A Midsummer Night's Dream From The East

> C Venue, Edinburgh

There is sometimes a tendency to think of fringe as second rate. But it's around the edges of the established art scene that you most often get that bubbling sense of invention taking place. Take for instance Yohangza Theatre Company from Korea. The ingenious creativity of their Midsummer Night's Dream made such a strong illusion that it stayed with me long after the lights went down.

The story of Fairy Titania and her domestic dispute with Oberon with its chaotic consequences for mankind was danced out to the beat of drums and the ring of glockenspiel.

This was Shakespeare via a mix of physical theatre, and Korean storytelling. But the language was no barrier as character and plot advanced just as well in gesture as in word. Perhaps it would be best described as a ballet of the clowns: Lysander and Demitrius wooed the incredulous Helena with hilarious bouncing jigs and the magic was done with giant flowery wands which bewitched at a single sniff.

Each scene was a riot of colour and a visual feast. Time after time an image was left imprinted on the retina: Hermia spinning alone on stage in the shadows, the auditorium in darkness lit only by phosphorescent dabs of colour as the sprites appeared. Storytelling in its purist form. Innovation in action.