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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2005 Reviews (38)Trad Trad is the kind of absurdist comedy that will appeal to lovers of Ridiculusmus. It follows the lives of a father and son (Frankie McCafferty and Peter Gowen) well past the age at which normal people have gone to meet their maker. The one-armed son is 100 so it doesn't take much effort to agree with him that his one-legged father must be even older. The plot, such as it is, follows the son's attempts to locate his own son, who must be 70, and in passing to find out who the mother is. As the quest progresses, the pair manage to make jokes about a large number of groupings for whom political correctness was justifiably created. These include the crippled, those of other races and more generally religion. Strangely, the funniest lines are those delivered by the centenarian priest, played by David Pearse. Depending on taste, this is either extremely funny or less than desirable. What is indisputably excellent is the Irish folk music played by the fiddle and guitar duo of Colin Farrell and Tony Byrne. Philip FisherHitting Funny There is a problem when people want to delve into the lives and work of stand-up comics. In order to criticise a routine, it is generally necessary to deliver it. Philip Ralph has both written and stars in Hitting Funny. He starts off by telling a bunch of not terribly funny jokes. Then, he gets into overdrive and, if nothing else, the reviewer learned the meaning of a couple of words relating to depraved sexual practices. Ralph's point seems to have been a criticism of the lengths to which comedians go to get their laughs. The problem is that he has fallen between two stools (he would have regarded this as a highly appropriate mot juste). Hitting Funny is neither a great comic routine, nor far enough removed to be taken seriously as analysis. There is always interest in the tears of a clown but on this occasion, the gratuitous excesses get in the way. Philip FisherImMortal2 Yet another show to make me want to run away and join the circus! Immortal2 is the polar opposite to the neat and tidy Balagan. It works very hard at being untidy, to its credit. It is pure muscle. This is a glut for the senses. All of the performers seem to be everywhere. Those not centrestage seem to be all around performing small tricks or howling or hanging. There is a story somewhere. "After death, another batch of human beings have arrived at the slaughterhouse." But if one cannot always hear or focus, there is not much lost. Apologies to the creator, but there is just so much! When the audience is first allowed into the space, many of the performers walk around trying to keep the audience focused on what is spotlighted. This is not an easy task as one tends to want to focus on the performer who is beside or behind or hanging upside down in the dark above; those who swing on bars, dance on ropes, hang on poles, juggle and fly. This is a total experience. There are so many people involved, 43, that naming them here would be impossible. I would only like to highlight the men who serve as counter-weights for the aerialists and acrobats and one especially, I think named Barnz. He watches the men and women in his care with such intensity, never seeming to take his eyes off of them, the sole judge of where they should be in the space. Sian Jenkins gets a nod for costumes created which are as motley and eclectic as they are similar in establishing a time and place. And the all important band adds an essential bit of atmosphere. Everything is beautiful and everyone is beautiful! Catherine Lamm |
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