The Candlewasters Spring Showcase stitched together six strikingly unique plays into an evening of absurdity, comedy, and even social critique. Presented by the EUTC’s Candlewasters Company — which exclusively presents new, Edinburgh-based student writing — each of the six pieces were novel and unexpected.
James Harvey’s Rope opens the night on a high note — with a murder staged as a silhouette behind a voile curtain. The murderers, two sharply dressed philosophy students, spend the rest of their set pointedly ignoring the dead body, quibbling over the details of their imminent dinner party.
Garibaldi — the one-man play written by Anna Yarwood — continues the tone of absurdity with a four-way conversation at a dinner table, of which we can only see and hear one of its participants. This piece is elevated by its lead’s compelling performance, which has us utterly convinced that there must be some invisible characters.
Noah Sarvesvaran’s two-hander It Is What It Is combines clever wordplay and an absurdist premise to comment on privilege, power, and perspective. The staging is innovative: one person is tied down while the other stands on top of a ladder. They debate about the subjective beauty of an unspecified ‘view’, and leave the audience with much to think about.
In Rhodd Friswell’s standout piece, Eurydice, the eponymous nymph never makes an appearance. Instead, the play is told through her absence via the voice of her melancholic lover, Orpheus. Set in the peripheries of a house party, it unfolds less like a retelling and more like an homage to the original tragedy, touching on loneliness, freedom, and of course, love.
Champagne & Shackles by Abbie Strain keeps us shackled in a different student house party. Leaning away from absurdity and into realism, Andrew, the lovesick protagonist, handcuffs his crush to him in an effort to get her attention. The two amble through conversation as the play’s premise slowly crystallises through irony and humour — she is dating his father.
In the night’s finale, THE NOW NEWS FOREVER by Sparkle Siefert, we get a return to knee-slapping, hyperbolic humour with this ensemble-driven slapstick piece. The piece is styled like a news report and feels like a showcase of a dozen different stories, each one more dramatic than the last. From a serial killer to a report on the weather, the piece is staged with a playful charm.
The Candlewasters Spring Showcase is an earnest display of unconventional new writing. With just under twenty minutes allocated to each script, the format gives you just enough time to be acquainted with each project before boldly sweeping you into the evening’s next intrigue.
Photo by Marla McCallum Hall