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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2004 Reviews (25)Band on the Break A capella conjures up visions of barber shop quartets, singing the Eton Boating Song, complete with striped blazers and boaters. The Magnets could hardly be further from this image. In fact the only thing that they have in common with their ancient brethren is a bunch of sweet voices, in one case apparently strained, either by illness or overwork. There are six rather than four of them, they dress very smartly each with a different haircut, and resemble an ageing Boy Band (all things are relative). This group combines singing with some light comedy as they and their friends, including two artistic knights and a Prime Minister, urge the world to buy their record and get them to Number 1 somewhere, anywhere. This achievement may not be that easy, as their greatest hit so far, charted at 77. What makes The Magnets really special is not the singing or the humour. It is their ability to generate all of the sounds by human effort. They have to be heard to be believed. They claim that Andy Frost is a genius and it's true. He is the percussion man and he uncannily imitates cymbals, drums etc. He is so good that he is given a solo that shows off his talent and leaves him bathed in sweat. The music varies between boy band and soul. Following a number of their own songs and a couple of covers, it reaches a climax with a cover of the Jackson Five's Blame it on the Boogie. This has the ever-enthusiastic audience participating, involving them in meaningless but happy arm-waving and pelvic thrusts. At the end of the hour-long show, this very slick band are of course happy to sign CDs (only from Pod Deco and HMV) in their attempts to reach that elusive Top Spot. They sold a good number and will undoubtedly have gained many more devoted fans by the end of their Edinburgh engagement. Philip Fisher Bombshells This seems to be an Australian Dream. A Fringe First winner in the first week, written by Joanna Murray-Smith who had such success with Honour at the National Theatre last year and starring Caroline O'Connor. For those that don't know the name, Miss O'Connor is a cabaret star who made a big impression alongside Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge. Bombshells may not quite cover the seven ages of man but does a good job on four ages of women. It starts with an uncertainly expectant bride as she dresses for and attends her wedding. This part should carry a government health warning for any engaged woman (or man for that matter). The moral that can be derived is that you should not marry a "pot plant" just for the sake of wearing the wedding dress that you have been dreaming of since third form. From there we reach an almost homicidal mother of three. This allows Miss O'Connor to demonstrate a machine-gun like delivery that owes much to Simon Phillips' direction. It is with the third character, Chipping Norton widow Winsome that the piece really moves up to the highest class. The story of her passionate meeting with a young, blind man to whom she reads could be an Alan Bennett Talking Head and may well be the reason that the Scotsman selected this show for its elite. The last piece regresses to an Irish girlhood. The use of a talent show as a vehice for an actor has been milked many times, before but the way in which the actress transforms from O'Shaughnessy the Cat to Isaac Hayes' Shaft is both breathtaking and hilarious. This is O'Connor the cabaret artiste at her magical best. In summary, this is something of an uneven show with two fairly entertaining sketches followed by two absolute gems from a suberb performer. Philip Fisher Jazz Mouse Ailie Cohen tells a story about when she was a child and was forced to have music lessons with her strict aunt, who had the dullest possible approach to teaching music and had therefore lost all her other pupils. The young girls' saviour comes in the form of a mouse who was living in the piano when it was brought over from France, and who happens to talk and be quite a skilful jazz pianist. Cohen tells this story using a combination of narration, role-play and puppetry, all skilfully carried out by her. The show contains element of a good story, some humour appreciated by both children and adults, great puppets and a good acting performance from Cohen. However the whole somehow seems to add up to less than these good parts, as the show is lacking in pace and seems to drag at times despite only being fifty minutes long. Some scenes seem to be dragged out a bit, and there are sometimes long breaks between scenes while Cohen gets the puppets or herself ready for the next part, or while she climbs in or out of the piano on stage. Jazz Mouse contains the elements of a good family show, but
it still needs some work to bring it up to its potential. |
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