January 27, 2011
A two-man student play, Fairview Manor is a highly unusual production. It concerns a married couple, Mr and Mrs Coward, both played by the two male leads, who discover a killer weed growing beneath their country home. The weed threatens to collapse their house, and this information soon spreads across the town. In an attempt to both stem the gossip and take their minds off it, they decide to host a black tie, invitation only garden party, to predictably calamitous results. Meanwhile, the weed keeps on growing...
Fairview Manor is like no other production I have ever seen before! A frenetic, surreal, energetic and often hilarious production, it breaks down most of the established theatrical conventions in a manner that suggests they didn't exist in the first place. If it weren't for the blurb on the theatre programme, I would be hard pushed to even attempt to describe the play's "plot", as the relentless, breakneck speed of the two leads dulls the senses, tickles the ribs and melts the brain! Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, the play's writers and protagonists, are clearly stars in the making; their breathtakingly confident, fearless stage demeanour suggests that, given time, these boys will amount to something in the world of acting, and I mean that. Oliver Stevens deserves a special mention also for his excellent lighting and sound, possibly the best I've seen in a low-budget production. The timing and interchanging are excellent throughout, adding a moody theatrical intensity to the cacophony unfolding upon the stage. In terms of performance and visuals, this play takes some beating.
Despite its aesthetic qualities, Fairview Manor is not without its flaws. I found some of the interchanging between characters a little hard to digest at times, particularly in the play's middle section. At an hour and a half, the play could, in my opinion, done with a little editing; the decidedly anti-narrative flow of the production could have been more easily absorbed if some sections of the play's centre had been trimmed slightly. These, however, are my only real criticisms. The play has a highly apocalyptic, Kafkaesque feel to it; the emerging plant leaves growing upon the central characters throughout the play, signified by the pair scribbling green felt tip pen onto each others t-shirts is unnerving as well as amusing, whilst the playful discarding of theatrical language in favour of burlesque characterisation and aggressive ad libbing is postively brecht-iann in its intensity. A strange, unsettling, rib tickling and beautifully produced production, Fairview Manor is definitely one to see. Your brain may start melting whilst you are viewing this piece, especially if you are accustomed to the conventions and constraints of much contemporary theatre, but I guarantee you'll be smiling throughout. A work of genius, or the inane ramblings of a pair of delusional madmen? You decide...
Fairview Manor is like no other production I have ever seen before! A frenetic, surreal, energetic and often hilarious production, it breaks down most of the established theatrical conventions in a manner that suggests they didn't exist in the first place. If it weren't for the blurb on the theatre programme, I would be hard pushed to even attempt to describe the play's "plot", as the relentless, breakneck speed of the two leads dulls the senses, tickles the ribs and melts the brain! Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, the play's writers and protagonists, are clearly stars in the making; their breathtakingly confident, fearless stage demeanour suggests that, given time, these boys will amount to something in the world of acting, and I mean that. Oliver Stevens deserves a special mention also for his excellent lighting and sound, possibly the best I've seen in a low-budget production. The timing and interchanging are excellent throughout, adding a moody theatrical intensity to the cacophony unfolding upon the stage. In terms of performance and visuals, this play takes some beating.
Despite its aesthetic qualities, Fairview Manor is not without its flaws. I found some of the interchanging between characters a little hard to digest at times, particularly in the play's middle section. At an hour and a half, the play could, in my opinion, done with a little editing; the decidedly anti-narrative flow of the production could have been more easily absorbed if some sections of the play's centre had been trimmed slightly. These, however, are my only real criticisms. The play has a highly apocalyptic, Kafkaesque feel to it; the emerging plant leaves growing upon the central characters throughout the play, signified by the pair scribbling green felt tip pen onto each others t-shirts is unnerving as well as amusing, whilst the playful discarding of theatrical language in favour of burlesque characterisation and aggressive ad libbing is postively brecht-iann in its intensity. A strange, unsettling, rib tickling and beautifully produced production, Fairview Manor is definitely one to see. Your brain may start melting whilst you are viewing this piece, especially if you are accustomed to the conventions and constraints of much contemporary theatre, but I guarantee you'll be smiling throughout. A work of genius, or the inane ramblings of a pair of delusional madmen? You decide...