One woman, many voices
0 Nilaja Sun takes all roles in the expansive, dazzling Pike St. ly good, filled with the kind of humorous asides and distractions that enrich real-life conversation, but often get edited out in shows.
Sun effortlessly slices through the lively, energetic world of one of New York’s most diverse areas to paint a picture of a world where multiple voices vie for attention, reminisces about his crimes as if in a bid to understand them but ultimately he remains unknowable. Was he driven to sexual psychopathy due to being “bossed around” by his sisters as a child; sexual frustration or simply anger at his wife? The lack of answers may disappoint but Van der Black’s portrayal makes this worthwhile. RORY FORD not so much divided by race but the opposing attitudes of different generations.
A celebration of “normal” people overcoming, or at least living with, hidden struggles, it’s also a celebration of faith and perseverance – the American dream of never giving up, even when all seems lost. It’s also, arguably, miscategorised in the Fringe brochure and by the performers themselves, Me Me Me Theatre. With its audience interaction, surreal characters, episodic narrative and emphasis on laughs, this is the sort of experimental sketch comedy The Behemoth (aka Johnluke Roberts and Nadia Kamil) excelled at.
The action takes place upon a spaceship populated entirely by clones of a tech entrepreneur called Don Solus. We watch two of the clones (Jasmine Chatfield and Charlie Hammond) come out of hibernation and guide their siblings (the audience) through induction, doling out nicknames in the process (Dangerous Don is to be avoided; Shy Don is nigh-impossible to find). As we become more indoctrinated in the ways of clone life, we learn about dark secrets upon the ship, including the tragic deaths of some of With a beautifully structured ending, during which the hurricane finally takes hold, we see how the human spirit is stronger than the bodies that are swept away. It’s simultaneously powerful, poignant, funny and true, and all in one show. SALLY STOTT our antecedents (shades of Duncan Jones’s Moon) and the existence of a sinister, scorpion-themed cult.
Chatfield and Hammond are gifted physical comedians, conveying multitudes with a fixed grin and a flick of the eyes; the scene where they become familiar with their newly discovered bodies is an extended, dialoguefree delight. Other highlights include the most chaste-yetraunchy sci-fi sex scene of the Fringe, and a glorious montage of death.
By any serious metric of theatre criticism, the show is a failure: the characters are (purposefully) undeveloped; the sets and props (enthusiastically) homemade and unbelievable; the small amount of pathos at the conclusion shrugged off with a smile. All of which make it a glorious success, as long as you judge it as a comedy. NIKI BOYLE Fifty years on, Anne Bancroft’s portrayal of Mrs Robinson in The Graduate remains the archetypal icon of the glamorously predatory older woman. In this charming, sexy and thoughtful cabaret, Fiona Coffey takes up the leopard-skin mantle – as well as the eyeliner, beehive and cigarette – to imagine the backstory behind the movie’s seductress and explore her impact on Coffey’s own life.
She’s superbly accompanied by Michael Roulston and “Kitch” Kitching in delivering a judiciously crafted set list of period-appropriate songs, including I’m Gonna Destroy That Boy, Step Inside Love and Born To Be Wild.
With imaginative empathy and intellectual curiosity, the show delves behind the cougar stereotype, showing how an intelligent woman of Mrs Robinson’s generation could easily end up bored, frustrated and willing to play with fire just “to say a big fat no to her unfulfilling life”.
Coffey is inspired by the character’s embrace of risk – yet too often there’s a restraint, a caution to her delivery that doesn’t quite do justice to that impulse. (A Kinks/harry Nilsson medley is a notable exception.)
Slightly fudged moments of audience participation also undercut what remains a smart, sensuous and heartfelt show. Making the case for a misunderstood heroine, Coffey is seductive indeed. BEN WALTERS Paradise in The Vault (Venue 29) J Even someone with a crush on the late Hollywood actress Natalie Wood and an abiding interest in Arthurian mythology has to admit that there’s absolutely nothing of interest in this car crash of a script that flings the subjects together.
Wood, washed ashore after the boating accident that took her life, is forced to endure a tedious dialogue with the island’s only other inhabitant, King Arthur, whose only modes of expression are either SHOUTING AT THE TOP OF HIS VOICE or muttering inaudibly. RORY FORD