|
Fringe 2008 Reviews (24)
My Single Friend
Flying Pig Productions
The Space on the Mile
*
When your long term boyfriend and father of your children decides to
up and leave, what ever should you do? Well, according to My Single
Friend, you should start supping wine like the ghost of Richard
Harris and throwing yourself into a heap of dates with random oddballs
on an internet dating site. The real problem with this sub-soap nonsense
is that it comes across with no sense of having a grip on reality. Each
of the three main protagonists are cast as whiter than white gems of
female virtue, contrasted with a series of the most cliched male steretypes
this side of Hollyoaks.
I genuinely wish I could be nicer about it but having sat through the
first ten minutes of this high-school community theatre take on the
plight of abandoned women and their woes searching for love on the internet,
I was ready to throw myself on my own pen (it being mightier than my
sword and therefore more likely to kill me). Credit does go to the cast
for giving it their all and at trying, but with a script this terrible
and a positively ramshackle and misjudged series of unco-ordinated physical
pieces interspaced between the dull dialogues there really is no other
advice to give than to say, avoid this.
Graeme Strachan
I Hate Everything
Z Theatre Company
The Space: Venue 45
****
Modern life is rubbish, or so the saying goes. Z Theatre have evidently
taken this to heart and built a sketch show built around showcasing
a series of very typical annoyances from everyday life. From aggravatingly
racist elderly relatives to the price of petrol and the never-ending
stream of dull reality TV shows, all lampooned with equal measure. Everything
about this show should mean that it fails terribly, but oddly it doesn't.
Instead the able young cast show they have wit, comic timing and aplomb
to spare. The brilliant delivery of each gag and the measured build
up of the pacing from the slow and lazy start to the energetic close
prove that a simple premise brilliantly realised is far superior to
all the props and effects you could ask for. It's quite a surprise coming
from a company more typically known for their physical theatre and one
that is most pleasant. The perfect remedy to chase away any Festival
blues.
Graeme Strachan
The Kentucky Cycle Part II
Pepperdine University
C venues
*****
This spellbinding production is the second part in a story of 200 year,
three families and a cursed piece of land in Kentucky. The first part
concentrates on the family feuds, rivalries, humiliations and revenge
killings that result from their fight for possession of the land. The
second part recounts the story of the rape of the land that happened
due to the mining industry that swept through Southern America in the
first half of the 19th Century. Working in the mines is a dangerous
and disease-ridden business and the families' struggle for survival
becomes a fight for unionisation against the Blue Star Mining Company.
Whilst the wider social context gives the play less of the personal
bite than the first half, it is still a blood-stirring tale of individuals
fighting for their community and for their dignity. Fine performances,
beautiful singing, brilliant staging and excellent direction make this
an absolute must see. I cannot praise this production highly enough,
it's a loss to C venues that this show finishes on the 9th.
Cecily Boys
Next
page - - - Index
|
