Big Fish is a thought provoking tale which allows the extremely talented performers from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to shine. Edward Bloom’s larger-than-life stories delight everyone – much to the dismay of his pragmatic son, Will. As Edward’s health deteriorates and the realisation of a future without his father sets in, Will embarks on a journey to separate the man from the myth, and untangle the remarkable life of a Big Fish in a small pond. Based on the Daniel Wallace novel and Tim Burton’s movie, and with a score from the composer of Broadway’s The Addams Family, this fantastical musical about love, family and the joy of storytelling is an extraordinary tale unlike any other!
Liam Bradbury played a fantastic rendition of Will Bloom, he commanded the attention of the audience with ease grasping them from the start. He used his physicality and voice to portray his younger self with great distinction creating the fantasy for the audience.
Zach Ammon Peterson aged well as Edward Bloom. His emotional journey was well paced, keeping mysteria alive, however, the most impressive part of his performance was his reactions. There’s quite a period of time where he is on a hospital gurney, during this time, he does not switch off for even a second. Impressive performance.
Tommy Seymour has absolute star quality radiating out of him. A strong triple threat. His energy is astounding throughout the performance. The plausibility in his performance is tremendous as he plays the part right down to his eyes. The use of his eyes as he dotes on his wife really sold the love between them.
Linzi Devers was a stand out for me as Sandra Bloom. Devers seemed to me the most natural on the stage from her approach to the character to her beautiful singing voice. Devers made the performance look effortless, putting the audience at ease, assured they were in for a treat wherever she was on stage. Her performance was moreish. A real treasure and one to watch for sure.
Williamina Wilson brought old-fashioned youthfulness to young Sandra. She played the part of the young naive girl who has a bit of bark to her bite excellently. What struck me was the youthful innocence and her posture. Wilson was also an extremely enthusiastic stand out during the ensemble work, using heightened movement and facial expressions to stand out.
The ensemble took on multiple roles, Gregory Medovnikov’s intimidation was lost as Don Price at times, however, his ability to stand out amongst the crowd within the ensemble was remarkable – your eyes were drawn to his intriguing creative choices. Dashaun Vagas has a wonderfully healthy voice and the vocal quality of this actor was particularly impressive, especially his projection. Olga Evagorou had the audience in stitches with her character Zachy Price and played the younger sibling perfectly. Grace Christina Stech had a lovely warming nature in her portrayal of Josephine and in a short time had a very interesting character I wish there was more of. Joanna Grey was comedic as the witch but her strength lies in her powerhouse vocals. Karl the Giant played by Sophie Dean was a fantastically well rounded character which Dean committed fully to, making the almost unbelievable – believable. The ensemble as a whole had fantastic energy, there were more minor roles which all were played with conviction – aiding the point of the production to really make an impact on the audience.
The music conducted and played by a live band was fantastic and really gave the production that oomph. The musicians did not step out of line once. In saying this, having a live band always drives the actors to project as the music is naturally louder. At times I felt the performers were being drowned out. The choreography was slick, sometimes simplistic but effective. The choreography looked fun for the cast and they performed it with ease. The set was fantastic, being the fringe most shows have to scale down and within this Claire Halleran was able to deliver a mysterious world. There were visually stunning creative choices such as using a square spotlight to make the impression of being in a lift, using hula hoops as entrances. I thoroughly enjoyed the lack of blackouts and the ability to use the space and movement to create a new pace. At times there were maybe “moments” and silences that the actors took that maybe verged on being a few seconds too long. A creative choice that was brilliant was the use of foley for sound effects, this really created a great impression on the audience, I only wish it had been more consistent as there were times foley was used for footstep then never again creating an inconsistency.
Overall Big Fish is a fantastic production which hosts some of the great fresh talent in Scotland. The cast work together to put on a truly memorable and exciting production aided by wonderful choreography, live music and fantastic unique creative elements.
‘Big Fish’ plays at Music Hall, Assembly Rooms August 11-12th, 16-17th, 19-20th, 23-24th and 26-2th at 10:00am. You can grab your tickets here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/big-fish
RCS/Robbie McFadzean
Theatre Scotland 
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