This is a public debate. MC Tracy Keeling (19:36, the progress of the clock is indicated at various points below) explains the format, a perfomance poet performs, the chairman introduces three speakers. Each speaker speaks for 10 minutes, with questions and mini-speeches from the floor after each speaker. The topic is 'Love'.

Bernadette Cremin (19:39) delivers around 10 minutes of 'romantic ramblings on love - poems on a Purgatory theme' including: 1st Love / Death, first love, glue-sniffing, death, and a flea line; King Pin (19:40) recalls a skinhead friend, graphically, and a kiss, 'I loved him in spite of good advice'; Kaiser Strasse (19:42); Hotel (19:43), 'We meet in Room 101, same time every week', 'We fumble feel'; Tangerine (19:45) 'remind you of the back seat of Dan's Cortina'; Greasy Man (19:45) 'About a bed-and-breakfast, and I happened to be the night receptionist'; The Builder (19:47) 'About perving over a builder'; Perfect Mess (19:50) 'About a mistress for 40 years', 'polluted yet beautiful' (19:51).

Starting a public debate with a performance could kill the evening's pace; with a poet even more so. With a performance poet it could be much, much worse, even for 10 minutes. Some may feel that the main task of a performance poet is to make 10 minutes feel like a lifetime. But this is a good one, with an exciting and precise use of words.

Tracy Keeling reads an introduction about love with topics including: biology, Buddhists, Nirvana, birth control, technological revolution, women's liberation, homosexuality, the make-up of the future generation, marriage, divorce, famine, sweethearts, Jung, psychosis, Aristophanes, Plato, death, religion, fear. Alexander Parsonage (19:56) introduces himself as chairman, and the 3 speakers.

Craig Jordan-Baker (19:56) talks about the history of love, the four aspects of love of the Ancient Greeks - Eros, Agape, Storge, Philia (friendship, liking); at length about Philia; about how the English word 'love' can (by nuance and context) include each of these four aspects; he focusses on Aristotle's account of Philia. Perhaps for ease of identification, Craig Jordan-Baker looks like a philosopher. He has hippy bracelets, facial piercings, hair in a pony-tail down his back. But unlike a philosopher, he looks quite clean, talks sense, talks directly, and looks at people he is talking to. The chairman gives him a one-minute warning of his 10-minute maximum - having perhaps experience of philosophers (20:06). Discussion and questions include: the different kinds of love; separating love into strands; Aristotle's methodology for classifying love; (the British science-fiction cult tv series) Red Dwarf; notions of good and bad between the time of Aristotle and now; moral relativism (yes, there is another philosopher in the room, they lock horns).

Vivienne Parry (20:18) 'I want to argue that love has nothing to do with it; behind our back, our hormones are working overtime to pick our perfect partner.' Chairman Alexander Parsonage introduces her as 'speaking from a scientific perspective'. She does so very entertainingly. The peak age for sperm for men is 17, after that it's downhill; women are ready for birth (across all their being as opposed to just biologically) at 17, with the best age 19. So 17 is the best time for both to fall in love. (20:26). Discussion topics include: 'I am homosexual' (so how do I fit into this methodology?) says a man, very quietly; quite well, apparently; symmetry of features is attractive, also a characteristic of succesful racehorses; speaker used to do agony-aunt-ing for The News Of The World (a scandal-loving UK Sunday newspaper); what about meeting on the internet?; attractiveness; social norms and how society dictates what its members think; shit-magnets; 'Men who are extremely difficult are also often charming'. (20:41)

Suzanne Marie (20:42) is introduced as speaking on the religious side of things. She discusses the conflict within a catholic person of the catholic prohibition of for example premarital sex, birth contol; a catholic woman considering her own feelings in the context of parental beliefs; the rules of her religion; a partner not believing in marriage; the wish for sex in contrast to the church's rules; can faith be practised if living outside its rules? (20:56). Discussion includes: Praying for guidance?; catholic thinking; pick-and-mixing approach to religion a good or bad thing?.

General Discussion (20:57). Topics include St Thomas Aquinas; Hinduism; religion and duties; spirituality and religion; the things the body needs as opposed to the spirit; what is good for the person against what is good for society? At 21:05, chairman Alexander Parsonage draws the event to a close, explaining that it's run out of time for further debate.

Overall it's an interesting event. Perhaps 55 minutes overall would be crisper - as opposed to 89 minutes tonight. Perhaps cutting it to the core of 'debate' - starting straight with the chairman, no introduction, no performance (good as the performance may be in another context) - would make it more immediate: with eg 7 minutes per speaker, one straight after the other (no questions between them). That could leave a clear and briefed forum of 30 minutes of floor questions to any of the speakers, and debating points from the floor. Such a concluding half-hour of interflow between all present including floor and speakers could perhaps enhance the essence of debate as opposed to lecture - though there's not much feeling of lecturing tonight. Big plusses tonight are a great topic affecting everyone, three good speakers, and the charm, relaxed authority and brisk timekeeping of chairman Alexander Parsonage.

Performance Credits: Performance Poet: Bernadette Cremin. MC: Tracy Keeling. Chairman: Alexander Parsonage - Director, Artists Anonymous, London Alternative Fringe Festival. Speakers (in order of speaking): Craig Jordan-Baker - Philosopher, dramatist. Vivienne Parry - Science writer, broadcaster (www.vparry.co.uk). Suzanne Marie - Actor, catholic.

Company Credits: Operations Manager, Rose Theatre - Pepe Pryke. Producer - Tracy Keeling & Belinda Wylie. Alexander Parsonage - Director, London Alternative Fringe Festival. Greg Tallent - Director, London Fringe. Website - www.rosetheatre.org.uk

END

John Park

reviewed Monday 9 August 2010

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

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