[2014020] The Market
Gumption Productions @ The Bluebee Room
9:00pm, Sun 16 Feb 2014
As I descend into The Bluebee Room – the basement location of the first Fasta Pasta in Adelaide (that I can remember) – I discover a smattering of people scattered all around the room; there’s very few groups of people, and the trio of lads sitting directly in front of the stage look a little… well, seedy-drunk. And wary. After smiling my way through the (delightful) door peeps, I sat at a table near the front of the “stage”; the other person at the table, an older unshaven gentleman buried deep in a heavy book, paid no attention to my greeting, and left me wondering whether he – and I, for that matter – was at the right place.
The Market – a gameshow seeking to find partners for desperate singles – attempts to get the audience involved early in the piece, by dragging its contestants from within the audience; it didn’t quite work this evening (what with the sparse nature of the crowd), so the performers were easy to spot beforehand. And as the host (Sylvia?) of the titular meat-market introduces the contestants, her overbearing nature quickly grates – a perfect fit for a gameshow host, really. And the dating wannabes all fit a stereotype: there’s the cool younger girl, nervous beneath a brash exterior. The too-cool-for-school guy, wrapped up in his own new-age world and willing to take anything on (well, almost anything). The older, geekier chap, earnest and ever-so-slightly twee. And the beautiful career woman, an emotional mess beneath the frosty exterior.
A series of questions soften them up, and there’s a curious segment where the contestants roam the crowd seeking our approval. It quickly becomes apparent that the scores are all rigged, that the audience has no agency in this process script, but the gameshow is broken up by ad breaks, which sees the contestants donning costumes for their satirical sponsor messages (the FRITZ – the “Z” stands for “Zystem” – was a highlight).
And whilst the early parts of the performance roll along at a reasonable rate, the pace comes to a screeching halt during a “confessional” segment that purports to break the contestants down. Most of these segments were uncomfortable in their treacly nature, and veer wildly from the light-hearted tone of the first half of the show: Simone’s orgasmic Tim Tam experience almost lifts the mood, but that only came after her almost offensive (to me) “thirty-two and still single” whining – oh you poor dear.
The Market never really recovers from the change in tone and pacing of the confessionals; but, having said that, there wasn’t a huge wealth of goodwill generated earlier in the performance, either. It’s not that there were any terrible performances or anything, but nothing really grabbed me, either. But the two-paced nature of the show, combined with a bit of a lazy denouement, left me thinking that there were no winners leaving The Market at all.
(20) The Market: Two-paced, two-toned dating gameshow with no real winners. #ff2014 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) February 16, 2014