Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Did You Mean to Fall Like That
Fake Escape.
Genre: Drama, New Writing
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard.
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Facing a bleak future, Charlie begins to unravel, the only light provided by new gay friend Oliver.
Review
On the surface, this one man show about a life falling apart seems like many others staged at any Fringe Festival these days. However, a committed performance and a deftly written script, raises this show above the average. With an early morning start at 11.35, this is a hidden gem that deserves a bigger audience. Recently separated, though insisting that is only temporary, Charlie moves into a friend’s spare bedroom, loses his job, and also loses loses the motivation to find one. He goes on the dating apps and has several disastrous encounters, and his wife insists that there will be no reconciliation. So far, so heterosexual mis life crisis. But the play develops as the stakes are raised.
James McGregor beautifully conveys the complex personality of Charlie. Unafraid to portray how dislikeable he can be, (his attitude to women, and dating are, shall we say, problematic), it’s a tribute that we develop sympathy for the man. This is down to Stephanie Martin’s script, which throws Charlie into different situations, but always keeps in sight the heartbreak that he is going through. It’s when Charlie meets Oliver, a gay man, that the play becomes interesting, the stakes raised. Whilst I challenge the slight stereotype of the gay man, (Oliver is, of course, fit, snorts coke , and is emphatic, it seems that every gay man in theatre and TV, fits this image. ), it is that empathy that begins to crack Charlie’s self denial. Here the play begins to lift above the average, and the characters become more well rounded. McGregor’s performance reveals the depth and complexity of feelings, the script burying deep into the depression that many men feel, but never talk about. And bisexuality is still not portrayed enough, and here is an honest representation of those feeling and uncertainties when it begins to emerge in a man later in his life. A man who thought his sexuality was set and secure.
The play is beautifully directed by Scott Le Crass, the pace strong, yet allowing moments for the play to breathe. The set is three planks of wood, each with one side painted a different colour. This is a stroke of genius, and they become different locations, bars, restaurants, beds, and different people that Charlie talks to. More importantly, they indicate a ledge, and the last section of the play really delivers a strong message about mental health and the need to talk. None of this is patronising, the script handles this beautifully. with, not just the need to talk, but the need to listen, being conveyed sensitively, with no easy solutions, but with a ray of hope. Bunker three is a small space, but it’s perfectly suited to this kind of play, intimate and confessional and a hidden gem.
