"Loveplay", by The Weird Sisters. Go see it now.
Loveplay
International Brigade (Cosmopolitan Centre)
10:00pm, Tue 29 Feb 2000
Score: 9
Short Review: Rollercoaster
Wow. Thanks ever so much to the girl from the International Brigade who insisted that I see this show. I owe you lots.
The Weird Sisters each play a multitude of characters, effortlessly switching between them (with the aid of some brilliant use of lighting). Maintaining such integrity in the characters over 75 minutes is incredible, and they were all believable - Alison Goldie's Dave (the doting father caught in a loveless marriage) was exceptional, as was the spurned-and-yet-to-deal-with-it Sally, played by Kath Burlinson.
As the performance moves along at breakneck speed, the audience are taken on a emotional rollercoaster ride - characters falling into, and out of, love; passion & unrequited love; and the love of the spurned all play heavily. But "Loveplay" is also funny - scenes with the marriage counsellor are amongst the funniest I've seen so far this Fringe.
In short, this is amazing stuff. Go see this now.
The Condition
WorldsEnd Theatre
9:00pm, Tue 29 Feb 2000
Score: 8
Short Review: Curious
The Victorian company, Holophane, have put together an appealling (if short) piece of theatre exploring the concepts of identity and madness. While using multiple players to display different aspects of the self is not a new technique, the performance still seemed refreshingly original.
The use of live music also deserves a big tick; Tim Wootton on guitar provides a wonderfully moody soundtrack. Overall, the music, dialogue and performances all made this piece feel like a short, succinct David Lynch movie - and in no way is this a bad thing.
Rod Quantock - Utopia
Nova (Cinema 1)
7:00pm, Tue 29 Feb 2000
Score: 7
Short Review: Down
I think Rod Quantock is one of Australia's best comedians. There, I said it. However, tonite he was a little... flat? disappointing? down? Hmmmm.
I'd been looking forward to this show for ages, and for all you RQ fans out there, there are a few surprises: No blackboard (gasp!), but a long diatribe about the lack of chalk in todays society, and how this impacts our social wellbeing. Very few Kennett jokes, replaced by the far more vitriolic Howard jokes. And the presence of toilet humour! ...literally.
As I said previously, I think Quantock is brilliant, and so the show was still very enjoyable. Compared to previous RQ experiences, however, it seemed to be lacking a little spark... maybe Rod just needs some more chalk and a Nazi-esque Victorian Premier again.
Bug fixes a-plenty, with a few score changes due to finicky complaints... :|