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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2000 Reviews (6)No. 2 The first (and, so far, the only) standing ovation I have seen at this year's Fringe. And well deserved too, although it has to be said that the applause was for the player rather than the play, for, to be honest, the play is nothing to write home about. The performance, however... Now that's a different matter. No. 2 can best be described as a kind of Fijian soap opera. At four in the morning, grandmother feels that she is nearing the end of her life and it is time for her to name her successor. She orders one of her grandsons - who has just come in drunk - to organise a special party that day, starting NOW! The party, by the way, doesn't seem to be a particularly Fijian tradition but is rather inspired by Sicilian Mafia parties she's seen in films! The rest of the play shows the preparations, the party and the final announcement. We watch the interplay between the characters - grandmother herself, various grandchildren, the local priest (who has to be there, because there's always a priest at the Mafia parties!) and the girlfriend of one of the grandsons. All in all, there are nine characters, and Madeleine Sami plays every one of them. She is superb: a change of stance or facial expression, a different voice, and she's another character. She even manages the seemingly impossible feat of having a fight with herself! It is an astonishing performance which shows the amazing virtuosity of this young actress who is still in her early twenties. And what a change from Berkoff's Messiah which I'd seen less than a hour before - which is, of course, one of the great joys of the Fringe. Website Splendour Paines Plough's contributions to the Fringe are always interesting, occasionally controversial, and usually demanding. Last year it was Linda McLean's Riddance and in '98 we saw Sarah Kane's Crave. This year it is the turn of Abi Morgan's Splendour, and Morgan proves herself a worthy successor . The plot is simple: Kathryn, a photo-journalist, arrives at the home of the dictator of an unnamed European state which is being torn apart by civil war, to photograph the dictator. He is not there. She (and her interpreter Gilma) are welcomed by Micheline, the dictator's wife, and they wait all day for him to arrive. As they wait, Genevieve, Micheline's best friend, arrives. The dictator never arrives, but as the day progresses it is obvious that the rebels are getting closer and that the city is falling to them. In the course of the day, we see relationships and loyalities dissolve. Past guilts emerge. Silences are broken and resentments, anger and all kinds of destructive emotions surface. The play's structure is non-linear. We keep returning to earlier scenes, but with the knowledge of what has emerged since, thus deepening and enlarging the scene and throwing might light on the implications of words and actions. Thus meaning layers upon meaning and the fragile surface cracks open. It would, however, be wrong to think that this is an exercise in structure alone, for at each return more of the protagonists' characters emerge. Micheline, Genevieve and Gilma are the products of a society divided against itself, and even Kathryn, seemingly the outside observer, is not uninvolved, for her job - at which she is, we learn, very good - involves not just closing her eyes to suffering, but actually benefiting from it. Splendour is not an easy play but it is a rewarding one. Shetland Saga In all the hype, the eagerness to get noticed, the experimental and the would-be experimental which is the Edinburgh Fringe, there is always room for the well-made play of a more traditional nature, and Shetland Saga certainly qualifies. It's a love story and a story about friendship between people of different cultures. A Bulgarian ship, the Ludmilla, is arrested and, seemingly, abandoned by its owners in Lerwick, and the play deals with the relationships between the skeleton crew and the people of the Shetlands. The crew haven't been paid and must try to live. A young sailor and the niece of an hotel owner fall in love. Another local girl is keen to escape the life of the islands. The many strands of the plot are complemented by a cast of characters who are warmly and affectionately portrayed by the writer and sympathetically and effectively performed by the Traverse company's excellent cast. A well-written, well-performed play. Next page - - - Index |
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