Bare – Ed Fringe 2018 – Review

Bare: Hill Street Theatre (Venue 41), Edinburgh Fringe

Reviewed 23rd August 2018

★★★

The popular Edinburgh Little Theatre company are performing the pop/opera hit Bare at this years Edinburgh Fringe. Telling the story of two students, Peter and Jason, who meet and fall in love at a Catholic boarding school but everything is shrouded in secrecy and hidden behind lies. It is a moving musical about ‘forbidden’ love.

Bare is quite a complicated story and at times the stage is very crowded with ensemble cast making it hard to understand. However, during the more intimate scenes and quieter moments this cast excel. The emotion shown by the four main characters is brilliant and grows and develops during the show.

The cast are young and the level of experience clearly differs but they are all committed to the show and by the end of the production had the audience hooked. Bare is one of the longer shows seen on the Fringe and perhaps an abridged version may work better? Some of the dream-like scenes and more upbeat numbers didn’t quite work in this setting. By cutting these back and focusing on the more hard-hitting, emotional storylines this could have improved the flow and impact of the show.

The score is diverse and there are some beautifully performed songs during the performance. ‘See Me‘ for example sung by Zoe McRae and Stuart Mitchell, really shows the depth of emotion the actors can portray and touches the audience.

Overall this show starts off feeling quite amateur and ‘young’ but it develops into an emotional struggle between the characters, their emotions and the events happening in their lives and the actors themselves rise to this challenge and develop during the show. Due to the nature of the venue the sound quality is not always consistent but generally the vocals are delivered well and with clarity. ‘All Grown Up‘ by Linzi Devers is particularly effective. With more experience and work connecting with the character this group of young performers will go far.

Bare is playing at Hill Street Theatre (Venue 41) at the Edinburgh Fringe until the 26th August. For information or tickets click here.

Click here to check out an interview with the cast of Bare.