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Fringe 2006 Reviews (31)
The Visitor
121 Theatre
Hill Street
****
Against the background of Vienna racked by the Nazi takeover, Sigmund
Freud is debating whether or not he should accept the offer of escape
to Britain with his daughter on condition that he sign a paper stating
that he has been well treated and has seen no sign of persecution of
the Jews, even though he and everyone else knows of the activities of
the Gestapo and the camps. Anna wants him to agree, as does the American
embassy, but he is unsure. And then a visitor arrives, dressed in immaculate
evening dress, with a twinkle in his eye and an air of amusement about
him.
This is God. He must be - no one else can see him and he just appears
and disappears from within the house, not through the front door. There
is, however, another possibility... We never learn, however, and that
is part of the conundrum.
With continuous intimidation from a Gestapo officer and persuasion
from his daughter and the mysterious visitor, Freud eventually agrees
to sign and leave. In between the bulk of the piece is taken up with
the interplay between Freud and his visitor in dialogue which sparkls
with intellectual energy.
It's a play which needs concentration but it well repays the effort,
and is superbly performed.
Peter Lathan
Vocation of a Whore
Tearo dei Borgia
Zoo Southside
***
A piece of one-woman storytelling as an "excellent prostitute"
plans to be an "excellent wife". Although the performance
is fine, the piece lacks dramtic tension and there seems no point to
the actress' stripping down by stages to a flesh-coloured body stocking.
Although the performer has quite engaging aura of innocence, we never
feel drawn in to the story or feel anything more than mild interest.
Peter Lathan
The Hired Man
Book and lyrics by Melvyn Bragg, music by Howard Goodall
Exadus Theatre Company
Augustine's
***(*)
A cast of eighteen, mainly ex-students of Ashby School in Leicestershire
who are on performing arts courses throughout the country, form a strong
ensemble in this celebration of the working men of Cumbria (and, by
extension, of the UK) in the years surrounding the First World War.
The performances are solid and there are some interesting creative ideas,
such as the use of oblongs of material to be everything from aprons
to working tools to babies.
While there is little to complain of in terms of the production and
its values, the piece itself is a little too ambitious. As it tries
to cram the entire life of a couple (including an extra-marital affair),
the war, the love of the land, the work ethic, the growth of the union
movement and more into an hour, inevitably there is little depth - imagine
trying to condense Middlemarch into one hour onstage! - and we
are left feeling that there is much that had been passed over too quickly.
And in a production which comes from a school, surely someone should
have noticed the out-of-place apostrophe in the slide which reads "Pride
has it's place"!
Peter Lathan
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