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Fringe 2006 Reviews (7)
The Unattended
By Daniel Maier
Suspect Package
Gilded Balloon Teviot
****
Set in the security office of a Newcastle shopping centre at night,
The Unattended seems, for much of its length, to be a comedy
of character, the three characters being Jack and Bob, ex-policemen
and established security guards, and the new boy, Nat, much younger
and with a questionable history of drug-taking. But there's a twist
in the tail, a twist signalled almost unnoticeably at various points
throughout the play.
Author Maier cleverly misdirects us into wondering about Bob's secret
and the injury that took Jack out of the Force, and involves us in the
minutiae of the rather boring job - the fact that the company provides
plastic cups rather than mugs looms large in Jack's mind. He keeps us
amused throughout with his characters' foibles
A well-crafted play, well performed.
Peter Lathan
The Steamie
By Tony Roper
Practical Magic
Radisson SAS Hotel
*****
Tony Roper's play is by way of being a modern classic of Scottish theatre,
so it needs no introduction. It has little in the way of plot but does
have beautifully developed characters and Roper manipulates our emotions
very effectively, taking us from amusement to pathos and back again,
leaving us with an immense admiration for these hard-working but always
cheerful women.
All depends on the actors: without strong performances, the play could
easily become tedious, but the four actresses - veteran Catherine Steel,
Marianne Muir, Yvonne Waring and Fiona McLaren - along with the one
male Ryan Gemmell do not disappoint. They give a very satisfying ensemble
performance, no one dominating in any way but working together to give
a clear picture of the lives and characters of the women of three working
class Glasgow generations.
The audience loved it, and justifiably so, for Practical Magic's production
pleases on all levels. Unfortunately it only runs for a week, so the
majoroty of Fringegoers will miss out on an excellent piece of theatre.
Peter Lathan
Unprotected
By Esther Wilson, John Fay, Tony Green and Lizzie Nunnery
Traverse 1
****
It could be argued that the progenitor of Unprotected with its
tragic tale of murdered Liverpudlian prostitutes is a most unexpected
source.
As Tricia Kelly's Lucy says, "Margaret Thatcher put a lot of girls
on the game, that woman did". Not a big fan of Lady T., this social
worker also believes that "She'll burn in hell when she dies".
Strong stuff but by the end of this powerful two hour verbatim drama,
one can understand the sentiment.
This style of theatre requires conflict and tragedy to thrive and,
perhaps pleasingly, there are not that many subjects around that lend
themselves to the edited words of in this case 1,000 people. In fact,
a few years back, Robin Soans' A State Affair covered very similar
ground, in a setting just the other side the Pennines.
A small ensemble cast, held together by Leanne Best as Ali, puts together
the words of prostitutes, their mothers and customers, police, politicians
and support workers building a montage of the terror of working in this
profession and the short life expectancy.
The key stories are those of Ali and the mothers of two murdered girls,
played with great feeling by Joan Kempson and Pauline Daniels. There
are a lot of common threads running through the histories of these girls,
broken homes, teen pregnancy, drugs and a life servicing kerb crawlers
with regular beatings the norm.
These victims are the very bottom of a pile in which they are treated
like dirt and even sauna workers are regarded as upmarket. Even the
legal authorities regard them as little more than animals, with penalties
for men who beat them far more lenient that for abusers of "normal"
women.
At the end too, just as it seems that little more is left to shock
the audience, we hear the real voices of some of the murdered street
girls.
The general media view of prostitution is of girls who have chosen
to act outside the law and get what they deserve. Unprotected
presents them as vulnerable human beings and shows how easily many deprived
people with little hope of employment or happiness could go the same
way.
The four writers, helped by director Nina Raine, have cut the interviews
together well and after a slow start create a very compelling work that
hits its target perfectly. It even manages a little humour though inevitably
of the gallows variety.
This is not comfortable theatre but should be compulsory viewing for
anyone who thinks that this problem can be brushed under the carpet
in what is soon to be "The (European) Capital of Culture",
or for that matter anywhere else.
Philip Fisher
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