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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2000 Reviews (2)An Elephant Called Slowly (This is a show for children, hence the Cs rather than stars.) Slowly's parents were killed by ivory poachers and she was left to fend for herself. She made friends with children from a near-by village and became so well-known that her story was used in the film Born Free, a film in which she appeared. She was then given to the Regent's Park Zoo in London where she spent the rest of her life behind bars. An Elephant Called Slowly tells her story through narration, dance, mime, puppets and music, and tells it very effectively. The final sequence, showing the frustration and misery of being caged up, was particularly effective. The play gets its message across without talking down to the children. At times, in fact, I wondered if it was too powerful, too dramatic for the audience which was made up of children, generally, in the four to eight age group. However I suspect that I was "thinking down" to the audience, for their reaction was everything that the company could have wanted: they were definitely moved but without being frightened, even in the scene in which Slowly's mother was killed. This is a piece of educational theatre, in the very best sense of that phrase. The children sat fascinated throughout: there were moments of high drama, of pathos and of real comedy. It spoke directly to the children, without compromise but in terms which they understood. And the elephant puppets were brilliant! Soho Note : The RSC Fringe brings together the young actors and directors which form the core of the company with stage-management, admin and literary staff, technical staff, dressers, ushers, stage-door-keepers, graphic designers, caterers - giving the whole company a chance to work collaboratively on fresh ideas for performance in an informal but professional environment. Writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz is also an actress - she plays Stella in this production - who has worked with the National as well as the RSC. Her play is set in a Soho table-dancing club, the Club Venus, and shows us a month in the life of that club, from the day in which new girl Veronica starts. There is little in the way of plot: things do happen, of course - one of the girls gets pregnant and her boyfriend, who believed she was a waitress, thumps the cub owner, Marco - but generally the play is a collection of incidents which, together, illuminate the girls' characters and the way in which they approach their somewhat degrading job. Although the play does lead us to wonder who is degraded, the girls or the punters. In spite of the lack of real plotline, the play does hold our interest for, in each scene, something more of one of the characters is revealed, and each new revelation increases our sympathy for each of them, even the very sad Marco. As one would expect, the performances are uniformly excellent - there would be something very badly wrong if they weren't! - which, of course, is vital in a character-led play such as this. So why not five stars? - Simply because we are, as it were, on the outside looking in: we do not - cannot - engage with the characters or really become involved in their lives. We react to them, usually with sympathy and understanding, but cannot immerse ourselves in them. Achilles Just one narrator and one musician telling the story of Achilles for an hour and twenty minutes: that could be a recipe for a disaster! That it isn't is a tribute to both writer and performers. The story of Achilles is told in six parts, beginning after his death, when his shade meets Odysseus at the entry to Hades, and ending with his death in the Temple of Apollo. The narration is accompanied by music which is certainly atmospheric and has a vaguely eastern feel and played on a variety of instruments, including hap and cymbal. My problem with this show is that I found Colin Mace's performance too mannered for my taste, too much of the "stand, adopt the pose and deliver the speech". Now Colin Mace is an experienced actor and Timothy Sheader is no directorial virgin, so one must only assume that this playing style was deliberately chosen. There are those who like the style. I tend to respond like Miss Jean Brodie: "For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like." And I really did want to like this show. I do a fair amount of similar readings - well, it keeps me in beer money! - and I'm afraid that Mace's performamce style here is something I parody from time to time, so it was never going to work for me as well as it should - as well, I suspect, as it did for many others in the audience. That said, the majority of the audience thoroughly enjoyed it, including, to judge from comments I overheard as we came out, some who had thought they wouldn't and were only there under some degree of protest. Next page - - - Index |
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