Bull / Fight – Summerhall ★ ★

Few writers exert as powerful a hold over young theatre-makers as Federico García Lorca.Part of it is the poetry. Part of it is the politics. But mostly it is because Lorca offers emerging companies the opportunity to make theatre about life and death in the broadest possible sense. Love, violence, desire, repression, beauty and revolution all run through his work. For ambitious ensembles searching for stories that matter, Lorca remains an almost irresistible destination. Mythography Collective, an Edinburgh-based ensemble of emerging theatre-makers, are clearly drawn to exactly those qualities. Their latest production begins with a compelling premise. Set in Andalusia in 1936, shortly after Lorca’s murder, Bull / Fight follows a travelling theatre company searching for traces of the poet as Spain slides towards civil war. Rather than simply retelling Lorca’s life, the show uses the figure of the playwright as a way of exploring art, political violence and the responsibility of…