Multi award winner and acclaimed writer and director Lara Foot flies into the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with The Inconvenience of Wings, swooping in on the issues of bi-polar, addiction and dysfunction. Anyone who has any connection with the above affairs will feel a strong affiliation to this magnificent piece of work.
Beginning at the end, we see Paul (Andrew Buckland) alone in his mind and looking for his wife Sara. Following the story of Sara and Paul, we travel in reverse chronology to the first meeting of the pair. Sara (Jennifer Steyn) is diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, causing her ever devoted husband to enter indefatigable hunt for a cure, becoming her guardian angel. Professor James, a friend to both, attempts to save Andrew from the inconvenience of his own wings.
Segmented by the methods Paul has tried to remedy his mentally ailing wife, each stopping in their timeline is handled with such care and precision by Foot, offering exquisite visuals and physicalities beyond expectation. There is a severe honesty throughout the piece, yet dabbings of levity to alleviate the empathetic pressures created by watching.
The peerless performances of Steyn, Buckland and Shabangu are breathtaking. Steyn’s Sara is bolshy and broken, whilst Buckland’s Paul harbours a genuine loss and fear within his despairing eyes. Complementing the couple’s unwavering focus of the other a sorrowfully stern Professor James, as played by Shabangu.
Through the virtuosity of the writer and the mastery of the performers, this production cannot go unwatched.
3 - 27(Not 14 & 21) Aug, 3.10pm
Age resctriction 16+ (Nudity, Language)