Note: This review is from the 2012 Fringe

Theatre / 120 min / £30 / £24 / £16 / £12 /

Showing @ King’s Theatre, 17-20 Aug

Lilliput, Brobdingnag, and the flying island of Laputa are all given short shrift in Radu Stanca National Theatre of Sibiu, Romania’s production. Director Silviu Purcărete‘s focus is on the humankind’s brutal inner Yahoo. Through a mixture of puppetry, shadow-play, mime and physical theatre (not to mention one real horse), he examines the viciousness, greed and wickedness lurking barely beneath the surface of ‘civilised man’. Although only touching upon the 1726 novel, Purcărete uses other works by the author to shore up his dystopian argument, such as the cannibalistic satire, A Modest Proposal, and some of Swift’s poison pen poetry. Possibly a disappointment to those hoping for a fresh take on Gulliver, this show is still a striking piece of polemic theatre, often funny, frequently visceral and filled with constantly imaginative spectacle.

Showing as part of the Edinburgh International Festival 2012.