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3 hours ago
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Deep sea diving and plumbing the depths of family history make a decent parallel in this nimble multimedia production by Buzzcut, which has a sweetly eccentric air yet leaves a little too much beneath the surface.
The premise is familiar, as Eddie (Morgan Beale) returns to the seaside town where his sister, Ira (Camilla Anvar), still lives in her childhood bedroom and runs the family pub now that their parents are gone. Guilt, resentment and jealousy bubble up as they squabble over which of them was their parents’ favourite and what to do with the business, while Ira shares her doubts about Eddie’s new husband.
Written and directed by Gabe Winsor, The Wreck unfolds over the siblings’ daytime scuba dives and night-time dancing at the pub’s sparsely attended disco, presided over by DJ Sea Bass (you half expect to spot the electronic eel from Jaha Koo’s excellent Haribo Kimchi, playing across town). In a nice twist, they end up burying their own treasure – but you never fully invest in the characters’ relationships or their predicaments over the 50-minute duration.
That is partly because of the time spent realising the show’s inventive form. Live camera work and rod-and-string puppeteering (both by Beckett Gray) are used to animate the water-world – with puppet designs by Cat Rock and a fishtank model box by Tiffer Cundy, atmospherically lit by Han Sayles. All of this takes place behind a diaphanous sheet, so the behind-the-scenes activity becomes a secondary drama, and several different backdrops are used to change the scene. Surtitles and divers’ hand signals are used to make the show accessible and the tech is handled smoothly, yet retains a lo-fi air. Faye James plays her own compositions live, blending accordion and suitably aquatic-sounding electronica.
The underwater action begins to drag and the conversations on dry land can also frustrate, although the characters’ reticence feels realistic (as does the siblings’ shared shorthand). But even if the drama is caught between the domestic and the deep blue sea, it’s a show with plenty of charm.
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At Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 31 August
