EDINBURGH 2018 - Review: WAR WITH THE NEWTS, Summerhall

Adapted from Karel Capek's 1930s sci-fi satire, War With The Newts is set on an oyster trawler, en route to a colony of human survivors after the titular conflict.

Three disembodied heads appear on screens, offering to help us pass the journey by recounting the history of humanity's current predicament, presented by the ship's entertainment systems - three actors who slip between characters as new programming is uploaded to them.

Over the course of a number of flashbacks, we learn that the captain of the very trawler we now sail upon discovered a new species of salamander in the ocean, who quickly prove intelligent enough to imitate humans. As they are exploited for various capitalist causes, this ability to emulate human behaviour has the expected disastrous results for the human world.

Along the way, the show takes in issues of race, refugees, nationalism and animal experimentation, but avoids being too heavy-handed in its treatment. The newts are an unseen Other, leaving the focus solely on humanity's selfish and self-destructive actions.

A lightly immersive production from Knaive Theatre, Hannah Sibai's set sees the audience perching on oyster crates after being tested and pre-assigned to roles in the new colony. Accompanied by an excellent surround sound score from Robert Bentall, this is a slickly delivered piece, with arresting transitions, and even the smell of the sea carefully calculated to draw you into the work.

The three performers - Sam Redway, Everal A Walsh and Nadi Kemp-Sayfi - are more like chameleons than newts in their ability to switch between the different characters of the story.

A section marking the beginning of the end for humanity, where Redway's British Ambassador to the UN shows his true, London-centric colours, was one of several delightfully biting moments of appreciated humour, as we see Britain's legacy of division, imperialism and imagined superiority coming home to roost.

War With The Newts skilfully blends together engaging elements in the service of its wide-ranging critique of modern capitalism. At different times, this piece is amusing, intense and unsettling, with its central ideas sadly more relevant than ever.

War With the Newts is at Summerhall until 26 August (not 20)

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