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Fringe 2007 Reviews (81)
Fuerzabruta
By Fuerzabruta
The Black Tent - Ocean Terminal
*****
Physical theatre, dance, acrobatics, performance art, rave, and probably
a half-dozen other methods of engaging with a live audience will take
your breath away as you stand in a throng of people at the Black Tent
beside Ocean Terminal for Fuerzabruta.
The show is a loosely-styled sequence of events and images, lightly
suggesting (in my case at least) dreams, mental states of being, the
imagination, and the desire to be a part of a greater whole.
Whether drifting through the air, slamming their bodies into the material
of a clear-bottomed swimming pool mere inches from your head, or spiralling
through the air on a variety of acrobatic contraptions, the performers
seem completely at home and completely committed to drawing the audience
in. They successfully and gently coax their audience into becoming a
willing part of the spectacle.
If I have one quibble with Fuerzabruta, it's the ticket price. £25
is simply out of the price range for the vast majority of the people
who would buy into this kind performance the most. On the night I attended,
the most enthusiastic audience members were in age ranges of about 16-30;
older than this and the sections of full-on audience participation such
as dancing in a mock-rave to the tunes played by a DJ from on high,
while being sprayed with water and air, just didn't seem to have the
same effect. Unless it's the simple mathematics of the scale of their
production that force the prices this high, it's a shame that the company
couldn't bring their prices a bit more in line with other shows on the
Fringe - the upper end of this, around £17, would seem more sensible.
That said, there was no shortage of people willing to pay the higher
price, and one can't fault the company in terms of providing a really
fantastic and enjoyable hour of performance.
Rachel Lynn Brody
Minutes to Midnight
Dislocated Productions
Smirnoff Baby Belly
***
Dislocated Productions' new comedy piece is a satirical look at the
end of the world, where the only surviving piece of humanity is a small
rural hamlet in England, where the biggest concern is the TV reception
of EastEnders. Then under the guiding and occasionally forceful
hand of an American Secret Service operative they are transformed into
an idealist state of Pro-Americana Democracy where the world's only
surviving Muslim becomes the scapegoat for all the wrongs under the
suspicion of terrorism.
Sadly the piece isn't nearly as clever as it thinks it is, and the
script relies too heavily on farcical silliness and not enough plot
to keep it going.
The cast acquit themselves well and the humour is genuinely funny,
but the anti-Bush messages thrown in, as with so many other plays this
Festival, fall flat and come across as heavy handed and facile.
Graeme Strachan
Little Box of Oblivion
Arnott Enterprises
Diverse Attractions
**(*)
When a play relies on a curiosity, it usually helps to have a premise
that captures the audience and holds their attention throughout. In
this case the point of friction - that of a box with contents unknown
left inexplicably with no word on a park bench - is intriguing enough
to begin with, but the sliding out of control of all concerned comes
across as being forced in the extreme. The moments of humour rely on
punchlines that can be seen a mile off and even the few that hit the
mark arouse little more than a chuckle.
The farcical ridiculousness of the piece isn't helped by a cast who
tend towards overacting and proclaiming each and every line to the middle-distance
rather than appearing to engage the other characters. Adding in a weak
finale, the whole affair is one rather best avoided.
Graeme Strachan
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