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Fringe 2010 Reviews (27)
Hotel Nowhere
BEDS
theSpace on the Mile @ Jury's Inn.
***
Hotel Nowhere is set in a hotel bedroom and staged at Jury's Inn, a hotel full of perfectly serviceable hotel bedrooms; yet it's performed in a makeshift studio theatre, decked out with black cloth and a hotel bedroom stage set. Perhaps the hotel couldn't spare a room during festival season, but in that case why bother staging the play in a hotel at all?
This doesn't detract from the production so much as deny it a potentially resonant extra dimension. The generic anonymity of hotel rooms, and the sense of dislocation they generate, is the play's dominant theme, and the production would be strengthened if the audience could experience that first-hand. Instead, we experience the equally generic anonymity of black box theatre spaces in what claims to be a site-specific production.
It's to the play's credit that it remains intriguingly watchable despite being denied its full potential. Two parties of hotel guests find that the bland surroundings draw out their secrets and desires almost by osmosis. Action occurring in two different (but identical, anonymous, generic) rooms simultaneously on the same set, a dramatic device borrowed from Andrew Bovell's Speaking In Tongues, demands the audience's full attention and ensures a quickfire pace throughout. Bovell's play does it better, highlighting the generic nature not just of the environment but also of the kinds of conversations that take place there; but Hotel Nowhere's dialogue is still witty and acutely observed, especially when flirtation is involved.
Matt Boothman
Pedal Pusher
Theatre Delicatessen
Zoo Roxy.
****
It's notoriously difficult to choke verbatim theatre into life on stage, but you wouldn't guess that from watching Pedal Pusher. You'd be forgiven for not noticing that it's a verbatim piece at all, in fact. It seems the trick is to choose the right source material. Sounds easy, and Theatre Delicatessen certainly make it look that way.
So what's the right source material for the story of Lance Armstrong, Marco Pantani and Jan Ullrich, three of the greatest competitive cyclists ever to have lived, and the Tour de France, the toughest and most prestigious cycle race in the world? Press conference transcripts, for the most part. Dry as that may sound, press conferences are naturally dramatic, performative events. The rehearsed statements are superficially anodyne but – thanks to the insights we're given into the athletes' habits, personalities and relationships – laden with fascinating subtext, and there's something of the courtroom drama about the open-floor interrogations that follow.
That the subtlety and theatricality of the text is appreciable, however, is down to the cast, who wrap their jaws nimbly around some potential deadweights. We don't see much more than one side to any of the characters – Armstrong, fresh from beating advanced cancer, is practically messianic in his drive to succeed; Pantani, victimised by the doping officials, succumbs to self-pitying matyrdom – but what we do see clearly, in the performances and in the text, is the hardwired competitive urge that made each man great.
Matt Boothman
I'm Still Here: Peter Straker
Ghillie Dhu.
*****
In the rather sumptuous Ghillie Dhu, Peter Straker has created a delightful cabaret production. He is a consummate performer with a stunning singing voice.
The venue is perfect for his warm style with plenty of opportunity to interact with the audience. This year he is backed by an impressive five strong band, under the direction of Warren Wills.
Starting off with a parody on the song 'I’m Still Here', he shares some of his forty years of professional life. Born in Jamaica he shot to fame in the hit musical Hair.
His material ranges from 'Moon River' to a joyous celebration of Harry Belafonte’s 'Day Oh' with oodles of audience participation. There’s a tribute to his late friend Freddy Mercury, Jacques Brel and Simon and Garfunkel. The reprise from last year’s Early Long Island Iced Tea of 'MacArthur Park' was just as hilarious and silly with able assistance from Toni Palmer.
Directed by Mel Smith this is a highly entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable hour’s performance and should definitely be on your list as one show not to miss.
Robin Strapp
Misconception
By Bill Dare
Assembly Rooms.
***
Bill Dare is a vastly experienced writer and has penned an adept sitcom. The key with all shows of this type is to buy into the situation. If you can, all of the variations will generate affectionate laughter.
Jimmy and Louise (Toby Longworth and Siân Reeves) have married late, attracted by their firm faith in a marriage without children, which is guaranteed by Louise’s infertility.
As narrated by Stewart Wright playing Noel, the man who brought them together, things begin to slide when Louise the child hater discovers that she can have a baby and seeks to make up for lost time.
Everything builds on this situation, with poor Noel stuck between an irresponsible man who wants a Harley more than anything and a wife who has suddenly got broody.
Under Katie McAleese, the acting cannot be faulted. Any reader will immediately know whether they will absolutely love this show or find it of no more than peripheral interest.
Philip Fisher
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