Review: A SHORT HISTORY OF UNFORTUNATE ANIMALS at Capital Fringe

Described as "a dark romp with teeth" - a wonderfully evocative tagline - A Short History of Unfortunate Animals is one of the more abstract Fringe offerings this year. Choreographer, performer and writer Lorien House (writing under the name Glena Trachta) presents, in just 45 minutes, a series of vignettes - four, to be exact. Each one gives us a short text followed by movement and dance, concerning "The Extinct," "The Endangered," "The Feral" and "The Domestic" - individuals (or collections of them) tossed aside by society, or perhaps by choice. The first image we see is House tapping defiantly against an ear-deafening gust of wind - with each new Unfortunate Animal we witness her fight against the inevitability of extinction.

Some of the more memorable moments include a baffling sequence in which she wears professional boxers' shorts, fighting against some unseen force, and another more straightforward sequence, The Feral, where we watch her struggle, pounce and wail. House brings an array of style and sound - Balkan music, The Clash, some text by Federico García Lorca - and all of it adds up to a strange, beguiling night at the theatre. Two shows left - tickets here.

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