Best Kept Secrets


Phrop Theatre Company
theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

An overconfident, under-rehearsed performance that is trying that bit too hard. Best Kept Secrets by Phrop Theatre's complete lack of ingenuity or common sense is cringeworthy from the start.

As you enter the auditorium faced with three drawing room chairs staring back at you with a Sellotaped, handwritten sign stating "Park Bench" on it you know things are about to go downhill. As the characters enter one by one, their personalities described in obscure similes by what appears to be the cockney voice of God, the lack of coherence soon becomes apparent. All of them are dressed in brown trench coats and play more than one character. The concoction of bad accents and over-played stereotypes is grim to witness.

The storyline is set and structured but once again isn't greatly imaginative. A young woman is handed a briefcase by a spy and is put in charge of it, for a reason still unknown. At a relatively fast pace the contents of the briefcase become quite the enigma being questioned by all who encounter it, except the audience, who by the end certainly have no interest as to what is held in the metal container. The poor acting and dodgy storyline both add to the spectators' lack of attention span.

It can only be felt that Best Kept Secrets would be best kept a secret at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Best Kept Secrets runs until 17 August at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall.

Reviewer: Liam Blain

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