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Show: Glitter and Tears
Society: Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Venue: theSpace@SurgeonsHall
Credits: Appetite Theatre
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 13/08/2015
Glitter and Tears
Chris Abbott | 14 Aug 2015 09:42am
A late night performance of a new play in a small room by a cast of five is exactly what the Edinburgh Fringe is all about, and the performance of Glitter and Tears by Appetite Theatre kept its audience interested for 50 minutes with a tale of where the current vogue for talent shows might be taking us.
The cast doubled as contestants and judges, differentiating between the characters well although wearing the same costumes, which was initially confusing. The entrants sang live to a recorded track, and this was perhaps the least successful part of the performance, with voices often distorted by the basic sound system available.
The cast were much more effective in the spoken sections of the play, and the dialogue provided by author Serafina Cusack was for the most part credible and realistic, although the sections related to the attraction of one of the men for another did not ring true in the same way.
The play was directed naturalistically for the most part although the attempt to show passing time through a montage of dialogue towards the end of the play seemed less effective.
The storyline, all too believable for the most part, did require a leap of faith in order to believe that the rivalries of television programmes might one day lead to corporate murder, and it was unwise to have the final words of the play as a voiceover in darkness, leading to confusion among the audience about whether the play had finished or not.
Despite these shortcomings, this was an interesting piece with some good performances, especially from the actors playing Leto, Felix and Vincent (no cast list with names was provided).
A thought-provoking end to a day at the Fringe.
- : admin
- : 13/08/2015