EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2012
The Day the Sky Turned Black
Assembly Roxy Venue 139. !5:00hrs.
Box Office: 0131 623 3030
Best of Sydney Fringe. Ali Kennedy Scott
What’s it like to lose your home when your small town is engulfed by a raging inferno? Thank God, that’s something none of us are likely to ever experience for ourselves, but it did happen to the residents of the Victoria town of Marysville in 2009. High winds and high temperatures spread bushfires right through vast swathes of south-eastern Australia and caused the death of many residents who were unable to escape in time.
Based on the testimony of survivors, Ali Kennedy Scott tells the stories of four survivors through the medium of a radio reporter who covered the breaking news at the time. With a twist of her hair, a baseball cap or a shawl, Scott transforms herself from the reporter’s persona into a six-year-old boy who thought he was fleeing from Harry Potter’s Dementors, a local primary school teacher, the tortured mother of one fire-raiser or a seventy-five-year-old lady whose husband didn’t make it. Despite the extent of the losses, the nation rallied round to help the survivors to rebuild their lives.
This deeply moving script traced the survivors’ stories. The little boy treated his family’s ordeal innocently as a great adventure as he tells the audience with great relish how his family took refuge in an empty wombat hole. In contrast the arsonist’s mum is consumed by shame and guilt at her son’s role in the tragedy.
Quite a few audience members were moved to tears by this well-written script. If you want to see a solo show, you’ll have to go a long way to see anything to top the work of this versatile and convincing actress.
David Kerr
***** Five Stars
www.thedaytheskyturnedblack.com
Ali Kennedy Scott
Counter Culture 
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