Delusions and Grandeur ★★★★★

What price are you willing to pay for your passion?

That’s one question among many Karen Hall asks in her wonderful show Delusions and Grandeur. A successful cellist based in Los Angeles who describes herself as a “genre-busting jester” (Hall’s back-up plan in case music didn’t work out was… wait for it… clowning), Hall sets up her show with a conversational, inclusive feel by entering, sitting down and eating a sandwich, chatting with the audience as if we’re sitting across from her at lunch. The warmth and casualness of this opening immediately disarms the audience as well as gives the first taste of her impressive improv skills. “I don’t understand Greggs” is followed immediately by “I’ll hurry cause I think you thought I play the cello.”

Play she does. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1, to be precise. With interruptions. Lots and lots of interruptions.

Structurally Delusions and Grandeur feels like an unexpected and enlightening conversation between a classically trained artist and the patrons who support her work, one where the Socratic method is employed to great effect:

“Why am I a cellist?”

“Why are we still playing a piece written 300 years ago?”

“How do I sell out a show at 10:45 in the morning at Summerhall?”

The Bach sounds gorgeous, of course, and Hall’s fantastic comedic timing befits a musician who carries two metronomes with her everywhere. But beyond the laughs and beautiful music are ideas and admissions aplenty. Hall states that she can’t stand being hired for her looks instead of her talent: “What a strange thing. For a classical musician to be seen and not heard.” After performances, the ephemeral nature of the art she just created also haunts her on occasion: “I don’t have anything that doesn’t just disappear.”

In a moment of contemplation Hall relays the fact that the average human brain forgets 80% of what it hears in 24 hours, then wonders how much the audience will remember about her show a day later. She need not wonder too much. A show as special as Delusions and Grandeur will not soon escape the memory.