REVIEW: The Death and Life of All of Us, Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe ✭✭✭

Paul T Davies reviews The Death and Life of All of Us playing at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.

The Death and Life of All of Us

Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe

3 Stars

Book Tickets

This autobiographical show is a love letter to Victor Esses's great-aunt Marcelle, who he first met when he was 19. She had moved from Lebanon to Italy, Judaism to Christianity and kept a secret for life. Using his recordings of her, he creates a documentary piece about a woman he clearly felt close to

The main issue I had was the poor sound quality of the videotapes, I struggled to hear what was being said. To that end, I didn't know or understand what her big secret was. Captions were provided for other areas of the show, but we really needed them for the tapes. This is a technical issue that can be worked on if the play develops.

There are other areas that were more successful. Esses is a sensitive storyteller and connects with the audience well, and I enjoyed his dance of freedom and identity at the end. I also enjoyed the music by Enrico Aurigemna. The different elements of the show need to be weaved together more successfully, and it felt very much like a work in progress.