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(double bill):

Merry Go Round & The Elevator Man

Verdict: Women's vanity game

Brighton – Marlborough Theatre – 9-11 May 06

www.marlboroughtheatre.co.uk - www.5dtheatrecompany.co.uk


Merry Go Round and The Elevator Man are two 30-minute plays by William House, performed as a double bill. The notion of looking good is perceived as more desirable than feeling good, within a shallow social setting that pushes its warped values into small worlds.

*

MERRY GO ROUND presents two female characters sharing the same space. Older Woman (Christine Hounslow) recalls happier times spent at the fair riding the merry-go-round - and nurturing her selfish and vain companion, Younger Woman (Tracy Forsythe). Their existence is disgruntled, with constant mutual recrimination. They nag each other on appearance, hair, clothes - even for wanting to go out or stay in. On the black, fairly bare, stage are two chairs with clothing scattered over the top, and a small table with a few personal items.

Their dialogue screeches and repeats itself like a scratched record, but it also tunes the ear to the malicious tongues that so perversely put each other down. The play grasps that spite where putting someone down enlarges the self. The metaphors for life pile on.

Small-minded games of lie and pretence make the women's lives unbearable. They re-enact - for each other's benefit - their fantasies about mutual man-friend Carlos, in an act of one-upmanship designed to offend.

Younger Woman begins to alter her appearance and behaviour to be more and more like Older Woman. Older Woman rekindles her second youth, and starts to wear some of the Younger Woman's traits. Dialogue reverses as one becomes the other, in the up and down of their merry-go-round.

But for all their bickering and tormenting, neither leaves. Finally, Younger Woman recalls the time spent at the fair riding the merry-go-round, as their journey arrives full circle.

The production has scope for tightening, and the text could provide more convincing impact. The last speech of the play gives a convincing warning, in the spirit of the title, that what goes may return.

*

THE ELEVATOR MAN is a monologue about Angela as she prepares for a date with Elevator Man. It's broken into inner thoughts and dialogue between Angela and other characters. Valerie Dent plays all the parts - with energy and flair - giving each its own voice and gestures.

Angela swirls and frets in hectic anticipation around a set of clothes rack, armchair and clock. She's in her forties. She doesn't need anyone to put her down (though they all do) - she does it for herself. A woman shop assistant gives helpful advice about clothes to suit her best. Her mother advises: 'Play to your strengths, you must have some.' She imagines the waitress suggesting the right food for her: 'Over-baked soufflé.' Elevator Man notices her by seeing her reflection on an elevator mirror during a chance encounter in New York. The message endures - judgment by appearance.

Angela's nervousness and severe lack of confidence is engaging; her obsession with appearance infectious. She dresses and undresses frantically, reaching a peak in a humorous fault-finding self-examination at the mirror - dropping to the floor for exercises to tighten her tummy.

The play focuses on the superficial displays of the courting game, judgment on sight, and values ascribed to clothing. And underclothing - Angela strides about in black lace underwear.

The Elevator Man is an entertaining play showing, with poignancy, how people's advice is often vacuous, selfish - and best kept at a distance.

*

MERRY GO ROUND and THE ELEVATOR MAN are plays about women, dealing with women's concerns, visions and delusions. The only men mentioned, Carlos and Elevator Man, don't appear - they are phantoms in the women's minds. Light comedy in each play hides a more unsettling existentialist streak - even though there is still a fair gap to bridge for these texts to become fully-rounded, convincing pieces.

The plays present insight into female interaction, and the bitchiness of a cut-throat female world. This can be a cliché - but it's a valid one: it exists, so deserves acknowledgement. The second play, like the first, ends on a phrase whose message lingers.

*

Cast Credits: Merry Go Round: (alpha order): Tracy Forsythe – Younger Woman. Christine Hounslow – Older Woman. The Elevator Man: Valerie Dent - Angela.

Company Credits: Writer – William House. Director (Merry Go Round) - Valerie Dent. Director (The Elevator Man) – Emma Pask. Stage Manager – Carol Croft. Company - 5D Theatre Company. Thanks to: Nicola Haydn & staff, Marlborough Theatre. Holly Payton, Brighton Festival Fringe. Marlborough Theatre: Artistic Directors – Nicola Haydn & Eden Rivers.

END

(c) Maria Santos 2006

reviewed Thursday 11 May 06 / Marlborough Theatre

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

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