|
|
|
|
The
Edinburgh Fringe
|
|
|
|
Fringe 2004 Reviews (15)Paul Merton's Impro Chums How can you review a show that is completely rewritten every performance? The only thing to look at is the skill with which the performers translate the suggestions from the audience into scenes and sketches. With this show, this is in no doubt; Merton and his chums are able to translate the dullest of stimuli into some very entertaining scenes. The structure of the show is similar to the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? with the performers taking it in turns to chair each game, but somehow it seems cleverer and funnier when watched live on stage. Music is provided by Richard Vranch, who is just as good an improviser when he is acting as when he is playing music. These performers are so quick and together that they seem to be reading one another's minds at times. If you enjoyed Whose Line Is It Anyway?, this show is a must-see. David Chadderton Boothby Graffoe and the Following
People Boothby Graffoe is a regular visitor to the Fringe, and has, over the last few years, been gradually moving to larger and larger performance spaces. This year he has moved from the Assembly Rooms to the largest space in the Pleasance. Joining him are three musicians on drums, double bass and percussion / trumpet, while Graffoe plays guitar. Boothby Graffoe presents a relaxed, amiable personality as he takes the audience on his strange but compelling flights of fancy. He touches on satire, uses lots of clever wordplay and presents whole dialogues voiced entirely by him, at one point with his own fingers as they try to find where they should be on his guitar fretboard. His comic songs are wonderful; they are actually very nice songs, but they deal with fantastical characters (such as Baseball Playing Spider and Bungee Girl) or present apparently normal situations then completely change our perception of what is happening with each line. His first album contains a selection of his songs, but, as clever and funny as they are, they are not the same without being able to see those expressive eyes of his. He said that the only thing rarer than someone with a copy of his album is someone with a copy of his album that isn't signed. Well maybe, if I see his album in a shop, I'll get a copy - to go with the one he signed for me last year. Graffoe is always extremely funny, and he is able to merge improvised material with prepared routines seamlessly. His Radio 4 shows are often very funny, but he is most at home in front of a live audience, improvising responses to their reactions, responses from his musicians and even his own mistakes. His new show is at least as good as previous ones and is highly recommended. David Chadderton Tiny Dynamite After winning this year's Shared Stages competition at Queen Margaret University College, Tiny Dynamite is now being presented as the Shared Stages entry in the Fringe programme. Jonathan Holt and Adam Reeves play Anthony and Lucien respectively - two friends who have a painful, shared loss in their past. Anthony's disintegration since the death of a woman they both loved has led to Lucien's periodically taking him to the country for a couple of weeks. It is on one such excursion that they meet Madeleine (Fiona Morrison), and are reminded of the past they haven't quite managed to sort out yet. Relationships are at the heart of this performance, and the tension between the characters becomes greater with every passing scene. The relationship between Anthony and Lucien, so complicated by both their old friend and their new one, is in some ways ambiguous but in other ways perfectly clear - these two friends are struggling to save one another because of their failure to save a woman they both once loved. Meanwhile, Madeleine gravitates toward one and then the other before finally realizing aloud that when she's with them is when she's most alone. The action takes place on a minimal set, with props and large white flats creating Lucien's summer home. The scenes are brief, but multiple changes avoid monotony by incorporating movement to show what connects one scene to the next; a point when this is particularly well done is when the three characters bond over a night of drinking. What doesn't work well is the video projections, which don't always connect with what's taking place on stage. As the show progresses, one feels perhaps this design conceit wasn't strictly necessary to the enrichment of the material being performed. This aside, Tiny Dynamite is a sharp, well-directed production by some very talented students. Rachel Lynn Brody |
|
|