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Fringe 2005 Reviews (60)
Halo Boy and the Village of
Death
Devised by the Company
Scripted by Ben Arnold
Westminster School Presents
C Chambers Street
****
With poster art (not to mention a title character's name) that could
have come straight off a page from Tim Burton's The Melancholy Death
of Oyster Boy, Halo Boy and the Village of Death is a play
full of black humour and questions about the state of religion in the
modern world.
Halo Boy, nee Renwick (Edd Franklin), can't help but do good. He lives
in a village full of adults who do nothing but evil to their children
during the week, while going to church and professing their godliness
on Sundays. Ultimately, Halo Boy's goodness is corrupted by the abusive
adults, and he wreaks his revenge by making everyone believe an Apocalypse
is imminent.
The questions it raises about morality and love have been asked before,
but Halo Boy's unabashed dedication to portraying the cold cruelty
of the world the company has created makes for a delightful (if depraved)
hour-long ride.
Cast members Tom Gill (Gulmann), Ben Arnold (Kaletsky), and Kate O'Connor
(Leakyhead) deserve special mention for their utterly convincing characterizations.
Rachel Lynn Brody
Golden Prospects
By Craig Campbell
Skulldiggery
C Chambers Street
*****
During the early days of the Fringe, I chanced to pick up a flyer for
Golden Prospects while sitting in the bar at C on Chambers Street.
As I folded it up and slipped it into my bag, a man straight out of
a 1900s western leaned over and said, "Good choice." He was,
obviously, a member of the company - and although the show only has
a few more days to run, I've now learned that his words couldn't have
been more accurate.
As far as over-the-top theatre is concerned, the best stuff takes happens
when there's a flawless marriage of genre, performance, and design.
Such is the case with Golden Prospects, where the acting style,
script, costumes, and set blend to create a melodrama so outlandish
it has to be laughed at. A mother whose suicide attempts make her more
and more crippled, two twins separated at birth, and an evil oil magnate
are all features of this funny, self-aware, and fulfilling show.
Golden Prospects might require as much thought from its audience
as sleazy filmmakers want from their actors, but it's delightful and
entertaining, with a tight plot and dialogue that can't help but make
audience members laugh out loud.
Rachel Lynn Brody
Untitled
Napier Drama Society
St. Augustine's
***
An easy-going recitation of a number of short stories, plays, and poems
by Scottish writers who cover a wide range of topics and locations.
The black-clad performers read from scripts and although their performances
are unpolished, the language is enough to carry the audience through
this forty-five minute show.
After a number of grandiose shows on this year's Fringe, it's nice
to see something smaller and more modest in its ambitions, though at
times the actors' lack of confidence distracted from the words they
were reciting.
Rachel Lynn Brody
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