We alight from the Roam Air bus when we reach Edinburgh International clutching our Identification in hand, nothing could be more apt as for the next hour and a half we will have our ideas and ideals of identity, including our own, disturbed.
Devised and presented by a stellar international cast, alongside director Ben Harrison and dramaturg Zinnie Harris, Roam presents the intimacies, procedures and politics behind world wide travel. With a large cast presenting a mass of roles and an airport of passengers becoming unwitting company members we meet a lot of characters on our journey.
At Check In we spy a team of flight stewards and pilots dressed in kitsch blonde wigs and turquoise uniforms moving to the beat of an extremely camp Chris Montez/samba-esque tune. But the flashy guys and gals who make up the Roam Air team are just a very small part of the cast of characters we'll meet on our trip: Three glaikit OAPs skipping merrily off to Malaga or some other package destination; a stressed out mother wandering how to pack her kids away once she hears the tannoy announcing “Please do not leave your children unattended, If unattended children are found they will be removed and possibly destroyed”; or there is the track-suited ‘Wegian with bottle in hand searching for his, no doubt, similarly inebriated crony. Many more characters follow as Grid Iron's international cast prove more and more capable of crafting complex and often comic characters presenting glimpses of the individual in a globalised world where questions of identity are increasingly important.
Grid Iron turns the tables on their audience as they are presented with an occupied Scotland , where flights for asylum can be bargained for to Bosnia , Sarajevo and Kigali . Watching news reels of destroyed Tollcross and Westhill presented so convincingly is more than a little frightening to comprehend.
Mixing genres and cultures Harrison and his ensemble have presented a first class site specific piece tailor-made for presentation in such an international venue. The creative team have considered every detail of the audience's journey, re-branding an airline, airport advertising, passports and even Scotland in their Airport make-over. This is fantastic theatre guaranteed to leave you wide eyed with your mind racing.
At Edinburgh International Airport until 22 April.