Truly life-affirming
James Rowland’s Team Viking is one of the writer-performer’s earliest works, and this year at the Fringe, he brings it back after finishing his new trilogy.
James starts the show with a content warning and a no-phone policy. He is himself one of the Fringe’s gifts, having been part of it for many years. Team Viking begins with his father’s funeral, as Rowland introduces the key characters of the story, his lifelong friends Tom and Sarah. The story then moves to Tom’s diagnosis with a rare and fast-progressing cancer that can take someone’s life very quickly. After his diagnosis, Tom asks Rowland and Sarah, during a night out, to give him a funeral like a real Viking, inspired by a role-playing game they loved as children after watching Kirk Douglas’ The Vikings, complete with flames and boats. With very few stage props that barely fill a small suitcase, Rowland is, as usual, a one-man army, using his body to deliver this deeply moving yet uplifting story to us while playing all the characters.
This feels like classic Rowland: a story about grief, farewells and self-reflective wit, but also about hope in life and the ability to laugh even in the saddest situations of everyday life. Spoiler alert: these things you might expect from a story like this happen in the show, and for very good reason. Yet unlike many big fantasy stories we see on the big screen, Rowland’s stories are often taken directly from his own life, from his childhood, his family, his friends and his love of storytelling. It is the bareness of his material that makes his work so unique, personal and universal. His ability to reflect and remind us of the beauty of being alive is truly life-affirming.
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard – Beside
Dates: 5th–31st August, also on tour
Time: 14:05
Ticket prices: £16.50 / concessions £14.50
Fringe box office: 0131 226 0000 / www.edfringe.com
Age suitability: 14+ (Guideline)