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Fringe 2009 Reviews (9)
Party
By Tom Basden
Assembly Rooms
*
Nightmares are like this. You sit in a hot, packed room for close to
an hour suffering from total incomprehension.
A bunch of apparent undergraduates are sitting on a stage discussing
the creation of a liberal political party with racist overtones, demonstrating
all of the knowledge that one might expect from disinterested GCSE students.
Judging by some of the audience reaction, this must be some kind of
subtly acerbic comedy but unfortunately, your reviewer missed the point
by a very long way.
Philip Fisher
Forgotten Things
By Emma Adams
Red Ladder Theatre Company
Pleasance Dome
***
Brilliant staging of a new play by Emma Adams presents a dysfunctional
family with suicidal teenager Toby, demetia suffering grandmother Lilly,
and concerned but thoughtless parents Philip and Margot. Set it an absurd
world of extremes, these worried parents visit the mad-professor-like
character of Doctor Kevin. His avant garde methods see the couple playing
a game of grey Twister and talking about their original burgeoning romance,
fuelled by the comedy of prosthetic limbs. Every character has lost
something and the search is on for them to find their 'forgotten thing',
in the hope of discovering just that: hope. With impressive performances
by all the cast, including Woody Murray's excellent work puppeteering
'Dr Kevin', the clever design by Sara Perks marks this piece as suitably
satisfying. However, at an hour and twenty minutes it is too long and
requires some cuts to make it stand out rather than find itself lost
in surreality, searching for direction.
Sacha Voit
Origins
By Steven Canny and John Nicholson
Pentabus Theatre in association with Blind Summit Theatre
Pleasance Dome
***
Everyone begins somewhere and Pentabus Theatre presents Charles Darwin's
beginnings with panache. James Humphrey's lovely design sets this enjoyable,
light play in the early 19th century, and the many characters are portrayed
by all the cast. Maxwell Hutcheon narrates as Darwin's grandfather Erasmus,
telling Charles (Harry Arkwright) to fight the institutions and think
creatively, leading this celebrated individual to become one of the
most famous scientists in history. Meanwhile he plays croquet with his
brother and sister, shots a multitude of wildfowl in the woods, takes
a great interest in the sex life of plants and collects beetles. With
a lovely sense of playfulness this educational and encouraging play
creatively stages the less well known beginnings of an exceptional man.
Sacha Voit
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