Fringe Online 2021
Sallow Child
Bunbury Banter Theatre Company
Genre: Radio Play
Venue: Catstrand
Festival: Fringe Online
Low Down
We hear the story of a boy meeting a girl and they get wed. The promise of youth soon turns into the disappointment of a husband unable to meet the promise he once held. Enter the pale stranger and exit the wretched husband from her bed for one night. There then comes the birth of a child who the husband attempts to kill as no son of mine is this… we fade and this memory lingers as the visit of the Birch King has finished.
Review
This is a piece of audio which has all the skill of a company who understand the medium so well. It combines excellent foley skills, audio levels which are consistent and a script that describes and draws you into that world of imagination.
The script is excellent and manages to sit between the childish elements of a folk tale as well as the adult nature of the subject matter: not an easy tightrope type.
The performances of both actors from the initial love to the disillusionment are managed with aplomb as the Birch King’s arrival is handled well, the woman’s resentment fueled by a man of not inconsiderable faults and a man who sounds as recognizable in his demands as he does in his expectations.
This is 13 minutes of audio beauty which knows that what appears in your ears should explain all and this has worked exceptionally well in doing so.
