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Fringe 2006 Reviews (43)
White Open Spaces
Pentabus Theatre
Pleasance Dome
****
Completely Fucking See-Through by Francesca Beard
The Management Reserve the Right by Richard Rai O'Neill
Mountain Knows Me by Rommi Smith
Joy's Prayer by Ian Marchant
Two Men in the Fog by Sonali Bhattacharya
A Question of Courage by Courttia Newland
Letting Yourself Go by Kara Miller
Imagine seven of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads set in Shropshire
with an over-riding theme of outsiders invading the countryside and
you have a fair idea of what to expect from White Open Spaces,
directed by Theresa Heskins for Pentabus.
This is a project initiated by Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Commission
for Racial Equality, to investigate "passive apartheid" in
the countryside. The output will become a series on Woman's Hour
in the near future.
With seven different writers, five performers and a range of styles
and subjects, the standard can be variable but most of these writers
know how to use ten minutes of material to get their messages across.
The afternoon starts well with Completely Fucking See-Through,
a cracking story about Melanie, a tough Black Londoner who gets ditched
on the way back from a society wedding in the country at which she stuck
out like a sore thumb. The delivery from Endy Mackay is spot on and
ensures a few good laughs.
The fifth monologue, Two Men in the Fog delivered by Saraj Chaudhry
looks at an Asian man with family problems who decides to go back to
basics, almost with fatal consequences. However, eventually both humour
and humanity shine through.
Letting Yourself Go, the last is the pick, as one might expect.
It features prejudice and forgiveness and Janice Connolly's portrayal
of poor, limited Janey may start like an episode of The Archers
but will eventually leave some in tears.
The remaining tales cover equally important issues such as the obsessive
hatred of Travellers, and blind prejudice against Black people, purely
based on ignorance.
With Kate Bunce's simple set design featuring film, White Open Spaces
forms a partial but worrying view of our green and pleasant land and
deserves the exposure that it will receive both in Edinburgh and more
widely.
Philip Fisher
Emily's Kitchen
Tangled Feet
Gilded Balloon Teviot
*****
This is Tangled Feet’s third year presenting at the Fringe. Last
year’s very successful production, Lost Property had the
same unique, quirky approach to the material as this year’s offering,
Emily’s Kitchen.
Emily (Emily Jane Horn) spends her days trying to find herself in radio
shows the way some are known to do with the “soaps”. In a
turnabout, Emily gets lost in one of the programs and it takes a search
party of the radio personalities to find her. There is also a little
of the “there’s no place like home” aspect in her revelation.
Certainly the story is unique, a bit out there. But they might be examining
where we find our reality.
What makes Tangle Feet stand out is the way that they tell their story.
Jonathan Ellicott, Alex Ramsden, Shelly Halstead, Beth Wignall and
Leon Smith round out this ensemble piece. The fluid choreography creates
their signature approach.
Everything - acting, directing, set, lighting, sound, and choreography
- work excellently well to make this one of the stellar productions
of this year’s Fringe.
Catherine Lamm
Ella Meets Marilyn
By Bonnie Greer
Andy Jordan Productions
Pleasance Dome
**
Trying to be all things to all men is usually a mistake in the context
of theatre. Ella Meets Marilyn falls into this trap and only
really succeeds to a degree thanks to the talent of Rain Pryor.
The dual biographies do more justice to Ella Fitzgerald than the rather
sketchy facts about Marilyn Monroe. The bottle blonde's main part was
to offer sexual favours to a club manager in order to persuade him to
recruit the coloured singer.
Miss Prior sings well though it is irritating that every song is interrupted
by a story or two. Sally Lindsay doesn't ever really look or to a lesser
extent sound the part of Miss Monroe.
To complete the mix, Bonnie Greer cannot resist a fair amount of the
history of Civil Rights, as Ella explains the difficulties that she
suffered in making a career.
Philip Fisher
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