Live Performance Review: Lo Real / Le Reel / The Real : Performed by Israel Galvan (Edinburgh International Festival (E.I.F.) 2015), Wednesday 19.08.2014 19:30, The Festival Theatre, Edinburgh 

This was a performance of flamenco dance and music that I understand to concern itself with the persecution of Romany people by the German Nazis around the time of the second world war. 

The dancing was of a very high standard and felt innovative in terms of the materials used in the performance. Sadly the singing was not quite up to the same standard. More of an issue was the staging. There was what I think of as a middle section what regrettably felt impenetrable in terms of trying to understand what was being conveyed. 

The super-titles did not help much either. I tend to try to not pay too much attention to these unless it is a play where you need to engage with them. Though I was aware that there were passages not being covered by the super-titles and sections which were not in English. There was also a section of the performance which was in German which again had no super-titles. In this regard though I did afterwards wonder whether this was deliberate. The people the play focuses upon would not have understood the German being spoken at them by the Nazi invaders, so maybe this not having any translation was deliberately adding to confusion. 

The performances saving grace was the quality of the dancing, which is what I went for, it is just a shame that other elements compromised the performance. 

Rating: 7/10.