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The
Edinburgh Fringe
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1998 Fringe Reviews 11A Chorus Line When I saw that a high school was doing a production of A Chorus Line, I thought, "That's something to avoid. There's no way a school can do that!" and promptly forgot about it. Then one of the regular visitors to this site emailed me to say that her daughter was involved backstage in this production but, even so, she'd had grave reservations. "But it's really good," she went on, so, being a fan of the show, I decided I'd take a look. But I still had reservations! I have none now. This was a super production. I still doubt that the average high school (or secondary school in the UK) could handle it, but Walnut Hill is one of only three boarding schools in the US specialising in the arts and clearly they set very high standards. There was nothing, but nothing, to indicate that this was a school production. The standard of the dancing (sady neglected in schools in the UK, if I may ride a hobbyhorse of mine briefly!) was excellent, as was the quality of the acting. Once or twice the solo singing was not, perhaps, as strong as it might be, but the ensemble work was first class. They were only playing four performances and obvviously word had got around, because for the one I attended, the third, the house was packed and very enthusiastic. This production is as good as any sudent show on the Fringe and bares conparison with many of the professional offerings. Portrait C Another experimental piece from Eastern Europe, but this one does work. It's a fusion of fine art, computer art, music and drama, so a fairly detailed description of what happens is perhaps the best way to show what the piece is all about. As the audience enter, they are asked to write down their names and a member of the group makes a video record of each person in close up. In the theatre itself an artist sits with a pane of glass at an angle in front of him/her. On the other side someone sits at a computer. When the show starts, four musicians (playing bassoon, clarinet, violin and viola de gamba) enter, sit down and begin to play. At the same time three actors (one man, two women, dressed in eighteenth century costume, enter, along with someone who proves to be a mixture of stage manager and master of ceremonies. All of the music for the show has been specially composed. Initially it has a late eighteenth century feel to it but, as it develops, elements of a much more modern, dissonant style creep in. The video camera operator enters, climbs the scaffolding pillar above the artist and focuses the camera on the glass pane from above. The picture is displayed on a large screen at centre back. The artist take a hammer and smashes the pane. A new pane replaces it and (s)he begins a piece of work. At the same time, the computer artist starts work on a piece of animated graphics based on the names of the audience and the video recording of them. The musicians play their first piece and the artist moves one of eight titles into the centre of the pane. These eight tiles each have the title of a section of the performance and the artist can put them on screen in any order, and the order does change from performance to performance. The actors then perform that scene. Most of the words are in Hungarian, so a translation in displayed on the screen. At intervals we see the progress of the work of both artists until the end of the performance is reached when the artist brings his/her work onto the stage, where it is mounted on a fixture which displays the work of previous artists from previous performances. The completed computer graphics work is also displayed on the screen and the piece finishes and the audience is invited on-stage to drink some very good Hungarian wine and discuss the piece with the performers, all of whom seem to speak very good English. Strange yes, but also strangely involving and fascinating. All the participants are very talented in their own fields, and the music and drama in particular are engrossing. It's a unique form of theatre and it's very difficult to explain the effect that it has. I liked it! All of the artworks that are produced become part of an associated exhibition. I saw show number 48, and they hope to do a hundred in their travels around Europe. It is really quite a strange feeling to know that your picture and name will form part of a travelling exhibition and performance! Hair I had to see Hair, if only to see how the show has stood up to the passage of years. Its popularity has certainly not diminished, being sold out every night. The music has, generally, stood the test of time, but - in spite of the enthusiasm of the audience - I don't think the show itself has aged well. In many ways, it could almost be considered an historical document! Things have changed so much since 1967: free love could not survive AIDS; the drug culture is now dominated by huge profits, crime and death; everyone (or almost everyone) recognises the futility and sheer wrongness of the Vietnam War; in spite of the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Age of Aquarius did not usher in an era of peace and love. The publicity material tells us that "young people... are experiencing the same issues in their lives as the youth of the 60s". Not true! But this aside, the production has a great deal to recommend it. The energy of the young cast is phenomenal - I was exhausted just watching them! - and they are very talented. The intimacy of the venue certainly adds to the impact the performance but I went away with a feeing of disappointment, the sort of feeling you get when you realise a well-loved relative is getting old and past it!
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