|
Links
Articles
News
Reviews
Amateur
Theatre
Contact
Other
Resources
|
Fringe 2009 Reviews (3)
Etch A Sketch
The Oxford Revue
Underbelly
***
Eight energetic performers rush from sketch to 'etch a sketch', and
the characters are lightly drawn and situations scribbled down. We find
Harry Potter being told he's 'different' and invited to Private School,
advice on Religion, a Funeral Planning Song and the social competition
of a lady and her maid. Satirising social hierarchy is never far from
their minds. Stand out piece How Far Is Too Far?, performed by
Adam Reeve, is worth seeing alone, and another excellent performer,
Ollie Mann, should also be mentioned. A playful cast and an amusing
run through the easily referenced comedy of the day, fun to see.
Cecily Boys
Still Breathing
2FaCeD DaNcE Company
Zoo Southside
****
2FaCeD DaNcE Company deliver 'explosive abstract breaking... exploring
the space we occupy'. The eight spectacularly muscled performers hit
the stage with a fierce masculine energy, showing off their forceful
skills with the menacing presence of a hunting pack of wolves caught
in a cross beam of light. Using the six positioned lights at the side
of the stage, the space is slowly decreased until all of that powerful
presence is concentrated into a single group of beating movers. Choreographer
Tamsin Fitzgerald adds a nice touch to the mix with some of the dancers
taking to the top of the pedestalled lights, making them into hawk-eyed
observers of the action. This confrontational dance piece delivers a
relentless pace with a cast reaching for the sky air but trapped by
the earth-bound, crowded sensory body.
Cecily Boys
Chauntecleer and Pertelotte
(A Beasty-Babel-Fable)
By Dougie Blaxland
Live Wire Theatre Company
Zoo Southside
****
Rude, lewd and great fun to see, Chauntecleer and Pertelotte
will get your festival juices flowing. Inspired by The Nun's Priest's
Tale from The Canterbury Tales, two actors inhabit all the
roles of a saucy farmyard romp, where the Proud Cock (literally) Chauntecleer
gets his comeuppance from his clever wife Pertelotte, with many a lusty
tussle in the hay bales along the way. With a tour of accents from France
to Aberdeen, actors Tim Dewberry and Abigail Unwin-Smith make a deliciously
physical and frank, sex-fueled pair to take us on the journey, guided
by author Dougie Blaxland's naughty-but-nice, twisting, rippling rhymes.
The uninspired design is the only downside, infantalising a piece that
establishes itself as titillatingly playful enough without needing to
look more 'Children's Theatre' than 'Filthy Theatre' . Nevertheless,
extremely enjoyable, fruity furtive festival fun and one to see to tickle
both your ribs and your... imagination.
Cecily Boys
Next
page - - - Index
|
