Edinburgh Fringe 2022
It’s Not Rocket Science
Letter for Letter Theatre
Genre: Fringe Theatre, Theatre
Venue: theSpace @ Symposium Hall - Annexe
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A young girl has dreams. And why shouldn’t she? The problems she encounters are that society will not indulge her dreams of becoming an engineer in a space programme. Through a series of chapters from Chapter One, “I Belong Up There” to Chapter Eight “The Gift That Keeps on Giving” we are witness to her growing up, going to university and making her way in the science community that initially refused to have her. Eventually married to a pilot and now with a child of her own, she is now writing to inspire the next generation.
Review
This is a gentle piece of theatre which tackles a very important STEM based issue – the role and opportunities for women within science. It does so with a script which does not attempt to provoke but quietly reveal the inequities faced by women in the field. There is little sense of overbearing passion for the topic, but it serves not as a polemic but a clear signal that all is not as it ought to be within an area struggling for representation of women, it does however end on a very positive message of hope.
The performances from our three young actors are well considered. They manage to convey a number of characters by switching between them with some degree of skill. There are tendencies to some caricatures, like the sexist tracksuit in the lecture room, but it is a piece of theatre with a hearty rather than a heavy message to convey.
Within the venue it works well, and theatre arts are employed in support to a degree of certainty that shows comfort. The props and the sounds are well employed, and I liked very much the way that the signs were used to signify different chapters.
Overall, this was good. The issue I did have was that it tended to feel more like a series of short sketches which struggled to amount to a campaign or manifesto for change. There were iniquities exposed but not anger, more irritation at them. Whilst the ending included a highly cute marriage to a pilot and dealing with their own child now having a choice of careers it felt more homely than concerned as to the issues raised. That, having been said, it never promised more than that, so it gave me just what it promised – not a bad result for a Fringe Show.
