Edinburgh Fringe 2012
Low Down
Faye Draper wears a housedress and apron, she welcomes you to sit at her beautiful long wooden table. Mugs, milk, biscuits and teapots are laid out, ‘help yourself to a cup of tea, take a biscuit, don’t be shy’ she says. Her comforting northern accent is unmistakable and charms us into feeling at home. The purpose of gathering around the table is for Faye to tell us tea-time stories, stories in the home, in the restaurant, at school dinner time, at your sisters wedding, as an 8 year old, as an 80 year old, alone or with your entire family. The wealth and variations of stories that centre around the table, or tea time, allows us to self-reflect on our tea-time habits and understand how that forms us – culturally, nationally, regionally and individually.
Review
Faye Draper wears a housedress and apron; she welcomes you to sit at her beautiful long wooden table. Mugs, milk, biscuits and teapots are laid out, ‘help yourself to a cup of tea, take a biscuit, don’t be shy’ she says. Her comforting northern accent is unmistakable and charms us into feeling at home. The purpose of gathering around the table is for faye to tell us tea-time stories, stories in the home, in the restaurant, at school dinner time, at your sisters wedding, as an 8 year old, as an 80 year old, alone or with your entire family. The wealth and variations of stories that stem from the table, and tea time, allows us to self-reflect on our tea-time habits and understand how that forms us – culturally, nationally, regionally, individually.
The setting works well, instead of sitting in the dark on raked seating, we are close to each other and well lit, asking each other to pass the milk, pass the sugar – the introductory routine of making ourselves a cup of tea allows us to exchange conversation and this sets the tone for the rest of the show. Faye’s method of story telling is to stand behind one of our chairs and say ‘This is mark, he is 8 years old’. An audience member then holds the character of mark, they don’t have to do anything, they just represent his body at the table. Faye then animates this story herself, often by leaning over the table delivering the lines of the character she has just announced, such as – ‘If you kids misbehave, if you show me up, then I am never taking you out again… understand!’ two audience members who were named as the children shake their heads. The stories are relatable and flick past at a fast pace, Faye hops round the table and everyone gets a chance to ‘be’ someone. This style of storytelling really ignites the imagination.
At the beginning Faye takes a saltshaker and draws a plate, knife and fork on the table. later in the work we are all given salt shakers and draw our own plate, knife and fork. Everyone enjoys this little task and there is much fun in comparing people’s wobbly knifes and forks that look more like the devils trident. We are each given a place, Southampton, Leeds, London and told to draw something that symbolises that place on our plate – we are making a map on the table. The task is fun and everyone gets into drawing with their saltshaker, it is novel and challenging enough. The point of this was luke-warm in relation to the rest of the show.
The work was very well scripted; the delivery from Faye had a great honesty and genuine joy in each story. It is a welcome experience to listen to a person with no microphones or music for dramatic effect; everything was kept real and down to earth. The work was personal to Faye; she spoke about her own granddad, and her own husband, her own dream future dining table with a bowl of fruit in the middle that has kiwis and a pineapple. The show also has a blog where anyone can add his or her teatime story, this gives an inkling into how the show was put together and that it is an ever-growing project.
A pleasant show that makes you reflect on your own family, relishing in TV dinners as well as sit down important occasions. It is habits such as teatime that define can define a nation; we all have traditions, superstitions, manners and ideals that formulate this every day event.
