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Fringe 2007 Reviews (44)
Effing and Blinding Cabaret
Extant
Theatre Workshop
***(*)
You might be forgiven for thinking that the title of Extant theatre
company's latest play refers to the anglo-saxon nature of their content
to come, but far from it, this astute and entertaining selection of
cabaret doesn't break the threshold of offensiveness. It is, however,
performed entirely in the pitch dark by four blind actors.
Extant are a company comprised entirely of visually impared artists
committed to broadening the perspectives of their audience through sharing
their experiences as closely as possible. In this latest show, the sense
of the performers as they move throughout the venue, sometimes thrusting
a surprising tickle of fabric onto audience faces, or rattling chains
at close range, gives an encounter which moves far beyond aural, particularly
when the threat of a man-eating python released into the audience is
backed up by hissing actors weaving into the crowd.
In a witty blend of live music and sketch, the central theme is the
day to day experiences of visually impaired people. Take Gita and Rupert's
'blind date' for instance, where the cocktail pianist cannot contain
himself from churning out schmaltz upon schmaltzy love song, which invariably
refer to sight and eyes. Or the audio enhancement DVD of Goldfinger
with a malfuncioning and argumentative visual commentator.
Some of the skits, particularly the wackier ones, are more successful
than others, but nevertheless the team of performers never fail to raise
consistent chuckles. More than just a cabaret show, this originally
conceived piece goes some way to conjure up the physical and social
experiences of blind people both in the content of its sketches and
in their presentation. It's to be hoped that Extant continue to grow
as a company as this show's broad appeal deserves more than a few performances.
Lucy Ribchester
Newley - the Singer and the
Songs
Festival Highlights
Pleasance
***
Partially a tribute show and partially an explanation of what Anthony
Newley means to author/performer David Boyle, this show has a very specific
audience - those who remember and enjoyed Newley's work. They were out
in force and responded enthusiastically to Boyle and his show.
It is, in fact, very much a niche show: unless you know Newley
as a singer rather than as a composer and working partner of Leslie
Bricusse it probably doesn't mean very much at all. There were a few
in the audience who were much too young to have known Newley the performer
and one wonders what it all meant to them. They would be entertained,
certainly, by Boyle's performance of the songs, but as for the rest
- who knows?
Boyle does capture Newley's look and voice well - his rendering of
Pop Goes the Weasel brought the memories flooding back and it's
been running through my mind ever since! - and his thoughts about why
Newley is important to him are intersting, but the real problem about
this show is that - on this evidence - his life wasn't all that interesting
(except perhaps for his marriage to Joan Collins - I'd completely forgotten
that), certainly not enough to sustain a sixty minute show for someone
who doesn't know the man and his work.
Peter Lathan
Failed States
1215 Productions
Pleasance Dome
*****
Musicals which make a serious political point are rare: successful
musicals which make a serious political point are so rare as to be an
endangered species. So it was with some trepidation that I decided I
should see Failed States.
"An innocent man finds himself trapped in a nightmare world, as
laws designed to protect against the threat of terror wreak havoc"
hardly seems the stuff of musical theatre, more the bailiwick of the
intense, srious play.
But it works, and it works very well. The music is not the sort that
you come out singing - it's much more Sondheim than Lloyd Webber, or
even Boublil and Schonberg - but it is strong and hard, suiting its
subject matter. And it doesn't dominate to the detriment of the text,
nor is there any sense of "Sounds like a cue for a song":
the lyrics, just as tough as the music, are always apposite.
Nor is there any attempt at creating an happy ending just because it's
a musical, nor are the characters wholly on the side of the angels or
their opponents, none of them - not even the innocent fiancée
of the leading character - emerges at the end without a stain on their
characters, for they are all as complex as real human beings - shades
of grey , not black and white - just like the plot, which does not offer
any easy answers.
It is very well performed by a large company of actors, all of whom
are singers and some of whom are musicians, and a band consisting of
two keyboards and a cello, who also sing and, to an extent, take part
in the action.
The trepidation was ill-founded. This is a superb piece of music theatre.
Peter Lathan
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