Edinburgh Fringe Festival REVIEW – Biding Time (Remix) ****

Biding Time (Remix) ****

Tromolo Productions

Dissection Room @ Summerhall

Run Finished

Pippa Bailey’s Biding Time is a beguiling multi-media exploration of the battle between art and commerce. First performed in 1987, it has been revived and remixed in a collaboration with Louise Quinn (and A Band Called Quinn), film-maker Uisdean Murray and Grid Iron’s Ben Harrison and benefits enormously from advances in technology over the last quarter of a century.

There is a dream-like quality to the tale of Joni Mitchell Thyme and her band’s rise to fame. Their winning combination of Goldfrapp style electro-pop and Thyme’s innocent allure is lapped up by a lecherous manager intent on the sexual commercialisation of art. Clothes are shed as quickly as band members, all neatly punctuated with the opinions of Thyme’s mother and a trolling fan.

Visuals draw on the work of David Lynch and the self-harming sensitive rabbit recalls Donnie Darko. The film characters drive the narrative forward with some deft humour including a memorable Robbie Williams gag. Music and sound production are delivered to the audience via silent disco headphones, making the experience unworldly yet hyper-real. Louise Quinn’s songs and performance are strong in their own right and the production benefits from the story’s parallels with her surreal experiences in the music industry.

Submitted by Michael Moloney