Felicity’s Score: 3 Stars
Sydney Fringe hosts is host to 400 shows over a month. This means that if you want to see even a quarter of these events… you’ve got to watch 3+ a day. I’m nowhere near that, but I’m giving it a go!
One of the venues I’ve come across a few times is Erskineville Town Hall. Playing this week, it’s a remount of a 2018 Old 505 premier. Alice Birch has written an unapologetically angry piece, and rightly so. In family, romantic relationships, work, and general life, there’s a lot that women have to break free from. This show is an amalgamation of scene vignettes, physical statements, comedy and monologue.
This is one of the few shows I’ve seen in Fringe to have a great marketing video, so I’m right there (no duh) in the front row. Erskineville town hall is a tough one because there’s no tiered seating and acts only use the semi-raised stage some of the time, so if you want to see you have to be in the front row.
Samantha Lush and Laura Anderson open the show with a sense of comedy that is continued throughout the show to give relief between heavier scenes. Chloe Brisk is also a strong comedic asset to the show. A poignant projection with simple phrases accompany scenes and give the funny more weight and the abstract more meaning. The show digresses into anarchy at times with smashing of fruit (no splash zone warning!) and lengthy monologues that perhaps needed more theatrical refinement to achieve the intended affect.
The ensemble seems grounded and sits well with the script, the names of women appearing on the projection at the rear of the stage prove a highlight in political statements. Performing 9-14 September as a part of the Sydney Fringe Festival.
Felicity Anderson – Theatre Now
