The Common Good Review
By Catherine BalavageGoing to see a play about Chernobyl may not be first on most people's lists. However, theatre is about storytelling and as stories go, Chernobyl is tragic and compelling. It is one of the most important stories that must be told to every generation. It is also sometimes hard to believe that, yes, it really did happen.
So, did this play live up to it's subject manner? Yes. It was skillfully written. Evoking the time and place beautifully.All of the actors did the writing justice. However, my only criticism is that none of the actors do accents. I sometimes felt that if the actors did Ukrainian accents etc that they would bring you further in.
The story is sad. Could it be anything else? Prostitutes, dying people, children cursed from birth. This play was poignant with killer lines. At one point one of the soldiers is interviewed and asked how, as an atheist, he can speak of God. His answer was that 'we live in Hell' Later on we find he studied Theology. The play is full of these little twists and plot points. It has great points on morality.
I recommend you go and see this well-directed, beautifully written play.
All proceeds from the play will be donated to the Chernobyl Children's Lifeline.
"Music at Palmerston Place" - Jonathan Raynor
By Thomas James"The Hat" - Brick Wall Theatre
By Thomas JamesGraham de Banzie's first play, "The Hat" tells a tale of love, loneliness and stylish headgear.
On a park bench, a successful young businesswoman named Iris (played by Pauline Knowles) tries desperately to deal with her subordinates' incompetence and stop her businesses from crashing to the ground without her constant supervision. While Iris is wrangling with telephone calls and wearing a rather smashing hat, an older lady, Rose (played by Vari Sylvester), nervously sits down on the bench with her book. When the two apparent strangers discover they have much more in common, the seemingly chance encounter takes a more sinister turn as the origins of the hat are revealed.
Both Pauline Knowles and Vari Sylvester deliver generally strong performances as Iris and Rose. As the play progresses, however, it becomes increasingly clear what the twist will entail, detracting slightly from its desired impact. Despite the audience anticipating the play's next move in advance, it remains an engaging piece of theatre.
Despite the actors' best efforts, however, the star of the show is undoubtedly the hat.
Listings:
Augustine's, George IV Bridge.
August 8-16, 18-23. 4:25pm (50 minutes).
£7.00 (£6.00) (£5.50 SU).
4 Poofs and a Piano - "Smoke and Mirrorballs"
By Thomas JamesDavid Wickenden, Ian Parkin, Stephen de Martin and David Roper (the 4 Poofs) took turns presenting each quarter of the show with light hearted (and occasionally lewd) singing and dancing. The individual hosts for each segment gave the show a more personal touch than you might expect from a band of four, while the constant upstaging from the other poofs ensures camp, cheesy hilarity throughout.
While the jokes can be fairly predictable and the musical selection certainly not to everyone's taste, the queer quartet should be applauded for their use of catchy original tunes instead of relying simply on their Jonathan Ross mainstay of pop covers (you'll find yourself singing "Do You" in the most inappropriate places). They handle the audience as consummate professionals, engaging with the crowd throughout and keeping the odd heckler at bay. It's no wonder these genuinely talented entertainers consistently draw crowds at the Fringe.
For high-energy, camp, comedy cabaret, look no further.
Listings:
Pleasance One, Pleasance Courtyard
August 5-18, 20-30. 6:00pm (1 hour).
£13.00 (£11.50): Aug 8-13, 17-18, 20, 24-27.
£14.00 (£12.50): Aug 14-16, 21-23, 28-30.
The Girlfriend Experience
By Elspeth Rae
I'm not sure what I was expecting as such, but I was bowled over by the way the cast worked together with headsets in their ears the whole time, voicing what had just been said to them, back to us. I will explain.
Alecky Blythe uses a verbatim technique (she did not develop the idea I hasten to add, simply uses it very proficiently) whereby at all times thoughout performances, the actors are being fed the lines of the interviewed characters, in this case prostitutes, as they are said. This gives them a certain freedom that traditional line learning does not. Not only in the sense that they don't have to learn lines, but they an almost work backwards, making choices with the finished product rather than choosing how to say a line as they read the scipt.
It also gives the audience a much greater sense of the real people that Blythe interviewed and recorded. You get a much more relaxed yet emotionally demanding feeling, as the actors stutter, cough and fart just where the women would have done.
Although obviously focussing on a very difficult and taboo situation, through the voices of the women, we are shown another side, with the women referring to what they do as a career and simply a way to make a good bit of money. They often like their clients, referring to them fondly, or if there is any dislike, making fabulous jokes about the size of their nether regions.
The acting is spot on and although 90 minutes long with no interval I could have watched for much longer, so funny and touching was the piece.
THE ODD COUPLE
By Clare BrotherwoodThe Odd Couple, Neil Simon’s comic masterpiece about relationships, is a classic.
But while it is undoubtedly a gift for any actor and director, any staging has always been compared to the film version, starring Walter Mattau and Jack Lemmon, or the five-year-long TV series with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as the mismatched flatmates.
Until now…
At The Mill at Sonning, actor Anthony Valentine has turned his hand to directing a fresh, tight production with Terence Booth and Martyn Stanbridge (looking uncannily like their TV counterparts) making the roles of sloppy sportswriter Oscar and neat, neurotic news writer Felix their own.
From the outset, the privileged audience is drawn into the world of recent divorcee Oscar who, on the surface, is enjoying doing what he wants to do in his eight-room New York apartment, but in reality is desperately lonely. So when his friend Felix’s wife chucks him out, the obvious thing is for him to share his home - with disastrous results.
Though Oscar may be lonely, his lines - and his portrayal by Terence Booth - provide most of the laughs, whereas Martyn Stanbridge really pulls at the heartstrings, despite being agitated and irritating as Felix. It is no wonder that neighbouring sisters - played wonderfully by Susan Skipper and Carla de Wansey as innocent and giggly sixties’ English roses - end up taking him in.
Neil Simon’s uproariously witty script, brought to life so well by this company of actors, is well worth its several Tony awards. Every bit as pertinent today as it was in 1965, isn’t it due another West End revival?
And this is certainly the cast to do it.
SHOW: BREAKFAST WITH BURNS/COFFEE WITH CAIRNEY
By Clare BrotherwoodAs Robert Burns he was the talk of the 1965 Edinburgh Festival. Now, 11 world tours and several lifetimes later, John Cairney, the most famous exponent of Scotland’s Bard, is back.
Since 1959 when he lost the part of Gabriel Oates to Alan Bates in the film Far From the Madding Crowd, Cairney’s name has become synonymous with Burns, not only as an actor but as an academic. So it is fitting that in this year of The Homecoming, which marks the 250th anniversary of Burns’ birth, Cairney too has come home to his native Scotland after 17 years in New Zealand.
And what a comeback! He returned unannounced, and his venue accommodates just 60 people, but it is perfect for this intimate show, an hour-long dip into his world famous solo play, while seamlessly weaving into it his own life with Burns.
He has his audience eating out of his hand from the moment they walk in. And then the show begins and for the next hour he delivers pathos, humour and insight with remarkable energy and timing. He may be coming up to his 80th birthday, but you’d never guess it as he leaps onto a chair to ‘ride’ the grey mare in a powerful rendering of Tam O’Shanter or cries as the young Burns mourning his father’s death. This is a prime example of experience ruling over youth. The skills this velvet-voiced actor has accumulated over more than 50 years on stage and screen certainly come to the fore.
Review by Clare Brotherwood
Visit
www.hendersonsofedinburgh.co.uktel 0131 225 4991
The Self-Murder (SSSR Productions)
By Carolin KopplinThis tragic story addresses the problem of suicide among young people without sentimentality. The characters are believable in their hopelessness and the acting is brilliant in this flawless production.
(Carolin Kopplin)
Art House
By Carolin KopplinCharlie, a gifted but so far under-appreciated artist, craves for fame and fortune so she fakes her death. Her younger sister Viva, who witnessed her alleged suicide, becomes her accomplice and her only lifeline to the outside world. Viva is afraid of the investigation into Charlie's demise but she obeys her sister as she has always done. After a while Charlie becomes tired of being locked up in her studio, claustrophobia is setting in and she begins feeling restless - she wants to break out! Unfortunately, Viva is less than enthusiastic about Charlie's rise from the dead. She has finally got the life that she has always dreamed of - she is a renowned arts dealer in charge of her sister's oevre, granting interviews, featuring on the covers of magazines, she is famous! A perceptive piece of theatre with two outstanding actors.
(Carolin Kopplin)
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