Mixed Up by Katy Wilson

The Guardian 31 May 2021

There’s a video for delegates to the Edinburgh international children’s festival showing a primary-school class responding to Katy Wilson’s film Mixed Up (5 and 6 June). The film itself is a delight. Choreographed by Ashley Jack, it’s a sequence of street dances performed by Gabriele Bruzzese and Ursula Manandhar. They switch between loneliness, joy and introspection as swiftly as the soundtrack moves from hip-hop to disco.

Meanwhile, artist Ursula Cheng plays with swirls of turquoise and orange paint to create patterns recalling a Damien Hirst spin painting. She also superimposes pulsating animations that have the appealing simplicity of Keith Haring’s squiggles. Adding to the sensory collage is Bigg Taj with his dextrous beatboxing. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).