Review: MY LOVER WAS A SALMON IN THE CLIMATE APOCALYPSE, Pleasance Courtyard

My Lover Was a Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse wasn't for me. Its strengths are its message, the beautiful music of the band (Rory Gradon, Elinor Peregrin, and Elisabeth Flett), and the inherently gorgeous mythology at its heart.

The narrative is bizarre, Fin (Gradon) has empathy and compassion over how Salmon are being affected by climate change but this tips over into obsession, leading to a scaly transformation. His girlfriend Fi (played by Peregrin) tries to help, to keep him close, but is met by heartbreak.

The strangeness, the music, and the strong cast appeal to me, and the show could be a wonderous oddity of the fringe. For the moment, it's caught in the middle between being funny or sincere. As an audience member, it's a little disorientating.

The musical elements and the chemistry of the cast are solid. Gradon and Peregrin are supported by the outrageously musically talented Flett and her aloof, hilarious portrayal of Sam. To really move an audience, to communicate its important messages about the climate and our part in it (we are a part of it), setting a more stable tone is needed. A show doesn't have to be consistent, its atmosphere can shape-shift and pull an audience to-and-fro. To anchor its audience, My Lover was a Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse might work on its script. The biggest strength of this piece of gig theatre is its music, perhaps the hour might benefit from being more underpinned by it.

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