After an incredible sold out and award-winning run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Wonder Fools bring their critically acclaimed show Òran to the Pleasance Theatre, London as part of their Best of Edinburgh Season.
Combining spoken word, lyrical storytelling and a pulsating electronic live score, this is the thrilling story of Òran and his journey to rescue his best friend from the Underworld. Should he arrive there, Hades might grant him the chance to lead his friend home…but at what cost?
This visceral piece of contemporary theatre is a collaboration between Wonder Fools, ‘one of Scotland’s most exciting new companies’ (Scotsman) and the acclaimed hip-hop artist Owen Sutcliffe creating an urgent and entertaining modern retelling of the classic Greek myth Orpheus.
Writer Owen Sutcliffe says, “Wonder Fools commissioned me to write what would become Òran in 2022 after we discovered a shared interest in the Orpheus & Eurydice myth. I couldn’t be happier to have worked on my first theatre piece with such a fab company. Their faith in the writing pushed me through the sticky points and seeing what it has become, in the ambitious hands of the Wonder Fools team, has been a delicious treat. I’m buzzing that Òran was at the Fringe this year and grateful to The Pleasance and Pitlochry Festival Theatre for their support. The score’s in thrilling shape, Robbie Gordon as Òran is a joy to travel with, director Jack Nurse is tall at the helm. See yous in London.”
VanIves say, “Composing for Òran has utilised all our skills, live sequencing and programming, electronic music production, scoring themes, Foley and sound effects, world atmospheres and so many little moments of magic that allow for the music and sound to really elevate the show, the score is being performed by Robbie (Òran) live through-out the show, so we have had to devise a way for him to perform the score so It’s fun to watch and intricate enough to flow with the brilliant script. Òran takes a journey to the underworld and every new level he reaches has its own otherworldly atmosphere and score; This has allowed us to use really interesting ways of intertwining themes through-out the play with different sounds for each level, from writing emotive themes on acoustic instruments and using every technique we know to transform those into dark, granulated and glitchy sounds from the underworld with a reminiscence of the real world the story began in. The show sounds like a Bon Iver x James Blake album with a bunch of Burial soundscapes.”
