The Domino Effect
Touching collaborative drama from Fin Kennedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Playwright Fin Kennedy has produced some astonishingly mature, resonant work with the girls of Tower Hamlets’ Mulberry School in recent Fringes, in shows such as Mehndi Night and the Fringe First-winning The Unravelling. Their latest collaboration has a lot to live up to, and although it feels less ambitious both dramatically and emotionally, it’s still a considerable achievement – a touching fable about the interconnectedness of us all, and how one thing can lead to another, and another, and another, for good or bad.
There’s a healthy dose of magic realism in Kennedy’s tale of a child who refuses to speak in protest at the evil in the world, but who, with the help of a flamboyant antiques seller, sets about putting things right by distributing dominoes as good luck talismans. And that sense of fantasy is reflected in an inventively fluid, quick-fire delivery, with actors throwing lines of the narration between them, and some effective and well-considered movement.
Performances are somewhat variable, though, even if they’re never less than thoroughly committed, but the play’s unexpected conclusion feels tellingly apt for a work dealing with unintended consequences.
The Space @ Surgeons Hall, 510 2384, until 14 Aug (not 10), £8 (£5).