The final instalment, which went live yesterday, is Quelle Trapeze by Laurie Motherwell, performed by Andrew Rothney and animated by Nisan Yetkin. Slightly intoxicated, the central character leaves his birthday party and stumbles across a circus big top, where he has a remarkable experience. The lines between reality and fantasy are blurred and we get a glimpse into a fantastical world beyond our screens - something we all need every now and then.
Mull Theatre, outgoing interim artistic director Beth Morton signs off with a fine series of five Braw Tales, written by leading Scottish playwrights including Morna Young and Alan Bissett, and illustrated with gorgeous animations by a range of artists including Kate Charter, Gavin Glover and Nisan Yetkin. The mood of the stories varies, but in each there’s a sense of sorrow mixed with wonder, and determination; not a bad combination of qualities, perhaps, in a series of Braw Tales for these strange pandemic times.
Nisan Yetkin creates a splendidly dreamy animation for an eventful, and ultimately hilarious, night on the tiles that is exchanged for a night in the big top.
"Like so many lockdown projects, this thirty minute film has necessitated an inventive approach from the production team in order to make it so much more than just a static talking head scenario – and they’ve delivered big time. There are gorgeous animated cartoon inserts by Nisan Yetkin in the style of Declan’s distinctive artwork, and a series of exterior scenes shot in some memorable Edinburgh locations. "
"Macdonald himself played Declan in the original production; and here, with help from Angus Taylor who also plays Declan, from a powerful soundtrack by composer Kim Moore, and from Nisan Yetkin’s superb graphics, his fierce focus on Declan’s words and his inner life pays rich dividends, creating a true filmic tragedy for our time, full of anger, pathos, and a blazing sense of potential, at constant knife-edge risk of being cruelly shut down, for good."
"Told now almost exclusively from Declan’s point of view, Lorn McDonald’s superb direction takes us to the locations in the play, (and you will have a Proustian response if you have been to any of them, especially the wonderful Traverse Theatre), puts us firmly in Declan’s shoes, and sensitive animation by Nisan Yetkin and text from the play link the story together seamlessly."
"Rather than the simple monologue that one might expect, this production has been enhanced by comic book style graphics courtesy of Nisan Yetkin, which add a considerable punch alongside camerawork featuring young Declan on Arthur’s Seat overlooking the city of Edinburgh at a pivotal moment as he encounters Libby on the point of ending it all."
Frank, unflinching and filled with unexpected humour, Declan is an exhilarating and immersive film. It wrenches the spotlight away from those doing the talking, to those being talked about, and demands attention - on their own terms.
"Kieran Hurley’s Edinburgh-set Mouthpiece, a hit for the Traverse at the 2019 fringe, is filleted and revived in film form for the theatre’s virtual fringe of 2020."
"J’aime aborder des sujets difficiles de la manière la plus artistique, touchante et respectueuse possible. Pour moi, c’est un exercice intellectuel, une thérapie, et un voyage dans la condition humaine."
"(...) a close eye must be kept on artists and filmmakers in the country [Turkey], and emerging talents such as Yetkin need to be carefully nurtured."
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