This brilliantly acted and written piece was performed in an unfortunately rather noisy venue which somewhat detracted from the perfomance as I kept wondering what on earth was going on in the neighbouring venue.
Written by Fin Robertson, who is something of a name TV actor, apparently, (although must admit he had slipped through my net) - it is a first play, and as such, is an impressive piece of writing. It is a play about body image - one of two I have seen so far on the fringe. This one looks at body image from a male perspective and deals with issues of being overweight (one which apparently now affects a very high proportion of our population) and also of control in terms of obsession with body building. Interesting comparisons with Mess (more of which under the review of that name). Whilst the male in this play seeks to control his body through building it up and making it more powerful and makes linkages with sexual potency, the female anorexic in Mess seeks to control her body by making it less powerful, starving it so that it all but disappears and shies away from sexual interaction. (just an observation!)
A one man piece (there seem to be a lot of those around this year - a sign of our troubled financial times no doubt) this held the audience's attention and was visually well staged, nicely paced and performed with great skill.
On the dark side in tone, it was quite chilling and disturbing at times. Cannot fault the acting or production values.
Suitable for rural touring ? In many ways, yes, although a good touring rig and techie would be necessary, I feel. Slight doubt in my mind as to whether promoters would pick up on this one - it would possibly be a bit of a tricky sell, but certainly the production company is one to look out for.
Review by Gill Vickers
Review by Gill Vickers
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