EDINBURGH 2023: Review: THIS IS NOT A PLAY (IT'S A PATHETIC CRY FOR HELP), Assembly George Square Studios
A weak exercise of metatheatre.
Jonas Müller approaches Amanda de Beer, he wants to tell her story. After the hell she’s been through due to the allegations shot at his father by the public and the press, she’s not entirely sure she wants more attention. Yet, she agrees to speak to the eccentric director.
She takes the stage in an unrehearsed reading of a play that supposedly covers her life. An embittered and disillusioned figure, she finds the whole thing absurd and decides to take over with a first-hand side of the events. It’s a shame we never really get to learn what actually happened.
Pretentiously meta and absolutely bland, the piece is a paceless trudge. While the character alludes to sexual misconduct, by the end we still don’t know what happened. It’s not suspenseful, it’s merely frustrating. The script goes in circles, offering half-baked clichés on the ugly face of fame and the media frenzy that follows scandals. We receive morsels of information from an empty feast of nothingness.
She feels complicit in silencing the victims, but she doesn’t explore the matter. She acknowledges her privilege, but it doesn’t come to anything. It’s a bit boring and a bit slow. There are many ideas that could be developed into an actual production of note, but so far, this is not it.
This Is Not A Play (It's A Pathetic Cry For Help) runs at the Assembly George Square Studios until 13 August.
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