Gig review: The Pain Of Desire, Summerhall (Venue 26), Edinburgh
The Pain of Desire
Summerhall (Venue 26)
Star rating: * * *
Their show The Pain of Desire celebrates the overwrought chanson tradition but adds a fair hammering of rocky Sturm und Drang. Principally, it is a playful, proudly OTT vehicle for frontwoman Wendy Bevan, a committed drama queen with an elastic contralto that she manipulates for optimum, overbearing theatricality and, at times, minimum comprehension, like Lene Lovich playing Norma Desmond fronting The Bad Seeds.
The music comes in torrential waves, then it’s oh so quiet again and Bevan stands, face tilted upwards, nostrils twitching, brows knitted, eyelids drooping, emotionally spent, until it is time to work herself up into another exhausting frenzy of ham passion. The final crashing crescendo is quite an onslaught, but it’s not over until the slender lady dons her fur coat and is led away by her unsmiling lackey.
• Until 18 August. Today 9:45pm.