RAPPORT FRINGE ... MARGINAAL VERSLAG ... FRINGE BERICHT
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Will Self's COCK AND BULL
Verdict: Edinburgh's prettiest vagina
Edinburgh - C-Venues - August 02
Frances du Pille presents the prettiest, pinkest vagina in Edinburgh.
Theone Rashleigh's a girl with a handy-sized penis. Put them together,
and you've got Will Self's Cock and Bull - a penetrating and uplifting
play with two parts.
COCK
Carol (Theone Rashleigh) and husband Dan (Yancy Hilton, bearing an
alarming resemblance to how Will Self might have looked as a lad) don't
have much sex. Dan's out boozing, and Carol - to her surprise - is
developing a penis. Dave One and Dave Two (Justin Palmer) respectively
encourage and deter Dan's drink problem, but it's too late - Carol's
becoming a lad. Not just a lad, but twice the man as Dan - as measured
in centimetres by an increasingly delighted Carol.
Carol experiences an amount and variation of masturbation under both
genders that would have blinded whole areas of Victorian London. When
she steps up to actual intercourse, the play rushes to its surprisingly
violent climax.
BULL
John Bull (Joseph Man)'s a rugby player who also doesn't have much sex,
though he'd like to with teasing colleague and journalist Juniper
(Theone Rashleigh). A problem with his knee is diagnosed by lustful
Dr Alan Mullgoolie (Justin Palmer) as a growing vagina.
She's personified - delightfully, daintily and prettily in pink - by
Frances du Pille. Her Vagina's effusive, explaining to us - and to
John Bull, if only he'd listen - exactly how to behave when you've
suddenly acquired what all of your rugby mates have been calling you
for years.
This Vagina's no monologue either. She's up for full intercourse, and
Dr Alan's bent on breaking his Hippocratic Oath.
COCK AND BULL
Will Self's Cock and Bull premieres on stage in this remarkable and
thoroughly entertaining production by Pivot Theatre. The whole
company - (in alpha order) - Frances du Pille, Yancy Hilton, Joseph
Man, Justin Palmer, Theone Rashleigh - appear in both plays (which
follow on without interruption), forming the tightest possible
ensemble cast and giving dazzling individual performances.
Will Self's novels introduce a new method of narration into English
literature. It's arguable that he's the most influential living
innovator in the written language. Translating his writing for the
stage provides a challenge, and it's handled with elegance, clarity
and insight in this adaptation by Rod Dixon.
Self's cherished by many as the journalist sacked by The Observer for
snorting heroin on Prime Minister John Major's election campaign jet.
'So sparse is the content of the campaign,' he wrote on 13 April 1997,
'we were reduced to manufacturing news among ourselves.'
Cock and Bull is peppered with his delicious sense of irony. It's a
shrewd look at gender in the 21st century, and what would be a dollop
of lard in less perceptive hands, is delivered by Self as a masterpiece
of insight and rollicking humour.
Directors - Rod Dixon and Theone Rashleigh. The quite remarkable set
and its amazing travelling door are by Andy Martin. Lighting Designer
- Andy Martin. Sound Design - Matt Dando. Stage Manager - Hanna King.
Lighting Operator and Deputy Stage Manager - Séan Ratcliffe.
Producer - Rod Dixon. Company - Pivot Theatre. Writer - Will Self.
END
John Park
reviewed Saturday 3 August 02 / C Venue
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
www.fringereport.com
