HAVE you ever felt like you are the only person with problems, and been certain that no-one else could possibly understand? If so, then you should meet Nora the Mole from Thick Skinned Things.
Nora is a shy and awkward character who never really
feels that she can fit in. Living by herself in a small town, she is ridiculed and berated by her peers for being strange and eventually runs away to live underground by herself, burying deep into the ground like a mole.
Using symbolism and real heartfelt emotion, the play deals with some dark and difficult issues that will resonate with the target teenage audience and probably most of their parents, too.
The story is told as an emotional monologue as Nora the Mole recounts her life as a social misfit. Kneeling on the stage and lit by a single bare light bulb, the stillness and intensity of the performance is utterly transfixing and the tiny venue ensures that the audience can see every line of emotion on actor, Erna van den Berg's face.
Nora's story is complimented beautifully by a musical score specifically arranged by the actor herself.
The music dips and intensifies as the story unfolds, intertwining perfectly with her words and adding an extra sensory dimension to the performance.
The play's honesty and desperation makes for uncomfortable viewing at times as Nora shares her deepest, darkest fears and desires, but this discomfort comes from the empathy that her story evokes in the audience.
She knows what it is like to be different and to feel alone and makes us understand that everyone feels a bit like that sometimes.
This performance marks the beginning of the Bank of Scotland Imaginate Festival, a series of performing arts events from all over the world specifically for children, and it is refreshing to see something a little different on show to kick things off.
Thick Skinned Things is a play for children that tackles some painful and uncomfortable issues in a sophisticated way, without resorting to spoon feeding tactics. By refusing to patronise its young audience, the play leaves a powerful impression and will provoke curiosity and discussion even from younger children.
The play is the work of Dutch children's performing arts company Stella Den Haag. Having already toured around Holland and elsewhere in Europe, it has been translated into English especially for this visit to the Traverse.
Nora the Mole's story and the universal themes of shyness, loneliness and bullying are the kind that will translate into any language, as this production proves.
The Bank of Scotland Imaginate festival continues at theatres around Edinburgh until next Monday.
The full article contains 451 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
