Or What’s Left of Us @ Summerhall
Or What's Left of Us is a refreshingly honest production, using traditional folk sing-arounds and storytelling to explore shared experiences of grief
Fringe favourites Sh!t Theatre are back, giving their trademark alternative performance art a pagan makeover. Staying true to their celebration of imperfection and performing the ‘sh*t’, Or What's Left of Us is a refreshingly honest production, using traditional folk sing-arounds and storytelling to explore their shared experience of grief. Combining humour and tragedy, Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole deliver a deeply tender performance that endures beyond the curtain call.
The audience are transported to the world of Medieval folklore as Biscuit and Mothersole clad themselves in animal skins and remnants of the forest, lute and tankards in tow. Opening with stirring wassailing songs, the audience are immediately welcomed into this microcosm with open arms, stamping and clapping along to the traditional melodies and laughing at the pair’s sparkling banter. As the pair share their discovery of folksong with the room, we are transported to the venerated folk pub that they frequented before it was burned down, meeting the many idiosyncratic characters within it. Biscuit and Mothersole continually surprise and delight the audience with their sharp humour and poignant observations.
As well as leaving the audience in stitches, the show has a beautiful sentiment. Simple songs are serenely performed for the enjoyment of the collective and is anything but performative. Beneath the dry humour lies the touching reality that the pair looked to folk music to heal their mutual feeling of brokenness. There are many 'songs about death', including a motif that celebrates the 'death' of 'John Barley Corn' during harvest to create beer – “But he always comes back,” as all crops do. In folk there is always a revival, but real life isn’t always so kind. These metaphors cleverly reflect the duo’s own ethos that rejects the notion of a ‘polished’ performance, honouring the mess. This is a particularly poignant message in the context of our current socio-political climate, plagued by pain and unrest.
Or What’s Left of Us is both a joyous and moving piece that takes the audience on a thought-provoking journey through loss and life. Distinct from their usual act, this raw and melodious exhibition of healing could not have come at a better time.
Sh!t Theatre: Or What's Left of Us, Summerhall (Tech Cube Zero), until 25 Aug, 4.45pm, £10-17