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Fringe 2008 Reviews (1)
How It Ended
You Need Me
C cubed
****
The debut piece from You Need Me tells the devised story of five Welsh
sisters growing up without their parents during the Second World War.
Lillian, the second oldest, meets and falls in love with a French pilot
and marries him after only three weeks. When the war ends and she goes
to France to live with his family, she is lost and alone in a country
where she does not speak the language and the gloss of wartime romance
has worn off.
You Need Me explore a straight forward, uncomplicated story of marriage
and, to some extent, a cycle of failing parenting. The oldest sister,
Nerys, must parent her own sisters from the age of sixteen, Raymond's
mother becomes an overbearing figure in the battle between wife and
mother-in-law, and finally the question remains as to what will become
of Lillian's baby.
This is a haunting tale and is equisitely played by the lead actors,
complimented by live music and singing, well worth seeing. It presents
a straightforward and undiluted picture of a collapsing marriage and
completely immerses you in the story from the beginning. However there
lies a problem in catagorising it in the 'Physical Theatre and Dance'
section of the Fringe Guide, as, if this is physical theatre, then everything
else I shall be seeing will be book readings!
Cecily Boys
The Elephant Man
By Mary Swan and Saul Jaffé
Proteus
C SoCo
*****
In Proteus's one-man adaptation of the life of Joseph (the doctor,
for some reason, called him John, but he was born Joseph Carey) Merrick
— 'The Elephant Man' — Saul Jaffé appears in the middle
of the audience and starts to chat to them as the head of the circus
where Merrick was a 'freak' act getting to know his audience. The story
then unfolds as Jaffé smoothly moves between playing this character,
Merrick, the doctor who treated him and several other characters, plus
a non-specific narrator character.
Jaffé moves between characters not as an actor changing from
playing one part to playing another, but more as a storyteller illustrating
his story with some characterisations, but this doesn't mean that the
characters are not fully acted out. Quite the contrary; he distorts
himself both physically and vocally sometimes to play Merrick, but at
other times he plays him without these distortions, and his changes
to himself to create other characters are often subtle but there is
never any confusion about whom he is.
The actor works the audience better than many stand-up comics on the
Fringe. At the reviewed performance, he had a very small and quiet but
appreciative audience, but this did not seem to throw him at all, and
he certainly created a great deal of good-natured banter with a latecomer.
There are some beautiful touches to the production, such as the dove
that seems to appear out of a piece of cloth manipulated like a puppet
on the death of Merrick's five-year-old brother, or the mixing of colours
on the overhead projector after Merrick is robbed and abused on his
European tour. Jaffé does stand-up comedy, physical acrobatics
on a trapeze, academic lectures and more down-to-earth explanations
using audience participation and a water melon. The story jumps about
and the production jumps between styles of performance, but it all seems
to flow perfectly naturally.
In a stuffy, hot room at C SoCo where the traffic noise is almost as
loud as out on the street, Jaffé still managed to keep the attention
of this small audience for more than an hour in a performance that is
sometimes hilariously funny and sometimes moving and touching, with
a heartbreaking ending. He seemed to be taken by surprise when the audience
continued to sit and clap until he came out for a second curtain call,
which was certainly deserved.
David Chadderton
Stefan Golaszewski Speaks
About A Girl He Once Loved
Stefan Golaszewski
Pleasance Courtyard
****
This is a beautifully performed and heartfelt delivery of a eulogy
to falling perfectly in love. And losing it again within 24 hours. Golaszewski
speaks both wittily and lyrically about meeting Betty, a girl he once
loved. He begins on an evening in the pub with friends where he acts
like a 'dick' and lives up to the full immaturity of a young man with
little to do and no reason to do it. By the end of his aching tale,
you feel like you've lived the journey with him, grown older with the
heartache with him and left the venue crossing your fingers and hoping
like hell that he finds his Betty.
Golaszewski is a rarity in his raw honesty of a young man losing his
mind, body and soul to 'the most perfect girl' he ever met or perhaps
a great actor if this is fiction. This is all punctuated with the perfect
timing of equisitely placed props and sound cues - his 'yes' moment
is not to be missed. Funny, honest and magically real - what more could
you want in a monologue? I wish I could title this review 'Desperately
Seeking Betty'!
Cecily Boys
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