Review: The Unlikely Friendship of Feather Boy and Tentacle Girl, Edfringe.

It can’t be questioned that The Unlikely Friendship of Feather Boy & Tentacle Girl is a visually impressive production with two amazing performers demonstrating exceptional talents. Co-creators Vee Smith & Sadiq Ali play children who are the absolute opposites of each other. One likes fast, the other slow; one likes high, the other low; one likes feathers, the other scales. And each has extraordinary abilities. This show for ages 8+ celebrates ideas of difference and self-knowledge through playful interpretation in the form of captivating aerial and circus skills. 

It’s graceful, dangerous, and exciting as the artists twirl, swirl, swoop and drop using poles, rope and harnesses to enable the impossible. And the duo make an amiable team: they’re warm and likeable, engaging well with the audience. Beautiful lighting (Jamie Heseltine) and shadow play combine with flurries of feathers and undulating sheet plastic to give presence to imagination, air and water. The whole is an enthusiastic celebration of individuality, with the characters physically and emotionally supporting each other to be happy with who they are and to achieve their dreams. Demonstrating themes of friendship, fantasy, acceptance and personal growth, the performance is (as the child behind me stated) ‘kind of cool’. And it is absolutely breathtaking.

Somehow, though, the show feels lacking in tension. The atmosphere created is soothingly chill, despite the challenges and difficulties clearly demanded in the physical exertion of the aerialists. Perhaps it’s that their performance is so perfect that it makes possibility and ambition concrete from the start, and there’s no sense of growth. There are a couple of mentions of things the characters don’t like, passing descriptions of dreams they have been having trouble with, but largely, there’s no clear story arc or an adventure to propel things along to a climax. The names suggest superheroes, and there feels the need for some kind of battle against a foe by which to prove themselves. Yet this adversity is underplayed in favour of relentless positivity, which is not in itself a bad thing, just rather neutralising dramatically.

The tech works effectively to generate atmosphere, with fans helping create stormy seas and windy skies, and the elegant lighting offers excellent use of blackout to give a few truly thrilling moments – although not really enough of those to fill out the full hour. The Unlikely Friendship of Feather Boy & Tentacle Girl is definitely an entertaining and impressive production with great visual impact. A little more narrative substance along the journey would give it even more strength and make it a truly exceptional piece.

Co-created by Vee Smith & Sadiq Ali
Technical Manager: Bryn Jones
Costume Designer: Cleo McCabe
Lifter & Stage Manager: Eric Munday
Facilitator & Co-Creator: Gill Robertson
Sound Designer: Guy Veale
Lighting Designer: Jamie Heseltine
Set Designer: Jen McGinley
Movement Director: Junior Cunningham

The Unlikely Friendship of Feather Boy & Tentacle Girl, aimed at ages 8+, has finished its run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but has further dates planned at Tramway, Glasgow.