Gargantua

Devised by Ben Harrison and the cast

A promenade production around The Underbelly, a disused building which Grid Iron uncovered and named specifically for this production. It was then adopted by Underbelly Productions who turned it into one of the most successful multi-space venues of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

6th – 31st August 1998

The Underbelly, beneath the Central Library, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh.

AWARDS

  • Scotsman Fringe First for Outstanding New Writing

  • Stage Award for Acting Excellence – Best Ensemble

Four friends escape the fetters of time and a tyrannous counting house to partake of a fabulous meal.

Inspired by the food, they tell stories – stories powerful enough to transform themselves and even the spaces through which the audience moves. Plunging deeper into the very guts of the building, they share their increasingly fantastical tales. Until… ?

Live music, stunning design and an incredible building combine in this extraordinary promenade show which truly is a laboratory of the senses.

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What The Press Said

“From its take-you-by-surprise opening to its wistful finale – which comes like a sigh deep within the bowels underneath the Central Library – Gargantua proves that the Scottish company Grid Iron is no one hit wonder… It is slightly mad and entirely engaging… a tingling combination of physical theatre, storytelling, music and ravishing images. The tongue-in-cheek opening suggests you may be taken for a ride, but it is a journey that is well worth making – a place to glimpse heavens as well as hell.”

“Script, set, props and an excellent cast combine to make this one of the most exciting productions on the Fringe. So good that after the show the audience all milled around the venue exit, apparently reluctant to leave the glow of magic.”

“One of the most beguiling, atmospheric and touching performances I have ever seen in Edinburgh. This production, by the outstanding Grid Iron,is all staged in the damp and musty storage rooms of a long-abandoned bank… The place is spooky, sepulchral, sinister and smelly, yet paradoxically the show itself is a glorious celebration of life and human appetite… It is sheer originality such as this which makes the sometimes wearying trudge round the Fringe rewarding.”

“The site-specific spectacular devised by this most recklessly ambitious of companies moves through a series of underground rooms, moving deeper and deeper into both the physical and metaphorical pit of Gargantua’s belly. In each one we’re offered the sights, sounds and smells of that match made in Heaven, food and sex, not to mention the rumblings of some less pleasant bodily functions… a pleasure palace that’s just as brimful with fibre as well as fruit. Go and have a plateful of this delightful brew.”

“Four excellent performers and a violinist take us from a Gogol-like aperitif to an erotic starter, a flatulent main course, and a dessert made up from their own true-life tales. It’s a sign of the company’s boldness… and a sign of resourcefulness that it can show so much style, imagination, and world-class theatricality on the smallest of budgets. As with your favourite restaurant, you’ll want to pay a second visit the moment it’s over.”

“Food has never been this much fun. Grid Iron have done it again, creating a flawlessly innovative piece of theatre that simply takes your breath away. Based round the weekend pursuits of a group of bored bank workers, indulging in their freedom and a full range of sensual pleasures, the audience is moved from one location to another, each one more stunning than before. The ingenuity in the design is matched by wit and energy in the performance where a sense of the fantastical mingles with sensitive everyday observations. A totally involving experience, this is a definite Fringe highlight.”

“A lip-smackingly, gob-smackingly original feast of delights… Director Ben Harrison and his cast led us through a series of dank chambers washed with music and light, for a series of vignettes celebrating consumption as a riposte to Calvinist piety, Victorian denial and the nine-to-five work ethic. Riskily, but entirely successfully, Harrison blended food-related anecdotes from the cast with Rabelaisian passages, and even worked in a riveting recipe for blood sausage.”

“Live music and design are integral to the proceedings as a mouth-watering cocktail of sights and smells tickle our senses. Appetites sated and thirsts quenched, the audience is spewed unceremoniously out of the system to find delights of their own. Perfect for a pre-dinner date.”

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View Our Video

Having thought that no footage of Gargantua existed we were delighted when Dan Sansome, who was Stage Manager on the production, contacted us recently to say he had found this short video. We can’t thank Dan enough as it has made us so happy to have even this little snippet of the show. It’s quite rough and ready but we hope you enjoy it too.

Cast

Melanie Bradley

Iona Carbarns

Ailie Cohen (Musician)

Tony Delicata

Alan McPherson

All members of the cast played multiple roles.

Production Team

Director:
Ben Harrison

Producer:
Judith Doherty

Assistant Director:
Linford Cazenove

Stage Manager:
Amy Shapcott

Assistant Stage Manager:
Dan Sansome

Stage Management/Production Assistants:
Dave Crewe, Deborah Crewe, Niambh Troy, Barry Esson, Jenny Williams

Costume Design:
Louise Noble

Costume Supervisor:
Alice Bee

Costume Assistants:
Lee Dickson, Wendy Housam, Fiona McKay

Lighting Design:
George Tarbuck

Lighting Assistants:
Phil Haldane & Peter Donald

Technical Advice:
Paul McCabe

Set Design:
Francis Gallop

Design Team:
Nicki Bruce, Sarah Cowlishaw, Mickey Graham, Jonty Grey, Jill Leckie, Catherine Lindow, Fiona Palmer, Marisa Sate

Perspex & Light Sculptor:
Susan Bryson

Composer/Sound Designer:
Dino Martino

Sound Design Assistants:
Andy Quinn, Jenny Blake

Moving Image Designer:
Gary Hall

Moving Image (Mouth/Eye):
David Vian Curtis

Print Design:
Quintessential

Print Photography:
Ray Smith

Print by:
The Events Armoury

Production/ Press Photography: Keith Brame

View Our Programme

To read more information about the show, including the Director’s Note and team biographies, have a look through our production programme.

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Download our programme pdf here

Supporters

The production was kindly supported by the following…

Edinburgh Council - logo
Royal Mail - logo

Gargantua was made possible by the in-kind support of Allen & Heath Pro Audio Sound Equipment; Stockline Plastics, Glasgow; Giuliano’s Restaurant, Edinburgh; Epsilon Acoustics, Airdrie; Richlay Eggs; Dino Martino Production Services and Out of the Nomad’s Tent.

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