Are you Lonesome Tonight @ Summerhall

Review by Alecia Marshall | 15 Aug 2014

Entering a compact performance space the audience are immediately ushered onto the stage. “Think of a number,” says Ellie Stamp, appearing from the makeshift stalls, “and climb inside it… are you there yet?”

“Is this an interactive performance?” questions a man in the centre, sighing laboriously. “I should have read the flyer more closely.”

Are You Lonesome Tonight is a multimedia examination of identity, presented by self-professed Elvis lovechild, Ellie Stamp – and yes, it is interactive. For those spectators who intend only to, well, spectate, it is probably best to sit this one out. Designed and created by Stamp with the help of neuroscientists from Cambridge University and Kings College London, she questions perception, reality and disillusion.

“Who do other people think you are,” she asks a thoughtful audience, “and does it really matter?”

Stamp is a gifted performer who unravels her personal narrative as she asks the audience to consider theirs. Utilising song and video projection, she ensures a fast paced performance that revels in rhetorical questions and Elvis memorabilia. 

It is, however, this pace of the performance that at times proves problematic. Stamp has to ask for her lines on more than one occasion, which inadvertently lessens the conversational rapport she works hard to build with her audience. Transitions are often clumsy and uncomfortable for such an intimate performance but on the whole, the intention of the piece is clear and with a little polish may fulfil its potential.

Moreover, Stamp excels at integration. The audience are encouraged to find their ‘life number’ (1-9) via a series of calculations derived from their date of birth. Once discovered, they must sit with their numerical counterparts. Elvis was, they are told, obsessed with numerology.  Stamp flits between numbers, relaxed and conversational. She questions individuals, breaks into song and offers a lucky number five half of her peanut butter sandwich. She convincingly outlines her connection to Elvis, and who are we to doubt?

Are you Lonesome Tonight, Summerhall, until 22 Aug (except 19, 21) 3.30 pm £5 http://festival14.summerhall.co.uk/event/are-you-lonesome-tonight/