Godfather death is a dark, gothic musical for fans of Grimm tales, lovely music and strong performances playing at The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall.
When a 13th child is born to a poor family, neither God nor the devil are accepted to be the child’s godparent by the mother, Death ends up being chosen and finds that the child grows up to possess powers that can undo Death and his work in collecting the dead.
Andrew Lodge does excellently as Death. He holds himself with a comfort and confidence that shows he’s been doing this Death business for a while, yet he commands the stage and the people he shares it with beautifully. Lodge impresses with solo singing and his performance as death feels three dimensional and realised, bringing a relatable, human side to Death. Lodge is the only cast member to portray just one character throughout, managing to never make the audience want to see him as anyone else. Projecting his voice to the very back of the auditorium, Lodge impresses the audience with his vocal control. He manages to bring a nice comedic touch to death at times, cleverly bringing the audience to his side as, time after time, humans are terrified and try to escape him: ultimately failing and going with him in the end, as we all must do.
Jack Mailer is fantastic as multiple roles including the Devil, and the godson of Death, the Physician. Jack makes every character he plays throughout feel different from each other and lived in. He oozes charm and confidence as the Devil, and quivers with nerves and shyness as a young Physician, torn between the ideas of using his ability for good or for bad. Mailer’s voice is fantastic and he sings each song beautifully, with a control and ability deserving of the biggest stage.
Aila Swan does brilliantly as multiple roles including God (is a woman), a Queen and a cheeky sister of the Physician. Swan shows great range between her characters also, switching accents more than she changes costume and never seeming uncomfortable in any, she also brings a clear and obvious character to each, showing a broad talent and clear understanding over every role she plays here.
Iona Wood does very well with slightly less characters to delve into and slightly less stage time. The characters she is given are slightly similar, however Wood manages to invoke sympathy from the audience for both her parts and has them hanging on every word she says. She fits in very well with the other performers on stage, she disappears behind her characters of the Mother and The Princess and this is testament to how believably she plays these parts.
Finlay Avison does very well directing this piece. His vision is clear, given a small space to work in, actors dive in and out of the spotlight, walk up and down the centre isle of the Audience and get in amongst them, bringing the audience even closer to the story. The lighting design of Fraser Scott is also well done. 3 clear spotlights often separate the stage and the characters from one another, and help with the other-worldly feeling Death has among the living.
Jack Avison’s musical direction is inspired. The music in this show is great, evoking the appropriate emotions and giving the performers a chance to shine and belt out fantastic number after fantastic number. With some gorgeous harmonies and catchy Melodies, this piece is a fantastic new bit of writing and John Wallace plays Drums alongside Avison’s keys and guitar, elevating the performances onstage, and hilariously getting involved occasionally themselves.
Overall, this show is very well put together and performed. The space it’s held in is not large, but the choice of a drum kit and amplified keys make it hard for the back row to hear some of the beautiful voices on stage, so either some mixing is required or some diaphragms need to be engaged a little more. For lovers of musical theatre and the gothic, this show scratches all the right itches, and also might make audiences aware of some fantastic talent to be seen at this years Fringe.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/godfather-death-a-grimms-musical
Theatre Scotland 
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