At A Stretch for Eden Court
At A Stretch is a real treat for autumn, the Jordan and Skinner company have produced a fantastic piece of accessible theatre / mime / acrobatics.
The sweet honesty of the starting premise here is that when two women meet, and find there’s an attraction developing between them – it can feel just that little bit more… difficult… to negotiate a successful pathway onward.
The two performers are Melanie Jordan and Emma Anderson, giving a marvellously energetic show with all the charm of the silent movies.
So why do I find myself writing in Inverness Gigs for the first time? Simple answer really.The music’s quality stuff, people. Absolutely immersing you in the story you’re seeing. Prepare to have your heart strings tweaked, emotions gently manipulated and memories evoked. Responsible for this cracker is Glasgow based Susan Bear, formerly of Tuff Love, from the Lost Map stable. She’s recently been playing with Pictish Trail, Monoganon, The Pastels and others, and is currently making her own music as Good Dog.
As an adult, you could indeed just sit back, shut your eyes and enjoy – but you’d be seriously missing out. There’s just as much going on to hold your own interest.
The parkour style choreography (Lucy Wild) is inspiring and the stripped back set (Alice Wilson) is pitched just right for child audiences – leaving it to the imagination – are the performers in an old school type playground or just hanging out on a child’s eye view of an anonymous cityscape? *Warning* I do recommend keeping an eye on the kids afterwards or you may find they’re busy using all your shoelaces to tie their own beds to the curtain rails and light fittings in homage!
In addition to lots of other 5 star ratings, At A Stretch won the Three Weeks Editors’ Award 2017 at the Edinburgh Festival this year – well deserved! And as a parent of five, I’ve seen an awful lot of rubbish produced for children over the years – when a gem as sparkling as this comes along it really stands out.
