Symphony

Play-meets-gig is well on its way to becoming a genre of its own, as theatre and live music increasingly join forces. It’s a promising hybrid: theatre has plenty to learn from the success of gigs, not least the visceral thrill of the live experience. When was the last time you walked out of a theatre with heart pumping and sweat dripping?

The formula is one that nabokov have attempted to perfect with Symphony, a genre-blurring experience that marries live music and short plays by Ella Hickson, Nick Payne and Tom Wells. In Edinburgh, it fits neatly in one of the tents in Assembly’s George Square Gardens, briefly evoking the atmosphere of the music festival in the middle of the city.

The three pieces of writing that nabokov have slotted together are more snapshots than plays, offering everyday tales of chance encounters, ill-fated romances and triumphant underdogs. These playlets are then wittily punctuated with music, from imagined theme tunes to drunk serenading, all performed by a ferociously talented—and impressively energetic—quartet of actor-musicians.

It’s all charming enough, and there are certainly worse ways to spend a wet hour in Edinburgh. But strip away the music and these are slight, flimsy scraps of writing with little to hold them together other than the enthusiasm of the performers and the frame that nabokov have put in place. Theatre as gig is an exciting form, but it could do with a bit more invention than it receives here.