|
|
|
|
The
Edinburgh Fringe
|
|
|
|
Fringe 2002 Reviews (1)Aspects of Alice I always try to see one kids' show per Fringe, and this year it's the Black Light's Aspects of Alice. And it's my first show too. I have to say that the relationship between the show and Alice in Wonderland is, at best, tenuous, but that doesn't really matter. Even if kids come expecting to see the Red Queen and the March Hare and all the other favourites, they may experience some initial disappointment, but it won't last, for they'll be caught up in the excitement, as were the kids in today's audience. There were squeals (of excitement, amazement and joy), much laughter, and quite a few shouted warnings to "Alice". Of course there is a lot of the Black Theatre's trademark UV, beautifully executed. There's clowning, dance, mime and flying. Yes, Alice flies around the set, dancing as she does so, sideways and even upside down, and so well is it done that even a cynical old hack like me was impressed - I coldn't see the cables, no matter how hard I looked. And I can tell you that I did look hard! The start is too slow. A couple of little boys in front of me (who were led in protesting that they would rather be playing outside) certainly found it so and I sympathised. The first five or so minutes (it seemed that long, but perhaps it wasn't) were taken up with a magician-like figure holding up and making what looked like magic passes over a series of objects, behind a slash curtain, which meant it was difficut to see what was going on. However, from the moment the Alice figure and her double (don't ask! go and see!) turn up, the show took off and everyone - cynical old hacks included! - enjoyed themselves. Reviewer: Peter Lathan 6 Women with Brain Death Last year's NSTC musical, Falsettoland, was a hard act, not only to beat but just to equal, but this company, all from LIPA (the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts), manages it. Like last year's show, this was a UK and European premiere, for, although the play is very popular in the US and has been revived almost every year since its first production in 1987, it has never been seen elsewhere. It's difficult to see why. It is very American, admittedly, but nowadays we are well immersed in the American lifestyle, with even 16 year old school leavers having their "proms", complete with ballgowns, corsages and boys in tuxedos. Perhaps it doesn't fit with the British idea of what a musical should be - it certainly owes more to Sondheim than to Lloyd Webber - because it is very definitely small scale, even intimate. One might be almost tempted to call it a chamber musical, except it's much too gutsy for that title to sit easily! It is hilariously funny. It examines a whole range of American girls' and women's concerns, from Barbie, through proms and high school reunions, to daytime soaps, in a nonstop roller coaster of short, very sharp sketches and musical numbers. The cast of eight (Six Women with Brain Death? - work that one out!) were tremendous. Each character is nicely delineated, the accents (mainly generic US but with one scene in a beautiful deep south draw-al) maintained well, the singing of a very high standard - no microphones, even with two keyboards, bass and drums as backing - and the acting impeccable. Pace and attack throughout were spot-on: this is a very talented bunch of actresses. I don't know if this piece, having played for so long in the States, is eligible for a Fringe First, but it damned well ought to be! Now how are they going to follow this next year? Reviewer: Peter Lathan The Straight Man A play about a comedy duo set mainly in the dressing room of a run down theatre in London, with a half-full house on a Monday night where the duo is second on the bill to a stripper, is bound to invite comparison with the 2000 Fringe hit Stand Up by Roy Smiles, and, indeed, there are similarities. Like the 2000 production, this does deal with relationships, but unlike the bitterness and anger that ran through the earlier play, this deals with dependency and friendship and what happens when television threatens to break up a double act. The ramifications extend further than a simple outline of the subject matter would suggest, for it is not just the relationship between the comic and his straight man, but there is also their agent/manager, who had once been part of the act, to consider - and there are some added marital complications into the bargain. We see the characters both on- and off-stage and in the pub, which leads to quite a lot of scene shifting. The set is cleverly designed, mobile, and works well in the somewhat basic space of Pleasance Above, but the changes do tend to slow the play down a bit and this knocks the edges off a few scenes. I'm not really convinced that they were necessary. The cast of five do a good job, and if the character of the agent tends a little towards caricature, that is the fault of the writing rather than of the actor. We are offered no quick fix, no instant solution: feelings are not soothed and everyone will most certainly not live happily ever after. All are, to some degree, hurt, except the man from the television. The play works on many levels: loyalty and friendship versus ambition; the decline of variety as a result of the rise of television, with all that implies for variety acts; the nature of love. Well worth seeing. Reviewer: Peter Lathan |
|
|