REVIEW | Kissing A Fool, King’s Head Theatre
★ ★ ★ ★
Reviewer - Bronagh
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
Content Warnings | Partial nudity, drug use, loud noises, bright lights, themes of addiction, suicide and depression.
Anything George Michael related, and I’m there. From ‘Fast Love’ to ‘I’m Your Man’ to ‘Careless Whisper’, I think it is all absolutely brilliant. There is always the risk with a well-known singer that we could end up with a predictable jukebox-style musical... which is exactly what Kissing a Fool is not.
Concentrating on the immense grief George felt following the death of his partner Anselmo Feleppa, Kissing a Fool takes us from the highs of George’s life and career to the lows. From dancing to ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ to the depths of depression.
Dylan Aiello plays George, first appearing in a black dressing gown, symbolising his depression. Scarlett Stitt takes on numerous forms- from Anselmo’s spirit to George’s manager and mother to an impish sprite dotting around. Scarlett’s character does evoke happier memories, such as the happiness of ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ and the now iconic Choose Life t-shirts. This is a huge contrast to the otherwise melancholy feel, where we have George feeling suicidal and having dreams of dying.
There is only one prop in Kissing a Fool and that is a heavy wooden table. Throughout the show, it transforms from a bed to a piano, to a sink. Strikingly it also plays the part of the door separating Geoge and Scarlett’s Shirlie Kemp, when Shirlie knocks on George’s door pleading with him and letting him know that she loves him. This moment is presented wonderfully and is extremely powerful in reminding us of the grief that George was feeling.
Kissing a Fool is billed as a queer clown-cabaret. The dancing and movement are brilliant, from the fast-paced 80s moves to the more contemporary dance. The ‘clowning about’ feel intertwined with George’s turmoil is exquisitely done, never too over the top. Dylan and Scarlett work so well together as a pair; Dylan often carries Scarlett on his back, when she’s representing the expectation that others – such as his mother and manager – have for him when it comes to him dating again, and releasing new music, subsequently weighing him down.
We conclude with George performing the beautiful Jesus to a Child, which is known to be a tribute to Anselmo. George then ditches the black dressing gown in favour of a more colourful one, the sense of cathartic relief not going unnoticed; George has survived an extremely difficult period of his life.
Overall, I found Kissing a Fool to be very powerful and respectful of George’s memory. Dylan and Scarlett are a wonderful pairing, their beautiful performance portraying very sensitive matters and a difficult time of somebody’s life. It was refreshing to not see this turn into a jukebox musical, instead concentrating on a short time span and leaving the leather jackets behind!
Kissing A Fool is performing at Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Frankenstein Pub, Edinburgh from 4-13 Aug.
