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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2005 Reviews (64)On the Scent Played to audiences of four, this is a thirty five minuter taking in three monologues accompanied by, punctuated by and informed by - scent. Smell. It's an organoleptic extravaganza with a narrative that pulses with child sexual abuse, Hiroshima, loss of virginity, loss of youth, loss of innocence. We pass though a cloyingly decorated sitting room, a claustrophobic kitchen and a white, light, musty sick-bedroom. In terms of our senses, the kitchen wins hands down - sizzling pork chop, hair spray, cheap aftershave, fag smoke, chilli powder, popcorn (spewing out of a dafy-duck novelty popper, bouncing on the floor), all accompanied by recorded chanting and the incessant whittering of a neurotic mixed up lady who lost it to a nuclear physicist who worked on atomic weapons and God, let me get out here.... It's a strange experience: the three actors make eye contact, offer goodies, act as if we are all buddies. At times it is all too life-like. You want to make an excuse and leave, but these are actors offering considered words, and so this is an experience which is greater than its apparent parts. It's a sequence of comments on life, not life itself. Hill and Paris form the aptly titled Curious - a company that gets under the skin and asks a lot more questions than it answers. Ray Brown Babooska Five women dash in and out of five fitting cublicles, telling and revealing their life stories as they seek the holy grail of a wardrobe that will make the difference. This is no-bones-about-it didactic theatre at its best, like the old BBC it entertains, educates, informs. It is stunningly refreshing to see a show that really has a lot to say and gets on and says it: society has given women a very dodgy deal. So three cheers for gender politics, especially when the text, design and performance is as good as this. The audience lapped it up, responses ranging from chuckle to hysterical laughter. For this is comedy, full of knife-edge one-liners, smouldering anger, cheekchewing embarrassment, implosive and explosive misunderstanding and acute observation. I loved it and, three quarters through, was overwhelmed by the love I've felt for partners over the years. What a privilege for a bloke to sit in the audience and watch this show! Ray Bown
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