The Danny Crowe Show by David Farr delves into the self-obsessed world of crazed television therapy. TV researcher Magda (Hayley-Marie Axe) is fed up with the fictitious reality of reality shows. She is unsatisfied by the mediocre melodrama cases who pour into the studio - such as single-silicone-breast-implant-attention-seeker Lynette (Angeline Andrews). Magda sets out to look for the real truth and pain in true-life tragedy. The play opens to the sound of monotonous dripping; the set looks like a 1980s crack den. Rows of washing-lines hold up surrounding curtains. There is a tattered sofa - for potential guest on the Danny Crowe Show.

Magda finds her catastrophic life-story in tragic Gothic-strangeling Peter (Tom Ward-Thomas). Isolated from the modern world, Peter is untainted - ready to be Magda's perfect truth, pain and real-life-drama-study. When her slimy-producer-ex-boyfriend Miles (Anthony Mackey) sees what she has found, he wants a slice of the action. As Peter and his sister Tiffany (Amy Forrest) tentatively tell Miles and Magda their story - how Peter accidently killed his father - things begin to look up for the slowly-staling Danny Crowe show. But a fine line between reality of life and reality of the game is being played by all participants - everyone involved in the Danny Crowe Show is seemingly as nutty as each other.

When Tiffany challenges Peter's desperate attempt to escape boredom he barks 'I will not be sat here with that sad bastard stirring ever slow circles of tea.' Ironically the real tragedy exists in the shadow of Peter's father Roger (Michael Forrest). But Peter is too busy playing in the elaborate saga of his fictional reality to hear the truth of the actual. When he is forced to listen to his father's real-life drama, it is too late - finally giving the bloodthirsty producers something real.

Tonight's performance ends at 23:25, nearly an hour after it is billed to finish. There's a clunky scene-change revealing Peter's blood-stained, bone-hanging lair, slow scene changes, bad sound cues alongside what appears to be the technician texting on her phone - several frustrating breaks in the action which disrupt the rhythm of the play, which so vitally needs to be smoothly driven forward.

For the most part the acting is believable enough. But at times the script feels jolted by high-energy over-zealous comedy performances. It would perhaps be better with a more understated approach - allowing the actors to conquer the dark humour of the play's language. A good bit of casting sees Tom Ward-Thomas as Peter, delivering a very convincing wide-eyed teenager trying to escape monotony. Self-destruction is a key element of David Farr's script, and he plays wonderfully between good, evil, hero, victim - constantly flipping expectations in a superb black comedy.

There are some very compelling fragments. Dizzy blonde Lynette reappears after being buried alive in a graveyard by Peter and Tiffany: clambering through Peter's lounge window she rejoins the rest of the characters to grass on her Danny Crowe Show opponents. Director Alexandra Legouix captures a fantastically funny image, brilliantly played down by Angeline Andrews as Lynette - her muddied, back-brushed-Barbie-look a perfect picture of desperate hopelessness. It is a shame there are not more moments like this.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Angeline Andrews - Lynette. Hayley-Marie Axe - Magda. Anthony Mackey - Miles. Michael Forrest - Roger. Amy Forrest - Tiffany. Tom Ward-Thomas - Peter.

Company Credits: Writer – David Farr. Director – Alexandra Legouix. Music Composer- uncredited. Designer - uncredited. Lighting Designer – uncredited. Sound Designer - uncredited. Technical Operator – uncredited. Producer – uncredited. Company – Trapdoor Productions.

END

(c) Jenny Glithero 2009

reviewed Friday 24 July 2009 / Henley Rugby Club, Henley Uk.

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com