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Fringe 2007 Reviews (50)
Yellow Hands
Fliegende Bauten and Assembly
Assembly @ St. George's West
**(*)
Yellow Hands is a troupe of musicians who have picked up the challenge
of making musical instruments in the hardware store. Pipes, planks of
wood, car horns, hoovers, petrol cans, plastic bottles, ceramic planters,
and, yes, even footballs are materials that they have refashioned.
Much of what turns up is along the lines of bellows pipes, stringed
instuments or horns. And their performance is more about the fact that
the can make music than the music itself. Film clips between set show
us the inspiration for the instruments they fabricate.
The catalyst is that they are being treated for their musical addiction
so we get occasional trips back to the treatment clinic. The evening
starts weakly, Tono and Apo providing a few not too imaginative examples
of the conformations. The comedian of the troup, Dano, grounds the production
into something more than gimmick.
As the hour progresses, their instruments become more interesting and
musical. Very suitable for families. But this piece rarely gets past
the novel.
Catherine Lamm
A Conversation With Edith
Head
Invisible Theatre and Paul Lucas Productions
Assembly @ Hill Street
***
During the height of her career, costumer Edith Head was more a celebrity
and more recognized than most of the actors that she dressed. And not
just in Hollywood or for her costumes. She was very recognizable in
her trademark black rimmed glasses and straight-cropped fringe. She
not only was seen at red carpet events but was a regular on the still
developing talk show and game show circuit.
A graduate of Stanford, she became the chief costumer for Paramount
and then Universal Pictures. She wrote two successful books on fashion,
costumed 1,100 films, was nominated 35 times and won 8 Oscars. She made
costumers as important as all of the other technicians and craftsmen
involved with motion pictures.
There is no doubting that Susan Claassen looks very much like Edith
Head. With the wig and glasses, it couldn't be any other. And Ms. Claassen
obviously knows her subject, I'm sure due in no small part to co-author
Paddy Calistro who helped pen Ms. Head's autobiography.
One-man shows seem to have a formula and structure often quite different
from other productions. It may seem enough to have the character expound
on their life, remembrances and experience. Beginning, middle and end
are dictated by the history of the character.
But this is not really a one-man show, or a conversation, or an interview.
It tries to be all and succeeds at none. Ms. Claassen is comfortable
enough on stage to stand alone. Starting this event with the idea that
it is going to be an interview is abandoned almost immediately. There
is a plant in the audience who shouts out quips and questions, but this
seems very forced. There seem to be authentic questions on cards from
the audience so we see Ms. Claassen interact on several occasions with
audience members. The costumes give a feel of the time. The set is lush.
The lighting works for the production. But none of it seems to hang
together well.
Catherine Lamm
The Psychic Detective (And
Those Disappeared)
By Helen Smith
Benchtours
Udderbelly
**(*)
Where television is concerned, it can be difficult to judge the quality
of a series based on the quality of its pilot. The initial episode is
used to set up characters, situations, and storylines that (one hopes)
will play out over the remainder of the series.
Given that Benchtours has set up The Psychic Detective as the
pilot for their new, episodic-format theatre series, it's therefore
hard to say whether the next episode will be worth the wait. Based on
the initial episode, In the Water, I have to say it seems hard
to believe that interest will be sustained up to the next installment.
While the story lays out the premise that detective Patrick Bett (David
Walshe) has special abilities he's only just learning about, and that
his life is about to take a turn for the strange, the extended panic
which has him communing with angels on a mental plane while his body
drowns in a lake is hard to buy into. More so because of the distinct
separation between performers and audience.
That said, Benchtour's use of space is interesting (while not altogether
successful) and certainly more work should be done in exploring the
use of small, portable spaces which offer designer Laura Hopkins myriad
challenges which are overcome in inventive and original ways.
It's not that there's anything precisely wrong with The Psychic
Detective. It's just that there's not anything precisely right about
it, either.
Rachel Lynn Brody
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