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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Penny Spubb's Party
Verdict: Brand new, disturbing, subtle
Penny Spubb's Party is 60 minutes of comedy sketches from Anna Crilly and Katie Wix.
Anna Crilly (the performer with blonde hair) and Katie Wix (with dark hair) wear party dresses with pretty pleats, and there's a loose frame of a party to wrap round a set of sketches featuring a large range of characters - all odd.
Christina (Anna Crilly) and Belchet (Katie Wix) are two Eastern Europeans mangling English. Christina is reasonable, and pacific; Belchet contains (just) a barrel of anger. There's a Welsh encounter as a JobCentre administrator (Anna Crilly) meets Kylie Minogue's sister Wanda (Katie Wix), who has an egg for a head. There's a party interlude as, with party hats, the two play musical chairs with increasing lethargy.
Dr Gay (Katie Wix) is an amorous and incompetent optician, with Anna Crilly as her patient, blinded by cheeslet glasses. Jackie Junior (Katie Wix) is a blind American and Anna Crilly her sister ready to give up her cheerleader career and sell the bandstand to restore her sister's sight; Mr Buckenheimer (Katie Wix) mumbles, and the gay sheriff Anna Crilly 'as much as I would enjoy spending the afternoon buggering your pappy' diagnoses Jackie's looks - 'you're an ugly bitch' - and arrests her.
The two performers become pretentious art critics: 'Jean Cocteau was asked - what would you rescue from a burning house? He replied "Le Feu"', reviewing artist Pippa Image. They enact her work 'Muddy Grubs', a truly awful envionmental art installation about Man and Earth. Mother Superior (Katie Wix) and Sister Agnes (Anna Crilly) recall what they know about the outside world, as represented by nun films - Sister Act, Nuns On The Run - and pray in a choreographed castor-chair routine.
Two teenage girls from The Wirral measure items and sing The Measuring Song. Old man Hastings McKenzie (Anna Crilly) discusses the load-bearing uses of Downs Syndrome boys about the garden; Pebberly Jay (Katie Wix) tries to blow glass. Two halves of Carol Vorderman, Maths Carol (Anna Crilly) and Media Carol (Katie Wix) examine their relationship. A crazed American Majorette Club instructor (Anna Crilly) tries to subdue a bolshy pupil (Katie Wix) intent on using her baton ('Ram it up my arse') instead of her flags. Russians Christina & Belchet sing and dance (in wheelchair) a routine about race and prejudice, while outsmarting each other and vying for attention.
There's no easy way to define a genre for the work of these two outstanding comedians. It's brand new stuff, disturbing, subtle. Many of the moments are reflectively funny - the kind that create laughter inside - others are laugh-out-loud (especially the blind scenes between Jackie Junior and her sister. Logic follows a wavering path in the sketches, but they are not arbitrary - each makes an odd kind of sense. There's cleverness and intellect in the writing, without wankiness resulting.
Each performer is visually effective - Anna Crilly's silent looks and puzzled reactions, Katie Wix's sinister laughs and smiles - and with voices that adapt easily to the parts being played. These are actor techniques, and the acting skills of the two players add to the effectiveness of what are essentially mini-dramas. Mainly funny dramas, but there's a depth, with a disturbing quality that ripples underneath.
Cast Credits: (alpha order): Anna Crilly (the performer with blonde hair). Katie Wix (the performer with dark hair).
Company Credits: Writers - Anna Crilly, Katie Wix. Technical Operator - Venue Staff. Company - Avalon.
END
John Park
reviewed Monday 8 August 05 / The Pleasance / Courtyard / Attic
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
