Svengali is a blistering monologue, packed to the brim with dynamic and complex characters, cutting dialogue and a fringe-defining performance. Discussing power dynamics, coercion, ownership within the context of competitive sport, Svengali runs at Bunker Two in Pleasance Courtyard until the 28th August at 13:45.
Eve Nicol has crafted a spellbinding script, holding the audience in the palm of her lyrical hand from the offset, creating a vile yet compelling caricature that we are glued to as we watch him spiral into a darkness of his own creation.
Nicol, also in the director’s seat for this production, approaches the staging with effective minimalism allows the performance to speak for itself in a completely empty stage, a risk that is absolutely pulled off by the intoxicating imagery within the dialogue (the final speech of the monologue especially enraptures the audience in a beautiful and heartbreaking nature metaphor for how we project onto others and how we use them for our own personal gain), and the venom with which it’s spoken.
Speaking of, Chloe-Ann Tylor is an absolute powerhouse in Svengali. The peaks and valleys of this character’s unravelling exceed expectations and comfort levels every single time as the speech continues.
Tylor’s intensity, both quiet/calculated and outrageous, is thrilling and terrifying in equal measure, while also letting the audience in to the vulnerability of the character, letting us laugh at and with him and having us quietly root for everyone involved in the story, while simultaneously finding joy in their chaotic descent. Tylor’s subtle nuances between characters are also a testament to just how intelligent and skilled a performer she is.
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Svengali is the show to watch of the festival so far. A production that lets the writing and performing shine in it’s perfect simplicity and with a script as exciting and as original as this one, with a performer that is a force to be reckoned with centre stage, Svengali is nothing short of faultless.
