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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2003 Reviews (16)Revolution: Sex, Dance and Rock
'n' Roll There are always one or two shows that seem to dim the rest. Not to take the value or appreciation from the creative hard work that makes the Edinburgh Fringe an embarrassment of riches. But what they all strive for or just miss having or, worse, only think that they have, is the quality that takes the audience’s breath away. It is talent and unified quality and flawless production values. But more than these, it has to have an overabundance of almost naïve energy and excitement that is so infectious as to almost instantly capture an audience. Revolution is such a production. A universal appeal to the energy-junkie teenagers in the audience who revel in the “rock star” quality and to the baby boomers still remembering clearly and trying to capture the halcyon 60’s and 70’s. This dimpled duo has one great thing that has brought “Revolution” this far: there seems to be a fathomless wealth of passion and love for the “work”. They have done all of the choreography, writing and music for the show. (Who says you cannot do it all!) They dance, sing, and play drums (Hanna) and guitar (Schulster). One gets the feeling that the performers cannot stand still. Would that the book was as structurally sound and better used. (Small stuff.) To say that this could be the new Stomp or Noise/Funk or Chorus Line would take something away from these productions and do an injustice to the variety of “work” done by this group. I say work in quotation marks because in never looks like work during this very short hour and a quarter. You cannot hear the exhale over the din as the stage fades to black. Mr. Schulster and Mr. Hanna are the driving force pulling in and along the colleagues with a like view of show business; a none too flattering one of the machinery of theatre. They are operating under the premise that they will retain the creative control and business control of the production and that the old guard will be so eager to have the project that they will be happy to just throw money at they. Compromise being their Pandora‘s Box. Naïve? Maybe. But stranger things have happened in this business. I have no intention of raining on their parade. It would only give them something to “sing” in. By being sole investors Mr. Hanna and Mr. Schulster have been able to get it this far with a cast of fifteen friends. And if they could not perform at the Roxy, they would take to the streets, most especially Mr. Schulster and Mr. Hanna. They look like they are about to explode. These incredible talented performers with energy enough to light the New York that I left last week, should have no problem finding the help that they need. I can only wish for them that the do get it on their own terms. Camarilla This is a political drama that is so close to a real success. Van Badham still has the great promise that she showed with Kitchen last year but really needs a good dramaturg or director to tighten up her script. The four characters are all interesting and the main plot line builds to a really unexpected and satisfying dénouement. Along the way there are too many dead ends that slow the play. Further, each person's motivations is muddied and they irritatingly act out of character. Having said all of that, Camarilla takes on and explores really interesting political issues. How do a New Labour husband and a left-wing wife manage to reconcile their differences? Why has he "sold out" while she still flies the flag? How do two step-siblings from opposite sides of the Atlantic view US imperialism and the War on Terror? Finally, to what extent is violent political protest acceptable? Go and see Camarilla if you are interested in contemporary political issues, forgive it for some of the soapy melodrama and you will have a thought-provoking evening. Chicken: The True Story of a Teenage
Gigolo At the threshold of the sexual revolution, a naïve young David Henry Sterry found himself alone on the secretive and predatory streets of Hollywood. It did not take long before the city taught him a few very unwelcome lessons. But he learned quickly and turned his experience to his advantage during his youth and into theatrical fodder in his adulthood. “Chicken (n) A teenager engaged in indiscriminate sex.” At 17 Mr. Sterry’s tells us he encountered nuns, transvestites, a short order cook, older women, pimps and one “cute” co-ed. And for the chicken hawks and pimps that found him, he was “the fountain of youth and they wanted to suck me dry”. His recount of his rape is spot-on. With only a bench, his high-energy pacing works well for the material. But he defuses some of the scenes with too much of it. Because he misses the arc of the piece, it feels a bit flat and anticlimactic. As a tragic piece, this would have been painfully self-indulgent. But with Mr. Sterry’s approaches the material with such wit and charm that we are never allowed the indulgences of sympathy or pity. If the system allowed for half-stars, this would have been three and a half! |
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