your review

Your Reviews Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2003

22-08-2003

The Footlight’s reputation goes before them, it seems, and this years show, in many ways, warrants the turn out.

The cast are on top form, as are the script writers. They reveal their characters – though flawed in every way imaginable – with honesty and panache, guiding the audience through their dysfunctional encounters and relationships, beginnings and ends, days and nights. 

The performance is a showcase for the lives and loves that go on in an anonymous block of flats, craftily sketched into a series of ‘comedy’ moments. I hesitate on comedy though because the scenarios are at times unnerving. It is an odd type of funny – melancholic and unsettling. Comedy, perhaps, at it’s most downbeat and subtle. The intimacy that the audience are exposed to makes for uneasy giggles and sniggers. The show is surrounded by a strange feeling of intruding on some real moments of secrecy, like peering through a window onto a life that is in the process of crumbling away.

This, of course, is where the humour lies. The character’s restrained dialogue, with tongue faintly but definitely placed in cheek, nods to the audience just as it reaches its bleakest points. From the awkward surprise party awaiting the arrival of the adored ‘Woody’, to the two men flirting uncontrollably with each other in a lift, one of them later turning out to be the (famous by this point) man himself.

Testament to the talent of the cast and the script are the pseudo-conversations between well-meaning visitors and the silent, grimy old men (who appear on the screen backdrop). The performer sits front of stage and addresses the middle distance, striving for things to say to entertain, with a kind of self-flagellation. You can’t help but love the innocence of some of these characters; the sincerity that lies in their shortcomings.

The show is, at times, very funny and is a joy to watch. With a twist in the tail, I was left, finally, like a rabbit in the footlights. 

Roger Prescott

Breaking Strain

17.08.2003

If naked men are your idea of Greek tragedy well told, then this is a play for you. However, Justin Butcher's sleek update of Phaedra and Hippolytus is more than just visual impact and Greek busts. Carefully combining both traditional technique and modern drama practice, two actors drive us down a road of purity and sin. A chorus sets the scene of Phaedra's whirlwind marriage and subsequent lust for her haughty stepson. Using muses Aphrodite and Artemis as examples of passion and virginity, we are enveloped by this sordid tale of an older woman's demise into obsession and ultimately, the act of rape. Sounds a little heavy? Don't worry, no sooner has the plot been outlined than the masks and cloaks are cast off and the tragedy is played out in a contemporary drama. 

There is something quite touching about Katy Feeny's portrayal of Phaedra, or 'Fi' to her friends. The character has a gentle confidence of a mature woman and yet a child-like innocence in her attitude to love and beauty. Therefore, it is all the more disturbing to see this cold calculated seduction. Despite our society's growing acceptance of dysfunctional families, she brings unease to the audience when reaching out for what is not hers to take. 

Likewise, Butcher (both playwright and performer) attempts to bring such complex levels to his proud athletic youth. He succeds in conveying the ultimate in conceit and arrogance of this oxbridge richkid. There is a slight hollow feeling to his expression of disgust the final scene but on the whole gives a rounded performance with a particularly well delivered monologue.

Go and see this play if you enjoy both the classics and contemporary theatre. The fusion of the two is both flawless and funny with it. As for Greek busts and naked men...well, you'll have to see for yourself.

Helen Batchelor

13-08-2003

Review by Lea Harris

Be prepared for flashbacks if you were ever bullied at school.  Martha (Verity Hewlett) is picked on at school because she is different; Scott (Adam Ward) is the new boy and falls in with Simon (Milenka James) and his gang, but can’t understand why they bully and chase the poor girl around the playground, teasing and tormenting her. Scott befriends Martha and together they face the bullies, and not only the ones in the playground, but also in Martha’s dreary home. Confiding in Scott, she tells him her terrible secret.

This is a story of how friendships can help change what seems like an impossible situation. It takes courage to tell someone about being abused and if adults are unable to help because there is no proof, a best friend aged 12, just might have the solution. The old cliché, ‘A trouble shared’ is never truer than in this production. This tale is masterly performed by three very talented actors, whose physical energy beggars belief. Ward has the nuances of a gangly 12-year-old boy down to a fine art!

It is touching, humorous and poignant and a must for parents with children who aren’t quite teenagers.

09-08-2003

Dara O'Briain reviewed by Juli Hill

Despite reports he could be most offensive - we decided to risk attending - making sure, however, that we were not likely to catch his eye - we sat right at the back.
The show was really funny, typical stand up Irish comic, but certainly not as ascorbic as we had expected. The involvement of the audience was in fact pretty minimal and certainly not as aggressive as we had expected.

Your reviews Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2002

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