Bull/Fight
★★★★☆ Intense
Summerhall (Venue 26): Thurs 6 – Mon 31 Aug 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
Bull/Fight at Summerhall throughout the Fringe is an elliptical piece of physical theatre that has real power.
From Edinburgh’s Mythography Collective with Stirling’s Macrobert Arts Centre, the devised and collaborative play deals with the death of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca and the Spanish Civil War.
Bull Fight. Pic: Joseph Wiggin.
Gabriel Bird is Lorca, with other parts played by Giulia Fornari, Cameron Broadley, Tom Catton, Clare Robinson and Annie White. All are very good indeed, but it’s really the ensemble that is the star, as the piece features a great deal of chorus, choreography, clapping and co-ordinated movement. Simple props and costumes are used effectively.
Indeed, while the section dealing with Lorca is fascinating, it is when the piece becomes more abstract and less tied to explicable narrative that it has the most impact. The discussions of art under censorship and the responsibilities of creators to react to tyranny are interesting enough, but it’s the less easily explicable moments, relying on simple, repeated dialogue or no words at all, that truly engage.
The direction of Philomene Cheynet (assisted by Ed Robson) and the movement direction of Tsoi Huen Wong create a brilliantly cohesive six-headed creature that pulses and nearly collapses under the pressures of conflict, with the horrors of war being evoked more clearly than mere words could manage.
consistent sincerity
There’s a consistent sincerity to the collective effort of the young cast that is remarkable. The sound design of Cheynet (with contributions by Jim Brandom) is highly atmospheric, with recorded sound complemented by the most modest of live additions (a rainmaker, a bowed cymbal) to great effect. In the claustrophobic surroundings of the Former Women’s Locker Room, it all has great power.
Maybe at times it is just a little too earnest and over-assertive. The explorations of duende (the raw emotional power featured in poetry or flamenco) might not convince, especially when linked to the persistent metaphor of the bullfight that gives the play its title. It’s perfectly possible to regard any mention of the power of bullfighting as being a rationalisation of a barbaric and outdated practice.
Such barbarism, however, chimes with the atrocities humans do to each other, as portrayed with power here.
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval).
Summerhall (Former Women’s Locker Room), 1 Summerhall, EH9 1PL (Venue 26).
Thursday 6 – Monday 31 August 2026.
Daily (not 17, 24): 11.30am.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Mythography website: www.mythography.co.uk/
Facebook: @Mythography-Collective
Instagram: @mythography_collective
Linktree: @mythographycollective.
BullFight. Pic: Joseph Wiggin.
ENDS
