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Fringe 2006 Reviews (73)
The Same… But Different
The Richard Hardwick Company
Pleasance Dome
***
From the gay soldier in Iraq, the live-in Internet lover to the nerdy
office worker who drugs and kidnaps his one-night stand, this show is
a train of bizarre vignettes which show twisted ideas of our usual conception
of love and relationships.
However, what is never apparent is that these vignettes are linked,
at least until the last scene of the play, where all of the characters
meet together in one household as a family. Here the secrets all come
out in a final resolution which comes largely out of nowhere, failing
utterly to inspire or to make up for the events which have led up to
it. Still, the dialogue was witty and the overall concept an interesting
one, the scenes featuring the kidnapped Goth girl were so full of inspired
lunacy and twisted logic, that they could have simply made a play out
of that alone.
Although the acting is highly polished, and there is a professionalism
and chemistry between the actors, the unnecessary set changes hamper
the flow of the action, adding more to the disjointed feeling.
Graeme Strachan
Doctors
Sarah Ruff
Sweet Grassmarket
**(*)
Abstract performance theatre as an art form has a tendency to be hit
and miss at best.
This effort from Sarah Ruff falls slightly short of the line; its confusingly
nonsensical style is made curiously endearing by the honesty and enthusiasm
of the lead, who takes us into the world of the worm-woman and the dubious
metaphors which represent it.
From the constantly running video of her half-naked and covered in
mud, sporting repulsive false teeth and swimming cap, to the Mickey
Mouse doll with "Dad" written across its chest, there is a
whole library of imagery that was supposed to imply some deeper meaning.
What this meaning was escaped me entirely.
Nevertheless it was an oddly amusing hour of abstract mayhem, from
the inexplicable anal-rape of Mickey Mouse with an improvised penis
to the mind-boggling finale; I couldn't help but smirk.
Graeme Strachan
Sherlock Holmes: The Three
Students
Written by Owen Dudley Edwards
Frantic Redhead Productions
C outside St Patrick's - a "walking" play
***
Traipsing halfway across Edinburgh's old town and visiting the sights
of historical interest is an activity practised by many a tourist during
the Festival. This production allows the audience to do so whilst watching
a mystery unfold before the deft hands of the greatest sleuth who ever
graced the pages of fiction: Sherlock Holmes.
The mystery itself in a minimal affair based upon the short story of
the same name, an incident of stolen exam papers and a trio of suspect
students who all have motive and opportunity. The events all unfold
in a typical fashion and the mystery is all too soon resolved.
Nick Salamone makes for a convincing Holmes, dry and humourless with
a cold calculating stare; whilst the company also consists of several
Doctor Watsons, who shepherded the audience from each location to the
next with considerable period glee, amidst narrating and making friendly
jibes at Holmes.
The scenery was for the most part perfect, with the city's classical
buildings and architecture looming about giving another level of credence
to the event. However the amount of walking involved does make clear
how little story is there really is, and how short the entire affair
would be without it.
Graeme Strachan
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