While there were some genuinely belly-ish laughs, this show wasn't quite pitched to best effect. It had many things going for it but never quite nailed the shifting tonality suggested by so-called dark comedies to pull it off.
We follow a crazed librarian determined to have a genius child at whatever cost. She devises a plan to steal the sperm of a famous adventurer. We find the standard twists and turns in the plotting, some of which are pretty predictable. The pacing gets a bit woolly from time to time as we move back and forward from flashbacks to present day and then flashing forward. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it takes a certain smooth hand to make it work. Here, it is all a little hackneyed and contrived, thinking it is possibly more sophisticated than the reality.
The acting was, all round, energised but unfocused. Leah Milner, Ed Cobbold, Phil McDonnell, Fiona Boylan and Simon Perkins clearly make a good ensemble and there was a trust visible between them, but the exactitude they needed was definitely missing. With some lines mumbled and others fluffed, we just couldn't find all the jokes that were there. While there were many good comic set pieces and some fun ad-libs, overall the performances were a little underwhelming. The imprecision of the delivery was not helped by the occasionally overly self-aware comic set up.
Having said that, the set design was economical and inventive, used to good effect. The projection work was also very well done, much more subtle and pleasing than much multi-media work one is inflicted with.
The script (by director David Byrne) has a lot going for it. Much of it is funny and there is definite substance, but there false and forced notes. Turning from comedy to something darker is always tricky, but this didn't quite make it work. It would have helped to not rely in totality on satirical characterisations, but the show was, ultimately, not built on strong enough foundations to make it work either way.
The eugenics debates contained within would have survived better as subtext and attempts at what appeared to be edification were unnecessary. The need to have a contemporary peg on which to hang the story was illusory.
Overall there is much to say for this work, but one feels that ultimately it is less clever than it thinks it is. Always a fatal mistake.
5 out of 10
At the Pleasance Dome (Jack Dome) at 2.40pm.
- James Grogan
We follow a crazed librarian determined to have a genius child at whatever cost. She devises a plan to steal the sperm of a famous adventurer. We find the standard twists and turns in the plotting, some of which are pretty predictable. The pacing gets a bit woolly from time to time as we move back and forward from flashbacks to present day and then flashing forward. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it takes a certain smooth hand to make it work. Here, it is all a little hackneyed and contrived, thinking it is possibly more sophisticated than the reality.
The acting was, all round, energised but unfocused. Leah Milner, Ed Cobbold, Phil McDonnell, Fiona Boylan and Simon Perkins clearly make a good ensemble and there was a trust visible between them, but the exactitude they needed was definitely missing. With some lines mumbled and others fluffed, we just couldn't find all the jokes that were there. While there were many good comic set pieces and some fun ad-libs, overall the performances were a little underwhelming. The imprecision of the delivery was not helped by the occasionally overly self-aware comic set up.
Having said that, the set design was economical and inventive, used to good effect. The projection work was also very well done, much more subtle and pleasing than much multi-media work one is inflicted with.
The script (by director David Byrne) has a lot going for it. Much of it is funny and there is definite substance, but there false and forced notes. Turning from comedy to something darker is always tricky, but this didn't quite make it work. It would have helped to not rely in totality on satirical characterisations, but the show was, ultimately, not built on strong enough foundations to make it work either way.
The eugenics debates contained within would have survived better as subtext and attempts at what appeared to be edification were unnecessary. The need to have a contemporary peg on which to hang the story was illusory.
Overall there is much to say for this work, but one feels that ultimately it is less clever than it thinks it is. Always a fatal mistake.
5 out of 10
At the Pleasance Dome (Jack Dome) at 2.40pm.
- James Grogan
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