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Fringe 2005 Reviews (23)
The Odd Couple
By Neil Simon
Assembly Hall
****
The forty-year old Odd Couple needs no introduction: on stage
and on film it has been popular throughout its life and has even spawned
a female version, also written by Neil Simon. It has been produced by
rep companies and amateur societies the length and breadth of the country
(and, no doubt, throughout the US too). To borrow a jazz expression,
it's a "standard".
Audiences know what they's going to get and the only question is, How
well will it be performed?
The publicity - one might almost say hype - for this particular production
by Guy Masterson has centred around the fact that comedians Alan Davies
(Felix) and Bill Bailey (Oscar) play the odd couple of the title, but
that does the show less than justice, for there is a cast of eight who
have a significant part to play in the play. These other characters
are also played by comedians (except for actresses Katherine Jakeways
and Lizzie Roper, who actually does do some stand-up in addition to
her mainly TV and voice-over work). All turn in good performances and,
although the two Pigeon sisters are the ones the audience will most
likely remember, that's because Simon gives them some of the best lines
of all the supports.
It is, however, the arrival onstage of, first, Bill Bailey and then
Alan Davies which the audience is most looking forward to and, although
it didn't happen on the day I was there, I certainly got the feeling
that they wanted to applaud the stars' appearance.
They do give a good account of themselves, with Bailey a bit ahead
on points, slipping comfortably into the role of the slobby Oscar. Davies
gets the anally-retentive Felix well too, but that accent! It wasn't
exactly mid-Atlantic, more Essex man who has spent a bit of time watching
old American black and white movies.
I was doubtful that it would be worthwhile reviving the play, thinking
it has been done to death over the years, but I am a convert!
Peter Lathan
The Red Shoes
After Hans Christian Andersen, adapted by Stephe Harrop
Touch My Toes Theatre
C Central
**(*)
This production attempts to unite the allegory of the classic Hans
Christian Andersen fairy tale with a story set in a contemporary war
zone but the narrative line is a bit confused and not always easy to
follow.
Described as a physical theatre piece, it does have some striking images
but the physicality is generally on a fairly basic, dance-related, level.
There was plenty of energy and commitment from the cast but the lack
of narrative clarity meant tha,t for me at any rate, it didn't really
work.
Peter Lathan
Tropea: Couch Potatoes' Paradise
Laroque Dance Company/Helene Weinzierl
AuroraNova@St Stephens
***
There is a whimsical humour about the set up to Tropea. A rather
trashy and bourgeois 'hausfrau' is the couch potato on an overstuffed
sofa in a cluttered lounge with fluffy slippers and remote control ready
to zap. The irony is that she is on the screen while the TV programmes
she is watching are happening live on the stage. Footballers and celebrities
are joined by holiday makers with flippers, snorkels and plastic sharks,
chat show hosts, and political commentary. This is quick change theatre
and the dancers have all their costumes to hand on a rack onstage.
This is nimble choreography in which movement approximates more or
less to real life actions and it is the dancing that saves an otherwise
bland production that really doesn't go anywhere or live up to its initial
promise. It is a pleasant performance, charming in places but perhaps
too gentle for my own tastes.
Jackie Fletcher
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