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Fringe 2005 Reviews (16)
Guardians
By Peter Morris
Marwaff Theatre Company
Pleasance Courtyard
****
Peter Morris has built a strong Edinburgh reputation on an ability
to write well and take on controversial themes. Guardians exemplifies
both strands.
The play comprises two ostensibly unconnected monologues. Hywel John,
already a success in the same company's Angry Young Man, plays
a tabloid journalist on the make. MyAnna Buring, sporting a particularly
impressive American accent, is the Fringe's second Private Lynndie England,
the GI known for her Abu Ghraib torture techniques.
John plays a suave, pinstriped gutter hack who aspires to a career
on The Guardian. After trying more conventional means, he realises that
by utilising his TA rent boy friend's propensities for the M of S&M,
he can get some photos that will cause sensation and a step up to the
broadsheets.
He re-stages an Abu Ghraib style photoshoot, which his gullible editor
publishes. The fact that it is faked seems unimportant and this may
be Morris' most serious message.
Miss Buring trots out a sympathetic retelling of the Lynndie England
story with great emphasis on the way in which her lover makes this mentally-challenged
soldier do the unspeakable. If there is a slight problem with the play,
the soldier is supposedly unintelligent but at the same time seems highly
perceptive when analysing her life.
Peter Morris is well-served by his actors and director Michael Longhurst,
who dispassionately brings out this unusual pairing's characters. Guardians
is an enjoyable hour that obliquely condemns our society and its media.
Philip Fisher
Zoo Story
By Edward Albee
Zoo Productions
Gilded Balloon Teviot
****(*)
Zoo Productions, beginning from Edward Albee's stellar script about
loneliness and the desperate need for connections, build up this tale
of middle-class Peter and transient Jerry to a breathtaking fever pitch,
all in a little under an hour.
This straightforward, intense, and naturalistic interpretation of the
story allows the performers (both of whom are appearing in other shows
on the Fringe) to play off one another's strengths. Peter is so easy
to identify with, despite his reticent manner, and Jerry's outlandish,
frenetic energy helps to make him sympathetic even when he's plunging
the depths of manic psychosis. While the story is primarily Jerry's,
both characters have desperate desires to connect with others, a point
particularly relevant in the modern age.
Although the design of the piece is of necessity simple, the attention
paid to details in the set, costumes and soundscapes contribute an enormous
amount to the atmosphere of this play. The final product is evocative
and thrilling, keeping the audience engaged throughout its full length.
Rachel Lynn Brody
School Ties
By the Brothers Kaufman
C
*****
Anyone who remembers their schooldays will appreciate this: anyone
who has taught in a comprehensive school will wince!
School Ties is a musical about all aspects of school life, performed
by four girls who, between them, play the girls, boys and teachers of
this fictional (?) comprehensive school with devastating accuracy. Indeed,
one of the Brothers Kaufman, Julan, is a full-time teacher of English
and Drama at an East London comp and his elder brother Jonathan worked
as a supply teacher in SE London for five years (and that is a definition
of hell far more accurate than Satre's!).
No part of school life, from the perspective of both staff and students,
is ignored, and each gets its moment in the spotlight, either as a song,
a short but pithy scene, or a series of scenes. The cast of four - unnamed
in the programme, which is sad - switch characters effortlessly. I'd
like to say switch accents effortlessly, too, but unfortunately the
Geordie woodwork (sorry! CDT) teacher isn't quite right - but would
anyone but a Geordie realise? Probably not...
The show is fast moving and, even after a train journey that started
at 8am, the rush around press offices to pick up press pass and tickets,
and four other shows before the 10pm start, the hour and a quarter just
flew by.
Peter Lathan
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