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drinks Monday 2 June 08
DUBLIN ... Colman Higgins describes the scope and history of Dublin Gay Theatre Festival ... and reviews two of its shows ... Down Dangerous Passes Road ... Confessions of A Mormon Boy /// LONDON ... film on now ... La Question Humaine / Heartbeat Detector /// BRIGHTON ... It's on till 26 May and here's at least 20 Things you might want to know about Brighton Fringe /// PEOPLE ... Who was there at Fringe Report's First Monday 5 May - photographs & article /// CULTURE ... One Culture ... film screening 30 May booking now ... details
Five in the Morning
Verdict: Experimenting with instructions
Dublin Fringe Festival 2006 Project Cube 11-16 Sept 06
Five in the Morning experiments with the theatrical form by taking three actors who do not know each other or the script, and giving them instructions on what to say and do.
Each of the performers has a guide who gives instructions - also heard by the audience. The result is a hybrid between full improvisation and a conventional play. Although the actors do not know the script, the guides control the direction of the action.
The actors wear swimming costumes. They are in Aquaworld, a marine leisure centre. They fight over towels, do dances, swim, form human towers.
While the instructions slow down the interaction between the characters and take away some surprise, they introduce a new element the question of how an actor is going to interpret an instruction. And the immediacy of the reactions is interesting, in that the actors really dont know what is going to happen next. There is some of the genuine awkwardness of strangers meeting for the first time.
The show becomes really riveting when the performers are given very difficult - and dangerous - tasks. It creates doubt as to whether they will rebel, which produces a unique tension. At one point, it looks as if Stella Mastroianni is rebelling, when she gets up and talks freely to the audience.
While the show holds the attention throughout, it is formed of several short and apparently unrelated sequences. While an overarching story may not be the intention of the production, it would be interesting to see what one would look like in this format.
Cast Credits: (alpha order): Catherine Dyson . Stella Mastroianni. Grayson Muldoon.
Company Credits: Original Creation Ant Hampton, Greg Mclaren, Silvia Mercuriali, Melanie Wilson. Direction/Sound Design Ant Hampton. Sound Software Design Ollie Brown. Company - Rotozaza.
END
(c) Colman Higgins 2006
reviewed Tuesday 12 September 06 /
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
