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Sally Swallows And The Rise Of Londinian
Verdict: Raw grotesque comedy
Sally Swallows is a one-hour comedy skit show by 4 actors.
It is framed as a day in the life of Sally Swallows (Anneka Svenska), an aspiring on-the-street tv reporter. Sally hunts for stories among 'the urine-ridden streets' of Londinian - a familiar but noir-ish metropolis.
It's billed as 'The UK's Most Outrageous Sketch Show'. That comes through from the opening scene. Sally sits on a toilet with her pants down, and gets up to wipe her bottom with a lesbian porno mag.
For the rest of the hour, tonight's audience cringes and shrieks with revulsion, as well as laughter. Sally and her sound assistant’s journalistic trek unearths plenty of interesting characters. Some of them reappear through the show, developing their themes.
Londinian turns out to be full of grotesquely dangerous perverts and sadists, and the feeble or infirm innocents (their trusting clients and passers-by) on whom they prey.
It's hardly sad to see some of these maddos dying off as the show progresses. The rising mortality rate reassures that normality may be returning. There is only one sympathetic main character - Luciano the ice-cream man. The audience is lured into cheering him on in his triumph — as he succeeds in business by doing something unspeakable to his customers.
The dark urban setting, the growing stable of frighteningly odd characters, and the recurring violence, all invite comparison with League of Gentlemen. But this show is not derivative. It's much more off-putting, raw and crass. It seems to seek to revolt and shock. For Londoners, it is significant that the setting is at home, not some mythical far-off Northern village.
Writer Anneka Svenska has got it just about right. There is nothing in this show that could be considered in good taste. It's a very funny show.
Cast Credits: (alpha order): Andy Day, Jody Kamali, Sarah Kirkland, Anneka Svenska.
Company Credits: Creator/Producer/Director - Anneka Svenska. Technical Operator - Ross McGivern. Venue Credits: Artistic Director - Emma Taylor. Acting Artistic Director - Louis Brownhill. Technical Director - Ross McGivern. Manager - The Bridge House - Tracy Allum.
END
(c) Brad Hall 2005
reviewed 14 May 05 / Canal Café Theatre
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2009
