Edinburgh Fringe 2011
Hurry Up and Wait
debase Productions in association with Queensland Theatre Company, Australia
Venue:
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
This is aimed at 3+ and kept a 40+ highly amused through inventive use of facial expression, physical theatre and comic timing that showed children’s theatre to be as creative as the best adult theatre. Through colours and equally bright performances this keeps the most wriggly still.
Review
The premise of two young people sitting waiting for something to arrive – won’t spoil it by telling you what it is – allows every parent who has had to endure the car journey that never ends to see things from a child’s perspective. One little wriggly girl can’t sit and wait whilst her brother initially tries his best to play the surrogate parent and keep her still. Eventually her restlessness is infectious and he joins in the nonsense that drips from her imagination into their world and we are delighted to be a part of it. At times there are, further into the piece places where there is a dip but then these accomplished performers pull it back and we are never short of being entertained.
Both performers – Clint Bolster and Liz Skitch – are highly accomplished and the physical aspects of the show kept all the younger members of the audience enthralled. The performers also managed some interplay with the young audience which cemented their relationship with them. Always looking to take advantage of the audience reaction you always felt they were in control and driving us towards a great conclusion.
The set was as you would expect simple with two chairs and the big clock hanging over them like the amount of time they had left to wait for their event. With such high production values this was an excellent addition to the genre as we were entertained rather than taught. This was a piece with worthy artistic values rather than an issue to peddle, being all the better for it. If the reaction of the young audience is anything to go by – and let’s face it, they are the experts here – this is an enthralling piece of theatre reasonably well paced and with the hearts and minds of their audience well catered for.
I loved this and apart from the slight dip in the performance where there was a little restlessness an almost perfect 50 minutes for the over 3s. Children’s theatre has had a bit of a renaissance over the years so the bar is high – this production measured over it with style.
