The Shape of the Pain by Rachel Bagshaw and Chris Thorpe Edinburgh Summerhall

Summerhall was the centre of much interesting Edinburgh Fringe Programming this year

The phenomenon of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome affects present day sufferers and this play cleverly conjures the dilemmas that sufferers and their partners encounter in dealing with this very real experience but one which tests the nature of our beliefs.

This one woman play developed by Rachel Bagshaw and Chris Thorpe and performed with delightful candour and openness by Hannah McPake is gripping and fascinating

On the surface it is an attempt to describe the realities of phantom pain sufferers and its effects on their social and personal releations. It has also had the benefit of a fistful of medical Professors who have collaborated on the background. A remarkable monotone screen and set provides a digital text and graphic accompaniement allowing the audience to "enter the pain" not in a sadistic way but to understand its pervasiness and some of its dimension.

Deeper this is an examination of relationships, and the burden that sufferers and carers bear of trust, belief, patience, exasperation, dependency and disappointment. Its not intrusive

I suspect China Plate the production company have other plans for this show but if the tech can move without great impact we have programmers who would book this in Cornwall.

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Cornwall Cello Voices

Friday 7th February 2020 Truro Catholic Church Cello Voices. Liz Brazier - widely regarded as the mother of cellists in Cornwall as Barbara Degener, the ensemble leader , called her at the close of this concert, has for some years run a cello weekend in the new year where cellists of all ages and abilities meet to work and play together. (she is actually the mother of Ben Hoagley one of the other performers - and celebrated a significant birthday today) Cornwall Cello Voices is a group of eight of the rather more accomplished performers who have given concerts at the end of the weekend. The sound of 8 cellos playing together in harmony is thrilling as recordings by the cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic in the 90s attest. And this concert was certainly extremely well delivered with ensemble and balance between a frequent myriad of parts well judged. The cello's sonorous register makes it a favourite with many but the comparative lower register of the parts and th

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