Edinburgh Fringe Review: Revelations of Rab McVie

Pleasance Courtyard Grand ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Combining the menacing excellence of Scottish rock icons the Filthy Tongues, a visceral performance from acclaimed actor Tam Dean Burn and the mesmeric live painting of Maria Rud, Revelations of Rab McVie is a theatrical wonderland like no other, a nightmarish dreamworld where hope languishes as despair grows.

Revelations of Rab McVie is a rare thing, an all enveloping work that assaults each of the senses while simultaneously delighting them with such stimulation that it’s hard to know where to look first.

The story is that of Rab, a lost soul trapped in the House of Houses, opening windows for a glimpse of the world outside, a world brought to life with frenetic energy by painter Maria Rud, a force of nature creating striking images on a light box, which are simultaneously projected to provide the backdrop for the action on stage.

Waking in his dream, Rab finds himself confined to ‘a maze of concrete and bricks held in the grip of steel ribs’.

Opening the windows one by one, he reveals fish, cattle and slaughter in a world of conquerors, the conquered and a lone jester.

Using a palette dominated by the deepest black, bloodiest red and enlightening golden hues, with just the occasional richest of blues thrown in for effect, Rud creates an ever changing picture book of Rab’s discoveries that is breathtaking.

Delivering songs selected from their various albums with his signature growl, Filthy Tongues’ frontman Martin Metcalfe doesn’t so much sing tracks like ‘The Ghost of Rab McVie’ and ‘In These Dark Places’ as live and breath them, mirroring Tam Dean Burns’ angular and insect-like Rab.

Tam Dean Burns’ performance is electric. Overtly physical, it’s beautifully nuanced in places while happily howling at the moon in others.

Dedicated to ‘The Torn World’, Revelations of Rab McVie speaks directly to the destruction and desolation around us today, a powerful indictment of a failing planet.

With the painting, songs and performance all linked by Derek Kelly’s beguiling soundscape, this is a mammoth exercise in the collaborative nature of performance art, directed with precision and pace by Maria Pattinson.

Revelations of Rab McVie is also the most exciting thing you will see on the Fringe this year; a powerhouse of Scottish creativity. Let’s just hope it isn’t our last encounter with the man from the House of Houses. We need another tryst.

Until August 25, 3.30pm

Credit: Líam Rudden Media