|
Fringe 2006 Reviews (55)
Jim Henson's Puppet Improv
- For children
Assembly Hall
****
Being a child around the peak of The Muppet Show was amazing:
this was one child that was simply tickled by Jim Henson's Muppets and
now, being a huge fan of the hit musical Avenue Q and the hilarious
U.S TV show Crank Yankers, I had to see if this would tickle
my fancy!
With two shows at this year's Fringe, The Jim Henson Company offer
an adult show and children's show, both taking the ideas for each sketch
from their audiences, then performing them totally improvised, making
it unique every time.
What makes this show special is getting to see the amazingly talented
puppeteers, including son of Jim, the great Brian Henson, work their
craft. You can choose to either watch the scenes on the TV screens or
watch the cast bring the puppets to life. Offering so many different
voices and characters (my favourite being Piddles the dog) this team
are simply at the top of their game
The only possible fault with an improv show like this which feeds from
the audience is that if your audience isn't on form then they can pull
you down, sometimes leading to scenes that don't really go anywhere.
However with this cast and great puppets you're never really let down
too much.
So if you want to get in touch with your inner child while enjoying
a lot of laughs with a skilled cast for an hour then The Jim Henson
Puppet Improv will give you what you desire!
Wayne Miller
Bajazet
By Racine, in a version by Alan Hollinghurst
Double Edge Drama
Baby Belly
**
Racine's Bajazet lived in the Ottoman Empire at the same time as Tamburlaine,
made famous by Christopher Marlowe.
He is compromised by a the Emperor's wife Roxanne, very pretty lady,
played by Juliet Crawford, symbolically dressed in red.
The deal is that Bazajet (played by Tom Stourton) must either marry
her or die. The decision is rendered more difficult by his secret engagement
to Charlie Covell's Atalide.
With many more intrigues, the play eventually reaches a tragic denouement
that was almost inevitable from the start.
The company had a problem in that they lacked stage presence and vocal
skills so that the initial, lengthy exposition was hard to understand
and assimilate. The best aspect of the production is director Ed Behrens'
use of limited space, leaving silent actors, statuesque and ignoring
the action.
Philip Fisher
Fish Story
Devised by Rob Evans and the company
People Can Run
Pleasance Courtyard
***
It is impossible to go through a whole Edinburgh Fringe without at
least one dose of post-Beckettian angst featuring tramps.
Fish Story starts in typical style with three of the blighters
baffled by all that is going on around them. They could be aliens, little
furry or slimy animals or victims of some nuclear apocalypse. The only
thing that is a little off the beaten trail is their awareness of what
goes on in society.
The trio, played by Ben Lewis (also in Hysteria at Aurora Nova),
Kieren Fay and Sophie Fletcher, are on a quest directed by the mysterious
Fish whose best lines are straight out of Mission Impossible.
Just as this is threatening to become tedious, they begin to turn into
human beings with a knowledge of their former existences as junior executive
types living in places like Pimlico and Surrey, and we can then begin
to enjoy the contrasts between their two existences. In a final, unnecessary
twist, they begin to re-revert to the neurotic weirdo status that we
had seen an hour before.
It might be open to doubt as to whether the world needs more sub-Beckett
plays but if it does, Fish Story is a fairly enjoyable example
of the genre.
Philip Fisher
Next
page - - - Index
|
