Edinburgh Festival: Fringe round-up: The Quest for Don Quixote / Don Juan

Adrian Turpin
Wednesday 28 August 1996 23:02 BST
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It sounds good on paper: former members of Theatre de Complicite take on the the two Dons and - as you'd expect - make a few little alterations. Quixote is an old man who carries with him Cervantes' novel. Sancho Panza and Dulcinea are acted by his servants, and the adventures take place in a barn tiled with raffia mats and baskets (both shows are beautifully designed), with adults playing children's games, tilting at windmills made of stepladders and poles. Gerry Flanagan's monotone man of La Mancha is convincingly senile, but never manages the insane joy of the dreamer.There's nothing remotely quixotic about the style of performance. In Don Juan, even the seduction is passionless: smartly choreographed, but you can sense the director (John Wright, no less) marking out each girlish wiggle and shuffle of the Don's boots.

n Pleasance. To 31 Aug (Don Juan only) (0131-556 6550)

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