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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2006 Reviews (11)Particularly in the Heartland
Watching a play devised by New York based The TEAM can be like trying to take a mobile phone call from an area with poor reception. This young company throws around many ideas and has boundless energy but their message can often disappear amongst far too much white noise. Particularly in the Heartland is a satire on contemporary American life and politics. Following group recitals of the iconic songs about America building to a rendition of all six verses of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the play starts with the dramatically represented death of Robert F Kennedy. We then cut to the home of the Springer family in Kansas, the dead centre of the USA. After their parents mysteriously disappear, the three small children enter a nightmare with visits from RFK, an old schoolfriend's ghost who might be an alien and a woman called Dorothy, though again it isn't clear whether this Dorothy is Kansas's most famous traveller to Oz. By the end, one has some idea of the concerns of intelligent young Americans and the recollection of some memorable images but these Fringe First winners from last year must be regarded as an acquired taste. Philip Fisher In the Continuum
It is delightful to report that this remarkable Off-Broadway phenomenon has made a smooth transition to Edinburgh. This is a two-hander about deprivation and AIDS in two countries, written and performed by a pair of prodigiously talented young ladies still less than two years out of New York University. They play two women whose lives seem utterly different but begin to converge as the fates turn against them. Abigail, played by Danai Gurira, is a newsreader on ZBC (Dead BC to its viewers) in Zimbabwe, one of the great and the good of her society. By way of contrast, Nikkole Salter's Nia is a sassy nineteen year old American living in the 'hoods of LA. While Abigail is happily married with a son and a good career, Nia is on probabtion, has lost her job and her prospects of a happy life with a ball star boyfriend seem slim. Their lives change instantly and simultaneously when each first discovers that she is pregnant and then that she has contracted AIDS. The delivery of this message, with the two stories from across the world overlapping, is both very clever and incredibly powerful. From there, they have to come to terms with the news and then pluck up courage to confront the philandering men who have left them and their unborn children condemned to an uncertain future. The attraction of this show, well directed by Robert O'Hara, is a structure that not only has the two writers playing their main roles, never quite overlapping though with various points of intersection, but also every other part. This showcases their talent as character actresses and introduces the audience to some fantastic comic creations including Probation Patty, a couple of mothers and, best of all, Miss Gurira as a witch doctor. In the Continuum achieves a number of goals. It shows woman's predicament in the face of AIDS and inconsiderate men; demonstrates that the problems of LA and Harare can both be equally Third World; and proves that with enough talent, unknowns can break straight into theatre and tour the world. You may shed tears of both laughter and empathy during In the Continuum. What higher recommendation can there be? Philip Fisher Pumpgirl As one might expect from the combined pedigree of the Traverse and the Bush, this is a high quality piece of theatre that, under Mike Bradwell's direction, grips throughout its 90 minutes. Set in South Armagh, but spiritually closer to Ancient Greece or the American Heartlands, Pumpgirl is made up of three intersecting monologues. The style is Conor McPherson but, ignoring the accents, the characters are more Sam Shepard or David Mamet. Named after her job, Orla Fitzgerald's Pumpgirl is androgynous and desperately insecure. It doesn't help that she knows that she "walks like John Wayne and looks like his horse". She dotes on the wolfish, moustachioed chicken hatchery worker and stock car racer, "No Helmet Hammy", played by James Doran. He is constantly unfaithful to his wife, Sinead (Maggie Hayes) and seemingly stays with her only for the sake of their two little children. These three have in common the disappointment of unfulfilled love and the kind of life that naturally leads to contemplation of suicide. With much imagery derived from popular contemporary culture, Abbie Spallen uses language beautifully and stuctures her play well, helped by three well-cast actors. As well as telling a domestic tale on a small scale, Pumpgirl has greater ambitions. Its destructive and self-loathing protagonists are the result of a community in which violence is imbibed with mother's milk. They therefore reflect the brutality of their society but also an ability to survive real horrors. With affairs and gangbangs, potential child murder and desertion, Pumpgirl is no barrel of laughs. However, as a well-crafted look at ordinary people getting by in the Northern Irish countryside, it is something pretty special. Philip Fisher
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