Review: Tale of a Potato, EdFringe

Tale of a Potato from Italian theatre company Batisfera is new to Edinburgh Fringe this year and once again showcases their uniquely imaginative creativity. Written by Angelo Trofa and performed by Valentina Fadda, it’s a tabletop show for just thirty people that gives an epic quality to the mundane and speaks volumes about the human condition using only non-human characters: in this case, vegetables.

The protagonist of the show is Protagonist, a potato. With god-like power, our narrator Fadda hammers in some eyes – “eyes to the soul” – to visceral effect. Suddenly anthropomorphised, this potato’s tale is animated with simplicity and a touch of fantasy, transforming a recognisably generic story into one that is special. 

There’s something wonderfully elemental and (literally) raw about this performance. All of the characters are played by vegetables, together negotiating their place in the world. Like everyone, Protagonist is born from the dark and begins life. He is given a name, chosen at random, from those of audience members. That’s enough. We follow as he lives beside parents and workmates, encountering everyday bureaucracy, the relatable social pressures of merely existing, while the show questions individuality and where each person’s agency lies. Whose tale is this after all? Does every potato have choice, the chance for love? Or are those choices made under external pressures? How do we make time to recognise the events in our limited life cycle that are actually important?

The performance generates immense beauty, from the humanity created simply by adding eyes to a spud (look closely and you may see tears as potato juice streams down his little face), to the aesthetically exquisite woodland setting that’s the background for his moment of jealousy. Fadda gives a superb performance, utterly controlled as she looks directly into the faces of the audience, challenging them to consider ideas of agency, self worth and marking moments in life that have real meaning before they are lost to mundanity. She creates a powerful sense of an epic story being told, yet she’s animating vegetables. This action discloses the often unvalued importance that uncelebrated, ordinary people in society can still have.

In particular, the lighting on the tabletop microcosm is superb, as Fadda uses manually placed lamps and torches with specific, tailored intent. It brings an intensely detailed quality to the characters, focussing your attention and giving them an unusual, extraordinary significance. 

The life of this tuber is indeed an ordinary one made epic. There’s laughter, conflict, kidnapping and care, but it shows how we are all ultimately part of an organic and unique cycle of life, the quality of which we can have a hand in. Tale of a Potato may be totally absurd but it is at the same time deeply human and brilliantly entertaining.

Written by Angelo Trofa
Produced by Batisfera

Tale of a Potato runs at Zoo Playground until Sunday 24 August as part of Edinburgh Fringe Festival.