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Fringe 2007 Reviews (14)
American Poodle
Guy Masterson and TTI
Assembly Rooms
*****
This one always had the pedigree to be something special and despite
looking a little under-rehearsed early in the Festival, is likely to
prove one of the most professional as well as funniest shows on the
Fringe.
It consists of two complementary monologues delivered by Edinburgh
regulars that together form a jaundiced view of the relationship between
the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Snowball by Guy Masterson
Snowball is a partial and anachronistic half-hour American history
lesson rendered by Guy Masterson in a series of different personae.
He starts off by pointing out in his native Welsh tones that three
centuries before Christopher Columbus bumped into America, the Welsh
colonised Alabama.
Moving into bullying estuarine, Masterson reminds us of forgotten moments
in the history of the colony finally getting to 1776. At that point,
he becomes a posh English naval captain, indicted for killing a few
locals who is only saved by the advocational skills of John Adams, a
future president.
Before the end of a brisk monologue, a few more swipes are taken at
the nation that the first George W(ashington) took away from us and
another now rules, though only as a result of some dodgy voting practices
in Florida! This is great stuff, delivered in a relaxed style that soon
wins over the audience.
Splayfoot by Brian Parks
Brian Parks is best known to British audiences for his recklessly fast
political satire Americana Absurdum that featured David Calvitto
under the direction of John Clancy.
The same team has re-formed with similarly devastating effect to offer
us the story of a first-time American tourist to London. The style is
typical of Clancy. It gives Calvitto the impression of a toy wound up
to its full extent so that it rushes madly around a room hitting out
at numerous targets.
This guy could easily be an alien from outer space, having apparently
learned about England from a literary resource that seems to concentrate
on Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens and their ilk with little newer than
the Nineteenth Century.
This allows Parks plenty of scope for quirkily hilarious observation
of the foibles of the country that gave up his own so long ago.
If you want to know why Americans are obese and how poodles have attained
their current status then go to the Assembly Rooms. You will also discover
a great deal about the history of our "special relationship"
and why Brits and Yanks love each other quite so much.
In fact, American Poodle is as refreshing as a brisk cold shower
and even in Edinburgh, with 1,000 shows to pick from, that is a great
rarity.
Philip Fisher
FNGR-SPK
KUDOS Theatre Company
The Green Room
**
The concept is interesting, how the language of a whole generation
is being affected by text messaging, and the publicity blurb promises
a piece of physical theatre. Unfortuntaely, however, the gap between
the concept and its realisation is huge.
The show starts with a (rather lively, it has to be said) lecture on
texting aimed directly at the audience with, behind, the cast going
through a series ofmovements which are, more or less, texting-related.
This is followed by a lecture to the cast, followed by a Q&A session(with
a bit of texting going on in front) on texting, textual ettiquette,
textually transmitted diseases... Well, you get the picture. Then there
are some text conversations...
There's a good idea for a sketch - or even a couple of sketches - in
all of this but at 50 minutes it's 40 minutes too long, in spite of
the occasional delight of the predominantly young audience recognising
themselves.
Peter Lathan
Bigger than Jesus
By Rick Miller and Daniel Brooks
Rick Miller and Assembly
Assembly St George's West
**
Rick Miller is the man behind MacHomer, a sustained piece of
comic writing that introduced Macbeth to the Simpsons (or vice
versa).
The difference between that spoof and his attempt to re-write the New
Testament is that Shakespeare gave him a much-needed framework whereas,
perhaps surprisingly, the bible does not.
Bigger than Jesus is supposedly a modern reinterpretation of
the Gospels with perspective given by 2000 years of subsequent experience.
Too often, it feels like a stream of consciousness reaction to a lapsed
Catholic upbringing. The pity is that, to understand the show, you probably
need to be a Catholic but if you are a co-religionist with Mr Miller,
you are likely to find this work offensive and quite probably blasphemous.
That irony is compounded by the siting of the comedy in an off-duty
church.
Starting with an overview, we are told that Bigger than Jesus
will take us through the life, death and re-birth of the eponymous hero.
Additionally, we also get educated about the life and religious attitudes
of the performer.
There are some genuinely funny parts, especially a Last Supper attended
by, inter alia, Luke Skywalker, Homer Simpson (yes, him again),
Dorothy and the Tin Man, and even John Lennon.
Co-designers Beth Kates (Set, Lighting and Video) and Ben Chaisson
(Sound and Video) combine to produce some stunning visual effects but
under Daniel Brooks' direction, the story can get subsumed by the technology.
It also has a tendency to drift away from any narrative line.
Unless Rick Miller is willing to take some time re-conceiving Bigger
than Jesus, he might be better of delighting untapped areas of the
world with MacHomer or a new equivalent.
Philip Fisher
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