3

Three is a magic number according to the great Schoolhouse Rock. I am inclined to agree with the educational musical shorts. Three is also the number of shows I have seen in London that constitute as Fringe Theatre. As of the writing of this blog post, I have seen thirteen plays in total which means just under a quarter of these performances are fringe shows.

Fringe Theatre performances are your off (off) Broadway level of shows: professional on smaller budgets and smaller stages. In order of viewing, I have seen Jules and Jim, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and How to Succeed in Business without really trying. The latter two were put on by the same theatre company, Southwark Playhouse, which, based on the quality of the performances is quite astounding.

“Benjamin Button” is easily in my top three for this trip while “How to Succeed” is duking it out with Dancing at Lughnasa for (un)lucky number thirteen. Granted the two shows are really only similar in that they are both musicals; however, I am astonished that this small theatre company provided me with two drastically different experiences.

Benjamin Button is a show I would recommend to anyone. I still think the actual story of a man who ages backwards is silly bordering on stupid, yet I cannot help but be absolutely in love with what I got to watch. The songs were magnificent. There was excellent blocking, and they used their space efficiently. The entire twelve-person ensemble was amazing. Due to the nature of the show, the actors double as the band. They play instruments, sing, and move in expert coordination all at once. All this to praise the incredible cast. I could not help but tear up in the end. It is a unique play that somehow pulled off what few others could. I will say as much as I did love Benjamin Button part of the reason it worked was the theatre it was in. I believe I would have been taken out of the play if the theatre had been bigger and therefore myself farther away.

Next up from Southwark Playhouse: How to Succeed in Business.The show is no new kid on the block when it comes to theatre. It first appeared on Broadway in 1961, and the story showed it. Southwark Playhouse’s version utilized a reduced cast. The stage was incredibly small, but I think how they used that space is one of the few things I enjoyed. I think the actors were good actors, I just also think I would have perhaps enjoyed the show more if the casting was shaken up differently. Southwark tried to make a statement by casting a woman in the lead role and a man as the love-interests. Although, the characters remained Mr. J. Pierrepoint Finch and Rosemary. It was a casting choice that fell flat for me especially since it hurt the musical. These two parts were written with specific vocal ranges in mind, and these actors did not have the vocal ranges to sing all their parts. Not to say they were bad singers, just to say they could not physically perform the material. It is also a very dated script. I do not typically look at entertainment as if it was written in 2023, but the rampant workplace sexual harassment and sexism is just very hard to ignore. This staging did not sweep me away from these discrepancies with the musical numbers. The lightning had some cool effects but also cast some horrible shadows. I felt as if actors were missing their marks for the spotlight particularly when they moved downstage to the left corner. It almost felt like a complete waste of my time aside from the banger of a final number. I think I would have enjoyed this in a bigger budget West End/Broadway setting especially if I was more charmed by the leads.

To wrap up Fringe, I will shortly mention Jules and Jim. We extensively hashed out our opinions about this early on in the trip (it was the second play we saw) sitting in a park by Buckingham Palace. For me, Jules and Jim was an experience I enjoyed even if I am still not sure how I truly feel about the play. There were probably somewhere around fifty seats in the theatre and at most thirty people in attendance the night we went. The play perfectly played to this kind of set up. Most of the play consisted of monologues from the characters Jules and Jim to the audience. The problem was the wildcard Cath. While kind of enjoyable to watch, there was no true redeeming quality to the character which is mainly why I struggle to formulate an opinion on the show as a whole. Overall, I enjoyed the show, but do not think I would recommend it to others.

Fringe theatre is as mixed a bag as any other professional theatre. Ultimately, it mostly comes down to the opinions of individuals. Fringe theatre often brings intimacy to theatre which can be a wonderful experience with the right script. For our group, opinions were split on both Jules and Jim as well as How to Succeed. Yet only one person who attended Benjamin Button did not enjoy it thoroughly. You can find some real gems in Fringe theatre if you look, or you can find some duds. But then again, that is true of even the highly funded West End productions. Budget and theatre size are the only markers of Fringe Theatre.