Paul T Davies reviews James Rowland - Piece Of Work at Summerhall as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
James Rowland- Piece of Work
Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe
5 Stars
One tries not to write that the Master Storyteller is back, but the Master Storyteller is back! An established firm Fringe favourite, a new show by Rowland is always to be celebrated and here is no exception. He has an innate ability to hold an audience, with no tech he looks us in the eye and shares his tale with us.
Essentially the play is about his brother Chris. Not a biological brother but was brought up by James's parents when his father, Dick, couldn't cope with the death of his wife, by suicide. Dick is a "bit of a character" brought to booming life by Rowland, and last year Dick issued a proposal to Rowland, which he accepted. With no spoilers, it leads to a short, five-second event.
The play is about many things, not least mental health and suicide. Childhood memories, chicken burgers, the stubbornness of people and the power of tenderness, chicken burgers, joy, home and location, and, above all, chicken burgers. (You'll appreciate there that humour is a strong part of the storytelling!) Most effective are the points when Rowland asks us to imagine something big, a distance or emotion for example, and then he says it's actually even bigger than we imagine. Above all, the story is about love and its complications, beautifully told, ringing with authenticity.
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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