|
Fringe 2008 Reviews (14)
Undermind
Tictek Productions
C soco
***
This mentally stimulating piece questions whether, if we were able,
we should be able to erase unwanted memories. New writer Tom Campion
sets his play around the case of Sophia Wyatt, suffering from the trauma
of a car accident which she caused. She is offered a new drug at an
underground clinic, R.T.G. which stands for 'Rose Tinted Glasses'. The
subject is able to fade the memory away so that at first it's as if
it happened to someone else until finally it disappears completely.
Whilst this idea has been examined in other areas (The Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind immediately springs to mind), this is a well
acted and well directed piece. Although the character of Marie becomes
problematic in her position in the narrative, the other characters are
all well conceived, especially Molly Small playing Sophia. All she wants
is 'the road to be empty again' as she drives. However, if the road
is empty in her mind, what is the danger that she could cause another
accident? Campion's play touches on the surface of the hugely complex
subject of memory.
Cecil Boys
The Tartuffe
Belt Up (Nothing to See/Hear)
C central
****(*)
An extremely witty, fantastically energetic and immersive production
of Moliére's biting comedy. In the Red Room the audience are
invited to watch (and join in at times) Orgon Poquelin's acting troupe
perform the tale of their leader's downfall both at the hands of the
fraudster Tartuffe, and from his own obsession with celebrity and scandal.
With a decadently decked out room, the audience sit on sofas, essentially
in the round and at any moment the actors can and will jump on an audience
member and include them in the action, making them a character in the
story or asking them to hold the mime cat. The 'French' troupe of actors
swap from accent to accent depending on their level of immersion in
the story and stop for nothing, be it nose bleed, social faux pas
or serious exposure. The show concludes with an amazingly inventive
'mime fight' which cannot fail to impress. Not for those who dislike
interactive theatre but a fabulous stimulating experience for those
who do.
Cecily Boys
The Parched Lament of Child
Farrago
Babolin Theatre in Association with Gomito Productions
Bedlam Theatre
***
Babolin Theatre hope that you will 'tease out references, links and
connections and elsewhere let images wash and meanings emerge'. This
will certainly have to be the case as this imaginative and poetic piece
never leads you on a linear path. In one sense Babolin follow the Child
Farrago as he/she falls through the cracks in the floor boards and is
lost to his/her parents. And so begins a quest for meaning, understanding
and reassurance that there is something more to this world. The Child
Farrago asks 'What do you believe? My father's dying and I need to know
that he'll carry on'. Many different voices, grandparents, talking dolls,
soldiers of god, scrolls and poems speak to the child and tell Farrago
to 'Listen to the music of Fate'.
While this piece often leaves you lost and wondering, it also gives
you a strange sense of their 'atomic cluster of love' for the Child
Farrago and whilst we may 'Fuck and then we die', it is always good
to 'make it more entertaining' along the way.
Cecily Boys
Next
page - - - Index
|
