Festival Fringe Reviews
In the tiny black box set, with minimal props, the opening scenes atmospherically portray Mario and Adele Gallo, at a busy railway station surrounded by their battered suitcases, looking lost and afraid. Speaking no English all they have is their grandfather's address in Albert Street, Leith. Hugh, a local young man is pleased to help and soon they are settling in, making friends, falling in love and learning the language of their brave new world. But as war against Mussolini begins the Gallo's face survival as enemy aliens.
Through a simple family story, Scars of War seeks to question conflict in its broadest terms - cultural identity, racism, religious persecution as well as the emotional scars within personal relationships. Polish director Aldona Figura directs the cast of Italian and Scottish actors. Elena Masoero and Carlo Iacucci are utterly believable as the lost souls, Adele and Carlo, and Catriona Evans portrays Helen, Carlo's Scottish wife, with a natural freshness. Hugh is a difficult role, the typical dour Scot cliché, but Mark Kydd does his best to inject a sense of humour.
As a naturalistic piece the narrative works well. However, the play is given a strange allegorical veneer, which only confuses and distorts the overall picture. Programme note - "the characters and events appear in the memory of a young boy." Giovanni runs around the room, playing with his toy warplanes, never speaks and adds little to the drama.
There is also an old woman sitting winding a clock. Uninvolved in the action, who is she? Mother Time? A symbol of fate? The presence of both woman and boy seems to be totally ephemeral rather than a dramatic device. Another confusing aspect is the absence of the Italian grandfather with whom Mario and Adele have come to live.
This is an ambitious storyline trying to express more than is possible within the hour. It might work better if the play was extended and embroidered, bring in the Grandfather as a core member of the family, elaborate the image of the boy's memories and give the essential dramatic narrative space to breathe.
This project is an international collaboration between writers Maggie Rose, Carlo Iacucci and WG Stark. In particular it is Maggie Rose's long-term research into the precious untold memories of Scottish Italian families which is now being translated into valuable true life drama.
"Scars of War" at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is performed by Italian Scottish Connections at the Apex City Theatre 1.
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Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
- Scars of War
