The Pigeon Factory ⭐️⭐️

“Walden has a pretty good life. Happily married to his mannequin wife, he works his pigeon children into the ground and feasts upon their eggs for sustenance. Walden is doing everything he's supposed to do – so why does he feel so empty? Can his fantasies about his pigeons sustain him? Or must he face up to a great hurt done to him in the past?”

It is a strange show. Very strange. But there is something worthwhile covered beneath all those pigeons. The direction is mostly effective. The production makes good use of the space, and importantly, everything is generally clear. Even when the material itself becomes increasingly bizarre, the staging remains easy to follow.

There are moments when I would have liked the direction to make slightly stronger choices in the more confusing sections of the story, particularly toward the end, but visually the production is well controlled.

Lighting is another strong point. There aren't many lighting states, but the few different looks are used effectively and help make the production visually more interesting. It doesn't feel like the lighting changes simply for the sake of changing. Each state contributes something to the atmosphere, and the simplicity works well alongside the stranger elements of the piece.

Sound by is nice and well balanced. It supports the production without becoming distracting, and there is a good understanding of when sound needs to sit underneath the action and when it needs to help create atmosphere.

Projections are particularly enjoyable to watch. It is another technical element that quietly does its job. They don't feel like decoration for decoration's sake. They contribute to the storytelling and help build the strange little world that Walden inhabits.

Given how surreal the premise is, the projections could easily have tipped the production into visual overload. Instead, they generally enhance what is happening on stage.

Aaron O’Neill’s book is certainly interesting. It takes a remarkably strange premise and somehow uses it to explore something much more recognisable: loneliness.

Underneath the pigeons, mannequin marriage and increasingly bizarre circumstances is a character desperately trying to grip something, anything, that can make him feel less alone. The final section in particular began to lose me slightly. The ideas are interesting, but the storytelling becomes less clear just when I wanted it to bring everything together.

The writing also contains some genuinely interesting contradictions. At times, those contradictions feel deliberate and reveal something about Walden's fractured understanding of his own life. At other points, however, the contradictions become confusing rather than intriguing.

A strong emotional idea sits in the core of this piece. I just wasn't always convinced that the writing knew exactly how it wanted to get there.

The production's strongest aspect is its portrayal of Walden as a terrifyingly broken man desperately clinging to whatever he has left. Aaron O’Neill’s performance is good, and at its best, it is honestly unsettling. And that is quite an achievement considering the circumstances. There is something extremely uncomfortable about watching somebody whose reality has become so distorted, yet who remains completely convinced that what he is doing is necessary. When the comedy comes into play, he also lands the jokes well. The humour doesn't undermine the bleaker aspects of the character; instead, it occasionally makes the whole thing even more uncomfortable.

Because sometimes the funniest thing in the room is also the thing you probably shouldn't be laughing at.

THE PIGEON FACTORY is exactly the sort of show that could only really exist at the Fringe. A man. A mannequin wife. Pigeon children. Egg consumption. A surprisingly affecting story lies beneath the madness, and the production does a good job of creating a remarkable visual world around it. The lighting, sound and projections all contribute strongly, while the central performance gives Walden a genuinely disturbing vulnerability. And loneliness. The problem is that the writing becomes increasingly difficult to follow towards the end. The strange contradictions are initially intriguing, but eventually some of the confusion feels less intentional and more like the story has lost its own thread. I just wanted the production to give me a clearer path through the feathers.

THE PIGEON FACTORY plays at Underbelly's Cowgate, Iron Belly during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For current performance dates, times and ticket availability, visit https://underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/events/event/the-pigeon-factory