HORROR AT FRINGE 2019: St. Kilda a terrifying tale
St. Kilda
Stage 11 (Nordic Studio Theatre)
New York’s Jody Christopherson is a quintuple threat – playwright, actor, master of dialects, singer, and most distractingly impressive: An operator of the dreaded “looper.” You know, that thing where you record a segment of sound, hit a switch and it repeats over and over again? Ed Sheeran overuses it.
The contraption was used to creepy effect in this tale of a self-described “trailer trash” woman who travels to a ridiculously remote and windswept set of islands off the coast of Scotland called “St. Kilda” – with a mission to pour her dead grandmother’s ashes into the heaving and frigid Atlantic Ocean.
In near darkness, the actor creates eerie vocal loops, immersed with a haunting cacophony of moans, bells, whistles, Tibetan chanting bowls, a cigar-box guitar, you name it. The show is billed as a “foley solo concert,” foley being the art of creating incidental sound effects in movies. The process was almost as interesting as the story. She also used pre-recorded dialogue she triggered herself. THE HORROR! How is that any different than lip-syncing?!
Never mind. It’s theatre.
Christopherson said that one may only access St. Kilda two months a year, due to the frightful weather. She paints a vivid portrait of this wild and beautiful land, birthplace of her beloved grandmother. Cue wind sounds, a loop of splashing water. The “click click” of the looper she worked with her foot kind of blew the mood.
Dovetailing into the horrifying story of the mysterious journey is a commentary on the folly of a woman travelling alone – especially to such an inhospitable place as St. Kilda, where weird birds and evil goats dwell. Also human creeps, as the main character finds out. But there’s bad magic out here, too – as the aforementioned creep finds out!
This is a dark and stormy performance, a terrifying tale convincingly told, with several characters, in several different authentic-sounding accents. Along with the inevitable weird sound effects, it all adds up to a satisfying horror at the Fringe – a rare thing these days.
(For more horror, in case you’re interested, Christopherson in her post-performance speech recommended 13 Dead Dreams of ‘Eugene,’ at Stage 1; and The Legend of White Woman Creek, Stage 3)
4 out of 5
