Celebrating Leith and North Edinburgh Edinburgh Mela 2010
Edinburgh Mela 2010
People & Performers I
People & Performers II
People & Performers III
Fashion Show
CARGO


Edinburgh Mela 2009
Edinburgh Mela 2008
Edinburgh Mela 2010: CARGO Audience in blue plastic ponchos surround three performers fishing under a blue sheet

"In a world of dangers, high seas and troubled lands, CARGO tells the tale of two people and their quest for the perfect place to call home. Filled with adventurers, exiles, conquerors and slaves, CARGO explores the primal urge of humans to leave their country of origin, whether it be for a better life, to escape a past, for a new way of living, or to find... themselves." CARGO flyer.

Iron-Oxide web site >>>
Jim Sutherland's web site >>>

Woman on a boat with a model of a crescent moon, surrounded by people in blue disposable ponchos with a blue clouded sky and trees behind her Woman sitting on the edge of a yellow boat as a man in yellow waterproofs hangs red fish on a line on the end of his boat Left <<<: The traveler with her crescent moon dream of home.
Right & Below >>>: New friends. Startled woman on the platform atop the fisheman's boat as the fisheman and the traveler gaze at her

CARGO is a spectacular and moving piece of physical open air theatre, brilliantly realised by Iron-Oxide. There were four performances of the show over the Edinburgh Mela weekend, and the show ran over ten nights of the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe. It was a brilliant family show, which used the audience to create the sea over which its cast travelled, so in this alone, each performance had its own different character and quality.

Specially commissioned for Edinburgh Mela, CARGO is one of the most impressive and moving pieces of its kind, this reviewer has seen in some 30 years of Fringe going. If you enjoy poetic, brilliantly executed physical theatre then Leith & North urges you to take any opportunity you get to see this show.

Man in souwester holidng crescent moon on a stick Spectators in blue disposable ponchos Left & Below <<<: Piracy.
Right >>>: Spectators. Pirate ship led by a stilted man in a scary praying mantis costume with pirates posing and scowling Performer with a purple umbrella being carried through the audience on a man's shoulders Spectator in dark glasses with child on his shoulders flanked by two women Left & Below<<<: Images of shelter from across the water.
Right >>>: Spectators. Performers holding brightly coloured umbrellas on poles with woman on stilts in purple dress and purple umbrella

Woman looking out to sea with a crescent moon hanging over her shoulder as the fisheman stands lookout Man with gas mask and long claws over his arms Left <<<: Looking across the sea.
Right >>>: Mantis man. Audience in blue plastic ponchos surround three performers fishing under a blue sheet

Man in C19th military costume standing behind corrugated iron wall throwing papers at woman and man mockingly Four men dressed as border guards one of them brandishing a giant bazooka Left <<<: Rejection at the border.
Right >>>: Unwelcoming border guards. Spectators surrounded with dry ice as the backlighting makes their recyclable ponchos translucent One of the most exciting aspects of the show was how the audience was made to become an integral part of the performance. Urged to don blue disposable ponchos before the show to avoid getting wet, the sight of hundreds of people in all shapes and sizes milling around as a human sea, as the performers moved them hither and thither was a fascinating spectacle in itself.

Man in souwester and tricorn holding the crescent moon as woman watches him on all fours Pirates in souwesters and tricorn hats tying up the yellow waterproofed fisheman Left <<<: An encounter.
Right & Below >>>: Captured by pirates. Pirate stands aboard the fisherman's boat as the fisherman cowers behind it and the traveler is carried away Man in fisherman's clothes hands suitcase up from his boat to woman on blue transport container, while his companion tends to their fish The performers take their bows atop the blue tramsport container with a crescent moon suspended above them Left <<<: Farewell.
Right >>>: Finale. The brilliant performers are noted below - with a little GOOGLEing we were able to identify a few of them and in the absence of a programme, have attached our own character names to them.

Adrian Quinton, Anita Vitesse, Billy Mack (heroic pirate), Harmage Singh Kalirai (the fisherman), Jusztina Hermann (the umbrella woman), Mary Gapinski (the traveler), Piotr Baumann, Sean Reid, Shereena Glean, Stefan Davis (bad pirate), Tommy Coleman and Tony Mills.

The music director was Jim Sutherland a leading Scottish musician and composer who was involved in a music project for young Leithers way back in 1988, producing the track "Sunny Leith". The Director of CARGO was Dougie Maclean of Visible Fictions, the designer was Becky Minto and the producer was Chloë Dear.

All of these images were captured from the first performance on the afternoon of Saturday August 7th 2010.

Woman with suitcase dancing for joy with trees in the background

Iron-Oxide web site >>>
Edinburgh Mela web site >>>