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Fringe 2010 Reviews (15)
Honest
By DC Moore
Royal and Derngate
Assembly Rooms Milne’s Bar, Hanover Street.
****
If the 100% convincing Trystan Gravelle, who plays Dave, were Irish rather than Welsh, you might think that this short monologue had been penned by Conor McPherson.
Dave is an archetypally ordinary young bloke who works for a Government department like the one overseen by Sir Humphrey in Yes Minister, the Department of Inclusion and Social Affairs. They don’t do anything and are constantly threatened with abolition.
Dave is clearly unfulfilled and when he embarks on a few drinks to celebrate a colleague’s promotion, we get the gory but often very funny details.
He spills the beans (and eventually his guts) as the alcohol flows liberally. First, Dave tells us why his colleagues are useless then says the same to his boss, before achieving a final moment of unexpected tranquillity.
The pleasure in this small theatrical piece, which is performed in an intimate basement bar just off Princes Street, lies in the language and detail. Together, these obliquely give viewers a perceptive look into the lives of city dwellers today.
Philip Fisher
Up ‘n’ Under
By John Godber
Hull Truck
Assembly Rooms.
****
For the 25th Anniversary of his popular Rugby League play, John Godber has opted for TV star casting, giving the blokes a chance to ogle Abi Titmuss and the girls Hunter from Gladiators, James Crossley.
This is though far more than merely a vehicle for stars who wish to launch acting careers.
Up ‘n’ Under is a feelgood comedy, with just a nod to the Greeks, that carries its audience along to an exciting sporting denouement.
The basic premise is unbelievable but that is what sporting fairy stories rely on. Wiiliam Ilkley’s Arthur inexplicably bets his house (really) that the worst team in the area can beat the best, complete with ringers.
Even worse, his charges are overage, overweight and play seven a side with only five players.
Beer is replaced by gym visits, encouraged by the pneumatic blonde charms of Miss T’s Hazel, who has the sport in her blood. Cue for sexist jokes that give way to admiration as the boys see her pluck.
The training builds to the big match, impeccably staged by the writer, who directs using double sided shirts and slow motion to ramp up the drama to such a pitch that the audience cannot help but cheer at the end.
Philip Fisher
Beautiful Burnout
By Bryony Lavery
Frantic Assembly and National Theatre of Scotland
Pleasance Courtyard.
****
Ironically, Beautiful Burnout attempts to do for boxing exactly what Roy Williams’ Sucker Punch did at the Royal Court earlier in the summer.
Where that play offered a bittersweet, rags to riches story with a little love interest thrown in but stunned audiences with its aural and visual impact, Beautiful Burnout does the same but without getting beyond the rags stage of its protagonist’s career.
The drama is played out on a raised “ring” featuring a double revolve in a new Pleasance space, appropriately located on the top floor of a gymnasium complex. The audience sits on three sides, while the fourth wall is taken up by a bank of twenty TV screens that project symbolically broken images.
This is the Glasgow gym of hard man Bobby Burgess, portrayed by Ewan Stewart. He nurtures losers but has high hopes for his “brown” charge, Taqi Nazeer playing Ajay Chopra “the Cobra”.
The primary focus though is on a new arrival, Ryan Fletcher’s Cameron Burns. We see him through his own eyes but also those of his loving but worried mother, whom musical anoraks might recognise as Lorraine M McIntosh, once a Scottish favourite as Deacon Blue’s female singer.
Love interest of a kind is injected in the person of the abused Dina Massie, Vikki Manderson in the role of a driven female boxer who is considerably scarier than any of the men.
While the plots of these plays are inevitably relatively predictable, building to a final bout, the staging is, once again, outstanding.
Laura Hopkins has created a simple design, which is lit by Andy Purves. Combined with a rocky soundscape from Underworld, the show has the feel of a classy pop video.
Add in Frantic Assembly’s brand of dance and movement, courtesy of co-directors Steven Hoggett and Scott Graham, and the show becomes memorable with numerous images that aspire to high art.
The performances both in terms of acting and work ethic are impressive all round, with the fight scenes absolutely authentic, making it a worthy Fringe First winner.
Philip Fisher
I, Elizabeth
By Rebecca Vaughan
Theatre Tours International
Assembly Rooms.
***
Rebecca Vaughan invites us to a 70-minute audience with Queen Elizabeth I.
This is obviously an honour, and togged up to look exactly like HM, Miss Vaughan gets under the skin of the monarch, tellingly addressing many of the issues that dominated an uncertain life.
It is fascinating to note that this “weak” and “feeble” woman generally uses masculine language to describe herself and her role. Elizabeth talks of being a prince and despite protestations, has the masculine trait of innate toughness, without which she could not have survived life either in the Tower or on the throne.
The Queen’s concerns are well known. First, there is the issue of diplomatic marriage and issue itself, since a ruler’s main duty is to conceive a male heir, something at which her much-married father was not too successful either.
Religion and war also impinge but perhaps of most interest to her and to us is the Schiller territory of the relationship between Elizabeth and her step-sister Mary Queen of Scots.
Rebecca Vaughan writes fine Elizabethan pastiche and in wig and robes looks the part in a performance that delivers exactly what visitors will expect.
Philip Fisher
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