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Fringe 2007 Reviews (38)
Pam Ann: One World Alliance
By Pam Ann
Pam Ann
Assembly Rooms
*(*)
This is probably the kind of show planespotters and high-flyers will
adore. For the rest, One World Alliance is tedious, full of unfunny
stereotypes, and hardly worth the time.
Rachel Lynn Brody
Shackled
By Fergus Ford
Seven Dwarves Ltd.
Seven Dwarfs @ Euroscot
***
Fergus Ford's play about responsibility and accountability is raw and
challenging; it asks audiences to judge its characters by their own
unapologetic moral compasses. It is a problematic piece, revolving as
it does around the politics of sexual betrayal and their effects on
a young girl, while being authored and performed by an all-male company.
While the acting is mediocre, the ideas in Shackles linger in
a viewer's mind. The ideas in the script bring it up to snuff, although
it could stand to shed a few minutes.
That said, it's fascinating to see the tack taken by Ford, whose previous
directorial projects have engaged with the position of masculinity in
contemporary society. His decision to explore the effects of seduction
via the actions of two men rather than the objects of their affection
affords a unique perspective on male/female relationships both sexual
and familial.
Rachel Lynn Brody
Little Howard and the Magic
Pencil of Life and Death
Howard Read
Assembly @ George St
:*****
For the uninitiated, Big Howard is Howard Read, a stand-up comic with
his own show elsewhere in the Festival and an award-winning animator,
and Little Howard is one of his creations, the first ever eight-year-old
animated stand-up comedian. With the aid of a projection screen and
an assortment of Apple Macs, the duo perform together live, synchronised
with one another and with audience responses.
This year, Read has ditched the adult material and gone with the obvious
family appeal of his young animated star, perhaps spurred on by an appearance
on The Slammer on CBBC earlier in the year. There are one or
two items in this show that have been taken from previous shows, but
there are also some startlingly original new touches and lots more audience
participation.
The magic pencil of the title is the one that Big Howard originally
used to draw Little Howard, which has the power to make its drawings
come alive; however it can also erase its creations with the rubber
on the other end. After Little Howard has found out about Big Howard's
real-life baby son and become jealous of him, a sinister hooded figure
of Death persuades him that the pencil's magic could also make him come
alive as a real person.
There has always been some audience participation in the Little Howard
shows, but this has been increased quite a lot, from quick sketches
of audience members appearing on the screen as they arrive to children
being invited up to swat an animated fly on the screen or to play ball
with Little Howard to some rather scary animated characters based on
children in the audience. This is all integrated very well into the
show and Read is as comfortable when dealing with children in the audience
as he usually is with adults. Although there are a few lines that are
obviously aimed at adults, he delivers them in a way that never alienates
or ignores those who are too young to understand.
The technology he usually uses has become much slicker than in the
past, but, not one to become too comfortable, he has added some very
clever touches that first of all render LH in Pixar-style 3D animation,
and then he hands out some 3D glasses before making LH and Death fly
out over the audience. Although his old Macs take a little while to
render these sections, it both very entertaining and very impressive
technically, especially as it all fits in with live dialogue and audience
reactions.
Even though this year's show is aimed at children, it still has the
same elements that made his adult shows so entertaining and impressive,
and so it should please audiences of all ages.
David Chadderton
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