CALLENDAR PARK, FALKIRKNINE years in, Callendar Park's annual "street arts festival" remains an endearingly batty concept. What sense does it make to put 10CC, a Bollywood dance show, a homage to the Wooster Group and wacky stree
t performers all on the same bill? None at all, arguably, except that Big in Falkirk is clearly throwing in everything but the kitchen sink in a bid to draw as wide an audience as possible, ideally from far beyond Falkirk.
Inevitably, some of it just doesn't work in the setting. Changelings, a dark fairy tale created by much-praised company Poorboy and Falkirk Children's and Youth Theatre, was an admirable, very likeable attempt to make a different kind of children's show, in which the young cast emerged from hiding places in the bushes to tell a surprisingly dark tale about lost innocence. But when the sound of indie rock from the main stage drowns out much of the dialogue, and the plot partly relies on having Callendar House as a backdrop but there are too many burger stalls in the way, something has gone slightly amiss. So, handy hints for BIF performers then: 1. Don't do anything that's going to be drowned out by another noisy attraction a few yards away; instead take a tip from Fraser Hooper and Matt Rudkin's daft clown show Inside Out, in which they conjured up an entire house, and then a cinema, from a revolving door, some simple sound effects, but mostly from ingenious miming.
2. Don't do anything subtle; instead take notes from Bollywood Steps, a noisy, glitzy, knowingly preposterous Bollywood homage on the steps of Callendar House (see what they did with that title?), with endless costume changes, energetic dancing punctuated by fireworks, and so much bare flesh that the cast are probably still recovering from hypothermia. Or from Full Circle, the impact of whose spectacular light and sound show could still be felt from the other side of the park, while missing the end in order to run for a train.
My personal favourite thing, though, was the Village Disco. Three men dressed as farmers played records, made bad jokes and gave away rubbish prizes. It was odd, probably pointless, but highly entertaining – much like Big and Falkirk at its best, in fact.
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