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Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2003 Reviews (12)Wanted Dead or Alive This is a one-man show starring the playwright as Santa Claus, complete with hot red coat and big beard. It should have a public health warning to all American patriots. If you love George W., you will be offended by this show. To start with, we see Santa as a bit of a cynic, anti-materialistic and saddened by the way that society has degenerated to the extent that he cannot be trusted in a grotto or with a kiddie on his knee. After about ten minutes, it becomes an overt diatribe against the good old US of A and at twenty, the accent begins to slip. For a practising Christian, Santa seems very pro-Arab. At half an hour, we learn that the sweet but increasingly embittered old man is actually Osama bin Laden in disguise. "The most hated man in the world posing as the most loved". Mr Dallmeyer has clearly put in a great deal of research into the writing of his script. It would however, work far better as an academic essay on the American menace than it does as a play. Harry Is Always Right This is a satire on American globalisation that relies on raucous aggression rather than any textual subtlety. We are in the headquarters of the Elected Supreme and fear an innocent-looking, blacked-up bloke in a turban who is probably out to destroy the world. It is reminiscent of a shoot-em-up computer game and might well appeal to owners of X-Boxes and Gameboys. The choreography is generally tight and the actors give their all. By the end of the run, they will probably all have lost their voices. It may not be worth it though. The Straits The Straits was one of the most eagerly awaited plays on the Fringe this year. Two years ago, Gregory Burke's first play, Gagarin Way, not only won a Fringe First but got the First of Firsts, as best play of all. While it is a comedy and has political overtones, The Straits is very different from its predecessor, although once again Burke and director John Tiffany have a cast of four to work with. The play is set in Gibraltar during the Falklands War in 1982. The characters are teenaged children of members of the forces and their lives are driven by a forces mentality. Lots of hardness, yomping and bullying and the expectation of blind obedience. The three boys all want to follow their parents into the marines or paras, the glamour jobs as they see them. This is all a metaphor for the war. Gibraltar has its anti-English day which leads to battle and the key for the new arrival, mummy's boy Darren (Calum Callaghan), is to prove himself to the old lags, Jock (Stephen Wight) and the almost psychopathic Doink (James Marchant). As the General Belgrano is sunk there is jubilation but a cloud hangs over the group. The play turns nasty with the news that the Sheffield has gone down. Doink's brother Steve is among the victims and the already unpleasant 16 year old becomes sadistic. As well as the war element, the boys also get excited, excessively in Jock's case, about Darren's sister, Tracy (Jenny Platt) a year older than they are. The final twist in the play is when a symbolic death occurs and Darren grows up to become a true lad and takes on leadership of the group. On occasion, the behavioural swings and shifts of power can be a little too swift to digest The play often looks great on Neil Warmington's symbolically cross-shaped set, as Tiffany has worked with Steven Hoggett from Frantic Assembly on carefully choreographed movement. The acting is good with James Marchant showing a talent for depicting the vicious. It gives insights into teenagers growing up and makes some good points with regard to the nature of love and war but The Straits, while a good play is no Gagarin Way. |
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