Page 502 - Media Coverage Book - 75th Aldeburgh Festival 2024

Aoife Miskelly (Bird) in Blond Eckbert, Aldeburgh Festival 2024

Aoife Miskelly’s portrayal of the Bird is faintly menacing, with strutting and stretching,
beautiful poses, and soaring melodic lines delivered with apparent ease. Her voice has a
silvery texture to it, her movements plausible. A considerable achievement.

Eleanor Bull’s sophisticated set design, featuring an Ercol-furnished forest apartment,
initially encloses the characters safely, with automated blinds shutting off the outside world.
In the forest, the characters are dwarfed by nature, vulnerable in their battle against the
shadows swirling menacingly around them. Unexpectedly, I wanted those shadows to be
stronger with higher contrast and sharper lines, still, the production design efficiently used
the space, utilising multiple performance areas in a limited space.

This forensic attention to detail in design, direction, and music may have come at the expense
of the psychological eeriness expected from this unsettling tale. The compact work left little
time for the consequences of thoughts, feelings, and events to fully resonate. Nonetheless, it
was a visual treat and a thought-provoking presentation of a work that invites further
exploration. I would gladly attend repeat performances, with an opportunity arising later this
year.

THE ALDEBURGH FESTIVAL 2024 RUNS UNTIL SUNDAY 23 JUNE