Paul T Davies reviews David Leddy's play Coriolanus Vanishes at the Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Irene Allen in Coriolanus Vanishes. Photo: Sid Scott Coriolanus Vanishes Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe
16 August 2018
3 Stars
David Leddy's play is bold in ambition, a complex tragedy in which connections are made between personal relationships and bigger organisations and corporate realtions between government and, in particular, the arms industry. Chris has experienced three deaths, one after the other, and now is in prison for a crime revealed towards the end. Originally performed by Leddy himself, the play can be performed by any gender without any change of text. This adds a fascinating level to an already excellent and layered performance by Irene Allan, she is mesmerising.
Fire and Exit's production also boasts excellent lighting choreography, although I wasn't always clear about its purpose. Chris works for the arms industry, and the chain reaction between her childhood abuse and the worldwide abuse carried out by regimes sometimes feels a little simplistic, but there is no doubt that this is a well researched piece. She also speaks into several microphones, again this feels like an unessessary distraction.
Where the play does succeed is in the timing of it's revelations. Perhaps some of the lighting indicates heat seeking missiles, and when the play finds its targets, Allan's performance is gripping.
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Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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