1-26 August, 7.10pm (not 14 Aug), £9/£10.50 (£8/£9.50 concessions), 1-3 August previews £5, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh.
Tel: 0131 556 6550. www.pleasance.co.uk
Chopping onions? Reading romantic fiction? Saying goodbye to loved ones? Ask yourself, reader, what makes you cry?
That’ll be one of the many questions on your mind after watching XXXO. Indeed, this highly original new work will have you feeling pretty contemplative as you leave Pleasance Courtyard one of these mad Fringe evenings.
The show basically involves two girls trying to get their tears flowing. For 50 minutes, Charlotte De Bruyne and Nathalie Marie Verbeke scour their computer files for material that makes them weep in a live exploration of, well, weeping.
‘The starting point of making XXXO was the discovery that both Nathalie and I take photos of ourselves crying at home,’ said Charlotte.
She explained that the girls became fascinated by what drove them to do this, and so decided to stage a performance expressing how relieving and beautiful such a habit could be. This exasperatingly emotional piece of theatre bears the fruits of their labour.
It is presented by Ontroerend Goed – the Belgian-based group behind the multi award-winning 2008 Fringe hit Once and for All We’re Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up and Listen.
‘I’m curious to see how our audiences will react to XXXO,’ added Nathalie.
‘We performed the show at Adelaide Festival last winter, so have a sense of how English-speaking people will receive it, but every crowd is different.’
Now the choice is yours. You either stick with a safe Fringe option, or take a punt at the bizarre end of the spectrum. The red pill, or the blue pill, Neo…
