one4review | On 19, Aug 2024

Early Doors Productions have made a habit of bringing exquisite and perfectly formed slices of theatre to the Fringe, and this year is no different. Death, the Devil and the Fablemaker is an exploration of love and the stories told about and because of it, heartbreaking and humorous and everything in between.

Six performers tell the story, one as the main anchor and often narrator, the others taking on the rest. The choreography is superb, as are the performers. They’re not all involved in every story, but they remain on stage, still performing and supporting the story even if they’re simply asleep, or being clouds. Dialogue and prosody also deserve special mention. Several of the characters – including the Fablemaker herself – had accents that to perform them correctly, require not just the sound but the syntax and phrasing, and this whole cast has this nailed. Add to that convincingly realistic dialogue in the hands of empathetic and plastic actors, and the whole thing sings.

Other aspects of the show are so well done as to go unnoticed; the staging allows us all to see, the pacing and rhythm make the time slide away, the costuming is a corroboration rather than a detraction. This is a lovely piece of theatre, full of all the emotions. Thank you, you made us cry.

Reviewed by Laura

theSpace on the Mile
16:05
Until 24th