Red Like Our Room Used To Feel

26 September 2013 | 3:09 pm | Andy Hazel

Finally, and fittingly, it’s free. A subtle and dazzling highlight.

Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (where it was among the best reviewed of all productions) Ryan Van Winkle's oddly beguiling show is a truly memorable and disarming discovery.

Inviting you one by one into a small curtained-off alcove, warmly decorated as a share house bedroom, Van Winkle offers a cup of tea or port and invites you to curate a short collection of his poetry. A welcome seduction away from the hustle and clamour of the festival, RLORUTF seeks to make a personal connection more than any show here, and overwhelmingly succeeds thanks to Van Winkle's unprepossessing nature (and, perhaps, the port). 

As a model for poetry, it's exciting. As a short, 20-minute dip into an under-appreciated art form, it's glorious. And as a way to feel as though something here has been made specifically for you, it's unmatched. Finally, and fittingly, it's free. A subtle and dazzling highlight.