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Beowulf David Malikoff Eclipse - FringeHub Until Sun 14 March Malikoff's one-person play is enthralling. Taken from a Danish legend of yore, Beowulf is the straightforward tale of good versus evil, filled with might and mortality. It tells of the life of Beowulf, mightiest of the mighty, one hell of an Indian wrestler and all around Nordic good guy; it introduces us to monsters, to greed anthropomorphised and of the futility of railing against death. In other words, the saga contains monsters, heroic deeds and tons of gore, all of which takes place on a stage not much larger than the standard lounge-room. Beowulf is an intense, wordy show with a superbly delivered performance by Malikoff. He plays all characters with only intonation and delivery separating them but the audience is never confused. His clear and dynamic delivery animates the tale and gives it a human frailty not expected in such a heroic saga. He prowls the stage relentlessly, seemingly never drawing breath, taking us along for a lyrical thrill-ride of danger and heroism to Grendel's Hell and back again. The staging is minimal but used to great effect by Malikoff, whether he be warrior or Queen, dragon or lowly servant. Changes in location are indicated by changes in lighting that was also used to accent the inherent drama of the script. This was occasionally sloppy but done well on the whole and the vibrancy of Malidoff's performance coupled with the visual intensity of the script meant that this was quickly forgotten. Beowulf is a short 70 minutes of grandeur, of heroic deeds and of no nonsense Nordic nastiness. It is a passionate and quality production delivered with energy and gusto. |
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