Fringe theater is defined by the Collins English Dictionary as a theatrical performance that is unconventional or otherwise distinct from the mainstream. But in modern terms, fringe theater can be classified as any small theater company performance to anything that is uncategorizable. It is equivalent to New York’s Off-Off Broadway.
While here in London, I got the opportunity to see Girl on an Altar at the Kiln Theater. The play is by Marina Carr and is based off of the Greek myth of Clytemnestra. I have read other works by Marina Carr, such as By The Bog Of Cats, based off the Greek Tragedy of Medea, so I was very excited to see this production.
Now onto the specifics of the Kiln Theater’s production. Intense seems to little of a word to describe all the feelings felt in this show. There is power, and the struggle for power, as well as grappling the past with the present. I was wowed by the vulnerability presented by Eileen Walsh playing Clytemnestra. This character goes in circles of emotions and struggles internally and externally with herself and others. Entering the stage in only a towel presents the audience with the raw vulnerability this play demonstrates. There are many moments throughout that you feel as if you are watching through a window and seeing a quarrel (or something else) that you should not be seeing. David Walmsley, who played Agamemnon, did a great job at playing a terrible person. This character literally kills his daughter, and continues to justify it for over ten years, as well as being a domestic abuser and a raging tyrant. But Walmsley’s performance mixed with Walsh created a fiery dynamic presence on stage that made the whole scenes captivating to a point you couldn’t dare to look away.
With the Kiln theater being a smaller venue, and not being located in the center of London, they are able to get away with things most mainstream West End shows cannot. Such as nudity & incredibly intimate (if one could say, a bit to intimate) scenes. But in the same breath, they lack the production value and pizazz that is presented on the West End shows. There were many moments in this production that I thought were very beautifully directed and set up on stage with the set and lights. But there were others that were seemingly shoved under a rug and brisked past due to the fact that acting them out was literally unattainable.
This show in all was not my favorite that I have seen, but it wasn’t bad. Could I had done with a couple trigger warnings? Yes. Could I have done with a little less… if you know you know…. Yes. Could I see the potential this script and cast have? Yes.
Theatre in London U of A 