RAPPORT FRINGE ... MARGINAAL VERSLAG ... FRINGE BERICHT
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drinks Monday 4 August 08
The Trap in BAD PLAY
Verdict: Fabulous farce about how not to act
Edinburgh - C - 18-25 August 02
(The Trap also appear in 'THE TRAP' at The Pleasance 1-26 August 02)
BAD PLAY's quite one of the best ways to start the day, cutting through even the most intrusive hangovers - mainly because the players are in much the same state.
They (only 2 out of 3 have turned up) thought they were on at 10.30 pm (it's 10.30 am), and arrive, sulky and the worse for wear, to find the stage unprepared. The curtain's open, and they're in the wrong starting positions. There's the vital matter of warming-up exercises, and they do these passing from wing to wing across the stage.
Man 3 arrives from the back of the auditorium and climbs on stage. The technical manager brings up the music (Barber's Adagio For Strings) and the show begins.
It's a sensitive - and timely - tribute to the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York. Models of the towers are projected into giant shadows against the backdrop. This creates an effect that looks like, well, models projected on a backdrop. The demise is done by throwing pebbles until the twin towers collapse in a wholly irreverent way. Not one for American visitors, of which it turns out there are several. The stage goes dark for a memorial silence, broken only by a voice shouting 'I can't see a fucking thing'.
Time for poetry: 'Mondays Child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace ...' which is fine till they forget the lines. 'Friday's child is called Claire. Sunday's is fucked up the arse'.
It's 10 September, and Todd (Paul Litchfield)is an office worker. Enter his boss, the evil Sir Anthony Fatcash-Cat (Jeremy Limb). The Narrator (Dan Mersh) prompts, which is just as well, as Sir Anthony keeps forgetting and mis-timing his lines. 'Where are the reports I asked for? Give them to me.' Todd hasn't done them yet, because the line's too early. 'Do them again'. Sir Anthony has an irritation: 'Todd, I can't see my car because of that tree. Cut down that tree.' It's the last straw for environmentally-sensitive Todd, who quits. He's 'had enough of the hamster wheel', even though he needs the money for his sick orphaned daughter.
We follow Todd on his sorrowful odyssey downhill, meeting tramp Homeless Eric (Jeremy Limb) with whom he has a 'my lot in life is not as bad as yours' competition.
As well as a terrible script and no acting ability, the actors have natural hazards to deal with. A man and woman take a shortcut across the stage, from backstage into the audience. The narrator points to the auditorium door: 'The entrance is fucking there', and Todd's dealing with a rent boy (Jeremy Limb). 'Fancy some action, Mister?' 'No, friend, I'm not game.' 'Why so sad, Mister?' 'I am jobless' 'I've just been a Frenchman.' It becomes a searing investigation of street poverty, involving drug pushing, a disallusioned policeman ('Everybody calls me Pig'), a doubting vicar ('There's no God'), a schoolmaster ('Amo, amas, amat') and finally Sir Anthony Fatcash-Cat who's fallen on hard times. He dies tragically by falling off a bridge, simulated with masterful ineptitude. Todd's journey of metaphysical discovery races to its conclusion, helped by Eric, a wise verse-speaking owl, and the Devil.
A new Narrator (Jeremy Limb) takes the stage for the story of Big Guy Gary Mason. Gary bangs into the side of the set ('Hamlets' nightclub) before launching into his sad tale in which 'meaningless sexual encounters dull the pain.' Before he can continue, a couple of men arrive on stage from the audience to dress the back of the set for the next show. There's a row: The Trap have 15 minutes left. No. There's a standoff. The men climb to the scenery gangway visible backstage, and start wiring equipment.
It's 11 September, Gary's birthday.
At school, boys taunted him 'Gary Mason's got no mates'. Since, he's been 'buggered senseless on a daily basis by Mr Life' and had encounters with Professor Adolescence, The Reverend Disappointment, and Rear Admiral Rejection. Finally, he encounters lovely Amber, but the fearful climax of his violent love is marred by a fight backstage, and language ('Cunt!') between the rest of the cast and the men working on the gallery.
The arrival of Gary's mate Bard Basmo ('a friend skilled in the dark art of psychiatry, with a PhD in life') is marred by another questing visitor - a member of the public looking for the bar. Gary brings the action back to 11 September with subtlety, but not enough for 2 appalled members of the audience who get up and leave ('So bad. So offended. Disgusting.')
There's a sensitive question and answer session between cast and actors at the end, with a trailer for the cast's forthcoming productions: 'Fred West, We Hardly Knew You', and a Nazi religious play, 'Heil Mary'.
Bad Play came with astounding word-of-mouth, and just about every cast doing the Fringe seems to have seen it. It fully justifies and exceeds its reputation, one of the funniest and most unusual entertainments of the festival. Actors and writers Jeremy Limb, Paul Litchfield and Dan Mersh have created a true delight, wholly original, and achingly funny.
Performers: The Trap, who are: (alpha order) Jeremy Limb, Paul Litchfield, Dan Mersh. Technicals - C staff. Written and directed by The Trap. Company - It's Alright For Some.
END
John Park
reviewed Friday 23 August 02 at C
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
