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Fringe 2007 Reviews (47)
Under Milk Wood
By Dylan Thomas
Guy Masterson and TTI
Assembly @ George Street
*****
Actor Guy Masterson has become one of the Fringe's leading theatre
producers with a growing list of popular and critical successes, but
he dates the beginning of his success to this remarkable one-man show
that he first performed in February 1994.
Dylan Thomas's 'play for voices' describes in wonderful poetic language
a day in the fictional tiny Welsh village of Llareggub from before anyone
is awake until the time they all return to their beds. It is written
to be told by two narrators, referred to as 'first voice' and 'second
voice', but also weaves into the story a cast of 69 beautifully-drawn
characters, from the old blind Captain Cat dreaming of long dead loves
and colleagues to lovers-by-correspondence-only Miss Myfanwy Price and
Mr Mog Edwards to Polly Garter and her babies from different fathers
to Mr Pugh who dreams of poisoning his wife.
In the programme, Masterson says he was influenced by the work of Berkoff
to create a physical theatre production of the play after 'having been
a "neck-up" actor for my entire career'. There is certainly
a great deal of physicality to his performance, but this is more a vocal
tour-de-force than a physical one. There are physical and vocal differences
between the characters, but they are not all immediately and uniquely
identifiable; however this does not at all detract from the clarity
of the piece, which Masterson sings out over the packed auditorium without
causing any doubt about who is speaking or being spoken about at any
time. There are some lovely touches in his performance that really bring
out the humour in the piece and also create some genuinely moving moments.
Matt Clifford's sound cleverly weaves sound effects and music around
the words in a way that subtly enhances the whole piece. The lighting
is a bit basic and occasionally gimmicky, and some lights that flash
from side to side when Masterson is playing two characters in a conversation
quickly become irritating.
There are many one-man shows on the Fringe and many that claim to perform
a whole story, play or film, but this is the real thing. In about an
hour and three quarters with just one performer and a chair onstage,
there are no dull moments, and the fact that one person can sustain
a gripping performance at such a pace for this length of time is very
impressive.
There is only one more performance, on 20th August.
David Chadderton
Barry Cryer: The Elephant
in the Pub
Gilded Balloon Teviot
***(*)
At 72, Barry Cryer is certainly an old man of comedy, especially compared
with pretty much any other performer on the Fringe. As well as performing
his own stand-up, he has written gags for an impressive number of top
comics in Britain and America, including Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper,
Bob Hope, Jasper Carrot, Les Dawson, Billy Connolly and Richard Pryor.
In front of a packed auditorium, Cryer sits in an elaborate chair that
could almost be a throne and rattles out joke after joke. He does a
lot of age-related jokes, including jokes about memory and various infirmities
that come with age, but still manages to drop in a reference to Facebook
that probably went over the heads of a great many of the mostly-older
audience on this particular occasion.
He also covers family, school, politicians (as opposed to politics)
and a string of different animals walking into a pub—including
an elephant of course. He tells a lot of personal anecdotes about other
people, particularly other comics, and other more general 'true stories'
about celebrities or from the news.
There are some jokes and stories that have been around for a while
mixed in with a lot of original or newer material. Cryer has a laid-back
but very slick delivery and gives the impression that he could go on
all night without ever running out of material. He certainly comes from
the older generation of comedians, but can still hold a mixed audience
on the Fringe and keep them laughing for an hour.
David Chadderton
Truman Capote Talk Show
By Bob Kingdom
Richard Jordan Productions
Assembly @ Hill Street
****
Truman Capote is doing well in Edinburgh, 23 years after his death.
As well as this tribute by Bob Kingdom, he is one of the stars of the
Andy Warhol exhibition at the National Gallery, sharing a stage with
those so famous that a surname is never required - Elvis, Marilyn, Judy
and Liza, Jackie O. and Andy himself. This is a good measure of the
iconic status of a man whom the artist revered.
Capote is now probably best known as the great stylist who penned Breakfast
at Tiffany's but he also did so much more.
Bob Kingdom wonderfully recreates an unorthodox outsider who somehow
made himself a centre of attention blazing before a spectacular alcoholic
fall that, as he identifies, affects far too many creative people.
Capote's favourite hobby was bitchy name-dropping, though partying
seems to have come a close second. We hear malicious tales of the New
Yorker crowd in Harold Ross' day and a couple of British Royals, and
gentler appreciations of Marilyn, Jackie O and even dear Andy.
The first vision looks like the Warhol photo, as the actor appears
in a fedora and colourful clothes. He also has a loose mouth and prodding
tongue that fit perfectly with the loucheness of a society junkie who
eventually became as famous for his injudicious love and spreading of
gossip as the novels and non-fictional books such as his portrait of
a murderer, In Cold Blood.
Capote also brings in another creative man destroyed by drink, Dylan
Thomas, who makes a good parallel, as well as advertising Mr Kingdom's
equally proficient odd-days show at the same venue. On this occasion
Bob Kingdom gives a remarkable portrayal, never letting the persona
slip, even when the man is on the slide.
Philip Fisher
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