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Fringe 2006 Reviews (70)
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Mike Maran Productions
Valvona and Crolla
****
The cosy backroom in Valvona and Crolla delicatessen could not have
been a more apt and perfect venue for the performance of Captain
Corelli's Mandolin. The sweet and wholesome aromas of continental
meats and cheeses evoked a subtle sense of the Mediterranean even before
the audience was seated.
Mike Maran and Philip Contini's adaptation of Louis de Berniere's award
winning novel has dispensed with much of the lengthy prose and the extraneous
political considerations. Instead it aims to focus on the tale of the
love between the young Pelagia and the three men in her life; Mandras
the fisherman, an Italian officer called Antonio Corelli, and Dr. Iannis,
her long suffering father.
This abridgement actually improves the narrative as it highlights the
heart and humour of the story, in turn making the tragedies of the Axis
occupation of Cephallonia seem all the more wrenching and meaningful.
Performed as an oral piece, Contini and Maran take turns narrating
the story, almost in the form of an epic poem, with the familiar repetitions
and epithets acting like a sly wink to the audience bringing them further
into events.
Another integral part of the performance was the live music from Alison
Stephens and Anne Evans, adding not only richness and depth but highlighting
the peaks of this emotionally charged tale.
Graeme Strachan
Superheroes
David Spicer
Pleasance
***
It's a curiously apt moment in time to put on a play about the newsworthy
shenanigans of the costume-wearing father's rights protesters. The danger
in such a story is that the politics might end up seeing preachy and
runs the risk of losing its entertainment value. Thankfully this was
not the case.
From the outset, it was apparent that the play was not only firmly
on the fence as far as the issues were concerned, but also was blackly
comic as well.
The two leads play a pair of Fathers, both dressed in Batman costumes,
standing on a crane. One over-sensitive and dutiful, the other lazy,
uninterested and occasionally silly. Through the course of the story,
the two men spend their time emoting, arguing, joking and occasionally
mulling over the pros and cons of different superheroes. In addition
to making many valid points about the issues, the play also shoehorns
in a fair amount of references to many Superheroes and goes on to debate
the suitability of them as role-models.
The actors play well off one another, in a manner that never becomes
too comfortable or offhand. The jocular tone kept with its tongue firmly
in its cheek. Unfortunately the more slapstick elements take over at
the midway leading to a slightly unconvincing tonal shift towards the
end. Had the overall tone been kept on a straight trajectory then this
would have worked far better.
Graeme Strachan
Moliere's: The Hypochondriac
SUDS Theatre Company
Roman Eagle Lodge
*****
In SUDS latest production, Moliere's 18th century farce about a wealthy
patriarch obsessed with his imagined maladies has been updated to 1930's
London, where the darkly comic romp excels in its own self-fulfilling
lunacy with a slapstick quality and an edging towards the burlesque.
The cast flits round the stage affecting a mixture of poses and voices
depicting the twisted worldview of the titular hypochondriac versus
the reality of their true intentions. Thus every time Argan's gaze leaves
his wife, she begins to cackle like a witch, complete with a hunched
back and clawed fingers. Only to return instantly to the simpering creature
he thinks her to be when he looks round. The same is true of the reputable
doctors, and his learned brother who appears to him as a dim-witted
country yokel.
The story concerns the father's attempts to force his eldest daughter
into marrying a doctor in order to protect him from illness. The manic
events which follow involve a level of high camp, and some genuinely
brilliant comic turns from the skilled and charismatic cast.
The ensuing shenanigans build to a slightly pat, but enjoyable end
with a dancing finale.
Graeme Strachan
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