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Mahwaff and Woolf - far from a load of old gibberishDateline: 27th January, 2008For a company that has called itself a word that's made up, there's nothing gibberish at all about what Mahwaff Theatre Company is up to. At the helm are two attractive, talented men, Ben Woolf and Hywell John, who are creating some of the most interesting new work on the fringe. An unpretentious duo, they both not only have careers taking off, but are firmly in charge. And so have lodged themselves in one of the best fringe venues in town; the Trafalgar Studios. Near impossible to get into, unless you've got an established cast name or have solid reputation behind you (let alone cash) they've got a full Studio run of Angry Young Man, a 2005 Edinburgh fringe success that subsequently toured internationally. It's actually a 'fill in': Angry Young Man, Ben's comical take on Britain through the eyes of an educated immigrant, wasn't meant to show here at all. Instead, he was supposed to debut a play based on Victorian travellogs of a racist adventurer. They pulled it due to the ill health of their leading lady. Having not seen it, I can't say, but Ben tells me the most fascinating thing about these diaries is how little attitudes and perceptions have changed. Inherent racism is a theme Ben likes; he says educated, left-wing liberals like to talk about welcoming other nations, but don't actually walk the walk. Under the comedy, this runs bitterly throughout. What I enjoy most about Ben's writing and directing, is the unpretentious earthiness. He'll send up anyone; his own actors, the Guardian reading, seed-munching liberals, rural landowners, manipulative women and the hapless tourists. He'll stick some pub chairs on stage and turn them into wrought-iron entrances, solid-oak doors and buses. Whatever he does, it's with a playful and unself-conscious imagination. Ben studied at Bristol and then worked in TV. The Bristol thing kind of told me he's educated/clever and the TV thing explained why he had such a good sense of entertaining an audience. He's someone who understands short attention-spans and making theatre that's visual without stealing from TV. Angry Young Man is slick, clever and tightly pulled together. Each and every actor is so good at slipping in an out of various roles, that it sails surprisingly clear of confusion. God knows what rehearsals were like, but the end product works. If the send-up comedy means it misses real 'meat' or even salient points, Ben doesn't care: "All I wanted was for people to see the UK through someone else's eyes." And in so many ways he's right: we know the issues, we know the government isn't spending enough time or money on providing the opportunities or support foreign workers desperately need and we know that however much we embrace immigrants, we do so just so long as it doesn't impinge on our lives, jobs or chances. Mahwaff is coming up with that unusual combination of astute, relevant work that's also playful; it's simply good theatre with not an ounce of gibberish to shake a thespian fist at. Zia Trench
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