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Fringe 2007 Reviews (17)
Hippo World Guest Book
Festival Highlights
Pleasance Dome
Adapted by Chris Goode
*
Chris Goode may have created a completely new art form. One must pray
not.
His recipe is to find a website with feedback pages and read out verbatim
a distillation of seven years' entries. The obvious problem is that
people who write to Hippo World are almost universally boring.
They are either the freaks and weirdoes who like to exhibit themselves
on the web or, worse, people who worship hippos. Neither is worth hearing
about despite Goode's great, laid back delivery.
Chris Goode is a talented writer and performer who should write some
more of his own quirky solo pieces rather than relying on the outpourings
of nobodies.
Philip Fisher
Yellow Moon
By David Greig
TAG Theatre Company
Traverse 2
****
David Greig's second Traverse Fringe show after Damascus is
the lively coming of age drama Yellow Moon, subtitled The
Ballad of Leila and Lee.
In twenty episodes averaging around three minutes each, Greig unfolds
a cross between a blues ballad ("Stack O Lee Blues" by Mississippi
John Hurt) and a road movie following a pair of Scottish teens on the
run. As the blurb on the script says, this is a modern Bonnie and Clyde
story, though there are also echoes of Romeo and Juliet.
Director Guy Hollands, making full use of Nigel Dunn's racy music,
ensures that there is never a moment to take breath from our introduction
to bold Stag Lee Macalinden and Silent Leila, as unlikely a pairing
as a writer could make up or life put together.
Stag Lee has lived with his mother Jenny since dad disappeared in mysterious
circumstances when the boy was five. This cock of the walk's only friend
is his stag hat, bequeathed by dad before he ran.
In an unfortunate chain of events, his would-be step dad gets stabbed
and the deprived Lee picks up Silent Leila, a bright Muslim girl who
has given up speaking for no good reason.
The renegade teens head for the Highlands and are practically enslaved
by another loner, Frank who eventually reveals a secret that pulls the
play together. Before that, Lee and Leila bond both mentally and physically,
each helping the other to a fuller understanding of themselves.
Further strands are introduced by B list celebrity Holly Malone, who
shares Leila's habit of cutting herself; and the arrival of the cops.
Andrew Scott-Ramsay and Nalini Chetty give their all and constantly
hold the attention as the young couple and are well supported by Keith
MacPherson and Beth Marshall each playing two older characters.
Yellow Moon is a top notch coming of age road trip that narrates
its own tale using no more props than four painted wooden chairs and
an excess of enthusiasm. Greig cleverly presents unloved characters
from life's underclass and makes them both interesting and loveable.
That is no mean feat and should ensure a sell-out run.
Philip Fisher
Love Labours Won
By Ryan J-W Smith
Rogue Shakespeare Company
Gilded Balloon Teviot
*****
I don't make a practice of going to see a Fringe show two years running
- there is far too much to see to repeat oneself - but writer/director
Ryan Smith persuaded me that it has changed sufficiently to be regarded
as a new imporved version and, as an added incentive, that it is performed
by an all-female cast. Was it worth sacrificing one of my limited number
of "slots" at the 2007 Fringe?
It was. The use of the all-female cast added enormously to the fun
of the piece, whilst, paradoxically, pointing up the serious theme of
men's inconstancy in love. It is an excellent cast who are clearly getting
a lot of enjoyment out of it as well as doing a good job.
Part of the fun is in the language which is Shakespearean in feel although
the verse has too many couplets to be totally the Bard. Smith uses Elizabethan
language in a very modern way, making the whole thing pastiche, something
which is emphasised by the over-the-top playing and the conatant nudges
and winks towards the audience. It's possible to enjoy the piece without
much knowledge of Shakespeare - just, indeed, as a damned good romp
- but a familiarity with Shakespeare reveals echoes of subject matter,
character, situations and language which greatly add to the enjoyment.
Peter Lathan
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