Keep Watching It
★★☆☆☆ Repetitive
The Space on the Mile (Venue 39): Fri 2 – Sat 17 August 2024
Review by Marion Geoffray
Keep Watching It, at The Space on the Mile, is a new play by Kestrel Eye Productions, a grassroots film and theatre company based between Edinburgh and New York.
The late-night show promises a live experiment sponsored by Beyond Skin Pharmaceuticals and hosted by a scientist (Arabella Robbins) in search of fame and success. Set in a bare black box studio, the audience witnesses her latest pet project, a chained, winged creature called Faye (Charlie Mitchell) being put through a series of physical and psychological tests. Assisted by two anonymous balaclava-clad henchmen, she warns of the challenging nature of the content we’re about to watch.
Arabella Robbins. Screengrab from Keep Watching It promo.
The play explores some interesting topics such as our complex and often sliding relationships with science, technology, and our own humanity. The horseshoe seating arrangement combines with Robbins’ presence to convey a strong sense of voyeurism that makes the audience complicit. Mitchell’s performance stands out: she’s captivating and touching as a disarming creation that has more soul than her creator. She’s the reason we keep watching.
But overall, there’s a lack of precision and pace that makes it difficult to engage fully with the rest of the story. The writing is repetitive and predictable and doesn’t serve the talents of the two actresses well. The ending in particular feels botched and anticlimactic.
clumsy
What was initially described as an immersive gloomy grey atmosphere is instead lit in a warm glow throughout; minimising any elements of tension or surprise. The anticipated audience participation is reduced to a one-off request to stand up and sit down, and the clumsy and over the top transitions between Faye and her captors are distracting.
There is potential here in the format and the themes chosen that would benefit from being further developed and refined. The Fringe is a place for artistic experiments but unfortunately on this occasion, Keep Watching It doesn’t quite pass the initial trial.
Running time: One hour (no interval)
The Space on the Mile (Space 1), 80 High Street, EH1 1TH (Venue 39)
Friday 2 – Saturday 17 August 2024
Daily (not Sun 11): 10.45pm
Details and tickets: Book here
Facebook: @Kestrel Eye Productions
Instagram: @kestreleyeproductions
X: @kestrel_eye
ENDS
