The Three Deaths Of Ebony Black is a critically acclaimed puppet musical from the Australian company Gag Reflex. It was originally inspired by a neuroscientist who made claim to there being ‘3 deaths’ - firstly when the body ceases to function, secondly when the body is consigned to the grave, and finally that moment in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.
The piece is described as a “love letter to lives well lived”. And with 10 puppets, a corpse, songs, music, dancing and the occasional vomiting (making good use of something resembling a can of shaving foam), it is easy to think you are watching a full-blown musical ensemble treading the boards. In reality there are 2 puppeteers in an intimate space bringing the story and its various characters to life with gusto and affection.
I nearly didn’t make this performance, having been caught in one of the worst rainstorms I have experienced during my numerous visits to Edinburgh. Flash-flooding temporarily closed both the box office and the extensive Underbelly pop-up festival facilities. Feeling nothing less than saturated - alongside no doubt my fellow audience members - there was something instantly warm and reassuring about this show from the outset. Yes - ironically the first scene was showing us the last moments of elderly Ebony’s time on earth, but the sight of her red floral dress, her flowing silver hair characterfully wound into a bun on top of her head, and her wistful facial expression was somehow endearingly heartfelt and beautiful to witness.
We were quickly drawn into the array of colourful, quirky characters that are connected to the aftermath of Ebony’s death. The undertakers singing shrilly about their funeral franchise investments; the haughty sister ‘Ivory’ (of course!) and her two brattish, money-grabbing offspring, to whom Aunty Ebony has left “ a yummy 10 thousand dollars” for them to fight over whilst competing for the highly coveted ‘Sibling Cup’; the hospital nurse who would chat to Ebony through the night about contentious issues whilst dealing with “16 bedpans in a single shift” - determined to honour her ‘surrogate mother’s’ dying wish to have a cremation NOT the burial that Ivory has begrudgingly organised. The puppets became the believable characters that we were drawn to, with the puppeteer duo peppering the performance with the odd fluff - deliberate or accidental we were never really sure - but certainly adding to the verve of the show!
The plot thickened with such twists as a mistaken coffin identity, a funeral parlour murder and characters competing ever more fiercely with one-another. With musical theatre effectively interwoven with skillful puppetry this show about death seemed a very accurate slice of life - with many facets of our complicated humanity condensed into this relatively microscopic show. The wonderful long-running satirical puppet musical ‘Avenue Q’ that brilliantly explored the complex lives of a group of New York residents was brought to mind several times, whilst witnessing the fantastical but very real consequences of Ebony’s death.
‘The Three Deaths Of Ebony Black’ plays at Underbelly, Bristo Square until August 26th.
Reviewer - Georgina Elliott
on - 7/8/19
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