one4review | On 15, Aug 2018

Katherina Radeva’s play looks back to life in Bulgaria in the times before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1989, Katherina was seven years old and she paints a vivid picture of a girl who had everything that she needed but with glimpses of the issues that her student parents faced as a young couple in the Communist era. She also tells the story of family friends Frida and Stacey, a couple forced to keep their relationship clandestine. Stacey makes beautiful traditional tapestries and is reluctant to face change and Frida is a photographer who one day cracks and realises that her country is a prison and that she needs to get out and see the outside world.
With a metaphoric wall of children’s building bricks surrounding her, Katherina moves around the stage gracefully weaving her tales. As we approach the fall of the Berlin Wall her movement becomes more pugnacious as she punches down the prison’s walls. In order to illustrate the life choices faced by her fellow citizens, she uses an amusing game show with prizes for the audience and she is quick to react when an audience response is unexpected. She is a warm presence on stage and gives her all. If you are interested in this period of recent history, then this play is for you – if nothing else, you will discover that the fall of the Berlin Wall did not bring the capitalist utopia that citizens hoped for and the outside world expected.

Reviewed by Rona
Summerhall Techcube
11.25am
Until 26th August (not 20th)