A lesson-free flight of fancy
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings Summerhall (Venue 26), until 28 August
JJJJ
There will be few children’s shows at this year’s festival that are more intriguing and imaginationstimulating than A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings. Irish theatremaker Dan Colley’s adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 1968 magic-realist short story about a Colombian couple and the ancient angel they discover on the shore outside their house is a weird and wonderful delight for kids and adults alike.
Over 50 fantastical minutes, under Colley’s direction, coperformers Manus Halligan and Karen Mccartney use a combination of narration, mime, small-scale puppetry, go-pro live-streaming, and DIY sound effects to tell the tale of Pelayo, Elisenda, and the wizened, winged creature that they discover on the beach, lock up like an animal, and exploit as an attraction.
It is a curious, cryptic story, full of both cruelty and kindness, craziness and contemplation – but a meaningful fable it is not. “There are no lessons here,” Mccartney sternly warns at the start of the show. “So don’t go looking for any.”
Most of it takes place on a table in the centre of the stage, Mccartney and Halligan delicately manipulating minute models in mesmerising fashion. The duo display a delightful chemistry as they do so, Mccartney blunt and brusque, Halligan shy and almost entirely mute throughout.
Silently bickering like an old couple, they conjure up some exquisite images, filching unlikely items from a cluttered bookcase behind them and bringing them to life on the tabletop. The show’s finale, when the old man eventually spreads his wings and takes flight, is transcendentally beautiful. A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings has earned acclaim across Ireland since it originally ran at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre in 2019. This Edinburgh Fringe run is its UK premiere. Fingers crossed Colley’s creation will find further homes this side of the Irish Sea. FERGUS MORGAN