one4review | On 21, Aug 2013

***

Inspired by Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’, Birdhouse is a curious and intriguing concoction of scenes and live music. It opens with the four female performers dressed to appear as elderly women similarly attired in two piece outfits and wearing dark glasses. They are located in a cinema with a guy at a popcorn stand off to one side of the stage.

One of the four begins to give a safety announcement with another lady humorously interpreting her instructions in sign language. Suddenly, they are interrupted as they are struck by bird droppings. From this point, the action enters a surreal world of comedy and horror and song.

Individual scenes include much creativity from black and white silhouettes to very realistic bird hand puppets. With each scene there is growing atmosphere of entrapment. However, the narrative seems to wander off in unrelated ways and is perplexing. I found myself thinking how does this scene relate to the whole structure of the play? Yes, it is well performed but does it have a context? I think if you have little knowledge of the Hitchcock film, the play would be incomprehensible, but for the film buffs it could be the sequel.

Reviewed by Ben

Assembly George Square; 3

1 to 25 August 2011 (not 12, 19)

17.30 – 18.30

Fringe Programme Page Number: 260