
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Festival Fringe isn’t about two-hour plays in proper venues with costly sets, it’s about creating something special in a found space using the bare minimum of props. That is also what Turning Heads is about, from established quirky, opera company Opera on the Run.
Dan and John are a couple of city boys bored with their lives (John is married with a kid, Dan single) who decide to fake a stag weekend in Amsterdam where, as with all the best tales, they discover themselves.
A simple tale, but one that is told with skill and inventiveness. Opera on the Run provides a quirky take on the art form (that tends to work in corporate events) and this production is no different.
There are musical interludes, with the cast singing their own excellently constructed lyrics to well known classical music and opera tracks. Tim Armstrong-Taylor and Clare Kinson have particularly strong voices, while Shaka Bunsie as the sensitive Dan gives a good comic performance.
The simple set of a few chairs and a box is augmented by mannequins, which become various other characters in the piece - not to mention a hand puppet and a bunny suit.
It’s by no means slick. The fast pace and bulky props give the whole piece a sense of it being just the right side of chaos, but somehow that adds to its youthful energy.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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