EDINBURGH FESTIVAL 2009: REVIEW - THE THING ABOUT MEN, C Venues, August 12 2009

It's a Roberts/DiPietro double bill at the C Venue -1; it's just a shame that Out of the Bubble's rendition of The Thing About Men doesn't match the standards of the exceptional I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (this year performed by Exeter Footlights; last year performed by Out of the Bubble themselves).

With a limited time to fill, some judicious editing has evidently been required; unfortunately, much of the characterisation is missed or rushed, leaving us with no connection with these awful self-centred people. If we don't care about the breakdown of Lucy and Tom's marriage, if we don't care about Lucy's affair with Sebastian, if we don't care about the growing friendship between the husband and the lover, then the entire show falls apart. Indeed, the cuts and the way the scene was staged meant that I genuinely got the impression that Tom's altruistic actions to help his new friend were driven by spite and a desire to break up the adulterous liaison, instead of motivated by fraternal affection.

The direction needs a little more vigour to keep the eye engaged on the minimalist stage, with the spare set design and a tacky shiny backdrop that does a good job of reflecting the lights back into the dazzled audience. The young cast are obviously 15 years younger than the characters they are trying to portray, but they do a decent job for all that; I would suggest that if they came back to this show in two or three years, they'd all have more life experience and a touch more vocal control and maturity to make a better all-round production.

 

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