★

“The end result is indeed confused, and sad to say, lacking in drama”

Confused Chronicles of Aleppo sounds promising from the description on the Camden People’s Theatre’s website, but the actual performance turns out to be something rather different. It’s a fifty minute, two man production. Underluminal, the novel on which Confused Chronicles of Aleppo is based, presents the story of two photo journalists who travel the world in search of images that will make them famous. It’s a tale told in flashbacks, ending eventually in the war torn city of Aleppo. We know from the beginning that the Syrian assignment will have tragic consequences for both Gerard and Becky.

Confused Chronicles of Aleppo is well named, though perhaps a touch ironic, because there is much in the narrative that is opaque and difficult to follow. Performer Alessandro Onorato reads from a pile of pages on stage, accompanied by the steady beat of musician Nicolò Bodini of the band La Scapigliatura. As he finishes a page, he lets go, and it flutters to the floor. Truth be told, there’s not much about Aleppo in this meandering tale of two photo journalists who meet on a beach in Vietnam, and become colleagues, as well as lovers.

Onorato has any number of opportunities to connect with the audience and give a tangible sense of the main characters in Confused Chronicles of Aleppo. But it’s difficult for the audience to see these moments when Onorato’s eyes are glued to the pages he is reading. The beat from Bodini, while pleasant to listen to, also has the unfortunate effect of muting much of what Onorato is saying. The end result is indeed confused, and sad to say, lacking in drama. Despite the promising title.

Onorato and Bodini have the germ of something interesting in Confused Chronicles of Aleppo. There is an eye catching backdrop on stage for the piece, with rough textured textiles on which pages of script have been attached. Despite that, there are still missed opportunities to create a set that is more evocative of the locations that are described in the show. Most importantly, Onorato needs to ditch his script, and simply connect with the audience. There’s a great story waiting to be revealed in Confused Chronicles of Aleppo, but it needs more work before it’s ready for its next appearance in the theatre.

DARK NATURE at the Canal Café Theatre

★★★

“But Betts, in a flowing, gothic black dress, is a striking presence”

When looking back over our lives, many of us have a ‘before and after’ event lodged in our mind. Some sort of milestone which we use to place memories. Sometimes trivial, often traumatic. What happened ‘before’ remains immutable. The aftershock usually has various, ghostlike pathways as the ‘what if…?’ question echoes internally and insistently. Until we finally realise that the present – and possibly the future – is as unchangeable as the past. There are no ‘sliding doors’ we can control at our whim. Not even in fairy tales.

Michaela Betts, in her atmospheric and candidly personal musical narrative “Dark Nature, seems to have reached that point. It is not always clear how much is autobiographical truth or embellishment, but Betts doesn’t shy away from delivering some dark reminiscences. It is not always comfortable. A meandering stream of consciousness as the show weaves in and out of the realms of fantasy. So much so that it often feels like two unrelated pieces that have converged into an oddly mismatched whole.

But Betts, in a flowing, gothic black dress, is a striking presence. She delivers her story at the piano while, under her schoolmistress like gaze, Antonia Richards relives her younger self. Something happened when she was seven years old. We don’t learn the true, dark nature of this until the end; a finale we are led towards, step by step through songs of innocence and experience. Richards depicts credibly a personality trying to maintain the veneer that everything is still okay (“I was every parent’s dream”) while clearly a childhood has been stolen, and the steps into adulthood are carved in the precipice of self-destruction. As she teeters, losing balance, you almost believe the lie when she repeatedly calls out that “you can’t touch me – I feel nothing”.

Helen Goldwyn’s staging reflects this split personality. One minute ethereal, the next profanely harsh. Some beautiful projected animation draws us in while less successful attempts at audience participation push us away again. Only when Betts sings are we truly rooted. She becomes majestic at the piano, her fragile melodies accompanying her delicately beautiful voice. Unique and melancholic, her songs are dark folk tales in themselves, cinematic in scope but with the intimacy of a campfire. We are seduced but there is always a danger of being burned. No more so than during the closing number “The Rose” with its award-winning animated video projected onto the back wall. The lyrics are the blueprint for this show, the aching melody is the texture that emblazons the outline.

It is a gorgeous moment, but the progression there is uneven. Yet we learn a lot on the way, and are exposed to many important questions of abuse, grooming, body-shaming, gaslighting, coercion, addiction, self-harm, self-esteem. The narrative doesn’t so much touch on these as delivers a punch. But sometimes the swing misses, and the presentation is jarring. To her credit, Betts doesn’t try to supply the answers. “There is no judgement here”. Yet the lack of resolve is a little confusing, and the curtain call suffused with doubt, which we can see written on the performers faces. Is Little Red Riding Hood out of the woods or is the wolf still on her tail?

But “Dark Nature” is a theatrical journey worth taking, if not for Betts’ haunting presence as a singer songwriter. It is the music that truly touches, and lingers into the night. And, of course, the voice.

CONFUSED CHRONICLES OF ALEPPO at the Camden People’s Theatre

★

“The end result is indeed confused, and sad to say, lacking in drama”

CONFUSED CHRONICLES OF ALEPPO at the Camden People’s Theatre

Reviewed on 25th August 2023

by Dominica Plummer

More reviews from Camden Fringe 2023:

Confused Chronicles Of Aleppo

Confused Chronicles Of Aleppo

DARK NATURE at the Canal Café Theatre

★★★

“But Betts, in a flowing, gothic black dress, is a striking presence”

DARK NATURE at the Canal Café Theatre

Reviewed on 23rd August 2023

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Ben Wulf

More Camden Fringe 2023 Reviews:

Dark Nature

Dark Nature