Reviews
Blood and Gold @ Scottish Storytelling Centre
‘Pure artistry is at work here; lacking in gimmickry or cultural reference, Blood and Gold is a contemporary telling of an ancient text…. one cannot but appreciate Menzies’ ability, which is a sight to behold.’
Blood and Gold review – mesmerising fairytales about Scottish colonialism
In Blood and Gold, an exquisite piece of storytelling heavily abstracted from her own experience, Mara Menzies sets this idea in a mythical context. Drawing on her twin backgrounds in Scotland and Kenya, she reminds us of the former country’s uneasy history of colonialism before taking us to Africa for an Arabian Nights-like string of stories, all stalked by a metaphorical dark shadow.
Blood and Gold review at Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh – ‘heart-rending and hilarious’
On stage Menzies is light and shadow, not just telling stories, but taking on the personas of her characters as she uses both her Scottish and Kenyan cultural identities to put the legacy of colonialism into a fictitious but personal and local Edinburgh setting. These are tales of light and shadow, too, with Maria Macdonald’s lighting subtly altering the colour spectrum to highlight the difference between our world and the world of shadows from where hate and fear creep from the twilight into the mainstream.
Beautifully constructed, heart-rending and hilarious work from a storyteller at the peak of her powers.
