Edinburgh Fringe 2024
2018: Launch on Warning
Siege of Herons
Genre: Drama, Fringe Theatre
Venue: Greenside at George Street
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Newly written piece of theatre which manages to pitch our English youthful cast correctly as English teenagers in Hawaii when the likelihood of a missile strike on the islands was announced. Playing to their strengths as youngsters, they have a balanced challenge which they rise to admirably in a piece pitched in a claustrophobic performance space all about a claustrophobic time spent in a freezer awaiting your own death.
Review
Four teenagers in Hawaii from England are trapped in a walk-in freezer when there is the alert that a ballistic missile is on its way. This is not a drill and there does seem to be an imminent threat which could have sparked war. Based on real events we have four young souls hoping for the reality to be something other than a warning of impending doom. It is framed by the relative calmness of a mum sitting in her home narrating events from outside of the panic.
There is so much in here to like. If the Fringe should be a welcome haven for the work of the young, then here is an example of precisely why we have a Fringe. It’s a basic play, originally written with a decent structure, knows what it is about and gives the young actors a platform upon which to perform. From there the direction is sound enough with some creaky moments highlighting the lack of experience on stage but it does give it its charm.
Our four principal actors as Olivia – NOT Liv – Dot, Mo and Steve who display that charm but could be slightly better connected at times. There are times when the acting is a little solo and not ensemble – reactions come out of nowhere rather than have an organic feel and not everyone responds to them. Having the emotions shared as much in actions and depend upon each other more for looks and lifting visual clues as well as verbal ones would be a great help. It’s an effective piece of theatre when one actor sparks off the other or needs to be comforted by the others. It’s there some times but not quite there at other times. What really does shine is the character of Liv who is a sort of high functioning obsessive with a clearly intelligent and practical manner which can be seen in the organising of the toilets but also of the need to take command. That the others become subservient is testimony to how, when there is a crisis, the law of the playground can be subverted.
The topic of procreation, in amongst the teenagers, is handled well enough but again the fact that Steve is being traded like a piece of meat and viewed by Mo as a sexual object is again more subversion which can really be heightened. How would a 17-year-old heterosexual boy deal with one woman being so keen and another keeping their distance? And the solution was quite surprising. I was delighted that it was not then plumbed but mentioned and left. It showed the security within the script of knowing that there were a few topics that could be dramatized without it being a piece of theatre doing topics by numbers. It allowed the real messages to be properly given time to breath and develop.
There does however need to be an injection of some pace and mum, though the epitome of calmness needs that to counter point her calmness and show some depth for the audience; otherwise, it can tend towards a monotone. It isn’t there yet, but the pace needs to be upped in the freezer – not just to ward off the cold – but to help us see mum in a specific light.
The set is good, and I liked the boxes. We can cope with them being empty as they represent the emptiness of hope that people experience when faced with personal Armageddon. But interaction with props just needs to be more convincing.
I was really glad that I saw this and delighted to review it. A few tweaks and this will raise itself quite convincingly into something which shows the abilities of each of the team in a much stronger way.
