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Fringe 2006 Reviews (47)
Fahrenheit 451
By Ray Bradbury
GODLIGHT Theatre Company
Gilded Balloon Teviot
***
One can not escape the connotations of 9/11 on walking into the theatre
and seeing the fireman lined up ready for action - the soundscape reinforcing
what we believe to be an emergency call - a life or death situation.
Then, we quickly realize that this is not our safe and familiar world.
Instead we have entered the possible future, where firemen start fires,
destroying history and culture as a daily routine.
There are clear overtones of a world not so far away from the science
fiction novels we are all familiar with, George Orwell's 1984,
Huxley's Brave New World, and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
These concepts are terrifying because censorship is as common now as
candyfloss at a fairground, but perhaps if you say 'Censorship' enough,
people might just stop hearing it.
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is poetic, his ability as a wordsmith
is unquestionable, but I do not only want to listen to theatre, I want
to see it and while this production, directed by Joe Tantalo, was performed
with precision, I felt that visually the production was quite disappointing,
the costumes lacked creativity and the actors were often poorly lit.
We follow Guy Montag, the disillusioned hero, on his journey away from
ignorance, towards a thirst for knowledge, and even though the performance
by Gregory Konow is admirable, Montag is a difficult character to sympathise
with. Mildred, his wife on the other hand is wonderfully tragic, played
effortlessly by Kristen Harlow. Montag's awakened consciousness is ignited
by the young Clarisse, played energetically by Tara Brown, provoking
Montag to think and question the ethics of his world with the mantra
of - and I paraphrase - "There was a time when fireman use to stop
fires not start them."
The opening line, "It was a pleasure to burn", creates anticipation
and encourages a whirl-wind of theatrical sensations, all executed in
the first part of the production. However, Fahrenheit 451 went
from captivating to repetitive in the later part of the production.
Unfortunately, in places there was an overload of academic references
and a bombardment of information, ironically similar to the world of
advertising which Clarisse criticises.
The climax of the production is when Montag attacks Captain Beatty,
played by Michael Tranzilli, but as the antagonist, Beatty, showed little
dimension. No villain is ever all bad and it would have been moving
to see more of Beatty's personal struggle with the status quo.
On the most part the production was not disappointing, but I had hoped
for more dramatic action and a little less exposition. In places, the
text was too obvious with usual attacks on censorship and media, politics
and religion. Of course I understand the use of motif in theatre, but
when does a motif become a crutch?
Even though the text could have benefited from the same economy as
the set, the performers delivered each line, each word, with energy
and commitment. With such a large cast (ten performers), it is quite
rare to find all of them 'working it' consecutively. Both the chorus
and the principal actors showed conviction in their roles. As an ensemble
they moved around the modest space with fastidiousness, making the work
of Josh Renfree, (Fight Director) and Ha Chi Yu, (Movement Director)
apparent. With a little assistance from a dramaturg this stage adaptation
could be very close to flawless.
Lennie Varvarides
The Bacchae
By Euripides
Moving Parts
Diverse Attractions
*
The press release for this play stated that the production was almost
cancelled when the lead actor broke his foot, and goes on to list a
myriad of different injuries and maladies affecting the cast and crew.
Despite all of which, they decided to press on.
This was in fact their mistake. Considering that the night I saw the
play they had lost a chorus member to sudden illness, I'm starting to
believe that some higher power was trying to stop this show from taking
place. Presumably because in their omnipotence, the gods knew that this
shameful molestation of Euripides, The Bacchae, would be a tragedy
in more ways than one.
In addition to the dry and dutiful recitation of prose, which the cast
clearly didn't understand, there were also a variety of missed cues,
lines stumbled over, atrocious accents and pitiful attempts at humour,
all of which served to dampen this soggy squib even further.
The only points of any merit in the production were the two female
relatives of Pentheus, who at least pretended they were having fun.
Other that this there truly was nothing to recommend it from its meagre
beginning to merciful end.
Graeme Strachan
Jim Henson's Puppet Improv
- adults only
Assembly Hall
*****
After Avenue Q made a big impression on the musical theatre
stage with its send-up of Sesame Street, the originators of the
puppets that many of us grew up with, Jim Henson's Muppets, have come
back with their own show, first in the US and now in Edinburgh. There
are two shows each day, one for kids and one later on that is aimed
very much at adults, with far more adult language and content.
The show follows a fairly standard format for impro (or improv as it
is known in America) comedy with set sequence of exercises introduced
by a host who takes suggestions from the audience for specific elements
of the exercise (such as where it is set, what they are doing, what
style it is performed in and so on) and the performers have to make
up a scene from these criteria. The difference with this show is that
everything is performed by puppets, which adds a whole new dimension
to everything.
The show opens with a puppet that looks a bit like the newsreader in
The Muppet Show and a dog called Piddles explaining the format
of the show, where you can watch the puppeteers doing their thing on
stage watching their puppets on TV monitors at their feet, or you can
watch the actual puppet show on the large screens around the theatre.
The whole company then comes in, revealing rows and rows of puppets
on and under long tables at the back of the stage and launches into
the song 'Puppet Up', which has some rather obvious lyrical differences
from the version sung at the kids show.
The rights to the Muppets are now owned by Disney so none of the characters
we all know and love appear in the show, but those that do are just
as good and are all superbly operated and voiced by the team of puppeteers,
many of whom have worked on Muppet films and TV programmes. Patrick
Bristow does a great job of hosting, and is a lot more confident with
an adult audience than he is hosting the kids shows. The big star name
in the puppeteers is Brian Henson, son of the late Muppets creator Jim
and the main figurehead behind the company and all of its projects since
his father's death. Other puppeteers include Drew Massey, Paul Rugg,
Allan Trautman, Victor Yerrid, Tyler Bunch, Ted Michaels and the sole
female member of the team Julianne Buescher.
This is a fantastically entertaining show with some great characters,
the most memorable of which have to be Piddles, the hot dogs and the
aliens (who construct their sentences together, one word at a time,
going from one to the other). Of course like with any impro show there
are scenes that don't go anywhere from time to time and there are other
more accomplished comedy improvisers around, such as those in Paul Merton's
troupe at the Pleasance, but the wonderful puppets, superbly operated
with great comedy voices make this a memorable show even things go wrong.
Even with one of the highest ticket prices on the Fringe, this is something
that anyone who grew up watching The Muppet Show in the 80s will
enjoy. Maybe the company should also think about putting together a
fully scripted live show for next year's Fringe.
David Chadderton
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