David Leddy’s Sub Rosa
Hill Street Theatre
5-30 August, times vary
David Leddy’s ‘Sub Rosa’ takes place in the atmospheric Masonic Lodge in Edinburgh’s New Town. It’s an immensely fascinating building, full of secret signs, covered cupboards and locked boxes.
With beautiful (if slightly over baked) lighting each nook and cranny is illuminated as we are told a disturbing story of attempted revolution in a devilish music hall. Told through the eyes of a series of grotesque Victorian characters, David Leddy’s ‘Sub Rosa’ takes the form of a number of monologues in progressive rooms around the building. We are led in po-faced pomp by two guides, in total silence.
It’s all rather frustrating. The language is ornate and beautiful but also dense and the form becomes monotonous. It is hard to empathize with most of the characters although the cast rises above this, delivering sharp intensive performances. But you leave feeling slightly cheated of the site-specific experience you have been promised.
– Honour Baye
