Review: EDINBURGH 2024: BELLRINGERS, ROUNDABOUT @Summerhall
A dystopian two-hander playing at Summerhall's ROUNDABOUT
We hear a crash of thunder and two caped figures run into the centre of the Roundabout Theatre to escape from the rain. Here is where Bellringers begins, a 65-minute thriller about what might happen in a bell tower at the end of the world.
The show is a co-production between Hampstead Theatre, Ellie Keel Productions and Atticist, with Daisy Hall making her writing debut, and was shortlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Playwriting.
Throughout the show, we learn more about the two characters’ relationship and how they find themselves in the tower on this fateful evening. Luke Rollason is delightfully eccentric as Clement and Paul Adeyefa gives a sincere and warm performance as Aspinall.
David Doyle’s lighting design makes playful use of spotlights to craft rainfall and thriving ecosystems that won’t be revealed in this review. Natalie Johnson’s minimalist design comprises two angular benches and a myriad of bell ropes overhead, well suited to the roundabout’s, as you might guess, in-the-round layout, making you feel like you’re in the tower with our duo.
Hall’s script borrows theories from across scientific disciplines about what the future may hold for the generations to come after us. The sound design punctuates scenes as a storm draws ever nearer, but occasionally felt long and drawn out for what was supposedly a fierce storm making haste across the countryside.
Dystopian plays set in future worlds where the climate crisis has taken hold are not new, but the device of this piece is a fascinating insight to what remote countryside villages might look like as our weather systems become more extreme.
Jessica Lazar’s direction balances the nervous chatter with awkward pauses, ensuring everyone in the theatre catches some of the action. The show is sprinkled with a nice balance of sincerity and silliness against the solemn backdrop.
Eerie and entertaining, come along to Summerhall for a dystopian fly-on-the-wall experience at Bellringers.
Bellringers is at Summerhall Roundabout until 26 Aug
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