⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ North West End UK by Wendy McEwan https://northwestend.com/life-maria-macdonell-scottish-storytelling-centre/ The play is beautifully written and invites curiosity. We hear about creativity as rebellion, the male gaze in art (“He was terrified of the freedom in my eyes, so he painted submission”), and above all, the uncomfortable truth of mortality. Estelle is no passive muse – she declares her reality through speech and movement, with her silklike gown, from Glasgow designer Macfin, flowing with her. I think I will go and see this play again, and I think you should go and see it too.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Corr Blimey Review by Josie https://corrblimey.uk/2024/08/09/review-edinburgh-festival-fringe-life/ ‘innovative, unique, and inspiring… introduces us to vast and complex themes and messages unlocked in what we create. You get the sense watching this play that we are not all just communally watching but thinking, generating, and crafting art. After all, that is what theatre is for.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Quinntessential Review by WJQuinn https://theqr.co.uk/2024/08/20/edfringe-review-life/ ‘Superb storyteller and theatre-maker Maria MacDonell is staging a truly immersive show at this year’s Fringe. A lively, thoughtful, and touching play, and a bold attempt to do something new.’
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Edinburgh Guide by Angela Milton https://edinburghguide.com/festival/2024/life-2024-scottish-storytelling-centre-review-21574 In MacDonell’s capable hands, Estelle is a spiky, irascible and yet vulnerable figure. It is to her credit that, despite Estelle’s foibles, we are invested in her story. MacDonell’s writing crafts a woman who has been badly treated by different people in her life and has grown a shell with gritty layers that slowly unpeel as we hear her life story, exposing the wounded woman underneath. The artist gently probes, swirling around her like the paintbrushes that have flown across myriad canvases through the years. He hears and knows what she is about to say, sometimes speaks it with her. He is a puzzle, but warm and guiding nonetheless, in a flamboyant and yet still subtle performance from Leo MacNeill. When the reason for this particular class is revealed, it is not – by then – unexpected, but it is tinged with sadness.
AUDIENCE REVIEWS on Fringe website.
John McEwen "Life" is excellent - dark, playful, serious, funny, brilliantly performed and shimmering with depth. Hard to stop thinking about. Sex and death, ageing, the brevity of life, immortality: a portrait (a life?) is never finished, it just stops: such preoccupations as these are touched on with the deft lightness of touch of someone (like late Beethoven?) with mastery and no time to waste. Heartily recommended.
Charity Ooooft! What a fabulous show. Funny, deeply moving, graceful and raw. This show invites audience to a drawing class complete with paper, pencils and even with the option of onstage easels! The performance is delightful, powerful and shares deeply profound observations about life love and death. I was so enchanted I didn’t draw a single line but was so impressed by the audience around me who sketched ferociously, absorbing the performance and committing their experience to paper. Highly recommend for the writing, the creative format, the brilliant performances, beautiful music and movement. Inspiring and truly memorable’.
Jan My first show at the Fringe this year, and what a fantastic start! The performance offers captivating reflections on life and aging, culminating in an unexpected twist. Sparkling throughout, Maria MacDonell delivers a mesmerizing performance in this excellent show. Plenty of food for thought and truly a must-see! (He came to see LIFE twice)
Rick Conte I love the concept. The audience is taking part in a drawing class, we can hear the thoughts of the model, as well as her words spoken aloud...and something is slightly otherworldly about our teacher! innovative and fun. deep and colourful. what a lovely piece of theatre-highly recommended!
Mairi Campbell Life is set in an art class, where the audience is invited to draw as the piece plays out. A tense relationship between the teacher and model holds the thread of the narrative until the shift is revealed. A beautiful piece.
Barbara An incredible performance from Maria in this intriguing, thought-provoking play. I wasn’t sure what to expect (hadn't seen the trigger warnings) so was surprised at some of the darker themes but still found it very enjoyable. The drawing was a fun element and you don’t have to show if that worries you! Highly recommend
Jackie Quirky Not what we expected but enjoyable Lovely story well told and portrayed Took me back to art student days. Worth a watch but deep ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mark LIFE is a beguiling trip- a combination of storytelling, poetry and music disguised as a drawing class. Themes of art, mortality, perception and the meaning of life interweave in an intoxicating blend. While this might in other hands easily drift into pretension or pomposity this never does. This chamber piece is romantic, playful, surprisingly funny in places and ultimately profoundly moving. Leo MacNeil's art teacher and Maria MacDonell's model ask us to ponder the notion that every single one of us is an artist- even if we can only manage to draw stick men! This is my second time seeing LIFE. I plan to come a third time later in the run. (He did) A must see.
Abel Zhang "Everything you can imagine is real." That's theatre for you. At the end I found myself wiping away tears and using them to add depth to my drawing.
Justin Skelton Such a wonderful show! An extraordinarily challenging extremely comforting experience...Leo and Maria have a stunning stage chemistry and the combination of the powerful and emotive text make this a funny and then heartbreaking hour. This one should run and run
Mark I loved the richness of the text, the juxtaposition of allegory and reality and the deft and sympathetic playing of the actors. It was also a vivid reminder of my own experience as a model, the fixation on tiny details in the room, the need to mentally focus and the peculiar effect it has on one’s perception of time. Bravo
Morna a beautiful piece that invited the audience to become part of the action whilst watching the piece being created. The ideas, the words , the choreography worked together with the costume to gently create flourishes of colour across the canvas of the stage whilst the shape of the piece reflected an artist's process, starting with just the bare bones of an idea , then sketching, next introducing new ideas, then rest, going back to the theme , trying again, refining until there is nothing else to do but let it be. It was a discourse about life and death and age and the dynamics of relationships including the mystery and imperfections and disappointments of life where the sitter often seemed more in command than the artist yet was also looking to the artist for help but the artist no more able to provide answers than the sitter. The idea of the audience also being artists, with some onstage, supported the symbiotic nature of the protagonists relationship playing with who was subject, who was artist, who audience, who performer , who creator, who created - the dramatic tension held in the relationship between the artist and the sitter - both needing each other in order to exist. It was a complex , intricate piece presented with expert simplicity and ending cheekily with a tableau pinched from Michaelangelo - not here the creation of Adam but quiet homage paid to at least one daughter of Eve. The pocket watch ticking reminding us that we are all working against the clock and occasional sound effects reminding us of the links between life and art. And then just when we thought it was done, lines blurred again, with the actor who played the sitter telling us our drawings , if we individually wanted , could become part of a gallery of audience drawings of the piece thus meaning of course that we then became protagonists of sorts - and in a play called Life what better epilogue than to remind us of free will and playing our part. A very clever play that, like all good art, works away on your subconscious , as your memory goes back to it again and again to check what else was there.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS written in our visitors’ book.
‘Loved the poetry and being able to draw while stitching it all together. A brilliant show. So much in it. Thankyou.’ ‘A privilege and delight. Wonderful. ‘
‘A beautifully intricate show, a delight to be able to draw during it and to see the four audience members on stage. A lovely mix of realities and narratives. Fabulous performances- and something new! Thankyou’.
‘Such a moving and fascinating piece of theatre. I loved the way it gradually revealed itself’ ‘darkly humourous with a riveting ending’
‘Incredibly moving, boundless fun, combinations of all the art forms I love. Thankyou so much for something so original.’
‘What a gorgeous show to experience. The drawing element made me watch the show in a different way. It made me feel truly part of it as well as spectating. Really brilliant show. Thankyou.’
‘I really loved this play. So well performed’.
‘Amazing, intelligent piece’
‘An amazing and powerful show’
‘Marvellous, unusual, perfect’
‘Loved the movement and vitality of the piece’.
‘Thankyou. A powerful experience being witness and participant- made the play and the words even more powerful’
‘A fresh piece of theatre! As a non artist it was a new experience. Very natural performances’. ‘really innovative and inspiring. Thankyou’.
‘had me gripped from the start’ ‘fabulous acting, performance and concept’ ‘I feel inspired and for months I have HAD NO INSPIRATION for anything. Thankyou. Extraordinary’
‘An incredible adventure, so complex, so nuanced, so beautiful. Let LIFE continue’ ‘fantastic- left feeling the overwhelming urge to hug my mum’
LIFE filled me with joy, made me laugh, made me cry. What more could you ask of a show?’