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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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Fringe 2009 Reviews (62)The World's Wife After having heard the poet herself read a few of the poems from her ten-year-old collection at the Book Festival, it is interesting to see this staging of most of the book performed by Linda Marlowe and directed by Di Sherlock. The poems are imaginative and often anachronistic fictional creations of women from history, fiction or myth which are often funny and have something to say about women's roles in more recent history. The characters are fictional wives to famous men who reflect on the things that their husbands are famous for (including Queen Herod, Mrs Tiresias, Mrs Midas, Frau Freud and Mrs Darwin), females who are famous in their own right (including Little Red Cap – or Riding Hood, Delilah, Euridice, Penelope, Salome and Demeter) or female versions of male figures (such as Queen Kong and The Kray Sisters). The poems vary in length from three short, very funny lines in Mrs Darwin to some lengthy tales. For this staging, Marlowe creates a character for each of the poems to narrate her story to the audience with little more than a few multi-purpose items of clothing to help her. The characters are introduced by name on a large screen at the back of the stage, which also displays some beautiful backdrops and animations that synchronise with the performance (video design by Anna McManus and animation design by Andy DeVries). Linking music varies from instrumental pieces to popular songs. This is a superb production that intelligently creates a theatrical piece from a collection of poems and not only preserves but enhances the wonderful characterisation and humour in the original writing, with a magnificent performance from Linda Marlowe at the centre of it. David Chadderton Tales of the Apocalypse
Circus meets theatre in this bizarre show which would be better suited to a big top or arena than a medium-sized fringe theatre space. The setup involved a lot of faffing about with ropes and pulleys in silent darkness between acts. The height and shape of the performance area meant that the aerial activities lacked sufficient height to appear death-defying, lessening the drama, and putting more onus on the performers to deliver entertainment.
What they actually delivered was skill. Professionally skilled on trapeze, aerial hoop, silk ribbon, ropes, aided by gas masks, light-studded umbrellas and quixotic costume. The storyline as such was impossible to follow. There was a lot of glowering at the audience, and quite a bit of grimacing (not least during extreme stretches on the equipment), which didn't help advance whatever story was being told.
A woman in red pointed at the audience then walked off stage. A disco ball spun round. Music grimaced, spilled, fell flat (in both senses of the word ). If this is circus, are't there supposed to be clowns? Then came a moon landing number with a spoken word soundtrack which provided a bit of light relief before Also Sprach Zarathustra, the theme from 2001 A Space Odyssey burst in, and one of the performers unveiled a huge state flag of Iowa in competition with a tiny St Andrew's flag, which she was proposing to use to stake a claim to the moon. Ah! So here were the clowns.
The most impressive number was performed by four contortionists in black light but all together the show dragged; there was far too little variety. When the music built, the dance didn't build sufficiently. Circus skills abounded. Theatrical skills did not come across as strongly. Leon Conrad Adam Hills: Inflatable Riotously funny and entirely engaging, this might just be Adam Hills' best show in years. His charm and sharp writing always make for a guaranteed hour of laughter, but in Inflatable Hills ratchets it up a notch, delivering a show which is all at once blackly comic, joyous and purposeful. There are some affectionately observed, wickedly funny gags about the Paralympics (at which he was a commentator) and a wonderful riff on British Sign Language is a highlight, along with a story about the bouncy 19 year old who accuses him of telling Dad jokes. There is a structure and coherent story arc to the show which, nevertheless, feels like an effortless natural progression, thanks in part to the beautifully judged audience interaction. At one point Hills even gives a signed t-shirt left by a man in the previous day's audience to another audience member as a birthday present, demonstrating the fondness he has for his fans. Yet it would be wrong to dismiss this show as a fun hour's laughs from a nice man. Only a comedian of such assured skill could successfully marry one of the darkest images ever to be included in a stand up show with a central message so uplifting you'll leave the show feeling the world is a better, brighter and, above all, funnier place. Just when it seems a touching moment could teeter into sentimentality, he raises his game again to end the show with another killer line. Inflatable is a master class in comedy from a craftsman at the top of his game. Beth O'Brien |
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