, something the characters cannot bring themselves to broach.
It’s a symbol with enormous power: a fecund, dreadful truth about ourselves and our times. I cannot tell you what it is. This play is too important. Like a jack in a box, the mechanism and meaning of the play relies upon its unexpected revelation.
Glancing at the flyers for the play, I took in the familiar pouts and snarls of over exposed Facebook photos with a kind of dread. I didn’t want to engage with these girls, with their ratty hair in coifs, glaring desirously at the camera. I didn’t want to honour their grab for attention. Turns out, I was taken in. This is exactly what the play is about. It’s much cleverer than me. It’s an excruciatingly honest fable about misguided sexuality and its catastrophic collision with a young couple in love.
Every element is breathtaking. It’s about a band, and a plausible band has been created for the purpose. They are present onstage, plucking out the story on guitars and the double bass, occasionally producing songs I want to keep forever on my iPod (yes, I bought the CD).
Then there’s the dance. I’m no sophisticate. If I had known, prior to attending the play, that parts of the story were told through dance, I might have made judgements. I now renounce that person of yesterday. I’m no longer such an idiot. The dance in Scary Gorgeous is scathing critique. It does more than simply tell a story: it mocks, parodies and observes. Moving around to music, Abbi and Helen communicate subtle and sophisticated meanings as clearly as the richest prose. I have never seen the medium of dance be so eloquent.
And the writing is so beautiful, I think I died a little.
I met RashDash’s Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland briefly in the adrenaline-filled moments just after the performance. They were effusive in their praise of Chris Thorpe, their IdeasTap mentor who helped with writing, and the grant they received. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for IdeasTap” Helen told me. And Abbi was just glad she wouldn’t have to pay for another year of Fringe with her student loan.
More Edinburgh reviews and pictures:
Clockheart Boy
Oedipus: A Love Story
The Incredible Book Eating Boy
To find out more about RashDash and the shows we’re supporting at this year’s Fringe - and to find out how you can come and meet the IdeasTap team in Edinburgh, go to ideastap.com/Edinburgh
All photographs by Camilla Greenwell, winner of our Edinburgh Photographer brief.