RAPPORT FRINGE ... MARGINAAL VERSLAG ... FRINGE BERICHT
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Age-Sex-Location
Verdict: Mesmeric dissection of reality
Welcome to the ambivalent world of Freetopia. Age-Sex-Location is the story of what happens there. It's a drama in 2 acts with 7 actors and lasts 2 hours plus interval.
Benevolent internet despot Dave runs the world-wide-web kingdom of Freetopia in his pyjamas, hiding from the outside world in his London flat. On-line citizens include disabled Rose, failed TV star Jack McGill, plump Trevor, and crying Rachel. The server's located on an oil-rig in international waters run by sinister Gus, a handsome devil - the kind to whom people might sell their souls. And that's the crux of this deftly entertaining drama - which trebles as thriller, morality play, and old-fashioned love story.
Dave's commodity is a profound interest in people. He's a charismatic, much like the presiding controller Christof in The Truman Show, with the ability to inspire trust. His interest, however, is not to control, but to liberate. He introduces Freetopia as 'the online archive of all human emotion'. Here, people can be what they want.
For Rose Thorn, this means mental freedom from the wheelchair in which, paralysed from the head down and able only to communicate by blowing into a tube, her body is imprisoned. For passé television star Jack McGill, it's the chance to ressurect StreetMonk, his filmic Buddhist alter-ego. Podgy humble Trevor, rejected by his wife for his size and miniature penis can perhaps find love. Middle-aged Rachel might find a clue to the tears that fill her existence. Dave cajoles all, consoles all.
For Melissa, who signs on-line as Minnie Mouse, it's altogether more complicated. Dedicated to the philosophy of Freetopia, she's increasingly drawn to Dave. She wants to come from America to meet him in the (emphatically) flesh. Can Dave begin to feel what Tina Turner so full-bodiedly described as 'real, honest emotion'. Can he handle the reality of reality?
Gus is more than custodian of the off-shore computer where Freetopia's wires and circuits reside. Like Gene Hackman's Harry Caul in The Conversation, he listens obsessively. Like Satan, he tempts, seduces, diverts. For every Utopia since Eden and Sir Thomas More, there's been a need for a devil, and Gus is he. When Freetopia is, in Act Two, fully unleashed, so's Gus. He's something in the works, but will it be ghost or spanner?
Amber Agar shines as shy and bottled-up Minnie Mouse, expressing an ocean of emotion with skilful and restrained acting; her switch to full-on siren Desiree is both surprise and delight. Omer Barnea's a gorgeously handsome, wily and slippery Gus - brooding, deceitful, impish (in humour and devilry); a superb and three-dimensional characterisation of this complex part. Richard Durden delivers Jack McGill, both as Jack and his character StreetMonk, with a fine sense of the implicit humour and dignity of the man, and the pathos of his situation.
It's often said there are few excellent parts for older women. Rachel, with her initially unexplained tears, is a fine exception, delivered by the younger Jane How in a remarkably affecting way; her portrayal brims with understanding and panache, switching the tears to the audience. The cast contains two excellent but uncredited child actors, a girl and boy, who each contribute gifted performances.
Katherine Jakeways brings depth and understanding to the hugely complex part of paralysed Rose Thorn. Given the power of software speech, Rose splutters obscenites and creates a fictive world in which she's dominatrix. But her body longs to 'see, hear, breathe and taste'; her heart yearns to be loved and cared for, expressed in the script with considerable tenderness. Katherine Jakeways tackles this set of precipitous changes with conviction and élan. The excellently ample body Ewen MacIntosh is able to bring to Trevor is skilfully integrated into a delightful characterisation; the script creates the possibility of a loveable and humble man; Ewen MacIntosh creates of Trevor both of these qualities, and a character of delight, depth and inspiration.
Age-Sex-Location falls or stands, as Freetopia might, on the central character of Dave. Ed Stoppard creates a captivating portrayal, a mesmeric figure who rivets attention whether centre stage, within the audience, or observing from the wings. His fine voice, and subtlety of movement draw and direct the focus of the action exactly as the fast pace of the story requires, removing the confusion its complexity could otherwise create. His powerful work enables the play to succeed.
The play's about the co-existence of reality and our dreams about ourselves and others. It's brought to theatrical life by some fine special effects. The skill of their design is their unobtrusiveness and the seamless match of their script-content to that delivered on stage - combining with it, instead of competing, to enhance the drama. Monitors around the auditorium stitch what's happening on the internet into the action of the play without distracting attention.
The screens, and some excellent projection of images on silks, enable the director to bring to life 'real' characters, and those of their imagination, and for them to interract. It is thus uniquely theatrical: the simultaneous presence of a live audience watching similarly live human beings (the characters played by the actors), and those the characters imagine, can only be done in a theatre performance. It's a drama examining identity, as Ingmar Bergman did with Persona (meaning, literally, 'the actor's mask'), and the fact that even the 'real' characters are not (they're actors), adds a third simultaneous layer of fascination to this highly original play.
There's taut and skilful direction by Pip Pickering; excellence in video and lighting work from Sven Ortel, Dick Straker, Ian Galloway, Matthew Haskins; gifted, and atmospheric music from composer Conor Mitchell.
Writer Marcus Markou creates a tantalising play, based on his story co-written with Richard Redman. Drawing on the imaginative and deceptive possibilities of the internet, he creates a set of essentially quite sentimental micro-stories, bound together by the mystery of the half-dream world we keep in the back of our heads, and an encapsulating tale of challenged romance. There are occasional flaws - some over-writing, traces of unconvincing dialogue - but they are small complaints within a play of startling originality, wit and literary verve.
There are some cracking one-liners: of a female simulation 'I wanted beauty, loyalty, and a bit of understanding. But clearly I made you a woman'. The play makes good use of its 2-act structure to build intrigue and shift gear. In the literal sense of both words, it's imaginative and spectacular. It's also a lot of fun, enjoyable, thought-provoking, and inspirational.
Cast Credits (alpha order): Amber Agar - Melissa/Minnie Mouse/Desiree. Omer Barnea - Gus. Richard Durden - Jack McGill/StreetMonk. Jane How - Rachel. Katherine Jakeways - Rose Thorn. Ewen MacIntosh - Trevor. Ed Stoppard - Dave. Steven Berkoff - Voice of God. Anna Ledwich - Treviana. Valborg Proynes - Fiona. (Uncredited actors - girl, boy).
Company Credits: (programme order): Marcus Markou - Writer. Based on story by - Marcus Markou & Richard Redman. Pip Pickering - Director, Designer. Sven Ortel for Mesmer - Video & Lighting Designer. Conor Mitchell - Composer. Dick Straker for Mesmer - Associate Video Designer. Matthew Haskins - Associate Lighting Designer, Chief LX. Emily Pain - Associate Designer. Emmett J de Monterey - Costume Designer. Ian Galloway for Mesmer - Video Design Assistant. Francesca Finney - Company Stage Manager. Matthew Haskins - Chief LX. Lili Barcroft - Costume Assistant. Paul Webb - Press Director. Marcus Marcou - Executive Producer / Marketing. Paul Savident - Advertising. John O'Connell - Rigging. Emma Pickering & Gabrielle Djanogly for Millin Tailor - Seamstresses. CSN - Blue Screen Studio. Matthew Pountney - Recording Engineer. Jane Owen PR - Press Night Promotion. Richard Arnold for Paul Savident - Print/Advertising Design. Producers - Titus Media Productions & Paul Savident.
Thanks / Acknowledgements: Toynbee Studios, Royal National Theatre, Pleasance Theatre, Arts Theatre, Steven Berkoff & East Productions, Mark van Eowen, Anthony Biggs, Sandra Patton, George Potts, Colin Howdle, Valerie Maxwell, Andrew Markou, Victoria Markou, Kate Pakenham, Gareth Hulbert, Ian Johnson, Andrew Jenkins, Andreas Christophorou, Dana Redman, Kath Burlington, Sinead O'Keeffe, Tim Crowther, Yanna Owen, Marie Newey, Richard Leighton, Emma Jane Sargeant & Gareth Hordyk, Nick Hunt (Rose Bruford College), Thomas Gray (Gray Circle), Richard Kenyon, John O'Connell, Audley, Deborah Warner, Paul Anderson & Sparks Theatrical Hire, Rupert Dean, Ben Fowler, Apple, Aemon Leasey, Paul Steggall & Carbon Search, Simon Arnold & Jon Fawcett, Barbra Egervary, Tina Farguson, Finn Ross, Riverside Studios.
END
John Park
reviewed
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
www.fringereport.com
