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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Rosie Wilkinson
in
What's Wrong?
Verdict: Comedy
Edinburgh 04 - Underbelly - 16:35 (55mins)
Rosie Wilkinson certainly doesn't open her character show with her strongest invention. Marleen - a middle-aged, crude, single-mother from Barnsley - greets the audience. Rosie Wilkinson gives her an outrageous spiky wig, excessively large glasses and a Coronation Street accent. She is a loud and vulgar stereotype, and unfortunately the quality of Rosie Wilkinson's writing cannot elevate Marleen into the realms of burlesque.
Marleen’s coarse jokes are simply embarrassing and certainly don't merit her return three times within the show. Rosie Wilkinson obviously enjoys playing Marleen, but there are audible groans from the audience when she reappears.
Rosie Wilkinson dons a cagoule to play Geordie teenage boy Lee. Lee boasts about sexual conquests but prefers ‘playing in the park than going on dates’. He exaggerates and tells unbelievable tall stories, such as when he takes his albino brother to New York and gets mistaken for a werewolf.
There could be many opportunities for humour with this character, but Lee's identity is muddled by Rosie Wilkinson's inarticulate performance. There is confusion as to whether Lee is a simpleton or someone with more sinister motives. Because of this, the jokes misfire.
Exagerrated accents are used to create a bobble-hatted half-wit, an obscene French Teacher and Greek Melina.
Melina is distinguished by her distaste for England, (‘Don't go to Croydon - full of brown’) and her clear absence of empathy. Melina volunteers for The Samaritans. She thinks her male callers are depressed due to their ‘tiny dicks’ and suggests ‘I have an ugly friend. We go disco-dancing.’ Melina reckons the English would be happier if they ‘have good sex, instead of stand in Ikea like dead person’.
Catwoman is a teacher - embellished with nervous tics and a rigid posture - who has departed from the ‘frontline’ and now trains colleagues for the task ahead. She has found the relationship between pupil and instructor difficult, and advises that ‘fear, and not praise, is the most effective method of control’. She recommends that in order to gain their trust, no kind of human behaviour should be exhibited in front of a student, including ‘eating, drinking or smiling’. In fact, she finds it easier to appropriate her students to cats - whereupon this nervy woman metamorphoses into a feline.
Catwoman is a peculiar piece of characterisation, which is nicely performed but fails tonight to stir a comedic response from the audience. As with many of Rosie Wilkinson’s characters, the source of its humour isn’t articulated to the audience - so there is a sense of isolation and confusion as to where the jokes lie.
Jen is the most successful character – the most closely-observed, and funniest. She’s a middle-class neurotic who has taken up Yoga and Buddhism on a quest for inner peace. Her new husband Matt has got her into alternative therapy for her depression – though Jen ‘believes it's normal to feel suicidal after the wedding’.
Jen and Matt are a ‘fun-centric couple’ who ‘leave all the nappy crap to my sister’. Jen lapses into an irritating baby-voice when tackling difficult issues. Jen’s naivety and obvious unhappiness could be touching with a more subtle writer. But Rosie Wilkinson uses undemanding gags and doesn't allow the character to develop.
Rosie Wilkinson's characters often seem stark and formulaic. They generally lack authenticity. She uses conspicuous short-cuts in her characterisation – such as over-the-top mullet-wigs, and hackneyed accents. It's hard for the audience to accept that these characters exist in their own right when they are such patent stereotypes. And they lack any warmth, which prevents the audience from engaging with them.
Even the most surreal comic creations often contain a nub of truth, which generates the humour. Here, there is an assembly of diverse characters, but they lack entertaining credibility.
The show feels like a performance exercise, rather than an evening of character comedy. Other comics at Edinburgh 04 - in particular Katherine Jakeways - have constructed sophisticated and subtle characters, and Rosie Wilkinson's show does not stand favourably in comparison.
Cast Credits (alpha order): Written and performed by Rosie Wilkinson.
Company Credits: Technical Operator - Venue Staff.
END
(c) Ella Lockwood 2004
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
