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Fringe 2007 Reviews (77)
The Ethics of Progress
By Jon Spooner, Chris Thorpe and Clare Duffy
Unlimited Theatre
Underbelly
***
Jon Spooner of Unlimited Theatre has delivered serious-sounding scientific
lectures under the guise of stage plays before. This time, he has a
serious underlying message about the risks that we will all face as
science begins to mess with our bodies and, by extension, our minds
and even souls.
Regrettably, your critic has no great scientific knowledge, Spooner
claims the same but using a well-developed PowerPoint presentation,
he explains cogently that the world of Star Trek is not too far
off. His restraint in avoiding the legendary phrase "Beam me up,
Scottie" does him credit, as his subject is teleportation.
He starts by outlining two concepts from Quantum Physics: 1. Superposition,
whereby something can be in two places simultaneously, and 2.. Entanglement,
in which two separate bodies will act identically.
Putting these together and using ever more powerful computers will
facilitate teleportation or moving bodies through space, as dear old
DeForrest Kelley did for all those years on Star Trek.
The primary ethical issue, ignoring the abilities of rogue states and
military powers to do bad things with this technology, is what happens
to the mind.
The thesis is that while the body and brain move around easily, the
mind and memory will be wiped. This doesn't necessarily follow as a
logical assumption from what has gone before but is pretty mind-blowing
(whoops, on re-reading that, any pun is entirely accidental) and acts
as a good paradigm for similar ethical questions that arise from current
technological advances.
There is one big question. Is this future reality or are Unlimited
pulling our legs? This is critical for obvious reasons but either way,
Unlimited and the laid back Mr. Spooner have produced a stimulating
piece of theatre.
By the way, anyone who has not taken a physics degree will learn a
lot from this laid-back lecture. Did you know that your mobile phone
has more computing power than it took to put Neil Armstrong on to the
moon?
Philip Fisher
Limbo
By Declan Feenan
Real Circumstances with York Theatre Royal & Strawberry Vale Media/Escalator
East to Edinburgh
Underbelly
****
After over a fortnight of solo shows, this Northern Irish monologue
is really refreshing. It is a perfectly judged production that features
an outstanding performance from Caroline Williamson as Claire.
She is a 17 year old who twitches nervously like a runty dog as she
tells a sad tale that is all too familiar.
This junior meatpacker is adopted by the older girls from work who
take her clubbing on her birthday.
When they leave Claire behind, she gets picked up by a man almost three
times her age. The consequence is inevitable but there is a twist in
the tail, albeit fairly predictable. The ensuing pregnancy is dealt
with sensitively, with the man coming out as something of a white knight,
at least up to a point
Director Dan Shere gets the pacing right and adds to the impression
by underlighting Miss Williamson in one of Edinburgh's most gripping
hours.
Philip Fisher
Victor Spinetti - A Very Private
Diary ...... Revisited!
Richard Jordan Productions and Pleasance
Pleasance
****
The Beatles, Sean Connery, Brendan Behan, Joan Littlewood, Tallulah
Bankhead, Henry Fonda, Salvador Dali, Peter Sellers, the Rolling Stones,
Michael Foot and Princess Margaret (and her sister!): even Victor Spinetti
might have to admit that he is an arch namedropper.
All of those names, together with many others, feature in his charming
75 minute chat about his life on stage and screen, as well as off it.
The boy from Cwm, Ebbw Vale may have had humble stage beginnings but
in the 1960s he was feted by the rich and famous and literally mobbed
in the streets.
That was a long way from his West End debut, telling gags in a strip
club. He has always been lucky though, having been cast in the South
Pacific chorus, the man that he was understudying broke a leg within
a fortnight and Spinetti was soon starring in a show that featured another
new boy, Sean Connery.
Joan Littlewood liked the young Welshman and he joined her in Oh
What a Lovely War in the West End and then on Broadway where he
won a Tony.
By that time, Broadway celebrity was nothing, as he had made his first
film with the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night and had practically
become an honorary Beatle, at least in the eyes of the adoring New York
public.
Spinetti was to appear in all of the Beatles movies and so much more.
One suspects that some of the stories that he tells in his wonderful
wallow in nostalgia might be apocryphal but with the quality of the
names that he drops and the wit with which he delivers his tales, one
can easily forgive him.
Philip Fisher
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