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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2004 Reviews (41)Stacking Last year, Katy Slater had something of a success with her 15 minute show, toast, set on a step ladder. For 2004, the publicity suggested that she was expanding her repertoire to 25 minutes. Her fans need not be concerned as Stacking also comes in at very little over the magical quarter-hour. This is a quirky, sometimes surreal monologue about supermarket love. Sandra is unambitious and lacks self-respect. She meets Des, a man who spends his time counting the specks in Formica. The two embark on a remarkably low-key affair in which nothing much happens. This is of no great moment as Miss Slater's understated writing is always entertaining and her delivery deadpan. It can only be a matter of time before Katy Slater goes for a half-hour epic and then a new War and Peace cannot be far behind. In the meantime, her minimalist tales are great fun. Philip Fisher Caravan Having spent some time in utter adoration of the Czech National Puppet Theatre I figured I knew all there is to know about puppetry. However, I was surprised to discover the sheer eroticism of wooden nakedness when a puppet tantalized her clientele gyrating seductively with a feather boa. These puppets tempt you into a willing suspension of disbelief and if you answer their call to imaginative collaboration the hands that manipulate them disappear and they become quite mesmerizing. This is definitely adult fiction: a sad tale of love in a noirish underworld of sex, violence, drugs and mindless murder in which the women are exploited, the police are pigs and the stage is strewn with blood and body parts. If the film Being John Malkovich were Being Quentin Tarantino, this is the type of puppetry in which he would have excelled. The puppets play their parts with superb and finely nuanced movement, an atmosphere of seediness is admirably evoked and the action elicits a genuine emotional response from an audience even in this oddly ironic context. The lighting designer deserves accolades for highlighting these little creations in dark streets and cavernous hell-holes. There is an element of surprise at work in this show. One really doesn't expect to see puppets copulating, masturbating and pole dancing, especially with such attention to realistic details that are a delight. Ultimately, this is the shows forte. There is a cheekiness implicity in the delivery, a naughtiness that goes beyond the subject matter. After all, it is only in our minds that these wooden creatures really come to life to commit these sleazy deeds. That is the magic of puppetry. In some countries puppetry has a long-standing tradition as a much respected art form and is certainly not merely children's saccarine entertainment. Caravan should convince you of puppetry's potential. In an age when theatre is competing with reality television, puppetry has an undeniable edge to it. Jackie Fletcher Fanny and Faggott Imagine being stuck in a lift for half an hour with two quarrelsome ten-year old girls. That's Fanny and Faggott, a play in a lift about two ten-year old girls who kill two little boys. The 5065 Lift is one of the seemingly innumerable venues scattered across the Pleasance Courtyard (where on earth will they find the next one?) and it is showing a programme of half-hour shows specially written for the space. Fanny and Faggott are the names the girls give themselves as they quibble and squabble and make up. Occasionally the scene switches to their trial, with one or other of the two actresses taking the part of counsel or judge. Although the piece is well played, making remarkable use of the tiny space (and of the audience crowded around the walls!), the narrative line is not as clear as it might be: we do not know, for example, why they killed. We can, and do, infer that it is from boredom, but I wasn't convinced. I loved the performances but feel that the play itself needs more work. Peter Lathan |
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