|
|
|
|
|
||
|
The
Edinburgh Fringe
|
||
|
|
Fringe 2003 Reviews (13)San Diego San Diego is a trip through playwright, David Greig's dreamy subconscious. It depicts the journeys that people take in order to achieve a sense of inner peace. The trip to the USA's best city to live in might also be seen as a metaphor for life itself. This journey is by no means easy and it might be no coincidence that Greig's forthcoming play is about climbing mountains. The viewer has to work hard to understand what is going on and to put together the diffuse strands that make up San Diego. It has to be said that San Diego will definitely not appeal to those who like simple linear plots. The start is relatively intelligible in a sort of post-modern way. A playwright called David Greig, played by Billy Boyd (fresh from filming Lord of the Rings) who looks a little like the original but sounds very different, makes his first trip to the USA, to work on a project in San Diego. It doesn't take him long to get lost and killed. At this point, we come across the recurring symbol of a dead goose. This contrasts with the live ones that follow mysterious instincts that take them to their ultimate destinations. After his death, David Greig remains observing the action on a suitcase-laden stage, from a suspended TV screen. There is also a much-needed explanatory passage after the interval from some live Davids. This explains much of what the real David was trying to say and helps the jigsaw to fall into place. The action is led by a pilot, a good performance by Tony Guilfoyle as Kevin. He is an obvious man to lead a journey to a far-off place. We also focus on his son and daughter. The son Andrew (Nicholas Pinnock) is a film star who plays a pilot; and his wife (Vicki Liddelle) has post-natal depression and decides to seek her happiness by becoming a nun. They may have problems but the pilot's daughter is far worse off. Laura likes eating herself. Abigail Davies conveys the pain and pleasure of a self-mutilating masochist extremely well. She needs love and it eventually arrives in the form of David (Huss Garbiya), a joker who is happy to eat her too. Add in a pair of gay men named after popes who adopt the street boy who killed David Greig and who needs to go home to find himself; and you are pretty much there. Designer Simon Vincenzi, with help from lighting designer Chahine Yavroyan, presents an attractive setting. The directors, Greig himself and Marisa Zanotti, have an interesting vision as they often leave characters on stage observing others. This can look cluttered but works in this context. This is not an easy play but it rewards the effort that is required to gain an understanding. Greig has been brave to take on such a fundamental subject in an experimental way. After its brief stay in Edinburgh, San Diego moves on to the Tron in Glasgow for a longer run. Read Philip Fisher's interview with David Greig. Red Hat and Tales Playwright Nick Salamone, author/lyricist of the golden Moscow, has got himself another hit - and approached from a different theatrical direction. Red Hat invites us into the closet and the escapist life of "middle-aged" Paul who is having trouble coping with the losses in his life. In a retaliative move, after his lover left him, he finds refuge in a marriage to a sympathetic if enabling woman. And this seems to be the only relationship that is functioning. One enters the theatre and his world to find Paul (Salamone) frenetically searching for a postcard among those littered over the stage (floor of this walk-in closet) and the source of some unpleasant (symbolic) odour. His reaction to the various losses in his life, not the least of which is his ex-lover, Albert, forces Paul to communicate, even with his patient, tolerant, sometimes amused wife, through unmailed postcards. There may be some skeletons in her closet as well. The character of Paul is not in the closet sexually (refreshing). It should be no surprise then that is his past. The make-believe relationships that he has established with his wife and the postcards reveal one new juggernaut after another sending him further from coping. In this production, Mr. Salamone has also taken the lead with co-star Elizabeth O'Connell as his bi-sexual counterpart. Mr. Solomone has not leaned on the clichéd tortures and torments of the prime-time television variety. Drawing the wife as a sympathetic, pragmatic enabler/motivator is unique as well. We can say, there but for the grace of God. . . . This dramatic tool, though tricky, works well with the material. The writing is loaded with "literary" references. Thanks in no small part to the director, Jon Lawrence Rivera, we never get bogged down in Paul's writing. Salamone and O'Connell are well balanced, believable and engaging. The lighting, though a little heavy handed, leaves no doubt as to which of Paul's realities we are in. But more than anything, it is Mr. Salamon's so realistic realisation of the character, both as writer and actor, that wins us over. Once again wedded theatrically to Guy Masterson Productions, it is no wonder that he has had so many awards thrown at him. Well, duck! |
|
|
|