RAPPORT FRINGE ... MARGINAAL VERSLAG ... FRINGE BERICHT
Reviewing fringe theatre, film, art and performance in London and internationally credits
venues
|
awards
|
interviews
|
features
|
fashion
|
newsletter
|
recipes
|
news
|
gossip
|
home
|
about
|
dublin
|
edinburgh
|
links
|
contact
|
drinks Monday 4 August 08
Lilita
Verdict: Sexual corruption
Lilita is drama about the relationship between adolescent girls and adults, particularly adult men. It runs for an hour. There's a cast of 4 (2F, 2M)
Lilita (Helen Sadler) is growing up, which is shown in allegory via her roles in Little Red Riding Hood and other folk tales. As she nears 14 she is raped by Hollywood actor Bert Wolfe (Nick Cimino), who is also the Big Bad Wolf. To the rescue comes suave chat-show host Charles O'Ryan (Eric Wilson), owner of a Neverland-like private theme-park for adolescents. Primal feminine force Lilith (Tracy Keeling) doubles as Lewis Carroll's The Red Queen, and Lilita's mother Abby Strine, abetting and rejecting the child's corruption.
The play has several themes: The corruption of young girls by older men. The implications of young girls being encouraged and wanting to dress and behave like grown-up women. The relationship between fathers and daughters, and reaction of mothers to their exclusion from it. The daughter-father version of the Oedipus Complex. The power relationship between adult women and men. The power Hollywood may confer over the less powerful. The sexuality of childhood folk stories. The battle between good and evil. The Creation story.
This is not a comfortable play, and raises disturbing questions - exactly perhaps what many people go to the theatre to see. The themes are topical - from the Michael Jackson trial to Charlie And The Chocolate Factory; the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, a child encouraged by her parents to dress as an adult. And they have a history - from the 1921 Fatty Arbuckle murder of a young starlet (power of Hollywood actors), to Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, 1955.
The play would be difficult to watch (and illegal) if the central role of Lilita was played at her own age. Helen Sadler is reassuringly adult, and performs Lilita in the play's cartoon-like style - which makes it more digestible. She makes the fairy-tale sequences work credibly, and infuses the innocence of the child with a faintly demonic nuance. Her skilful distancing of the character from reality makes the post-rape scenes even more disturbing than they might be. It's a powerful lead performance from a fine actor.
Nick Cimino gives an intriguing pair of characterisations as Big Bad Wolf, and Bert Wolfe - and blends them cunningly. Eric Wilson portrays Adam, Daddy Bear, and oily Charles O'Ryan with an artful mix of menace and charm.
Tracy Keeling performs the force of evil with élan. Mainly, she is Lilith, in elegant red costumes (by Julie Ziff). With deft skill, she morphs Lilith into The Red Queen, and weaves more than a trace of her into mum Abby Strine. It's an intriguing mix of different characterisations, and Tracy Keeling delivers them (and 'a hundred devils a day' - as Lilith) with impact and charisma.
The writing, by Tracy Keeling and director Mary Cimino, creates a blend of allegory and reality. The set, by Rebecca Vincent, uses a versatile mobile which becomes variously a cot, Wendy House, and bed; and matches perfectly the eerie half-world the play creates.
Cast Credits: (alpha order): Nick Cimino - Big Bad Wolf, Bert Wolfe. Tracy Keeling - Lilith, Red Queen, Abby Strine. Helen Sadler - Lilita, Stenographer. Eric Wilson - Daddy Bear, Charles O'Ryan.
Company Credits: Writers - Tracy Keeling, Mary Cimino. Director - Mary Cimino. Set Designer - Rebecca Vincent. Costume Designer - Julie Ziff. Musical Arrangement by - Oliver Dinsmore, Philip Brown. Make-up - Tippy Brinkman. Graphic Design - Cary Nunally. Photography - Rocco Redondo. Producer - Anne Maree Lawrence. Company - The ALlieS (www.thealliestheatre.com).
END
John Park
reviewed Friday 5 August 05 / The Underbelly
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
