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Fringe 2009 Reviews (88)
Auto Da Fé
Fired Up Production
The Space on the Mile@the Radisson
**
Auto Da Fé is one of Tennessee Williams' one-act plays
which is usually included in a collection call 27 Wagons Full of
Cotton and Other Plays. This is not one of the better ones but represents
the lifestyle and culture that Williams came from. How autobiographical
it is is part of the intrigue. It is known that Williams came from a
very repressed background. His father was a man of the cloth and his
mother a lady left behind by her husband and New Orleans society.
Eloi (pronounced Ell-wah) has found a photograph of two naked people
at the post office where he works. (Williams was probably suggesting
that they were two men.) He has investigated the origin of the photograph
and has decided that there is nothing to do but destroy it. His mother
agrees. But we never feel the weight of this event. Here it should be
told that auto da fé refers to the act of burning at the
stake.
Eloi, adeptly played by Jeff Alan-Lee, is a hypochondriac fed by the
filth of the air and society of Vieux Carré, the area of New
Orleans where he lives with his mother, Madam Duvenet, played by Jeanne
Graham who never finds the flavour of character.
The problem with this production is that we do not see the underlying
guilt by association of the photograph and the relationship with the
mother is not fully realized. The director, Ryan Bourne, has managed
to create a physical life for his characters; there is a fully realized
set in this tiny black-box space. But he has not helped the characters
to flesh out fully realized characters and relationships.
The photograph is the catalyst for Eloi's self-realization. And the
painful discovery is a counterpoint to his mother's superficial response
to it. In this production, it never seems to be more than the picture.
Catherine Lamm
The Ghostly Heart
By Ben Schiffer
Pleasance Courtyard
***
The Ghostly Heart is an intense little drama lasting little
more than half an hour and economically and carbon neutrally played
in darkness.
It starts cheerfully enough as Tom and Daisy (echoes of The Great
Gatsby?) finish off their love-making.
However, it is the post-coital discussion that is the point of Ben
Schiffer's investigation into angst.
Marina Niel's Daisy likes darkness because she has problems with the
body shape that clearly turns on Tom (James Rose).
He seems more grounded but eventually, as Daisy's secret emerges and
we find ourselves in a nightmare, it is as much Tom's as hers.
Even at 30 minutes, The Ghostly Heart feels a little long but
in its desire to address contemporary issues head on (albeit in darkness)
it marks out Ben Schiffer as one to watch.
Philip Fisher
Coffee
By Glyn Cannon
Pleasance Courtyard
**
Coffee is a 45 minute satire on the advertising industry with
distant echoes of David Mamet.
The three characters are advertising copywriters tight against a deadline
to come up with a TV image for Donkey Coffee.
They run through a variety of brainstormed routines before eventually
hitting an unexpected hurdle at the last minute.
The comedy of the situation is milked up to a point but Glyn Cannon
tries to widen the scope by exploring the group dynamics presented by
two older men and an attractive woman.
For some reason, the two elements do not really blend together as well
as they might, leaving Coffee much more a tiny espresso than
the big rich café au lait that the creative team must
have had in mind.
Philip Fisher
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