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Richard Stamp, 'Fringe Guru' *****
Lindsay Millers' tour-de-force script poses constant questions, from its disorientating opening right through to its disturbing finale. It's thought-provoking and entertaining, combining sharp observation with plenty of wit. Fight it all you like, but you'll find yourself drawn in...waiting for that final twist, for another sting in the tail.
It's the kind of play which leaves you wanting, now you know what's happening, to watch the whole thing all over again. With a compelling script matched by selfless, near-flawless acting, One Elliot Park transcends the confines of its tiny venue. Don't miss this chance to learn just how good small-scale theatre can be.
Drew McAdam, 'Edinburgh Evening News' ****
LOCAL production company Siege Perilous has picked a real winner with One Elliot Park. The play, by new writer, Edinburgh-based Lindsay Miller, had the audience shrinking in their seats – for all the right reasons.
The psychological nuances and the visual stimulation as the threads of the mystery are drawn together is something that will stay with you for a long time after the cast has left the stage.
Cleverly written and perfectly delivered by a cast with more talent that is reasonable, this is a remarkable production. The story and the characters demand your attention from the outset, then take you into a dark place that is brutally shocking, yet unbelievably entertaining
Joyce McMillan, 'The Scotsman' ***
Over a fierce 70minutes, Miller's intensely theatrical script gradually rises to a fever pitch of shrieking paranoia and competing voices, in which it begins to emerge that Chloe is perhaps the only resident of the house, and the others are just three terrifying faces of her multiple personality disorder.
Millers' play is more disturbing than thrilling, and often painfullly accurate in reflecting the torment of extreme mental breakdown. This vivid and fast-moving play creates opportunities for some fine performances from its cast of five, led by Lily Carrie as Chloe, and Andy Corelli's production is full of style and pace, offering an intriguing prologue to a weekend night out, down at Leith Shore.
Keith D, 'Edinburgh Spotlight' ***
One Elliot Park grips throughout a tightly-paced production by Andy Corelli, who displays some fine directorial talents: foreshadowing the piece’s themes of madness and paranoia through the use of clever casting and stark, effective technical design.
Lily Carrie's portrayal of paranoid naivety is spot-on....Arron Usher puts in the standout performance, switching between mild-mannered mediocrity and menacing madness with ease....its mapping of a disturbed mind provides 70 minutes of compelling theatre.
Thom Dibdin, 'Annals of Edinburgh Stage' ***
Siege Perilous return to their pop-up home at the Malmaison hotel in Leith with an exciting – and sometime exacting – new psychological whodunit.
Lindsay Miller’s dark, twisting script entices her audience into an increasingly grotesque labyrinth of tensions. Her heroine is the fragile, waif-like Chloe, left as the only resident at home in her tenement one unexpectedly becalmed weekend.
Astute direction by Andy Corelli brings a fantastic performance from Lily Carrie as Chloe. She brings a whole range of subtleties to her role – the full complexities of which don’t become fully apparent until the final curtain.
But it is Corelli’s command of ensemble work that continues to impress. When the other residents return home from their various weekends they discover that an intruder has entered the building. All their doors have been left wide open but nothing seems to have been stolen. And there is nothing to be seen of Chloe.
This is an extract of a review by Thom Dibdin of Annals of Edinburgh Stage. Click here to read the full review (you will be directed to the review on Thom's website)
Irene Brown, 'EdinburghGuide.com' ***
The play see saws its way from certainty to confusion as Debs’ thoughts go on a loop, Douglas goes in to overdrive like an android with its wires crossed, Mark is simply manic and Chloe just quietly rocks centre stage. The madness is only just contained in the unusual and limited space that is a conference room in the Malmaison Hotel, so some clever direction from Andy Corelli. Tommie Hart showed real comic potential with his range of voices as he went from radge to regular polis with ease.
This is an unusual play that places a mirror to our mutual responsibility towards each other. It was played tightly by the five-strong cast, its atmosphere augmented by sounds of a tense menacing cello and apt songs like the Beatles’ You won’t see me, with its poignant line ‘ I wouldn't mind If I knew what I was missing’, and Elvis’ Suspicious Minds. Well worth the trip to Sunny Leith!
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